Meh the biggest regret I have is going to a huge state school (Penn State).
Sure it’s a great school academically but the setting and the environment was all wrong for me. I had a mental breakdown during my undergrad years and somehow still graduated through…I really don’t know. I guess a shitty GPA and no effort. One of my cousins went to Arizona State and ended up dropping out for mental health reasons.
If I were to go back, I’d be judging schools based on vibes instead of rankings and where my friends got accepted. Probably would’ve been better off at a smaller, though less prestigious school since in the end the education you get is fundamentally the same from all of them at the undergrad level (unless you get into an Ivy League school that is). Maybe start at a satellite campus then transfer to the main one instead of starting at the main one. I’m sure UGA has satellite campuses that follow a similar set up, no?
I had no real guidance with choosing a college since I was the first person in my family to go to one. Would’ve had a better education if I did.
I think I had more fun the year I was at PLU, a small college in Tacoma, than I did at WSU, a big college in Washington. I did more stuff with the people I was in the dorm with and did more activities on campus at PLU. At WSU I mostly hung out with the theater people and mostly did theater things. And if the small college is the the lowest tuition I’d push her towards that if possible…
Oh yeah, for sure. When I applied to schools, I had dreams of the classic private school you see in movies. I really wanted Princeton and Stanford. Didn’t get in, but I still had some private school options. But I vibed hard with Virginia when I visited (it was the last school I applied to because my mom made me - it was an afterthought) and it turned out to be a great choice. Loved it. Big state school, but I never felt lost or overwhelmed.
My daughter never really had strong preferences, but with UGA being what it is and then having visited, she really wanted to go there. Not happening now. Auburn, though, is a place she wasn’t really considering strongly, but when she visited, she felt the vibe. Really liked it. So now it’s high on her list.
She just wants that big time, rah-rah atmosphere. If it doesn’t work out then hey, there are other paths. My dad started at Wisconsin and later transferred because it turned out it was too big for him. My mom went to a small private school, my brother went to Minnesota. Different strokes for different folks.
This whole thing is quite the adventure. A lot different than 30 years ago.
My son had a band concert last night and we were talking to the parents of one of the seniors in his band (dlk9s jr is a sophomore). They haven’t made any school decisions yet, but one tough thing for them is that he wants to go to Alabama if he can be in the marching band, but they aren’t releasing who made the cut until May 1, which is the commitment date for pretty much every school.
So they very well might not make a decision until the eleventh hour.
One of my college buddies was in marching band and shit that is way more work than I imagined it to be. Think he quit after sophomore year because marching band was getting in the way of his schoolwork.
It’s also surprising that she didn’t get into UGA but got into a bunch of out-of-state schools (iirc you guys are in Georgia, right?). I got accepted to Penn State and Pitt pretty quickly but Maryland rejected me. Made me think that public schools wanted to keep students in-state at the time but I guess I’m wrong.
My son did marching band this year and even in high school it’s a ton of work, plus band camp over the summer. Lots of practices, football games, and competitions.
He enjoyed it, though, and looks forward to doing it next year. Probably helped that he was in the pit and didn’t have to march in all the on-field formations. I really had fun watching him, too.
Not sure if I’m correct; but I have a young relative who deliberately went to a big rah-rah college. Some people just like that.
Most others went to small colleges. But I get it!
I remember once my wife and I were changing our daughter’s diaper while we were either on speakerphone with my parents or on an early webcam that didn’t have to be directly connected to a computer.
She started peeing all over the place and my dad started yelling, “PUT A CUP OVER IT! PUT A CUP OVER IT!”
It’s been a long time since I changed a diaper, but IIRC, I had developed a good strategy to protect myself from the surprise piss. It wasn’t genius or anything, but basically I’d keep the front area covered at all times except for when I was actively cleaning it and then do a diaper quick swap, prioritizing frontal coverage. Rarely left the baby just lying there sunny side up with no barrier.
