visit to carleton down and they are currently in atlanta for admitted students festivities! he liked carleton more than he was expecting to–i guess the other case students in the class he sat in on had too much of a geeky feel (it was an engineering class to be fair) and he liked the vibe of carleton. oxford he also liked a lot–my mom said all the students seemed happy and the weather was gorgeous. they both noted how isolated it was from atlanta, and i guess some of the students said the teaching quality can vary a lot while carleton is consistently excellent (#1 undergraduate teaching, bay-bee!). he’s heard oxford is pretty tough/grade deflate-y and my mom said he has been asking a lot of questions about whether i think he will be able to handle the academic demands of college in general. the three of us talked over the phone and tried to encourage him. i only hope he doesn’t choose based on his perception of not being able to handle a harder school, because i truly believe he is capable as long as he works hard and is really self-aware of how his adhd symptoms can be obstacles + finds strategies to compensate for them.
oxford/emory and carleton are his top two. i’m honestly a little surprised that emory wasn’t dead first, but also a little smug (privately) that i was right about it being a good fit for him. my dad’s been a little bit like “hey maybe we should go with a cheaper option” but i think that ship has sailed, and i did tell my mother very sternly when she suggested that it could be a group decision rather than solely his decision and that very few schools (i.e. maybe? not the ones he’s choosing between?) are worth full price the way harvard is that she told him cost isn’t a constraint and that it wouldn’t be fair to suddenly change her mind about what she’s willing to pay two weeks before decision day. that being said, she likes carleton and she likes emory, so that might have just been an offhand thing.
on my end, it sure is horrifying living at the forefront of history in the making! the mood on campus is a bit terrified, but also maybe the most united we’ve been in years (i say as a freshman who’s only been here one year). my roommate who i adore is from an islamist country in the SWANA reason and was already planning to seek asylum on religious/LGBTQ grounds, and i have other friends who are international who don’t want to return home for similar reasons. happy to answer questions here or in dms for anyone who is curious about how this is impacting campus