<p>Just mulling over the big picture here, as we all discuss the specifics around college app's, high school curricula, AP's, adcoms, ec's........& etc.,...</p>
<p>Looking back upon your college experiences and life since, now that you are parents sending young adults off into the world, what was most valuable about your college experience? What has served you best over the long haul?</p>
<p>For me, I think living in different parts of the country gave me an understanding that life can be lived many different ways. The west coast folks seemed to meander more, with more time off and exploration before settling into final degrees and especially advanced degrees. The east coast folks seemed to move swiftly from college through four years and into grad school thence to career and family. The midwest was far larger and had its own pace of living. Where the Mississippi flowed, there was a north south connection that didn't feel the same on either coast.</p>
<p>Course work and degree(s), for me, were the primary goals at the time - much less so than people connections. The degrees have served well, although I must admit they feel sometimes like the piece of paper the Wizard gave the Scarecrow (this is your certificate! People who see it will be impressed.....((and give you a job you will learn as you go))...). </p>
<p>We went to college as newly minted adults. Now we have lived as long or longer as adults (shocking, ain't it?) </p>
<p>Looking back, what did you think would be most important and what surprised you by being important over your years as an adult? How does this play into the way you advise your kids as they move through this amazing adolescent / young adult high school and college process?</p>
<ul>
<li><p>I had several teachers who took a personal interest in my undergraduate education, believed in me, and pushed me to do more and be more than I thought capable. I still sometimes hear certain teachers in my mind urging me on when I'm faced with overwhelming situations.</p></li>
<li><p>I learned how to research and use information on a variety of subjects. This has been invaluable to me in many jobs and in many facets of my life. While it's a whole new game with the internet, the basic skills I learned in college have stood the test of time very well.</p></li>
<li><p>I grew up in a small town, towards the bottom of the social and economic barrel. College taught me that where I came from wasn't as important as where I went in the future. By exposing me to many different types of people and situations, and giving me the opportunity to learn from more than my share of mistakes, those four years made me realize that I could compete in the larger arena of life, and that there were many possiblities out there if I found courage to take them on.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I agree that mentoring--teachers & individuals who took a personal interest in me--were a very important part of my college experience. I also found it fascinating to meet so many folks who had never left their hometowns before this big adventure of going to college. It was also important to learn about the priorities & values of other folks, which was the same in many ways, yet different.</p>
<p>I also learned what it was like to be independent & start anew at each campus I went to--that was very liberating & helped me figure out who I am--apart from being a member of my extended family.</p>
<p>College was not intellectually as challenging ad I had expected, but grad school was. What I really liked about grad school was meeting people passionate about what they were studying and learning. The enthusiasm was contagious (though most of us never got quite as worked-up about law & many of us thought those who were worked up were a bit TOO much).</p>
<p>I guess this convinced me that you big Us can provide a high quality education, as the undergrad & law schools I attended were both at large Us. We're still negotiating with son as to where he's interested in attending.</p>
<p>I think I learned the most about other people. I think I expected to learn literature, psychology, history, etc. I did learn those things, but the most valuable experiences I had were those gained doing group projects, serving in leadership roles in ECs, and living in the dorm/apartment setting. You really strengthen your skills in dealing with other people which is so valuable in the "real world."</p>
<p>The most important lesson I learned in college was how to think analytically. I went to college knowing how to memorize and regurgitate. I left it able to analyze everything from a chemistry problem, to a Shakespeare sonnet, to a bioethical dilemma. To me, THIS is the beauty of a liberal arts education.</p>
<p>I would have to say the people that I met along the way from classmates, people that I crossed paths with, and the professors. I met people with vastly different life experiences from my own.</p>
<p>Undergrad: two "biggies:" (1) Independence. I reveled in it, and learned that it goes hand-in-hand with responsibility. It was and is precious to me, and is a key (maybe THE key) factor in decisions I make to this day...(2) a skill (writing) that I've used throughout my income-earning life...I started as a Spanish major, intending to be a buyer of linens from Spain for a major department store...but I got involved in the news department of the college radio station, which became my passion--and inspired me to add a journalism major (I double-degree-ed)...to this day a great deal of my income derives from writing...</p>
<p>Law school: I paid for 100% of law school myself, while still living independently (and I moved 800 miles away from my home town for law school to boot)...huge lesson there...I made sure I got "full value"...learned far more (in a far more challenging environment, I might add) than I did in undergrad, where my focus was on "life lessons" (the academics came easy, perhaps too easy)...</p>
<p>Exposure to other cultural backgrounds was a big one.</p>
<p>Sometimes I wish I could make a movie about it ;) --Wyoming cowgirl meets Puerto Rican gang girl from Brooklyn, complete with black leather jacket and mint-tipped toothpick, both plopped down in the middle of a pretty straightlaced well-to-do New England women's college. Can't you just picture it? The two of us quickly learned that no matter how different we were from each other, we had in common that we were the "outsiders" and so needed to stick together :D </p>
<p>Another thing I learned--effort trumps talent, every time.</p>
<p>Wyogal, It would be an interesting movie. I have some similar memories. It was so much fun. One of my friends was Mexican-American and he was from the midwest. He was from a very religious family. He said thathe and his family were fundamentalists. He decided that he was going to convert to Judaism after spending a couple of years with some Jewish classmates. He kept focusing on the details of the circumcision (I guess if I were a male I would too)!</p>
