<p>I was in the last class to apply to Radcliffe and the first to graduate from Harvard. Most of my friends there were public school kids on scholarships - lots doing work study jobs. It always makes me feel sad to hear about people who didn’t apply because they were convinced they couldn’t afford it or that they would have to keep up with the Jone’s once they were there. Everyone I knew wore torn up jeans and army jackets. Even the rich kids looked poor.</p>
<p>That said, I basically majored in art and architectural history. Sometimes I think I might have been better off at art school. (But I do prefer being married to a scientist than another artist!)</p>
<p>I made a mistake on choosing an MBA program. I was working after graduation, the company paid my MBA program while I was on the job. I could goto NYU in the evenings, but it is a 3 hour plus round trip each day from NJ where I worked. So I went to a local school for my MBA program, even that is very taxing. As you know, a no name brand MBA is not worth that much. It did not help my career a bit, a total waste of time and efforts.</p>
<p>To OP, re: reunions.
Taking a few classes at a community college in your late teens, and again over the years, isn’t the sort of program that reunions are made for.
I did attend a comprehensive high school, with many of the same kids from elementary & jr high, but I didn’t graduate. ( I took my GED exam after attending an alternative high school)</p>
<p>However, a few years ago, I was encouraged to attend my 35th high school reunion ( from the comprehensive school). I dragged my feet & so missed those who left early, but I had a lot of fun talking to people that I had barely known & those that I had known pretty well but hadn’t kept in touch with.</p>
<p>I think as long as attending doesn’t put you out, that you should go, and you may be very pleasantly surprised by getting to revisit your youth, & sharing common experiences.
:)</p>
<p>This is one of those types of questions that seems easy to answer - but isn’t. </p>
<p>Say you married a person with whom life proved difficult/unsatisfying and you went through a terrible divorce. It’s easy to say ‘I wouldn’t marry him/her again’ – unless that marriage produced a child you’re crazy about. Would you then still say "I wouldn’t marry him/her again’ knowing that child would never have existed and been a part of your life?</p>
<p>Probably. College wasn’t the greatest fit, socially. I don’t keep in touch with any college friends. Had some fun times, but I was mostly “uncomfortable” there.
Did not meet H in college, but I wouldn’t have been on the same path to meet him if I’d gone elsewhere. (LOL–H is probably not the best spouse for me, either, but that’s life: no do-overs.)<br>
I could’ve been just as uncomfortable at another college or with a different spouse, so I never think, “What if. . .”</p>
<p>Started at in-state flagship & immediately transfered to large OOS public from list with parent’s approval. Was able to get grants & scholarships & work study with minimal loans to graduate from there. Did a LOT of things I would never have been able to do if I remained at in-state flagship–became member of national YWCA steering committee, co-chaired the board of directors at local YWCA, met so many new & different people, some of whom had never left their little hometown before coming to college. Also met quite a few kids who were first of their extended family to attend college.</p>
<p>Picked law schools to apply to rather randomly but was very happy with the school I ended up attending and graduating from. It suited me perfectly. Met lots of wonderful people and learned a lot about myself and nature.</p>
<p>Best of all, graduated from UG & law school in 7 years, owing the same amount in loans that I had in my savings account, so I COULD have paid it off and graduated with no debt but was advised to pay it over time quarterly, to build credit.</p>
<p>Choices were so much simpler in those days without being bombarded by internet & too much info that our poor kids have to sift through. </p>
<p>Have few close ties left at the the college I graduated from or my law school, so have not kept in touch much, nor have they. Not tempted at this time to attend any reunions unless someone I knew is attending and trying to round a bunch of us up, tho I think that’s EXTREMELY unlikely at this point. Was very happy in college & law school tho have lost most of the friends I made in those years.</p>
<p>Not at all happy with the UG college I went to. Way too big for me, Greek system which I didn’t understand at all when applying. It also had several specific “schools” – e.g., music, tech, drama – so one couldn’t “dabble” in choir or acting, since everyone there was starting a professional career in whatever I wanted to dabble in. Wanted to major in bio so I had to take calc my freshman year. So did all the guys in the engineering school, who had already taken calc in HS. I’m lucky I got through two terms of cal with Cs. Never felt like any professor gave two darns about me.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, I’ve never given them any money and never gone to a reunion.</p>
