<p>Ok – I come from blue collar stock & my college search process was limited financially, geographically & simply because I had no guidance. Now as a parent in this day & age of web search, youtube clips & tons of ratings & guidebooks I am a better informed consumer.</p>
<p>I know this process is stressful, but I am SOOO jealous of my neice (11th grade) & my 9th grade son. Perhaps more choices simply create more confusion, but man my life may have been different if I know about water tube polo & other fun stuff.</p>
<p>Anyone else out there feel this way?</p>
<p>I just get so excited by the large opportunities and the fact it is easy to surf the web to view the items the old guidebooks didn’t have space to show you.</p>
<p>I think its one thing that keeps me coming back to CC - my own unfulfilled dreams. What if I’d had the opportunity to attend any school I wanted. What if I’d been able to surf the web to see everything that is possible. Surely something to think about.</p>
<p>“Jealous” seems like too strong a word, since I’m thrilled for them for the college opportunities and experiences my daughters are getting. But I sometimes kinda wish I could join them somehow.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I’m glad I grew up in the cultural era that I did - the era of The Beatles, Muhammad Ali, etc. I wouldn’t trade it for being young in their world.</p>
<p>That was me too, Longhaul! This sounds ridiculous today, but my family’s mindset way back when was that the important thing was going to college, because no one in the family had ever had that opportunity. Which college didn’t matter, because colleges were more alike than different. Factor in a clueless guidance department and a community in which the all the college-bound kids went to the state U or the local “teachers college”, and it’s no wonder I wound up where I did. If I hadn’t met dh at our particular school, I’d consider going there the biggest mistake of my life.</p>
<p>The college search process is just indescribably improved today! Though the fact that everyone can easily access the rankings has probably contributed to the crazy “Ivy or bust” mentality out there. I remember that we had to make appointments to see the college catalogs and enormous college directories in our guidance center, where they were treated practically like the Gutenberg Bible. And there was a lot of gate-keeping, too - kids were shunted into college prep, vocational, or secretarial courses early on, and it was understood that only the “academic” kids would even consider going on to college.</p>
<p>I see what my son is doing and how much he is learning and I think that I could never do that. His theoretical abilities are far above mine though I’m a lot better at practical applications. I have a rich and busy life and don’t think that I’d want to go through college again. There are a lot of headaches in going to college too and thinking about just the fun things isn’t realistic.</p>
<p>I want to go back… three meals a day all ready and waiting for me and the chance to sit once again in a darkened art history classroom looking at slide after slide of beautiful paintings. Heavenly. “Youth is wasted on the young,” says my husband each time he drops one of our kids off at college.</p>
<p>Wouldn’t want to trade back for the constant stress (24x7 homework anxiety). Or having to take classes that didn’t interest me for grad requirements. Or being under the thumb of profs and TAs who (sometimes) were complete idiots.</p>
<p>But I would love to have the dorm friendships again, and be able to pick and choose classes that interest me now. It would be a different list than I selected at 18-22!</p>
<p>I’m sort of glad I didn’t know about all the options back then. My dad wasn’t willing to pay for anything other than the state school (fortunately a good one!), so I just would have been pressing my nose against the glass.</p>
<p>Frazzled, you described my situation pretty well, except that I wasn’t first to go to college. Although I wouldn’t say that I am “jealous” of my kids, I’m thrilled they all got the opportunities they did. What guided my recommendations to my kids was the chance to give them something I didn’t have. I went to a big city state school, and really wanted my kids to have a “campus” experience. S1 and D benefitted from that. S2 has the big city. He doesn’t mind; he got what he wanted, and he’s thriving - but he visited D’s college last summer for the first time, and was practically drooling.</p>
<p>It’s funny, though. The best thing I took away from my college experience was my spouse - and it seems to be the one thing my kids are NOT taking. ;)</p>
<p>When each of my kids was in the first years of college, I often did envy them their lifestyles. There’s a lot to like about college – the intellectual challenges, the presence of so many interesting people your own age, the loosely structured schedules, the pleasant physical environment, the new feeling of independence from some of the constraints of home. I really liked many aspects of college when I was there, and every time I find myself in a college environment now, I’m reminded of that.</p>
<p>But as each of my kids moved into the later years of college, I remembered the downside: college doesn’t last forever. You have to make a transition from college to adult life, and that transition, in my opinion, is rockier and less pleasant than the transition from high school to college because it involves more uncertainties, more choices, less guidance, and more decision making. I’m glad I don’t have to go through that again.</p>
<p>It still makes me happy, though, whenever I find myself on a college campus – whether it’s one of my kids’ campuses or another one. There’s just something about colleges that I love.</p>
<p>I have the answer. Retire to a college town. We love the sports and the intellectual community. It has a few downsides, (it’s very liberal for our way of thinking and taxes are high) but the students, the walkability, the sports, the intellectual climate, and adult education classes make this town the southern part of heaven.</p>
<p>I took many of my college courses for granted or as a chore. I was focused on getting the grades. When we were visiting schools with D1, H and I sat in few classes. They were so interesting, I wish I could take some of those courses. I try to encourage D1 to take as many courses outside of major(s) just for fun because once she gets out of school she wouldn’t have the time or opportunity. I am so busy now, but when I retire I wouldn’t mind going back to school to take some courses I want.</p>
<p>I would love to go thecheckbook’s route - move to a small college town. That is one of the things that pulls at my heart most when we visit schools - the mood of the town, the old buildings and often older home neighborhoods nearby, the events such as music, art and sports - all of it. I think that would be enough to satisfy me. :)</p>
<p>What I do wish, is that when it was my college time, that we had “looked” at schools. Yeah, I remember getting some brochures in the mail, but a family member had gone to my school and liked so that was pretty much it - it was in the state, decent price and had decent majors - applied and went. No looking. My parents would never have had the patience for that or really understood the “looking”.</p>
<p>I can relate to this feeling…which is why I suppose I never really left (I’m a professor). </p>
<p>Every fall I get excited all over again as if I’m going back to school (even though I work year round on campus!). I love campus life, the intellectual challenge, the students, the endless events (from live performances, lectures, movies, department competitions, open houses, social events with faculty and students and so on). The energy and diversity is fantastic and keeps you young too.</p>
<p>Yes! I was so jealous of my son going to my alma mater, I sat down with the course catalog to dream about what I’d take if I got to do it over again. It turns out they’re revamped my original major, with all sorts of intriguing electives. Now I’m doubly jealous.</p>
<p>My opportunities were limited back in the day so when my 1st born began his college search I was jealous. So I did what I had dreamed of doing my whole life. I wrote a novel, got an agent, got published. Then I wrote others. I still would like to go back to college and take writing courses just for the fun of it. Perhaps get a MFA. But that’s expensive and I have two kids in college.</p>
<p>Nope. Not jealous, wouldn’t want to go back. I’m happy with the life I’m living in the present. (Besides, we had inner tube water polo as an intramural sport way back then.)</p>
<p>Are all you people with the inner-tube Water Polo talking about UConn? That impressed us at the info session as well! What a fun way to spend a couple of hours!</p>
<p>When I dropped S off at our alma mater, I did drive away with a sense of jealousy. I knew he was about to enter four marvelous years, with wonderful opportunities that I didn’t take full advantage of and friendships and fun times ahead. But I got over it… I wouldn’t want to go back to not having any money. Or not being able to enjoy a football game on TV on a Sunday afternoon because I was supposed to be doing homework. And the friends I thought would be lifetime friends… not so much. And I even married my college sweetheart - but we haven’t really kept up close friendships with anyone from school. Just FB friends and Christmas cards.</p>