College Report Saturday

Part of the purpose for writing this blog was to document the college process.  Since I started the blog with the process already in progress, I haven't found an entry point to write about it yet.  So let's just jump in.

You would think, having done this before, that this time it would be a piece of cake.  We definitely learned things from the first time around, but it is still an overwhelming process.  Even with all the experience & knowledge that the husband, who teaches at a specialized high school where ALL the kids go to college, most of them selective colleges, and myself from teaching at the community college and involved in a statewide transfer panel, bring to the game, we still find it confusing and overwhelming at times.

One lesson learned from the first child - VISIT the college!  Every school he visited, he got into.  Every school he applied to with no contact, wait-listed. All otherwise equal schools.  (Except the safety school where if you met the criteria, you were in).  With electronic applications, kids can apply to way too many schools, so colleges need some way to sort the otherwise qualified applicants to determine who is likely to enroll.  Visiting shows interest, not just playing a numbers game.

 So the past two summers we have visited a total of 13 schools. From the start, the youngest was pretty sure about two things.  He liked small.  He hates heat.  (So that dashed my dream of sending him to the school in my native state of Texas, the one I should have gone to, but chickened out of).

 Turns out 13 may have been too many, as ALL of us were burned out on visits by the end.  We ended up missing a couple that were promising but none of us had it in us to go out again.  The youngest certainly, wasn't having it.

From the visits, he has narrowed it to 8 schools.  All of them are in our region of the country.  One in our home state, and 5 other states represented.  All liberal arts colleges, with the smallest about 1200 students and the largest about 3200.  All Division 3; three with exceptionally good music programs.  (The 3rd thing he is sure about, he wants to continue playing).

 Part of my paranoia of privacy means that I will NOT be mentioning their names until the big reveal when he makes his final selection, but have included some random pictures of some to keep it interesting.