I would attend Reed again. It helped to make me what and who I am. And I liked the small size and the curriculum, which focused on developing our thinking and expressive skills and and not on training us for a particular occupation or career. Several other small liberal arts colleges would also be to my taste (e.g., Grinnell, Oberlin, Pomona, Carleton, Colorado College). Alternatively, instead of a small college I’d go for one of the big ones that has good undergraduate residential colleges within it.
In my dreams, in my do-over, I’m going to Cornell – where my kids went! I’m still majoring in animal science, but thinking in terms of animal behavior and training, and nutrition.
I’d do a dual degree from Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s. Get the best of both.
Faber College for sure
Fat, Drunk and Stupid was a fun way to go thru life
Great question. Had a fabulously intense experience at Princeton and would go back. But, started grad school at Stanford and might have been just as happy as an undergraduate there.
Finished grad school at Harvard and wouldn’t have done my undergraduate years there. Would not have done Oxford or Cambridge – I’m not sure the tutorial system would have been that good for me plus my studies were really interdisciplinary.
Back to my alma mater - Penn. Just a really good fit for me. That said, AFTER college…I should have done a year in Europe or worked in Europe or something. I needed to broaden my horizons a bit.
I would have done what shawbridge did but unlike him I don’t get nauseous around kryptonite?
I would have ripped it up the ticket and started a business like my best friend from H.S. He retired at age 40 when we sold his business for $15M.
@Nocreativity1, kryptonite doesn’t harm me but anything involving fine motor coordination (e.g., threading a needle or even changing a bike tire) or managing a lot of details will do me in.
I also would’ve liked to go somewhere like Middlebury, Wesleyan, Amherst, orWilliams!
I can’t seem to pick one, but the first one that popped into my mind was Santa Cruz. UVA, Vanderbilt and Tulane all followed quickly after that. I guess I’d pick Santa Cruz if it’s all about having fun, but Vanderbilt if I’m forced to consider academics too.
I am happy with where I went for undergrad. Sure, it got annoying when friends, family members, coworkers, and strangers would say, “Knox? Where’s that? Tennessee? Fort Knox? The School of Hard Knocks/Knox?” But this is true for all LACs. Really, the average person has never heard of Carleton or Grinnell or Oberlin. Only 2-3 percent of college students graduate from small liberal arts colleges.
But okay. In the spirit of this question, if I had to do a re-do, I’d still choose an LAC but maybe one outside the midwest (I was a student from IL attending college in IL). I’d still want small and cozy (even 2000 students feels too large for me). From afar, I’ve always admired Haverford (1300+ students and refreshingly not as obsessed with cutthroat competition thanks to its Quaker background) and Whitman College (under 1500 students, and it’d be cool to say that I go to school in Walla Walla, Washington).