<p>Shawbridge: That’s wonderful news, though now we can’t be friends. You know that Williams parents don’t consort with Amherst parents. (LOL.)</p>
<p>I think given the parameters of his decision, your son has made a very wise decision. </p>
<p>My S felt almost exactly the same (substitute Williams for Amherst.) Our time at Dartmouth was like a dream in the best possible sense, but he just didn’t feel as at home there.</p>
<p>mythmom, we got lucky the other way. Normally the guy picks up the tickets for both, but last year our son took a girl who was on the prom committee so she got her ticket for free. At our school, seniors get their ticket for free so he will only have to pay for his date this year. The guys pick up the cost of dinner, but the girls picked up the limo cost in exchange (or the parents did). </p>
<p>Shawbridge, Amherst sounds like a good fit for your son. I had an intern for two summers who was an English major at Amherst. Fabulous kid–played football for them in the fall and track in the spring. I will mention that they seemed a little over the top on the liberal arts side of the curriculum. He told me he couldn’t take an accounting class even by going to one of the sister schools (or at least wouldn’t be given college credit for it) because it was deemed too businessy. This kid was doing a lot of accounting work for me and I knew he would be coming back (dad highly placed in our firm) so I had specifically requested he try to get an accounting class between his first and second summers. Didn’t happen. Don’t know if he was feeding me a line but he went on to get a good investment banking job in NYC after he graduated, so I think he had an interest in business courses and really had made the effort. As long as your son doesn’t have an interest in business courses, it shouldn’t be an issue but if he does, just something to perhaps look into further. This was a few years ago, so things may also have changed. Kid did love the school overall–had transferred in from Colgate for the more relaxed football program.</p>
<p>Thanks mythmom, how about quiet respect? The schools do seem a bit like two slightly different vintages of very fine champagne. Each is excellent, though they differ in minor but key ways that may appeal more to some than to others.</p>
<p>TheAnalyst, they don’t offer accounting and the president in his presentation was asked about preparing for careers and he said, we think we teach you how to think. You can learn job skills later, but if you can think, you will be valuable when you graduate but even more as the world changes 10 years from now. Most of the specifics you learn in college will no longer be relevant 10 years form now, but if you can analyze problems, think clearly and write well, you’ll still be able to make a difference. I didn’t know that they would not give credit for accounting, but I’m not surprised given the attitude. </p>
<p>I largely agree with their president. The two jobs I’ve had longest after leaving my professor’s job didn’t exist when I was in college. It is only the ability to think relatively clearly that has enabled me to do them and in particular, to create one of them. I taught myself accounting when I took a leave of absence from teaching to work for an investment bank. I taught myself finance theory when I was a professor and learned a lot about the practice when I was at the investment bank. I think I’ve taught myself a bunch of different areas over the years and attribute this to my education. In retrospect, an accounting course would have been a good idea, but I just figured I’d learn it and got some books. Accounting is a little harder to learn on one’s own than say finance theory because it is a bit like a foreign language; some things are arbitrary but have been become the convention (or defined) one way rather than another and there is no logic that necessarily gets you there – you just have to know. But it is extremely useful, and the Amherst president said he would have benefited from studying accounting before he became president. </p>
<p>Also, going into i-banking is not surprising. One senior who led us on a tour told us that she’d gotten an internship last summer at Goldman Sachs that an Amherst alum gives to Amherst kids. I doubt they’ll be doing a lot of hiring this year, however, and I didn’t ask her what she’ll be doing next year.</p>
<p>My son will not miss the business stuff – he’s a theory guy at the moment. He may well go into business and in fact I wouldn’t be completely surprised if he went to business school some day, but not in the next four years.</p>
<p>D will pay for her ticket and her limo. Her date will pay for his. I’m not old fashioned at all. They are both seniors at the same HS so it doesn’t make sense for me that he should pay for both. Currently we are hosting the pre-prom sit down dinner at our house. We may also be hosting the post prom party and co-ed sleep over but not sure. Details are still being worked out. Should be fun once it’s over ;)</p>
<p>I think this is how my son thinks. They are both students at the same high school going to the same prom. However, he did ask her to go with him. It would be awkward to ask her if she is willing to pay - asking her to go with him was hard enough! 
