If you get a miracle to be young again and get a free pass to attend any college you like, which one would you pick?
Wow, interesting thought. Very hard to pick only one!
Don’t be indecisive, pick one. It’s free and there is no entrance test or ticket for you. It’s ultimate affirmative action with full ride plus offer.
In all honesty I think I’d return to my alma mater - Penn.
Ha! Well, love Maine and almost went to Bates…so that would be up there. UCSD - beautiful place to GO to school. And the Webb Institute (Engineering) on Long Island in NY - totally unique. But as @happy1 said…I would definitely be pulled to return to my alma mater as well - Smith.
I’ll pick a smaller scenic college town with mild weather, creative community and proximity to a big city.
The college my D2 attended, Lewis and Clark. Keep Portland Weird.
I’d do something completely outside my comfort zone in a place I never would have considered, maybe even in a field that wouldn’t have appeared at first glace to be practical. Now that I’m um, “older” I realize how much easier it is to try these things before life gets complicated with SOs, kids, etc.
Would be interesting to be one of the first women admitted to Deep Springs for example.
I didn’t go away to four year college so I often imagine, fully paid, choice of schools/location. Maybe this is why I enjoyed college visits so much! And also why I’m baffled so many celeb kids model, instagram when they could expand their minds for a few years (cost not a concern). UVA maybe, Princeton, so hard to pick one. English, art, travel abroad!
I think it would depend on whether I was a shy 18 year old thinking about a career (in which case I’d probably pick the same academic elite institution I attended) or a 50 year old (hopefully in the body of an 18 year old!) thinking about a fun fully paid 4 year experience, after which I could go back to my current life. In the latter case I’d go somewhere with as much skiing, backpacking and climbing as possible - Utah would definitely be attractive.
I’d go back to Central College in Iowa- I only did two years there before leaving to get married. I don’t regret it but I did love it there. Can I also get my old organ teacher back?
@bjscheel You can get your old organ teacher back.
Most probably pick my alma mater–Michigan: to get to go for four years, not two (I was a transfer) and to not have to worry about money while there would be great!
Dark horse–Wesleyan was transformative for my D, so I think I would like that, also.
For the education I got and the location, I’d pick UCSD again, but I’d live on campus and/or a nearby apartment (nearby the beach, I mean) instead of at home sharing a room with my 10 year old sibling and a 45 min commute each way.
Of all the colleges we visited with kids, I might pick University of Puget Sound. I liked that one,
Or I might study landscape architecture or graphic design or engineering someplace else entirely.
There’s lots of places to spend four years getting a great education and a do-over without cost restraints would make for a hard but exciting decision.
It wasn’t a traumatic period or anything, but I have no desire to do college again. It wasn’t my thing.
As a junior high/high school history nerd in the Bicentennial Era 1970s I was in love with Colonial Williamsburg. My parents would not let me apply to William and Mary because in the late 1970s gas crisis era it was “too far from home” at about 8 hours away. Or that was the reason they gave. I then ended up going 3 hours from home and they dropped me off in the Fall and picked me up in the Spring and other times I was on my own to find a ride home so I’m not really sure how that “gas crisis” excuse applied.
So I wouldn’t mind transporting back to my 18 year old self and see if the decision that impacted the rest of my life (LOL) would lead me to a different place. Or at least just roam around Colonial Williamsburg for 4 years. Ironically, my S, who we didn’t restrict from applying anywhere in the US except California, was accepted to W&M which is about 8 hours from our home. He didn’t enroll for partly financial and partly didn’t feel the fit reasons. I don’t think it’s because I mentioned how I was going to visit him several times each semester. Instead he’s going to a school 13 hours from home since I didn’t pull out the gas crisis excuse.
Wow, that’s tough!! I know that while researching w/ S19, I learned alot more about schools that I think I would’ve really liked to know more about when I was his age. I think I’m going to agree w/ @“one+two” . W & M really impressed the heck out of DH and I. It was S19’s first choice for years until the financial reality hit home. He had a tough time letting go of that dream… DH and I also had very strong feelings about it.
I think it would be interesting to attend a residential women’s college, hard to choose among them, but probably Smith.
Alternately, Oxford or Cambridge, although I’d have found the tutorial system daunting as a teenager.
Wow. That’s really hard because I loved Cornell and Ithaca. I’d probably consider highly selective women’s colleges and maybe way better weather at this point in my life.
On college tours this past year, Brown and Providence was a favorite, though…
Narrowed it down to two.
Princeton - just to see if I could have made it there. (I didn’t send the app in back in the day)
or
UNLV - because my major hobby these days is poker and if located there I would have been ahead of the curve.