<p>I spent 4 years at Lehigh then 4 years at Penn. I liked Lehigh but wouldn't do it again...too isolated and conservative, at the time. I think I'm more a Wesleyan or Brown kind of person.</p>
<p>Penn was ok but I don't think I ever really liked Phila, but this was 20+ years ago. Today I'd go to NYU instead.</p>
<p>Overall my dream schools today would be UCSB, UCSD or U of Hawaii.</p>
<p>I followed my cousin to a small private college in 1970. Always felt I missed out on the "hippie culture." Today I was thinking about what my "hook" would be if I went back to school and all I could think of was that I saw the Beatles in '64 and I've been to Gilley's! LOL Not real academic.</p>
<p>There were few more interesting places than Madison in the late 60's. I'd do it again.</p>
<p>Well, I went to MIT because it was in Cambridge and the Harvard interviewer (where my two older sisters went and where my parents wanted me to go) thought I'd "be happier there." (Translation: you're a gnurd.)</p>
<p>At the time I wanted to apply to Reed, but my mother wouldn't let me--"the suicide rate was too high." (Translation: it's too far away.) (5 people I knew committed suicide during my 3 years at MIT, one a person I knew well.)</p>
<p>I studied biochem at MIT, which I loved, but applied to transfer to UCSD, got in, and decided to stay at MIT.</p>
<p>Now? I'd love to study marine biology (coral reef fishes, specifically parrot fish sex changes) at the University of Queensland (as a friend of my son's is doing--although her field is turtle biology)... or historical ecology at UC Santa Cruz (the most beautiful college campus I've ever seen)... or ant pheromones at Harvard... </p>
<p>Or maybe I should have droppped out and become a dive bum while there was still time.</p>
<p>Mini, please tell Earlham to redo their opening page.</p>
<p>dke, when you mention Wheaton, please say which.</p>
<p>For the person I was THEN I wish I had had access to an LAC like Smith, Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr or Kenyon. For the person I am NOW I wish I could do the University of Michigan all over again. Man oh man would I ever appreciate it!</p>
<p>DH and I have had this conversation a dozen times. He wants to go to Swarthmore and be a classics major, I want to go to Williams and do all things medieval (I know Swat's the one with the Medieval Studies concentration, but I want to go to Oxford, too). A close second for him is boat building, biology and sea lore at Mystic.</p>
<p>The problem is, we agreed that as oldest and only child respectively, we would at 17 never been so irresponsible as to major in somwthing that couldn't possibly lead to a job - only at 46 do we have that freedom of thought.</p>
<p>Cangel, the day I was hanging around the history department at Swarthmore, I'm pretty sure I remember seeing posters for studying abroad at Oxford. BTW, my daughter's planning on doing all things medieval at college.</p>
<p>As for me, I'm leaning more and more towards Mt. Holyoke, and majoring in Women in/and Religion. Unfortunately, I went to college before there were women's studies courses. :(</p>
<p>great, then I can go to Swat, too, and DH and I can still meet and marry, which would be a good thing, especially for the kids ;)</p>
<p>I went to MIT in the 70s when my class had a record number of females -- I was one of almost 200 females in a class of over 1,000. I was accepted EA, MIT was the only school I ever wanted to attend, and if I had to do it all over again, I'd go back to MIT. </p>
<p>The thing I liked best about MIT was the students -- they were the nicest, most intelligent, most interesting, and most creative people I've ever met. When I refer to someone as an "MIT type," that is a real compliment.</p>
<p>I would hope that most of us (who are probably "forty-something") do not even dream about college for ourselves anymore. I have never regretted the course that my life has taken, nor do I ever look back. I am sure that our thought process is a lot different than it was when we were 17 or 18, so we probaly shouldn't be polled as to what our Dream school would be.</p>
<p>At 17 or 18, you guys should have your own dreams! We can coach you and offer our thoughts, but unfortunately we can't live vicariously through you, nor should we want to!</p>
<p>All you people are SOOOO lucky to have gone to such wonderful colleges. For me, my only choice was the City University of New York. My children had so many wonderful opportunities that I did not have...one went to Harvard, one to UPENN and one now are Carnegie Mellon....I wish I had those choices...my parents did not have the money and I think at the time the courage...you need to be courageous to go far away from home and try to "make" it....they had many of life's obstacles thrown in their paths and were very bitter about life. My father's dad ran away as a vaudevillian...when he was four and he was very poor. My mother's mom had 11 children (AH! the teachings of the Catholic Church!) and died at 43 from tuberculosis so my mom never finished HS..had to care for her siblings... so when I went to college, I was the first of our family to graduate. Needless to say, I have tried to instill in my children the sense that they should feel privileged to be given the opportunity to attend such prestigious universities......and to make the most of them while they are there. I'm not sure you can do that for them though.....they need to recognize it on their own. Without life experiences and knowing any differently, I suppose I realize it is too much to ask from them. I get frustrated about their seeming indifference to where they attended school though they assure me that NOW they probably wouldn't have gotten in!! They were born at a time '76 and '79 when there weren't too many babies in the nurseries so college applications were down!!!! But I need to get a better handle on my own emotions so I don't hold a grudge towards my own offspring.....I'll try.</p>
