College Hunting

OK, this is a million miles away from most Gen X minds, but because my daughter happens to be a high school junior, I’ve got colleges on the brain! And because her SAT scores were good (yea! :) there are many to choose from. It’s dizzying.

I just spent over an hour on college websites this morning…

Granted, colleges didn’t have websites in the ‘80’s. But even if they had, I doubt I would have spent much time pouring over them. I had a big box of mail from colleges, much of which I don’t recall reading at all. I knew what I wanted.

I’m not sure why I was so dead-set on attending the University of MN myself – I didn’t even apply anywhere else. (Maybe because they accepted me in my junior year so that allowed me to float through my senior year without concern for my GPA? Nah…) I do remember looking through the course catalog – which at the U was a novel-size book – and drooling over the extensive History and interesting Journalism offerings.

But my daughter is approaching it on another level entirely! Our spring break will be spent visiting schools in DC and Philly – and I anticipate trips this summer and next fall as well. She's looking everywhere from Boston to LA. Because she’s not so sure what she wants, the culture of the place – how it feels to be there – will be important for her.

It’s going to be an interesting year!