<p>Those were some great times and I would not trade them in.</p>
<p>In architecture school, I learned that talent trumps effort. That is true in the profession too.</p>
<p>I didn't have teachers taking personal interest (female in an all-male field) but it didn't matter. I had the talent and the confidence. The competitive environment stirred my ambition to practice architecture at the highest levels.</p>
<p>I learned I could go over most obstacles, ie, engineering calculus, economics, fierce competition, loneliness, near poverty, public speaking, drafting (once I learend how to use the scale properly LOL), professors trying to actively discourage me, parents wanting me to go to such and such a university, famous architects telling me I read too much (is there such a thing?) and so on and so on.</p>
<p>I also learned how to move to a different part of the world, how to make good friends and how to travel.</p>
<p>Compared to what I learned in the previous 16 years, university was my watershed.</p>
<p>As an undergrad, the relationships that I had with faculty was one of the most valuable things--I've maintained some of those friendships for many year; one especially just ended last year when a favorite prof died. Another valuable lesson was how to think critically--looking at issues and topics from a number of different sides and learning how to make decisions and choices based on fact and analysis. Another was the number of friendships and networking opportunities I gained from my alma mater. These networks have stood the test of time, no matter where I have lived or roamed.</p>
<p>In graduate school, my writing skills came in handily since I was in a field (music therapy) where my peers had difficulty in that subject. Learning more about people, becoming more patient and flexible with others and myself, and finally developing organizational skills when it came to juggling 21 credits (11 courses) and two part-time jobs proved indispensable.</p>
<p>Small personalized classes and my internships were the most valuable, especially the internships. I had the chance to experience 2 years at a state school and 2 years at Tufts. No comparison between the two for me. Large lectures were not at all meaningful and I remembered virtually nothing I learned there despite getting A's. My grades at Tufts unlike the state school were not all A's but I learned and retained a lot and it led to much successs in my career</p>
<p>How being in the wrong school can make one double up on classes and graduate in quick time; how important a few good teachers and friends can be; how to appreciate grad school so much more; how the political scene (Vietnam, the Draft, marches on Washington) tainted the college experience.</p>
<p>The most meaningful things to me were (1) wonderful friends who changed my world-- I was in the midst of a critical mass of "my people" for the first time in my life, (2) open curriculum that taught me to approach life in a fearless, passionate, improvisational way and to knwo my self, (3) being 2000 miles from home-- in a different culture in my own country, (4) a teacher who took me under her wing and made sure I went into the honors track (5) incredible professors who invited me into their secret delightful worlds of knowledge, (6) doing a thesis, which was like running an academic marathon.</p>
<p>The experiences of my undergraduate years at Ohio State ranged from the profound to the mundane and, in the end, impacted me in equal measure.</p>
<p>The mundane ranged from the wonderoud pranks in frosh/soph dorms, to late nite debates solving the world problems with the likes of Bruce Vilanch, et al, to pickup BB games with NBA'er Jim Cleamons, to road trips to the Indy 500, to learning the necessities of off campus apartment life, to forays to German Village, to Saturday's in the 'Shoe and Fridays in St Johns, to weekday pm's at the Scarlet Course , to Fri nite student/faculty b'ball games, to Sat am pregame CE department cookouts.</p>
<p>The profound included tutoring middle school student in inner city Columbus, challenged to think analytically in our senior project sequence, understanding that learning is equal parts inspiration and perspiration study groups, and forging some lasting relatiom=nships with department faculty.</p>
<p>While the list could go on and on, the transformationm from a hs grad to an independent adult was amazing.</p>
<p>Most valuable to me was the easy, casual contact with a variety of intelligent people--the chance to compare outlooks and experiences as we sought the answers to "life's persistent questions"-- the luxury of being able to read, think, talk and grow with all the boring stuff like cooking, cleaning , commuting, office work, out of the picture. And the bonus of a beautiful New England campus with spectacular foliage every fall, months of deep snow and, finally, a seductive spring. Living the life of the mind (mostly) in an ivory tower suited me just fine--punctuated with trips back home to New York City.</p>
<p>1) Independence and maturity ... college is when I grew into an adult and started the path to the person I am now. (I have done many things different than my parents taught me ... college is when I started seeking my own path)</p>
<p>2) Friends ... I didn't fit in very well in HS where being smart was far from cool. In college I met the most amazing people and people with whom I shared so much.</p>
<p>3) Intellectual spark ... HS academics was boring and pretty much useless. First, at college I became truly intellectually curious and branched out to learn about all sorts of stuff out of my comfort zone (The grade I am most proud of in my life is my B in Greek history ... as the lone engineer in a killer upper level course with hardcore classics/history majors). Second, I eventually wandered into a major I LOVE. So many threads in CC are started by kids asking about majors and careers, how much homework, how much money, etc ... hopefully these kids will have the same experience I had and find a major where they overload on courses to learn even more and spend tons of time on school assignments ... not because they need to to get a grade ... but because they LOVE the challenge and are pushing themselves doing something they are compelled to do.</p>
<p>4) Women ... college is when I went from being a wimp with crushes on girls I was afraid to talk to ... to a man who realized spending time hanging out with (the right) women is as good as it gets. And that smart women with an attitude can't be beat.</p>
<p>5) Know yourself ... college is when I started to have the confidence to do what was right for me even if it did not fit the mold of what is usually considered the best approach.</p>