<p>Oh, Sokkermom, you must have had a much better education than I did! Going through the college process with our daughter has not only awakened also sorts of dreams and memories for both DH and me, we've promised each other that if there is any way, we will take some of those college courses in retirement that we were too practical to take in "real life". This has nothing to do with living vicariously through our children - the DD just rolls her eyes at the mention of boat building or learning Latin or archaeology. You are exactly right about the thought process, though, hers is different, and something like ours at 17. We are living vicariously through her to the extent that we are strongly encouraging her to take advantage of being at a liberal arts school with wonderful teachers, and take some "useless" courses, doesn't really matter if it is French literature or philosophy or whatever. Don't make our mistake, and just be practical.</p>
<p>Carolyn: my husband also went to Oneonta - he went there to play basketball but it wasn't a great experience and transferred to SUNY Albany.</p>
<p>I had never thought about what I'd want in a school today but I can say that as my daughter and I visited schools one of them particularly resonated with me - Kenyon. Kenyon just wowed me with the atmosphere - the combination of great academics and traditions and a supportive community. The picturesque campus didn't hurt either.</p>
<p>Another dark ages college search here - I had never thought about college at all at any point during my high school career. In our school, you met with the guidance counselor and your parents (in my case my single parent mom) the summer before senior year where you were finally told your average and class rank for the first time ever. Based on that the GC recommended schools. My list had 8 schools: the required safety SUNY's and then Colgate, Wesleyan (my top two choices), Cornell, William and Mary and a literally last second addition, Duke (only because they had the grad school program I was interested in - health administration). I wanted to go as far away as possible (not a great home life growing up) so SUNY Stony Brook was my last choice because then I'd be living at home and commuting. Duke was my next to last choice.</p>
<p>As the rejections and wait-lists started coming in, it was looking more and more like a SUNY. Last school to hear from: Duke with an acceptance and a great financial aid package. I still vividly remember coming home and opening the big manilla envelope and seeing the letter with the congratulations and the $$ numbers. Did research about the school, went to visit in April when I left NY with just little buds on trees and still gray and dingy to land in Durham where it was full bloom and sunshine and green everywhere and thought, hmmm I could go here. Rest is history. </p>
<p>But I still think I would have liked Kenyon! And I still would have majored in sociology - I am still fascinated by people's behavior.</p>
<p>Some of us made the best of life by attending the colleges (graduate and undergraduate) that we did, even if they were not dream schools, but the best or only choices we had at the time. As others have stated, choices "back then" were often based on economics and location.
Many of us would not change that. The college experiences we had worked for us. We used the college experience as a steppingstone to life, and did not allow the college that we attended to define our happiness.</p>
<p>(probaly in post above is a typo....)</p>
<p>Cangel,</p>
<p>I made the best of an undergraduate degree from a State University. However, I think most of my education has actually been through post college experiences. The degree was the proverbial "foot in the door".....</p>
<p>Many adults change careers several times during their lifetime, sometimes this is motivated by necessity , sometimes by a greater understanding of themselves or both.
Even if I had attended my top choice school as a young adult, I am 4ty(mmphm) not dead, and this thread has awakened a thought to continuing my education that has just been in the back of my mind.
I have a good life, but one of the most important things I have learned as an adult is that you never are too young or too old. I may even take up snowboarding this year!
( maybe)</p>
<p>I heard a program on NPR about how Americans imagine the afterlife--if you are "accepted" into Heaven. Most descriptions sounded like a country club with really good Adult Ed options. So maybe we still have a dream school to look forward to?</p>
<p>Although wife & I went to University of Iowa and thoroughly enjoyed their Midwest version of counterculture in the mid to late seventies, I guess I must've waxed TOO nostalgic about it. D wants no part of it & does not see the appeal. OK, fine.</p>
<p>But on the college visits over the last year, one school really stood out as a place I would have loved to attend--Miami of Ohio. A gorgeous campus, 15000 undergrads, school spirit, what appears to be a nurturing environment.</p>
<p>I should've known--D tossed that choice away as well...</p>