@albert69 That excluded a lot of colleges.
^ Yep. But I did find one, got a full ride scholarship, and am happily attending.
probably already posted elsewhere: “YOU went there. Ergo, I will not.”
I was shocked son wanted my flagship alma mater given our relationship at the time. Actually not a stupid reason if the child wants to go somewhere uniquely his/hers. But- the experiences and campus can have changed vastly in the time from our and their times, fortunately. Especially if there is a dynamic building program over the decades.
Reason to not consider a school in Georgia. “My friends will call me a red neck!” “Which friends?” “The ones I ride dirt bikes with on their farms” (Note: They also drove tractors to school one day)
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Not only would my daughter not apply to Richmond because of the Spider thing, she even got anxious reviewing one of her friend’s essays, for grammar, that was in response to Richmond’s essay prompt about why you want to be a spider or something like that, lol.
Neither one of my kids would apply to Tufts or Swarthmore. Too many consonants thrown together and too hard to pronounce. They don’t belong there.
I’m pretty sure that neither of my D’s would have considered any school with a spider mascot either, @Skates76 . My oldest once beat me to my job one summer day because a spider was “stalking her” around the house so she couldn’t stay at home. She was in high school at the time.
I would be ok with the “Spiders” , but snakes would be a deal breaker.
So no Florida A&M Rattlers for FallGirl…is that the only snake mascot?
We’re just starting the process so no school visits until March, but we did go through a checklist. No desert, no places where people don’t really live (i.e., Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas), and no place cold enough that she could end up with a polar bear as a roommate.
She was only kidding about the polar bear part.
Florida Southern has a snake - the Water Mocs.
Coker College Cobras
Virginia Intermont College Cobras
At each college decision stage, husband & I asked son to express his opinions about the colleges he had seen and prioritize them, rationally or on general impressions. We toured lots of schools. We created spreadsheets, gave him college guide books to read, suggested websites, kept files of notes & materials from each college to review, etc. All so that he could analyze pros & cons and make informed decisions about where he wanted to attend college.
The only thing we knew for sure from the start was that he wanted to study Comp Eng or Comp Sci
Throughout senior year, this is basically what we heard in our family discussions:
“I don’t know why I don’t want to apply to that college. I just don’t.”
Followed by: “I can’t explain why, but these are the colleges that I want to apply to.”
Then, after acceptances & rejections:
“I think these are the colleges I want to revisit in April, but don’t ask me why.”
And, finally: “I’m not exactly sure why, but this is the college I want to attend.”
Did this happen to anyone else? I guess it’s good that husband & I liked all of the colleges he applied to. We’re just not sure why he did!
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On one of our college visits, a parent asked if there was a campus Chick Fil A because their son could not possibly go to a school that didn’t have a Chick Fil A.
My son has taken convincing to consider schools in the deep south despite attractive merit packages, because there might be too many Republicans. That one drives me batties.
For future parent readers; This is the best thread on CC. No bickering or pontificating. Just fun to “see” the many cute personalities of kids - and parents - in the comments! Start reading at the beginning of the thread. In the midst of the silliness, there are actually some recurring themes that bother kids: smells, accents, odd school names & mascots, unappealing school colors & architecture, weather, etc.
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@delilahxc - DD is in the throes of college search right now. One of her prerequisites was that there had to be a Taco Bell or a Taco John’s within walking distance. U of Wyoming was her original #1 because both were right off campus. It wasn’t until we went to the football game that afternoon and she saw cowboy hats, cowboy boots, pickup trucks and horses everywhere that she started bawling because “I can’t be a cowboy for four years!”
Other commentary from DD (who graduates in 2017, so she needs to get her head on straight):
(Helpful note: We’re Denverites, I went to U of Nebraska, hubby went to Michigan State)
- Why CU Boulder is off the list “Because it’s a party school and half the kids I know are going there”
- Why U of Northern Colorado is off the list “Because it’s a party school and the other half of the kids I know are going there”
- Why U of Nebraska is off the list “It’s too urban” <---- this makes no sense
- Why Michigan State is off the list “Because Michigan”
- Why Drake University, a school in the middle of Iowa, is at the top of the list “I dunno…it just really spoke to me”
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I went back to page 1 and read a post “stupidest reason my child wanted to apply”…I need to add to that: D wanted to apply to Tufts because their mascot is an elephant (Jumbo) and she loves elephants. Awww, no.
I didn’t apply to any schools in Florida because of how hot and humid it was. My mom said that she really didn’t want me to go to Fordham because it was in a dangerous area (the Bronx).
Guess where I ended up? Rhodes College. It’s in one of the top ten most dangerous cities and temperatures are frequently in the 90s with humidity at 80% (or more!).
There is a college (no, it’s not an Ivy or similar) that is a perfect fit in terms of geography, potential career interests, competitiveness, willingness to provide financial aid, etc. for my daughter. Who refuses to look at it because it’s in the state of __________ .
Unless it’s in the state of intoxication, @tutumom2001, I would use that college as the “parent pick” that your D has to apply to.
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