I sympathize with you. My D25 picked another school over Purdue. My husband’s uncle(Purdue grad) asked why not Purdue this last weekend. Kid is coming to the end of freshman year in the next few weeks. He just couldn’t understand it. Husband’s 2nd cousin is an astronaut who went to Purdue, most of husband’s family have went to Purdue. The kid had lots of great reasons for not picking Purdue that made sense for her.
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We had this issue and solved it like this - Blue painters tape goes on the wall. 3M Command hooks/strips go on the blue painters tape…
It worked really well and was actually cleaner and easier to remove than the Command hooks/strips on their own. A friend used blue painters tape and then — HOT GLUE —- and then hung stuff and that worked too.
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Thank you! I didn’t know either option was a possibility. We have all of those supplies here except the blue tape but that’s easy to get. Maybe I will get to decorate a dorm room after all! 1 outta 3 ain’t bad… 
So you just stick the tape on the wall (like a flat piece) the length of the command strip and then the command strip goes right on top of that? Then you just peel the painter’s tape off at move-out? Awesome hack!! We will do that. I did not see the walls when my son moved out last year but his roommate’s mom and I were texting and she mentioned going back in with a paint sample and sparkling putty so I am guessing the command strips did some damage.
Yep - you just make a layer of painters tape and then put whatever on top of that. It comes off much cleaner than the 3M stuff alone.
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Replying to myself for some reason.
While I’m in here - the school where I work solicited input from parents and made this college packing list if anyone wants to add it to other resources. Just make a copy and add/delete whatever if it helps you. It’s A LOT so don’t feel like you need to get everything - more for idea generation! Updated College Packing List - Google Sheets
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Huge congrats to your kiddo on his decision! I was waiting to hear about this one. 
I’m sorry that people are being contrary. A happy kid that is excited about his choice is always the goal, and of course, no one’s business but your family’s. So yes, ignore everybody, but ugh – that is so annoying.
I will always smile when I hear about UC Santa Cruz and the banana slugs – a coworker of mine decades ago went there and told me about it – best mascot ever!
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I’m gonna say, especially the adults and their likely outdated ideas about these schools. Congrats on your son. I also know a couple of kids who chose UCSC over “higher ranked” schools or whatever perception people have - both the school and location get a lot of thumbs-up it seems (we never visited as they don’t have C26’s major). Honestly, I would have very little time for/have something to say to people who second guessed my kid’s college choice.
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I’ve heard this hack before about the blue painter’s tape – thank you!
But I am having trouble understanding how this works. The painter’s tape is made to barely adhere, so how does it hold if you put up something heavier with the command strip? Wouldn’t it just peel off the wall and fall?
I mean, we hung mirrors and framed pictures and hooks that held bathrobes and towels, etc. with command strips.
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Try it at home and see! But it worked well for us, so I will credit physics (which is not my subject area). We were able to hang heavy stuff and it worked well. In some more humid rooms, we first wiped the area of the wall with an alcohol wipe and then put the painters tape on.
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Prettiest UC campus imo. Giant redwoods makes it feel like you are in a secluded forest when Santa Cruz is 10 min away.
Don’t miss the Grateful Dead museum there. Great school with tons of opportunities in Silicon Valley after graduation.
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LOL, I will totally test it out. (Physics isn’t exactly my area either!) 
Although we used a lot of command strips directly on the wall in my older kid’s dorm rooms, two of those had cinder block walls, so no risk of damaging them.
We were able to take them off of drywall the other two years without issue – but you do have to be VERY patient, and pull them straight down exactly as detailed, otherwise it doesn’t end well.
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If you kid is happy, then that’s the right choice!
Hopefully in a few months, they will just ask how college is going.
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I can’t wait to tell my family where my daughter is going (insert sarcasm here) - there is about a 2% chance that they have even heard of either school. And my mother often has not nice things to say so…. 
But as long as my daughter is happy with her choice - I’m happy for her.
Today she is emailing some individuals at each school to gather more information before her decision. We have 8 days -so hopefully that will help.
We are definitely going to be down to the wire!
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God, I sure would 
My husband and D26 visited UCSC last week. She has already committed to UCSD, but was also accepted to Santa Cruz, and her dad was taking his students on a tour of northern CA colleges, so she tagged along. Anyway, they both said it’s a gorgeous campus with a fun town; they have some excellent programs; and D26 picked up an adorable stuffed banana slug from the bookstore and the two are now inseparable Anyway, UCSC is a fantastic choice!
