<p>I'm going to school about 12 hours away from my hometown. I was really disappointed with my parents during the beginning of my college search process, because they did not like the idea of me applying to california schools. Now, being in north carolina, i think it would be the same as going to ucla or berkeley. with cell phones and email it is so much easier to keep in touch, and i haven't really felt that inconvenienced. the only thing that i have found to be difficult is organizing plane rides home, but fares can be relatively cheap if you come from or relocate to a hub city.</p>
<p>thanks to everyone who has made this thread lively, i appreciate all the input. some more fuel for thought:</p>
<p>lkf - i'd say i'm a little more than semi-serious about getting into college, i'm all-out serious! :) i guess this would make a difference of whether to "bother" going far or not.</p>
<p>and to alexandre, if ONLY i could get into 95% of those "nearby" schools, lol. </p>
<p>another thing is, I consider myself pretty independent because i have gone to sleepaway camp since i was like 10 or 11, sometimes for 2 months and even then I was always happy knowing i was here and my parents were there, as long as i could keep in touch.</p>
<p>i think what i am ultimately doing is applying to some NY schools (1.5-2.5 hrs), some boston-area schools, (5 hrs), maine (7-8) and then just seeing what happens with minnesota schools, where the only option would really be to fly. i just feel like it's limiting not to at least apply to them all.</p>
<p>We live in NJ and my son is a freshman at Reed College in Portland, OR. </p>
<p>I did not have a problem with him going so far as we were originally from California, so I was somewhat familiar with the West Coast. That said, he knows he will not be coming home for Thanksgiving or some of the other school breaks, as it is very expensive. I told him I could pay for him to come home during Christmas break & summer. </p>
<p>He really wanted to experience life away from the NYC metropolitan or SF Bay areas (both places he's lived) and Reed was his first choice. </p>
<p>I chat with him once a week on his cell, and a couple of times a week by computer emails/ims. Frankly, I like the fact that he will not be coming home to do his laundry.</p>
<p>i think a change of scenery is good, like someone mentioned before. im going chicago to LA (ucla) mainly because i want to experience a different place and the new people etc etc.</p>
<p>Next year, I'll be going to the University of Oklahoma. I currently live with my parents in Dayton, Ohio. The 16 hour (900 mile) distance should be interesting, but I'm not too worried about it...My parents are planning on coming out for a few football games, and I'll fly home for the holidays.</p>
<p>Im looking at going to colleges on the east coast near where I live but it wolnt be near where my parents live...there planning on moving to Santa Fe between right after senior year hs and end of 1st year of college...so if I go to East coast college it will be far within a year!! The reason why I wanna stay on the east coast is because its like my home. I live on Suburbian Long Island so i think the closest im going is further(Im pretty close to the city) out on the island and NYC but every other college is within 5-6 hours of my original home(If i cannot go home for a holiday i have plenty of family in the NY area so i can go there..)</p>
<p>"house parties or bars matters. At Dartmouth I would snowboard before class, swim in the river in summers"</p>
<p>Sounds like a nice life, slipper. Better than staying up until 4 am Saturday in the computer lab working on a computer chip design for an Analog VLSI class.</p>
<p>But, don't they have bars, parties, rivers, hills, and snow closer to your hometown?</p>
<p>Not really: being from the midwest there were no options like Dartmouth, Brown, or any of my other favorite schools. The sense community and feel of the at Northeastern LACs, which is why I ulitmately chose D, is not close to home at all. I am so glad I went to school far from home, it gave me a Northeastern base I would never have had otherwise.</p>
<p>I can understand why Dartmouth is worth the distance. Attending a special college makes the travel worth it. But I still say that distance from home, by itself, is a negative thing. Say there were two identical Dartmouths, one that was 1000 miles from home and one that was 100 miles from home. Which would you attend? See, distance itself is a bad thing but attending a great college might outweigh the distance factor. The appeal of a college can be measured in miles. Dartmouth is a "3000 mile college". Podunk is a "30 mile college".</p>
<p>I'd vote for going away for school, other factors being equal. Its a chance to experience a different part of the country, if only for a few years. To take it a step farther, I'm also a big fan of a semester abroad. Students who have done it usually say it was their most life-changing and memorable experience. Going away for college gives you a dose of this, too. And Roger Dooley's comments are right on target, as usual.</p>
<p>I agree: I personally wanted to get out of the midwest as I did not see myself there long term. Going far from home lets you have an alumni base in a region - my friends who went more locally also have a more local alumni base. If you want to live in California after graduation, shooting for Stanford or Berkeley might not be a bad choice. Where you go seems to impact where you end up, of course that is not always the case. There are plenty of Duke, Stanford, etc alums in NYC for example. Although, Collegehelp, if there were a school like Dartmouth closer to home I am sure it would have been on my list :)</p>
<p>Regarding the idea of experiencing different things at college...
