52 Weeks: Week 45

Well, I now have a son in high school and a daughter two years younger, so the idea of making college plans has now entered the arena. As school gets back into swing and things like football games become routine, I have been thinking about my own high school and college days. I no longer own any shirts with my high school logos, but I do still have some from my college. I would like to protect my privacy, so I won't be too specific...but this picture is of me wearing a shirt from my alma mater. Actually, I attended several colleges and universities...I started at one my freshman year, transferred to another one for my sophomore year, transferred back to my original college for my junior and senior years, and went to another one for graduate school. And there are a few "dream colleges" that I WISH I had attended...I toured them, applied, was accepted...but choices must be made. Sometimes cost and location, as well as other factors, can influence those kind of decisions. I went where I received the MOST scholarships and financial aid...plus, I went where some of my relatives had attended in the past. One of my favorites was just too expensive...PLUS it was on the other side of the country from my friends, family, and boyfriend. Sometimes I wish I had been able to work something out there, though...I will always wonder what my life would have been like if I HAD attended my "all-time favorite dream school." I still keep up with what is happening there and I consider myself a "friend of the university." Actually, I am much more likely to support fundraisers for my "dream school" than I would be for the places I actually attended. But it all worked out: I DID receive my degree, and then later an advanced degree...that matters MORE than where I actually attended in the early days. Now that my kids are nearing this stage in life, I am thinking...do I "root for the home team" of my real schools, or do I try to sell them on my "dream school"? Ultimately, where they go is up to THEM...THEY will choose THEIR own "dream schools." BUT...part of me secretly hopes that one of them chooses the one I so love...then I could at LEAST be the parent of a student since I wasn't able to be a student there myself. Then maybe it wouldn't feel so silly rooting for a school that I never attended...just one I WISH I had! It would feel a lot better rooting for that school if I was the parent of a student who ACTUALLY attended there. SO...sometime in the future, we may have to arrange a campus tour just to see what they think. They may love it, they may not...but I am betting that they will be swept off of their feet as much as I was back then! It really is a FABULOUS place to be, and I imagine it would be an awesome experience for them. No, I can't live vicariously through them, BUT...if they just so happen to be there and like it as much as I did... Now I find myself really reading up on the whole college experience. I hope they make the most of it and don't get sidetracked like I did. I eventually got back on track, and I even took a further track later in life...but sometimes I wonder...WHAT IF? Too bad they don't have a PhD program in my field there, or I might consider going there in MY future! BUT...there IS a school not too far away that DOES have an excellent PhD program for me. Think they'd resent me following them off to college? Yeah, probably would...I know I wanted to be on my own and away from my parents when I was that age! So who knows...but one can dream! :)