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Have an elevator speech on hand to tell them. THEN if anybody says anything rude, ignorant, or passive-aggressive about your daughter’s choice, a couple of come-backs could be something like:
- ‘Did you really just say that out loud?’
- ‘I can’t believe you just said that.’
- ‘Wow…’ (followed by long awkward pause)
- ‘Perhaps you didn’t intend it, but that sounded pretty (rude, passive-aggressive, etc.).’
- ‘that was pretty rude/passive-aggressive. Are you feeling ok? Can I get you some water or soda or something?’
- Or you could go no holds barred, get out the big guns, and say in a snarky tone, ‘Well, it’s good then, isn’t it, that YOU won’t be the one attending? Clearly YOU don’t like the school but that doesn’t really matter now, does it?’
I’ve used the 1st 2 a lot in the past and have found them to be quite effective. 
If you need to, go full mama or papa bear on them.
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Your advice is awesome.
Luckily I will be texting them -as a group. And I’ll leave my daughter OFF the group. That way I can just convey the nice things people say. (Not my first rodeo with my unpredictable family )
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I used the last one this one time when Spouse’s aunt (AIL) got super pushy & rude after my MIL died a couple of years ago. We were all at MIL’s house right after she’d passed away and all of us (my immediate family, SIL & her kids, AIL & UIL) were talking about next steps, what to do, etc…
MIL had some large antique pieces of furniture that Spouse and SIL (sister in law) grew up with. 1 of these is an item they’ve always called the “What’s-it.” It’s large, has these big ball & claw feet, and MIL always used it to store dining room linens.
Spouse and SIL started talking about which of them would take the What’s-It. SIL proposed that it go to our house since we had room for it (that’s where it lives now).
Meanwhile, AIL put her foot in her mouth and blurted out, “I certainly hope you guys aren’t going to actually KEEP any of that large hideous furniture. As far as I’M concerned, you should get rid of ALL of MIL’s stuff.”
Spouse & SIL were so shocked, they were speechless.
Meanwhile, I was in a “stick a fork in me, I’m done” mood, after Spouse & I had been dealing with his daily trips 1.5 hr drive each way to the hospital where MIL had been in for the prior 6 weeks…
So I took a turn to Dysfunction Junction and said to rude AIL, “Well, then I suppose it’s good that this isn’t YOUR house, then, isn’t it? After all, MIL’s furniture and the rest of her stuff now belong to SIL & her brother. Only THEIR opinions matter. Not mine. Not yours. Not anybody else’s. AND their mother JUST DIED. The 2 of them GREW UP with that furniture. They have a lot of fond memories around the What’s-It that you just said was hideous. So it doesn’t MATTER that you hate it. Only THEY get to decide. Not you. Maybe if you don’t like the furniture, you should just do them a favor and keep your opinions to yourself.”
…keep in mind, she blurted out all of that rude nonsense right after chastising Spouse & I because MIL’s primary bedroom was dusty and it was making AIL’s allergies flare up. Oh yes…AIL & UIL SLEPT IN MY DYING/DEAD MIL’S PRIMARY BEDROOM because they didn’t want to pay for a hotel room (they’re super cheap) and then had the nerve to scold us for how “dirty” MIL’s house was. Um hello? The woman hadn’t lived there for a month and a half. The house wasn’t dirty. There were a couple of dust bunnies in the far corner of that one bedroom.
To that, SIL lost her cool and full on yelled at AIL and told her to go stay in a hotel if she didn’t like it.
I am fully in favor of going mama/papa bear on somebody who’s criticizing your kid’s college choice…especially when the person is being a butthead in front of your child.
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CONGRATULATIONS! We have a cousin with sky high stats who just last year chose UCSC over three of our local east coast private schools much “higher” (T20 liberal arts). Nobody here was mystified because we have heard again and again a) how amazing the UC schools are and b) how hard they all are to get into. Also, the campus! Dang. If I were an 18 year old who loved the outdoors, I know where I’d be looking.
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Thanks! Adopting Banana Slug as their mascot has an interesting story . Apparently the students at UCSC picked Banana Slug as the mascot as a reaction to all the fierce, masculine mascots of most colleges with big name sports.
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