<p>I’m waving a magic wand and transporting you to a parallel universe. You are 18 years old, but have all your current knowledge/experience. (We have not gone back in time; it is still 2012). You may attend any school you wish for four years of undergrad study. Your tuition is free and you are guaranteed admission to whichever school you choose. When you’ve completed your degree, you will be returned to your present life and everything will be as it was, but you’ll remember everything. </p>
<p>Which school would you go to, and why?
What would you study?
What extracurriculars would you participate in?</p>
<p>Interesting questions, and I don’t have answers to all of them, but as an adult I regret only applying to one school. It was our in-state flagship and while it was a good experience for me, it would have been fun to have some options to consider. My parents were not nearly as involved as I have been with my kids (well–how could they have been? no internet to spend hours and hours on researching a kajillion different schools).</p>
<p>Re: what I’d study, I ended up in the right major for me, even though it took me a while to find it.</p>
<p>Re: ECs, not sure, but as a child of the 60s-70s, and a female, I’ve also always regretted not being more physically active through high school and college (and, you know, now). So many sports for women these days–IM through varsity–that either did not exist back then or most females really did not engage in them.</p>
<p>My parents were not very involved much in my college process, so I only really knew about the public schools in CA (UCs, CSUs), and Stanford because I grew up in NorCal. I only applied to 2 schools - 1 UC and 1 CSU (but in those days, we applied to the UC “system” with 1 app, and ranked the schools in order that you wished to attend).</p>
<p>Halfway through undergrad, I had learned about Columbia, and it sounded great, mostly because it was in Manhattan. Finally got to visit it, 25 years later, while touring colleges with my kid, and it was even better than I had imagined it.</p>
<p>I would need to do visits to Columbia, NYU, and Stanford to decide I have come to love NYC, but also love the weather and lifestyle in California.</p>
<p>I never did sports or ECs (did not know what an EC was) because I worked everyday after high school and most weekends to build my college fund. My parents told me early if I wanted to go to college I would need to pay for it.</p>
<p>Since I would not need to work I would play HS sports and EC would be starting a small but profitably company.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>William and Mary</p></li>
<li><p>Psychology</p></li>
<li><p>The college newspaper.</p></li>
<li><p>I visited William and Mary with my daughter when she was looking at colleges. She was unimpressed. I loved it. I have never felt so at home on a campus. I liked its nerdy atmosphere, friendliness, medium size, and slightly-less-than-fearsome academic reputation. I wouldn’t have been afraid that I wasn’t good enough there, the way I felt at the college I actually did attend (which was Cornell). William and Mary had not been on my radar screen when I applied to college back in the 1970s because I lived in Connecticut then, but if I lived in the middle Atlantic states now, it would definitely be my first choice.</p></li>
<li><p>Psychology is the major I really wanted when I went to college. But I struggled with some of the courses and ended up switching to biology because I found it easier. (Yes, I found a science major easier. Go figure.) I wish I had stayed with my initial interest and worked harder to find out how to improve my grades rather than taking the easy way out (yes, for me, taking subjects like organic chemistry and competing with the pre-meds was the easy way out).</p></li>
<li><p>I had worked on a student newspaper in high school, but it wasn’t a very good one, and I didn’t learn much. I didn’t sign up to work on the college newspaper because I thought I didn’t have enough background. I was too intimidated. If I had to do it over again, I would have at least given it a try. It’s possible that my background was indeed inadequate, but I should have found that out the hard way rather than simply assuming it.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Like others, my universe was much smaller when I was 18. I applied to 1 school, my state flagship and went there. I actually loved it, and would go again. (Go Ducks!)</p>
<p>I’m not even sure I would have a different major. Mine was Sociology. Albeit not very useful, I am fascinated by the subject. Also have loved political science, so maybe I might have gone into the political arena.</p>
<p>ECs: I didn’t do any then, not sure I would do any now. Maybe something with the arts. </p>
<p>I do volunteer now, active in professional groups, but never was involved with campus activities, per se.</p>
<p>I’d have gone to a LAC instead of a major research university. I would have thrived in smaller classes with faculty attention. I would have done history and philosophy. The ECs? More sex and drugs, frankly. (Especially with the guarantee that I’d have my current life now, having avoided the risks that go with those choices.) I was such a risk averse good girl.</p>
<p>If I had to do it again I’d at least consider Yale over Harvard - I could have majored in Architecture and had Vincent Scully lecturing to me. But I don’t have real regrets about what I did. I majored in Visual and Environmental Studies. Loved the tiny department. Loved the architectural history lectures by Eduard Sekler and ended up writing my senior thesis with him as adviser. My main regrets are on the EC front, not the academic front. I’d have joined the literary magazine earlier, and I’d have gotten involved in Phillips Brook House.</p>