I like learning new things. I like hearing new ideas but not whacky ideas. I want other people to be a little different from me, but not too different... and definitely not bad-different. There are people that I just don't like because their values, beliefs, and behavior are not virtuous. I can do without them. I have been to Europe. Once is enough. Canada is worth the trip. When college is too different impressionable students get confused about who they really are. All the things I want can be found 100 miles from my home. Mom's chicken soup tastes great.</p>
<p>I am the opposite. I was so glad to get out of the conservative minded midwest and to get to spend time in the Northeast. Because I went to a national school, I have friends from everywhere which makes travelling awesome. In college I went to study abroad in Spain, Oxford England, and a small country in the Pacific. Since graduation I have lived in Boston and NYC and I think the next stop is DC or LA. I guess different strokes for different folkes.</p>
<p>Staying close to home runs in my family. In almost 400 years, none of my ancestors has lived farther west than Ohio, farther south than Pennsylvania, or farther north than New Hampshire and Vermont. However, my father attended Duke. He was a little wild.</p>
<p>I think it depends on the person. Personally, like collegehelp, I preferred to go to college fairly close by. I figured I could adjust to college better in a somewhat similar background, and I have grad school to go anywhere in the country (or world) I want to. However, I must caution you that being near home doesn't mean much. Many of the people here are from NC but haven't been home any more than the people from overseas. So...you can definitely get a good college experince without being "too close" to home. Others however, probably want to get as far away as possible, and I can certainly understand that.</p>
<p>i say, bring on the differences! what better way to find out who you are than by fighting ideas all day long.</p>
<p>and the mission of LAC's lives on...</p>
<p>I highly recommend going away for college, but if you go far away make sure it's somewhere that you know will be a good fit, otherwise the travelling will get old fast. I ended up at quite possibly the worst place imaginable for me and that only made the 1733 mile trip out there every term even more unbearable.</p>
<p>OP- we are in the midwest. My D is a first year at Bowdoin. Yes, it is a long trip, but in her opinion, worth it. She doesn't get to come home on long weekends, including Thanksgiving. But she's fine with that. She has other friends at school that will also not return home until winter break. My D was also accepted at a top twenty U close to home. She had done research there, had connections, and loved the campus. But it wasn't the place she wanted to be for the next 4 years. She, like you, was interested in Mac and was accepted there. After the acceptance letters came in, she flew out to Bowdoin to visit and came home saying- that is the place I want to be- that is the place that felt like home.</p>
<p>Moral of the story, distance does matter if you need frequent visits home. If this isn't the case, once you get your acceptance letters, go with where your gut is telling you to go- the place that feels like home to you.</p>
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But I still say that distance from home, by itself, is a negative thing. Say there were two identical Dartmouths, one that was 1000 miles from home and one that was 100 miles from home. Which would you attend?
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<p>I would undoubtedly attend the one that's further away. Why? Because I've lived in Newport, in SoCal, my whole life! I'm tired of it! I want to get out and experience something new! I feel distance from home is a positive, a growth experience, a great way to safely and comfortably explore a new area of the country (or world) and of yourself. </p>
<p>I'm sick of my house, sick of my city, sick of my weather. I want something new--and when better to try new things than college?</p>
<p>
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Quote:
But I still say that distance from home, by itself, is a negative thing. Say there were two identical Dartmouths, one that was 1000 miles from home and one that was 100 miles from home. Which would you attend?</p>
<p>I would undoubtedly attend the one that's further away. Why? Because I've lived in Newport, in SoCal, my whole life! I'm tired of it! I want to get out and experience something new! I feel distance from home is a positive, a growth experience, a great way to safely and comfortably explore a new area of the country (or world) and of yourself.</p>
<p>I'm sick of my house, sick of my city, sick of my weather. I want something new--and when better to try new things than college?
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</p>
<p>I agree....I am not afraid of distance and in fact I embrace it. I'm not going to college to come back home, i'm going to learn more about a subject and myself - not stagnate. Distance is not negative unless you can't afford the travel costs or just don't want to leave home for some reason....I've lived in 3 different states across the midatlantic and midwest (I am now an HS senior) ranging from major city to tiny city environments and I can say that I am grateful for the perspective that I have been given just from being in such different environments.</p>