The search continues... College 2 makes the grade, not so much for College 3

Sorry for the last post- but whew!!!! Mac and I are continuing on the quest to find the perfect college for him. Today we made 2 visits to two separate colleges. Word of advise: don't do this. OMG- I am soooooooooo tired. My body is tired from walking all over the place and my brain is tired from all the information and all the questions. I thought it was going to be hard to top our visit College 1, but...

College 2: Today we visited a state university, campus population 21,000. There are over 300 majors, study abroad programs, 18 different places to eat on campus for dining, and co-ed residence halls. There's free athletic events and they're a Division 1 school which is cool. They also have a major auditorium which is a public event arena which gets Big Name entertainment and students get to go for free. The technology is amazing here- they are state of the art and up to date with all the possible technology you could dream of. The campus is 50-50 Apple and PC. The student/ faculty ratio is 19 to 1. Freshmen can park for free. There are also computer labs all over the campus so there is a 1 to 1 , which is amazing for a huge university. They have the academic program he wants, the social life he wants and the size doesn't scare him.

College 3: A small Christian school with around 1300 students. But as we walked around the campus we wondered where all the students were; I'm not kidding. It was 3pm in the afternoon and we saw some kids playing Frisbee golf and that was it. We were super impressed with our faculty meet and greet; that was the only thing that impressed me. The rest-- feh. The meal plan is terrible and everything seemed "run down." Mac and I both love old schools, historic schools. But this was more run down rather than old. All the little extras cost money like using printing paper (which is free at College 1 and 2), athletic events, and campus parking. Mac didn't like the dorms- and we had a girl tour guide who didn't even show us a guy's dorm.

So! Mac is madly in love with college's 1 and 2. He was bummed that College 2 didn't give him a free t-shirt (but colleges 1 and 3 did!) but that was the only thing he felt was a negative. Mac and Daddy-O (I can't miss many more days of school so he agreed to go to round two!) are going back to this school so he can sit in on a class, meet 2 professors (one from the music department and 1 from the political science dept) and have a more in-depth discussion with with admissions.

While it wasn't the rock star treatment we had at College 1, we were still impressed with College 2. I had to admit I was wrong and was impressed by such a big state school, and that they managed to give it a personal touch, even for a school of its size.

Now, in two weeks we will see the last two schools: one more small, liberal arts Christian college and then the largest state school in my state, which boasts 40,000 on it's main campus. This should be interesting.

Then all the visits will be completed and then we can study financial aid packages and make a decision.

I will be so glad when all this over and he's enrolled somewhere that makes him happy and feels like home. Then I can breathe.

Mac's Mom,
Maggie