My 20 something is leap years ahead of me in geography. As a kid he knew all the states and countries - and all the flags of all the countries. At some point I saw a cheap flash card deck of the countries and their flags. I bought it to test him. He got almost every single one on the first try. Even little island nations I didn’t even know were countries! He says he learned playing FIFA soccer
I’m a champ with states. I know Europe and the major countries. Very weak on Africa.
But I did impress him with my knowledge of US cities. One day he took a map and just randomly picked non state capital cities. I got every one. How? 20 years on a running forum. Everyone would write race reports!
He might enjoy the worldle game. My son has me playing.
They give you a shape. If it’s like Slovenia, he gets in one. I strike out.
You get 6 guesses like wordle. After each it gives you a percentage (cold, warm, hot) and a direction to where the country is relative to your guess. And I’ve gotten like 3 of 20 I’ve done.
My geography-loving son loves Worldle! Also Globle – you have to figure out the mystery country by playing a hot-and-cold game, getting warmer based on the distance of the mystery country from your previous guesses.
My kids are also great at geography and play wordle and globle!
Ge is also quite popular in certain circles! If any of you have never seen rainbolt (and other top players)- it is remarkable (though they aren’t doing it just by geography knowledge, but my crazy visual /identification memorization skills)
On the topic of geography and games…my husband and I really enjoy MapTap (website or app) Tap on a map trying to identify the locations of 5 increasingly difficult cities. New locations each day. My Dad (80) texted me yesterday “I think I finally have Bolivia memorized” Just make sure you go into settings and choose for your tap to require a longer press down on the screen. Very frustrating to accidentally guess London is in the Atlantic Ocean!
We flew into Chicago from Vermont and our cab driver didn’t know that it was a state in the US . He had never heard of it but I will excuse him as he was a fairly recent Polish immigrant
When my kids were in grade school, a family adopted a baby and another child (not their child, just another kid from the school) was introducing her. She said, “She’s new, she’s from Vermont!”
The baby was from Viet Nam. Close. they are both places.
Back in the 90s when I went to college in upstate New York, a person asked me where I was from, and when I replied “Seattle,” they kindly asked me, in complete seriousness, what kind of farm I lived on.
Similar story with S2. We both really liked the energy and focus on ENG at Purdue, but the stories about the overcrowding and sub par living situations(he had a friend one year ahead at Purdue), as well as the dingy EE labs in a basement with dim lighting, low ceilings, and an overall 'old" feel, caused him to consider the U of MN instead, which had really nice buildings, labs, and workshops. The decision turned out really well for him, and for us, as he was able to get substantial scholarships and bursaries that likely wouldn’t have been available at Purdue. He also found some really bright people to hang out with, and learn from, at MN.
Dorm (supplied only for 1st year) was ok, with a great roommate, except that the roof literally caved in during the winter due to snow load/melt. They ended up the year living in a closed off landing of a stairway! He and his roommate still laugh about it - kids are pretty adaptable.
I did a Fordham Lincoln Center tour a couple of months ago and we did get to see a dorm (McMahon, apt style). Spacious, kitchen, relatively modern/well kept, great Manhattan views. All comes with a price…apt style room is $22K per year, board not required for first years living in McMahon, but plans range up to $9.2K.
My D24 is at Fordham and this was a concern for my Jewish husband. But it has not been a big deal at all. The intro Theology class everyone takes is basically world religions. My daughter took a Jewish texts course that she LOVED. I think more students at Fordham identify themselves as unaffiliated or unknown than Catholic. My D27 looked briefly at U of San Diego and it seemed much more Catholic than Fordham so we dropped it from her list.
I didn’t love Fordham LC but my kid did, location had a lot to do with it. Ended up going elsewhere in NYC but LC would have been high on her list of she hadn’t got in to her ED school. We are also Jewish btw, and the Jesuit angle seemed pretty low-key to us.
Of course, being surrounded by corn and windmills or by city is, of itself, a massive gap. (Though one that could work to the favor of either of them, depending on personal preferences.)
Did they speak about financial aid on the tour? Columbia GS doesn’t meet full need (like the rest of its undergrad colleges). Not sure about cost of the international partners, although I believe you can use FAFSA to access federal financial aid at all three.
Thanks for your response. You ask a good question- we are full pay so it’s not something I pay close attention to. I do know that federal financial aid is available/applicable to the full four years of the program. Some scholarships and financial aid may be available for the final two years of the program through the Columbia School of GS, but that division has a lot less available than Columbia College, SEAS, or Barnard. With regards to the Tel Aviv program specifically, the tuition for the first two years is about $16,000 a year (not including housing, airfare etc) so there is a lot of savings there. I am not familiar with the costs of the other programs.
Thanks for the details. Gemini shows Columbia GS meets 62%-65% of need on average.
These do sound like great programs for the right student. Good luck to your S thru the admissions process!
Just make sure you go into settings and choose for your tap to require a longer press down on the screen. Very frustrating to accidentally guess London is in the Atlantic Ocean!