• Rich Barlow

    Senior Writer

    Photo: Headshot of Rich Barlow, an older white man with dark grey hair and wearing a grey shirt and grey-blue blazer, smiles and poses in front of a dark grey backdrop.

    Rich Barlow is a senior writer at BU Today and Bostonia magazine. Perhaps the only native of Trenton, N.J., who will volunteer his birthplace without police interrogation, he graduated from Dartmouth College, spent 20 years as a small-town newspaper reporter, and is a former Boston Globe religion columnist, book reviewer, and occasional op-ed contributor. Profile

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There are 6 comments on This 11-Year-Old Wants to Go to BU’s Goldman School of Dental Medicine: She’s Written a Picture Book to Help Pay for It

  1. Although I would imagine the intention of this article was to show this little girl being excited about BU, I found that it came off concerning. Why is an 11 year old child thinking about graduate school?! I was saddened by this, and by the fact that a Dean of the college would tell her she should ‘sell’ the book she made with her mom to pay for said graduate school. The Dean should know that part of his job is to fundraise so little children don’t have to start worrying about the cost of college when they are in middle school. This made me incredibly disheartened.

    1. Interesting. I have a different take on it though. The Dean is being pretty honest about what it takes to pay for college and dental school. As a private university, it is not the place of the school to “fundraise” for anyone yet they were arguably able to give this young woman an advantage by being honest. She wants to be a dentist, everything that comes with that (from education to licensing to practice ownership) is expensive.

  2. What a fantastic story! I hope E.J. will also do a circuit at indie bookstores; they often love to sell books with a story like this behind them.

  3. Very cool story and inspiring young woman! Just a logistic suggestion, to display well in a dental office, hardcovers work best to help with the wear and tear of curious little people reading the book!
    Good luck to E.J.

  4. What a disheartening article with the right intentions but amisguided way of of expressing it.

    Why is the emphasis on the matter of cost for a young individual?

    Why not celebrate, at this moment in her life, the power to dream? Who knows if she would even be accepted to the school?

    Allow a child to be a child and not a child with the extra challenging layer of what it means to finance those dreams?

    Yes, I believe in being realistically honest but I also believe, at this age in her life, in celebrating what it means to dream and what it means to be creative not to raise expenses but rather, to bring spotlight to the very acting of aspiring.

    I completely agree with McCaela.

  5. I was only 8 years old when I decided I wanted to be a dentist.
    Here I am… finishing Dental School at Henry Goldman School of Dental Medicine.
    Although some people think this little girl is too young to be discussing money, Money Matters! Children nowadays are much more aware of costs then I did when was young. My son, who is now 8, wants to help at home to make money for himself. The last time, he saved enough to buy a bicycle.
    It’s important to know the cost of a University, even early on, and work to get what you want.
    Congrats to E.J, her parents and BU for publishing her history.

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