Skip to main content

Searching

Okay fellow children of the 70s - do you remember when we 'searched' for colleges? I do and know that my search was less of a search and more of a stumble. And I know that it was way different than the search that my children and the children of this generation embark.

My search. I liked the sound of Notre Dame and we had some family connection so I applied. I went to visit my sister Kelli at Michigan State University over a Halloween party weekend and had a little too much fun. Search over. 

There may have been more forethought, but I don't recall looking into entrance requirements or how the schools were rated. I have a vague notion that my attitude at the time was "Since my dad won't let me go to New York to study theater, I'll show him and study political science." The illogical logic of a teenage girl with no idea what she wanted.

My kids' searches; involve Internet searches, online testing to see what kind of school would best fit their needs/personality, review of ratings from magazines or other organizations and visits. And a keen awareness of the entrance requirements for the schools that interest them. And interviews. And information sessions. Lots of information sessions. And a lot of thought put into what the best college looks like for each of them. And more information sessions.

This summer, we visited four and a half schools. The half is George Mason University where Delaney had been for a week-long journalism conference. We picked her up there so I'm counting that as a half-visit. Thankfully, no information session, just a conviction on Delaney's part that it wasn't the school for her. Then while in DC we visited American University. I didn't have high hopes for that school because it didn't seem to fit with her needs, but it turned out to be a good match.

We then drove up to Boston where, over two days, we visited Boston University and Emerson College. Prior to the visits, Boston was tops on her list of schools, but after the information session Delaney felt it wasn't a school for her. Emerson College, however, was a school that was recommended by her voice teacher and one none of us expected to love. After the info session and tour, however, it moved to the number one position. Where it remains to this day.

The next day, we drove up to University of Rochester - another school that was tops on Delaney's list. However, after her interview with the admission counselor, it slipped from #1 to I-don't-want-to-stay-for-the-info session-or tour. 

I admire the thought and time that my children have devoted to this important search. And after having gone through it now with all three, I have to say the most important determinant has been the visit. Matthew quickly knocked off two of his top choices after a visit and Delaney eliminated five (there were two colleges of three we visited over spring break and her visit to U of M). There is a sense that I, too, have felt at these visits about whether a particular school would be a match. A recent example would be the visit to Emerson. While John and Delaney went on the tour, I stayed back in the admission office. While sitting there, pretending to read, I could listen to the conversations of the students that worked for admissions and it felt similar to one I might hear from Delaney's friends and acquaintances in theatre and forensics. And while Emerson is in Boston and a lot further away from home than I'd care for my baby to be, I could see Delaney thriving in that environment. Of course, it's not done yet - there are essays to be written, tests to be taken, applications to be filled out. 

And, a senior year to be lived.
And I cannot believe I'm going there yet - cannot yet believe my baby is even that close that I'm writing about college visits or, worse, acceptance!!

AT least she doesn't have an older college-age sister to visit over Halloween!

Comments

It's not a popularity contest, but ...

When being negative is positive and other wonky 'things' in the time of Covid

The world is upside down and back ass-ward. Know what I mean? I was chatting with a cousin the other day and her potential exposure to the corona virus. I wrote, "I'll say prayers for negative results for all. Don't like negativity but these days negative is a positive." Back ass-ward. Remember when we first went in to shut-down mode in mid-March? We were told that it was to flatten the curve of hospital admissions so that our ICU's didn't run out of capacity and to ease the virus' spread. It felt then like we were in this together, all of us were going to help beat this virus and stay home. (Aside from the run on toilet paper!) We were committed, or so it seemed, and our closets were going to be cleaned, our junk drawers were going to be a thing of the past, our garages/basements/and other yucky places were going to gleam. We were going to read "War and Peace" or "Hamilton" or other weighty tomes that we'd always wanted to read. We...

Is that a wagon in the distance?

I fell off the wagon. Well, that might sound a little accidental. When in reality it was more like, "I'm getting bored with this wagon ride, so I think I'll just get off here." And then I kicked the crap out of that wagon until it was but a distant dot down the road. In this case the wagon was my commitment to that silly Wii Fit. I got tired of hearing that stupid trainer say things like "you seem a little wobbly today" (to which I would say something classy like "No shit Sherlock!") or for the scale to move ever so slightly - and ever-so-slightly wasn't  enough to keep me motivated. I needed more!!! So, I jumped off the wagon. Makes a lot of sense, right? WRONG!  But justification is a powerful thing and something I've nearly perfected these many years losing, then gaining, then losing, then gaining . . . the same 40 pounds. Heck, you could say that by now I have a PhD in Justification.  And here's the thing, that wagon is st...
My aunt recently commented about my blog that I do a  "great job of sharing things very personal without them being morbid, too dramatic, TOO personal". I am about to let her down . . . It's been a tough week.  We learned that a man we knew from treatment at UofM, with a similar cancer, passed away on Tuesday. We knew that just after the treatment at UofM concluded, that his cancer had meta-sized to his lungs and other treatments (including one at John's Hopkins) did not help. John Cleasby was only 57. In my mind, I can see his face in the chemo infusion room at UofM - coping as all the patients were. He was a quiet and gentle man - who happened to be married to a former co-worker of mine. While sitting next to each other in the infusion area, it seemed a blessing that I found a long-lost friend in the chaos that was the UofM Cancer Center and hospital. Bonnie Cleasby and I shared so much and had such similar outlooks. "We are going to beat this thing", ...