<p>While I'm sure some will say that the selection process for BS and college are two different animals, I found this op-ed to be a nice counterpoint to the "HYP/HADES or bust" mindset.</p>
<p>@sevendad - agree, good article.</p>
<p>Exeter college counseling office put the article you noted on the PEA Parents site a few days ago. Recommended.</p>
<p>I agree wholeheartedly with the op-ed.</p>
<p>I as well. I was amused to read the comments. Many sounded like CC threads (same arguments, logic, emotions, etc.).</p>
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<p>Interesting suggestion! My kid, an 11th grader who’s never traveled outside the North, just returned to school today from an eye-opening tour of universities in Alabama. “Outside his comfort zone” doesn’t even come close to describing the experience!</p>
<p>Is he going to apply to any of them?</p>
<p>Dads of a feather, 7D. And guess what fine institution Mr. Bruni is graduated from. ;)</p>
<p>Hmmm . . . he went to UNC undergrad and Columbia Journalism, according to Wiki. </p>
<p>Well, it’s not clear to me whether Mr. Bruni is speaking more to the construction of a list to apply to or to the selection of one school from those admitted to. Those are two entirely different tasks, each presenting unique challenges. Wouldn’t most of us agree that putting together the app list is harder than choosing from what might be a fairly narrow set of options after letters arrive? </p>
<p>I fell in love with a U. campus during the touring phase of junior year, knew it would feel right every morning I woke up there, and was fortunate enough to be applying from New Mexico in the “less” or “non” competitive late 1970s. The whole process was cake and I have no regrets whatsoever – I really did feel inspired and uplifted throughout the entire undergraduate experience, post-calculus (though that lesson too was a big link in the chain of transformation).<br>
Can’t recommend the “fall in love” approach anymore unless heartbreak is given its allowance. Yet, I would say this more emotional approach has merit precisely because “thinking” about all the fact-based reasons on which to compare so many institutions is a task with an ever receding endline. Identify some guiding principles as Bruni does, but from there . . . make sure the place will help put your mind in right place for doing serious work.</p>
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<p>He’d better! :D</p>
<p>Honestly, Birmingham was difficult for him. Just a little too “run down,” as he described it, and lots of homeless people on the streets around campus. Goodness knows, he’d find that in the North, too . . . but it’s just something he’d not experienced before. As for the University of Alabama . . . well, let’s just say that if a kid isn’t into football, visiting the day after the school wins the championship probably isn’t ideal! :rolleyes: The state universities have some absolutely amazing merit scholarships for out-of-state students, so it was an important trip . . . and I think, in the end, a few very impressive professors managed to win the kid over, despite his initial prejudice.</p>
<p>I’m actually jealous. The South is out of my comfort zone also, and I wish I’d been able to go with him.</p>