Stupidest reason child won't look at a college

[blossom]

My young cousin wouldn't apply to Georgetown because the weather in DC means frizzy hair for most of the year. Preferred low humidity places. And lest you think she was a bimbo- AP Scholar and NMS.

[krug]

This thread is hilarious! My D refused to apply to WashU, too many schools with Washington in its name. Her 2 best friends raved about the place so she applied and visited with them, just to be part of the group. The irony of it all, they were waitlisted, she got in with a scholarship and will be matriculating in the fall.

[riverrunner]

D2 wants a California school, but does not like "Taco Bell" architecture like Stanford's. I've tried to explain this is called "mission" style, and has a historical basis but am not getting very far.

I've tried to enter the Jesuit campuses on the side not facing the missions whenever possible: Santa Clara, U of San Francisco, and so on. Parenting classes did not prepare me for this.

She is also very picky about shoes. Sigh.

[momofthreeboys]

Riverrunner, how funny, my oldest loved every school with red tile roofs! Oh neither of my boys liked campuses with dorms taller than 4 stories.

[blossom]

River- in the Northeast, you have to enter the Jesuit campuses from the back so as not to be confronted with the gothic cathedral front and center. (some kids don't like gargoyles, stone masonry, arched windows.)

BC has a very impressive pool and ice rink by the way (the things you learn from the back end of a campus! And so much parking when you enter through Beacon St and not Comm Ave!)

[sharonohio]

My D wouldn't apply to a school cause the tour guide wore high heeled sandals and a sundress. She figured if it was that important to look like that even while doing a tour walking backwards then the school wasn't for her.

[MiamiDAP]

Most of the time we will never know the real reason(s) for whatever decisions our kids are making. They can say wahtever pops first, it does not mean that it is a real reason, nor does it mean that we have to pursue / argue with them about it.

[neuroticparent]

My S refused to look at WashU because an older friend who goes there told him that the entire student body has bad music in their I-Pods.

[doame]

On the flip side...I'm pretty sure my h/s son is planning on applying to Santa Clara University because he found out they have "paint-balling" as an intra-mural/club sport!

[MD Mom]

Daughter originally disliked Georgetown because the tour guide was dressed in a short skirt and spaghetti-strap top (it was a day that would make hair frizz) and she said that if she were representing her college she would dress more business-like.

[neuroticparent]

P.S. For other lists like this, check out my college angst blog - The Most Difficult Year to Get into College in the History of the World

We are now on "the other side" of the process, but the early posts are about my S and his friends' random reactions to various colleges on an eight-state college tour.

[NorthEastMom2]

No small schools (HS has 3000 students), no schools in NJ because we live here, no Jesuit/Catholic schools, not too far North (cold), not too far South (hot), wants to be able to come home on a weekend. Selective, but not impossible to get into.

That narrows it down so far to 1 school that has her major. Hope she gets in !!

[susanr64]

D will not consider Skidmore because of the name.

[HImom]

My S looked at the snow poles & fences in Rochester & decided he's a urban boy & needs warmer weather. He then applied to several East Coast schools, go figure! He matriculated at USC.

My S never articulated the reasons he wouldn't consider UAz & AzSU. My niece wasn't interested in UCSD because they have no football team. She matriculated at ND--partly because of its great football team--for her freshman year only. She now refuses to talk abaout football.

By the way, about shoes, one of the senior partners at our law firm said that he was stunned after his first major jury trial when he polled the jury & found what they liked most about him & his case was his nice & well-polished SHOES! Was quite the ego deflator!

[scout59]

Several schools (they shall remain nameless because they're perfectly good schools that my crazy D just happened to despise) fell off D's list because the Designer Purse Quotient was too high: too many girls with too many designer purses.

Also, one campus had "too many Jesus statues" - yes, a Jesuit school. Funny, she loved another Caltholic school and attends there now, but this one does have fewer statues.