<p>And yes, I really do mean the “romantic period”, even though I have only fragmentary knowledge of the romantic period.</p>
<p>Away-from-home experience seems to be idealized in the eyes of many a CCer, especially among the “best-and-brightest” crowd that seems to form the majority of the CC crowd.</p>
<p>Where are you heading with this, Catria? Yes, for some people it’s idealized. For some people, it’s just not financially feasible, so they are going to have to just not have that experience.</p>
<p>Also, some people simply do not want to go away from home. Some would prefer to commute. Some don’t object to living on campus, but they want to be within an hour or two of home and they may plan to come home often.</p>
<p>As long as there is an academically suitable school nearby, I don’t see a problem with this. </p>
<p>The “typical college experience” that appeals so much to some students does not appeal to others. People differ. And that’s fine.</p>
<p>Exactly. Indeed, most students in the nation really don’t want to go more than a relatively short driving distance from home. Not my set of priorities, but what’s it to me?</p>
<p>at least, definitely not romantic for freshman year</p>
<p>OP, I hope it is as wonderful as you envision but I bet you also know that often big decisions don’t turn out as you expect them to. That isn’t to say that you don’t go down an interesting and often wonderful path, it just that it isn’t the path you had in your mind’s eye. Sometimes the value is not revealed until years later. This may be your first major decision but there are many more to follow. And if you can’t do what you want to do because of constraints or situations that you can’t control, that’s ok too. You make the best choice you can given your options and go with that.</p>
<p>I think yes, very romantic, in the classical sense. You’re in a small city made up almost entirely of young people. You have a furnished room, 3 meals a day, and more freedom than you’ve ever had in your life, or are likely to have again. You are studying something you chose, and your main responsibility is to be true to yourself and your own aspirations. You’re sitting in the library window studying and you see that intriguing young man/woman scuffing home across campus in the lamplight…etc. etc. etc. Of course there is disappointment and uncertainty and sometimes heartbreak. But you’re so young that there’s always another chance. That’s the very definition of romantic for me.</p>
<p>Gwen-- that is the CC fantasy college experience for a small percentage of economically well-off students. As gets mentioned repeatedly, most college kids are at home or attend nearby and work while attending college because they have to.</p>
<p>I have a friend whose granddaughter was a full tuition need-based student. She still had to work two jobs and really viewed the experience as a means to a better end, not anything “romantic in the classical sense.”</p>
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<p>This is such an appealing vision that it entices to college many young people who do not have the desire or even the ability to study at the college level (as Charles Murray explains in the book “Real Education”). I wonder how the path starting with an entry level job open to high school graduates can be made more appealing. If it is not, the advice to “get a job” will seem much harsher to 18-year-olds than “go to college”, and many will go for the wrong reasons and not get much out of it.</p>
<p>I could live the “college experience” as described by Gwen… as a graduate student. If York accepts me and that I attend, that is.</p>
<p>Fully funded; $1,400 a month to live with.</p>
<p>This thread op sounds like the start of a novel… :)</p>