<p>So why did I go to this school? It was the “best” of the three I applied to. And, to be fair, it still has a stellar reputation. People are impressed that I went there.</p>
<p>I started at cc fully intending to transfer to my state flagship. When the time came, I wanted a smaller school and my cc guidance counselor suggested the school I ended up attending. I should have gone back and thanked that man as it turned out to be a perfect fit both socially and academically. Loved it!</p>
<p>I’m quite happy with my college. I was the first one to attend college (neither of my parents went) so my parents were not able to assist me and my guidance counselor was useless. I ended up at Douglass College (of Rutgers University) and I never had a reason to regret my choice. </p>
<p>I was very sad when my college got swallowed up by Rutgers University so that it no longer really exists. It was a great place to be a college woman.</p>
<p>A simple question, but one that is so difficult. I met my husband in college, so that is non-negotiable. On the other hand, he probable should have gone to a different grad school. So the college I should have gone to undergrad is whatever one he should have picked for grad, if you follow me.</p>
<p>There are two things (at least!) I completely did not understand going into undergrad. I didn’t understand what good mentoring felt like. I did finally learn years later in grad school, when I was in a wonderful, emotionally supportive department, what a thrill collaborative science can be. The other thing I didn’t understand was that I could have leveraged my athletic and academic strengths into scholarships.</p>
<p>I didn’t really have a choice. My parents told me what they could afford – flagship state U – and no other options were made available. The idea of options didn’t even exist.</p>
<p>If I knew then what I know now … one of the women’s colleges? Smith? Holyoke? Wheaton (which was all girls at the time). Someplace small and nurturing where I would not have been lost in the crowd.</p>
<p>I have asked myself this question many times over the years, but as kelsmom wrote above, the rest of my life would have been completely different, and indeed “a good time was had by all”.</p>
<p>I absolutely chose the wrong college and major (and career). But if I had gone in another direction I would not have my wife and son. So I don’t spend any time thinking about the other paths I might have taken. It takes all my time just to deal with the path I am on!</p>
<p>My undergrad was a great fit academically (small classes, great teachers, lots of one-to-one contact with engaging professors) but a terrible fit socially (wrong campus vibe for me, far too homogenous ethnically/socioeconomically, very much Greek-oriented). I was happy in the classroom but miserable outside of it. </p>
<p>Looking back - yes, I made the wrong choice. To top it all off, I met and married the wrong person! Luckily that didn’t last too long…</p>
<p>“Am I the only one who doesn’t regret my choice?”</p>
<p>Marian asked this way back on the first page. I had stated that, were money not an issue, I probably would have chosen another school. But that doesn’t mean I “regret” anything … and it is so easy to look back a million or so years later with the hindsight that is accompanied by a lifetime of experiences. Heck, I was a dumb 18 year old kid with great test scores, great grades, clueless parents, and no idea what was what. I chose based on what worked, and it was just fine for me. I don’t regret my choice …</p>
<p>That said, though, there were other schools I would love to have attended at the time … and yet others I would love to have attended when I look at them with today’s eyes. For example, when we took D on a tour of Davidson, H and I were blown away. WE wanted to go!! Again, though, I don’t actually regret my choice at all.</p>
<p>My college was not the greatest fit for me, but I do have some good memories and some loyalty to the sports teams. Both my kids applied, although neither attended. It was an out of state Big Ten school which I chose for its stellar music school to which I should not have been admitted, but was! I needed stronger academics, frankly. I had an “uneven” high school transcript due to some behavioral and emotional issues and didn’t get in to some of the better academic schools like Cornell to which I applied. I was going for music anyway, which lasted a semester! Graduated in 3 years and went to law school. I over-corrected a little bit with the law school thing and felt like I was the bottom of the class (I wasn’t, actually) since everyone was SO smart! </p>
<p>I think a mid-size (not tiny) LAC would have been a better fit for me for undergrad or maybe someplace like Bucknell or Colgate. Looking back, if I could beam myself back I would be at Rice or Vanderbilt.</p>