<p>Remember that the guy in the original post was from Alabama and went to an Ivy League school. A kid in the Northeast would have to eschew every Ivy League school, and quite a few in the top tier, to follow that advice. That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Or should a Bostonian go to University of Alabama instead of Dartmouth, Yale or Cornell because they’re too close? (Not to mention Harvard and MIT).</p>
<p>Location doesn’t matter - go where you’re HAPPIEST.</p>
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Sounds pretty funny if you read it out of context. </p>
<p>Anyway, I don’t know if the principle suggested by the OP can apply for most college-bound students. There’s a lot of money to be saved by staying in-state, which usually entails staying within 500 miles of home.</p>
<p>I’m in NY, so doing even 200 miles away eliminates a lot of great colleges. My parents’ logic is that there are so many good schools nearby that there is no reason for me to leave the Northeast…</p>
<p>I’m trying to branch out. Not too far away, just places in the Midwest (I’m a big fan of Minnesota), because I want winter and nowhere near Seattle. 3 hours away by plane is more or less my limit.</p>
<p>Now, all I have to do is convince my parents…</p>
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<p>Agreeeed. Why is it necessary to be over at least 300-500 miles from home? I live right outside of Boston, which would mean that all these great schools are immediately out of the question for me. Over half of my schools are south of NYC, but it’s quite different living near Boston vs. exploring and experiencing the city as a college student.</p>
<p>I’ll ask the parents who are chiming in this…IF you went to school further than 300 miles from home, after college did you go back to where you grew up and set down roots in your hometown areas? I did go to school over 300 miles away…and when graduation came, I stayed in the general area where I went to college. Sometimes I regret that, sometimes I’m content with the choice that I made. Just be aware that IF you send your kids off far away with your blessing, they just may choose to make that new place their home.</p>
<p>I went to college about 300 miles from my home…it made me want to return home after college. I now live 5 miles from my where I grew up. I realized how much I loved the city I am from. I don’t regret going that far, and I know I would feel as if I missed out by NOT going away. Part of my family has been in this city for 6 generations, and it would have felt boring and perhaps provincial to have stayed in this general area for college.</p>
<p>I think the East Coast is rich with educational opportunities, as well as cultural and geographic diversity. You don’t have to go very far away to have a very different experience from where you grew up. I do like the notion of not being able to get home that easily - sort of cuts the cord and forces you to become independent quickly.</p>
<p>I’m going to let my D figure it out herself and not hold her back. But frankly, there are so many good choices within a small radius of our home city, and with travel being as it is, I would be happiest if she were within 2-3 hours drive.</p>
<p>It is certainly a consideration that all should make. Most of us want our children within a couple of hours, I think. I know I do. But I do agree that it can really expand a student’s world. My kids both went to schools that were more than 7 hours away via driving. This one is going pretty much cross country. However, all of them also considered nearby schools, and there are advantages to taking that route as well.</p>
<p>I went to a flagship Midwestern state school 500+ miles from home (yes, some states are that big). From there I ended up on the East Coast, about 1500 miles from home, and never looked back. But that’s what I wanted & needed to do, coming from a small town in an economically depressed and frankly somewhat intellectually and culturally deprived corner of the country. And that’s what Mom & Dad wanted for me, too, though the adjustment to that much distance was hard for them—harder for them than for me, I’d wager. But I think that’s a lot of what college is for: expanding your horizons and opportunities. It increases social and geographic mobility. That has costs as well as benefits.</p>
<p>The way I see it, independence starts at home. My daughter actually chose the college that was closest to us-- 2 hours away-- not because of its distance, but because of its fit. And I doubt we’ll see her a whole lot between vacations because we’ve spent a lot of time and energy encouraging her independence. She comes to us for input, but doesn’t rely on us for help, and she makes her way in the world on her own. She really doesn’t need to live 7 hours away to have her own life. She’s having an independent life, rife with varied experiences while she’s still home.<br>
For some kids, it may be necessary to send them far away to learn independence, but I have a feeling that has more to do with our generation of parents who have a great deal of trouble separating themselves from their children, than it does with the kids’ desire for independence. As my daughter has pointed out, sometimes its very difficult to tell where we stop and she starts.</p>
<p>I see my thread-opening post didn’t mention as much as I meant to the additional benefit of studying out of region: learning about other regional cultures. I agree that if a college has a student population consisting of a majority of students from out of region (as many highly selective colleges in the northeast do), then there is less of an argument for declining to stay in one’s home region for college. But as long as Stanford and Caltech don’t move across to the other coast (just to drop two names), even students in the northeast have surely worthy choices of colleges to apply to that also offer the opportunity to change the student’s living environment.</p>
<p>Actually, if what you’re going for is learning about other cultures, perhaps your investment would be better served by a year abroad. Meeting kids from a different region of the country is great, and eye opening, but we are only a small sector of the world and getting to know people from entirely different cultures is not only eye opening, but will give kids a leg up when they search for a job after college. Particularly if the year abroad involves perfecting foreign language skills.</p>
<p>TA, I didn’t even think of the regional culture aspect. Since we moved from coast to coast in the military for 20+ years the family has done that extensively already. That’s also how they winnowed down their selection set (they knew where they didn’t want to return to).</p>
<p>I agree with the fatlady; a year abroad will be far more culturally enriching than any college or university town. Most students won’t really get to know the city/town well anyway, as the school campus, filled with other lmostly like-minded kids (no matter what part of the US they are from) will really be their home.</p>