</p>
<p>They have to buy the tickets by April 30. He hasn’t talked to the young lady about the prom since he asked her.</p>
<p>RochesterMom: That’s the way I feel.</p>
<p>Shawbridge: Williams must be significantly more quiet than Amherst – town smaller, no consortium, mountains everywhere. But S is very, very happy there. But then the most exciting thing he did this year was find a copy of the Iliad in Greek on the library shelves. He works at the library.</p>
<p>Seriously, he is in plays, the chorus, the orchestra, the environmental club and thinking of the debate team. His social life involves movies at the independent cinema in town with GF. One time they took a cab to No. Adams to see a first run movie: Watchmen. I don’t think he’d have time for more “noise.”</p>
<p>He told me he hasn’t even gotten a chance to watch last week’s Heroes, and it’s Monday again. It’s his favorite show. So there you go. The “quiet” hasn’t been a problem at all, and I don’t think it will be for your son from what I can glean of him.</p>
<p>I think Amherst is a wonderful place.</p>
<p>My S will never go into business, that’s for sure. He plans to starve in a garret right along with GF, though the Williams chief librarian is encouraging him to make his career library work. Apparently he’s very good at it. Weird, right?</p>
<p>mythmom, I meant “if not friendship, how about quiet respect?” </p>
<p>I don’t think my son will venture too far off campus so he’ll enjoy the quiet. He’ll be working. His HS Moot Court partner is a freshman at Amherst now and is into partying – he knows where the cool parties are at other schools. Other than that kid, my son had the impression that a boy might go to a party at Smith or Mt. Holyoke on a weekend night if he didn’t have suitable female companionship but that generally kids stay at Amherst. My son played poker on Sunday night with some upperclassmen who play regularly and (does it surprise me?) won $20. He said that if he practices, he could make a fair bit of money. He almost won $70 and the upperclassmen were very surprised as they play quite regularly. The one thing they may figure out is that they shouldn’t play games of strategy against my son for money. I think he is more likely to play Settler of Catan or poker than to go to wild parties.</p>
<p>But, you are right, Williams is beautiful in its isolation whereas there are definitely things to do outside of Amherst – though the town itself is probably not a big draw. I think the isolation really causes kids to bond and love the school (they do at Williams and they really do at Dartmouth).</p>
<p>There is actually something called library science. I would have thought library work was a bit like joining a buggy whip company. Or, it will become more like computer science or database management. But, I’m ignorant and it could be a booming field for all I know.</p>
<p>I’m sure books and libraries are on their way out. But my S is a Classics major, so library science would probably perfect for him.</p>
<p>I think he might want to curate ancient texts that can’t be computerized. I don’t know.</p>
<p>Sure quiet respect and friendship. I think Williams and Amherst parents really have a secret handshake.</p>
<p>The poker sounds fun.</p>
<p>shawbridge: you are giving me ideas…maybe S can play poker instead of a job at college…hmm…</p>
<p>
Blasphemous, mythmom! Changing, yes; on their way out, not at all. </p>
<p>Glad to see so many families getting closer to that final decision! </p>
<p>Shawbridge, I particularly liked reading about your and your S’s experiences.</p>
<p>historymom, I particularly liked reading about your girls’ PROM DRESSES! 
And of course, their progress twds decisions.</p>
<p>momasita, I wouldn’t recommend it as a side job but one of my friend’s sons attended MIT, became a science teacher and played online poker at night and made more money than his teacher’s salary. He went to work for a hedge fund and now works for Goldman Sachs, I believe. Another friend’s son told me about friends or roommates at his NE LAC that made several hundred thousand a year playing poker. In the latter case, it became all consuming and school was a formality</p>
<p>mythmom, Heroes is my son’s favorite show also. We didn’t watch commercial TV in our house for years and still don’t have cable. But, my son’s never had time to watch TV until this year. My daughter is really fond of Grey’s Anatomy.</p>
<p>Just found out that so far, S will be the only male in his prom group. Mind is boggling at this turn of events. One of the girls is well-known to us - she professed her love to S when she first met him in kindergarten!</p>
<p>Anywho, the decision is now made.</p>
<p>It’s WPI!!!</p>
<p>Hooray, fireflyscout!</p>
<p>Yeah Fireflyscout. Congrats to S</p>
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<p>That’s terrific. Seems like every school should have that attitude.</p>
<p>Hooray Shawbridge and Fireflyscout! What great schools!</p>
<p>mythmom how delightful to have you hanging out with us! </p>
<p>Three cheers for decisions! On that front, D received an email from the soccer coach at a school she had previously discarded and now it is back on the list…we are going backwards…sigh.</p>
<p>I think D made her decision. Then, tonight a friend of a friend who is a professional college counselor called to say we ought to consider other schools on the list instead… Not what I needed. I didn’t tell D …</p>
<p>sending Zetesis’s College counselor a cyber smack!</p>
<p>Yeah, me too on that smack. What I appreciate about this thread is that people don’t try to make other people’s decisions for them.</p>