<p>My big question would be, do I go back for more at Harvard, or try Stanford for a change of pace and greater outdoor life? I probably couldn’t give up the chance to go back home. I’d try a new House this time if it were up to me, probably Dunster or Adams.</p>
<p>No psychology major this time. I’d either major in History of Science or History. I have fantasies about a women’s history thesis based on the cookbook collection in the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe. I could probably do that through Gender Studies, too.</p>
<p>Do we posit that I also get into the a cappella group of my choice? In this scenario, where only the experience matters, that’s a big deal. The Veritones have gotten so good that I probably would not get in nowadays. But there’s nothing that ever made me happier than being in that group.</p>
<p>This doesn’t fit the bounds of the question, but the one thing I would change is that I definitely would have given merit money more weight than I did and graduated with less debt. I didn’t know that “CAN (barely) afford it” doesn’t equal “SHOULD spend it”</p>
<p>After looking at schools with S13, I’d probably pick either UChicago or Washington U. St. Louis</p>
<p>Major: Library science. I knew I’d love it then but thought I was being silly that I’d like being a librarian because I like to read. Now, having volunteered at both the school and public libraries for years, I know better.</p>
<p>ECs: Band, jazz band. Also, I would attend sporting events and not work so much.</p>
<p>I don’t know what college I’d go to and I don’t know what I’d study but I do know that I would get involved in choral singing at the college level in every way possible.</p>
<p>You mean I don’t have to work in the dining hall?! It’s hard to imagine the possibilities!</p>
<p>I’d like to study psychology or botany instead of English.</p>
<p>Not sure what school. Maybe a small LAC since I went to a big state u. Maybe a women’s college? It would have to be a beautiful campus, though, with woods/trails nearby.</p>
<p>ECs–Can I be in a singing group, even if I can’t sing? Swing/ballroom dancing? Hiking/environmental groups? Track? More parties?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t want to do it over, actually. Glad I’m not 18!</p>
<p>I would pick a school with a more ‘moderate’ winter climate over the one I chose in the midwest. Would still need to have D1 football. Would choose a major that would allow me to be outdoors a good amount of time and probably involve a good amount of ‘manual’ labor.</p>
<p>Want a great city or vibrant college town.</p>
<p>Perhaps a major in sustainable ag/farming, landscape design/build, land and habitat rehabilitation.</p>
<p>U of Washington, UC-B, CU- Boulder, U of Oregon would be top choices.</p>
<p>Pomona - no question.
I fell for it the second we hit the campus. It was my 1st time in SoCal and I found the views breathe taking.</p>
<p>Linguistics</p>
<p>ECs - No idea. Most campus today have far more ECs then I ever thought possible. I would definitely have to give the Zombies vs Humans a try.</p>
<p>At 18 I was intimidated by the “better” schools because I knew my high school was poor and I was not sure I could keep up with the better prepared kids. I also didn’t want to stray far from my boyfriend. To do it again, with the wealth of knowledge on the web and Skype, I would definitely have had a different list.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>University of Maryland at College Park. Joint program with Goddard on Heliophysics.</p></li>
<li><p>Heliophysics. :D</p></li>
<li><p>Quiz Bowl (Academic Quiz Team)!</p></li>
</ol>
<p>And why would I go back to my current life after this??? :)</p>
<p>University of Wisconsin again. When we had the luxury of son being able to apply anywhere I researched schools and still love the campus and academics more than other places. However, when I walked around during his summer orientation I realized that college life and dorm life are for the young. Those hills are not as friendly to older bodies. </p>
<p>Major would still be Chemistry, especially since it currently embraces more of the biological. Research versus medical school- a few years ago a fellow chemistry major who did Bioorganic for grad school said she might have gone the medical route I did whereas I might have gone the other way. So much tedium has been eliminated with computers. Getting data points, for calculus class or any science, is so much easier when you don’t have to do the arithmetic required. And writing papers on a computer when you can move paragraphs around…</p>
<p>It would have been nicer to not have a strict budget and to not have to work (food service last few semesters). I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had gone out for crew like some dorm mates- I likely would not have gained weight and would have been in better physical shape. I can’t imagine the emphasis on extracurriculars that now exists- academics were the only consideration for medical school that I recall when I seriously considered it junior year.</p>
<p>With my new college career I could take all of those electives I didn’t have time for although I had included a broad range back then. Only so many hours in a week and so many credits at a time possible. I wouldn’t subtract any courses to substitute new ones. I can’t imagine being at a campus without the myriads of choices UW had and has. </p>
<p>It would be different to have more women mentors in the sciences. Having gone throough the watershed years of the women’s lib movement I can’t imagine an experience without breaking ground and so much today’s young women can tke for granted. My persona has been forged in fire- tougher and more demanding than required to get things now.</p>
I have come to love NYC, but also love the weather and lifestyle in California.</p>