This week is spring break. (It feels so EARLY!) According to our son, we aren’t doing anything fun. We are merely touring college campuses. This is the strange tale of finding a university for Good Sweet Guy Hunting.
Good Sweet Guy Hunting
Back in 2008, the very first post that featured Sweet Guy was The Next Jackson Pollock. It talked about a project created from the art lessons I provided to Sweet Guy’s kindergarten class. KINDERGARTEN! I keep asking myself “Where did the time go?” Because this sweet scene feels like it could be yesterday.
Touring college campuses is a totally new experience for me. I started out at a community college. For a time I had big dreams for the Fashionista. (Parsons! FIDM!) But she did not want to leave home and went to community college too. Still wanting to be close by she opted to attend and graduate from ASU.
Where Do We Go From Here
Sweet Guy is now a junior. Shortly after he took the SAT last fall the college mailers started arriving. I began tossing them into a file, choosing for months to be in denial that my baby was going to leave home. But given that it is now common practice to have your college selected by the time you start your senior year I can no longer ignore the issue.
One thing we decided right away is that unless someone comes knocking with a full ride scholarship he would not be attending a college out of state.
Texas Y’all
So this means a Texas University. No problem. There are 143 to choose from.
It’s Just Business
Seeking to narrow down the list we started looking at colleges that offer a degree in business, which is what he wants to study. He has taken several business classes, along with marketing, in high school and has a flair for it.
Indeed he sort of blew Dave Ramsey away when he went to go visit him in Nashville at the age of 16.
But um, like every college in Texas offers a business degree it seems.
Hey Gamer
Since we do hope to apply for a few scholarships we switched our focus. It’s a given we’ll apply for Eagle Scout and community-based scholarships. But there is another area that he excels in.
It left me scratching my head, but did you know that many colleges now have E-Sports gaming teams and award scholarships? It’s big.
He is on his high school E-Sports gaming team and currently ranked number 2 in the district.
I’m sort of embarrassed to admit this.
I instead want to say, “He takes TWO AP classes and TWO duel college credit classes (physics and calculus – a heavy academic load), runs cross country and is also in the Spanish club in addition to being an Eagle Scout.”
So, there I said it. This gamer is no slacker.
But he has heard from a few recruiters.
So that’s where we’re at. We’ve narrowed it down to 6 colleges. I think I’m most excited to tour Southwestern.
He has forbidden me from wearing a pink suit and holding Gracie under my arm.
#spoilsport
Tell me about your Alma Mater.
Laura
Exciting and bittersweet times, indeed! I’m sure everything will work out wonderfully as your son is so talented.
Funny fact: I just watched Legally Blonde last night for the umpteenth time and it just cracks me up. Love Reese.
As for my Alma Mater… Other than a couple of classes at Community college, I did not attend/graduate College. Instead I began working for the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1984 and I’m retiring with 30 years of service next month from the Champaign/Urbana campus where I’ve been for the last 18 years. It’s just the way things worked for me and I’ve never regretted it. Excited to be completing this journey and beginning another.
Love, Linda
Linda, I am a HUGE supporter of kids learning a trade, entering the military, apprenticeships, and other options. College is not a hard and fast rule for everyone. Many people do very well, yourself included, without it. College just seems like the best fit for him.
It’s an exciting time for sure! And we love that movie with Reese W.! So cute! I have 4 sons and they all went to UTA and my youngest went to UT in Austin. They have more degrees that I can remember and have done well with their chosen fields…they are engineers and architects. Texas has the BEST colleges!!! He’ll do great!
We toured UTA yesterday and he liked it! 🙂
Texas Tech was a great experience. It is far enough away from Dallas that it has a weekend college life which I think is important. We moved to Washington state since my husband and I graduated from college. Both of my kids attended college in the Puget Sound area. There was no college life on the weekend. They all went home. That being said I felt like all the activities during the week were a distraction.. Gues one more thing to look at.
I am a proud graduate of the University of Nebraska Lincoln. I graduated with a BS in Family and Consumer Science Human Development and Early Childhood and Elementary Education. My graduate work was in Special Education and a Secondary endorcement in Family and Consumer Science. I have taught every age from pre k to community college. I have a niece that graduated from Nebraska Wesleyan and Bryan School of Nursing and is a cardiac nurse. A niece that graduated from Hastings College that was business major and is the financial seceratary of a school. A neice that went to Community College in Beatrice, the University of Nebraska-Omaha for her BA. And Peru for her masters. She is now the dean of students at the community college in Milford .My nephew is now at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln majoring in mechanical engineering. We all were able to receive our education in the state of Nebraska. I am sure your son will be able to find a perfect fit in the state of Texas.
I’m sure you’ll find a great place for Sweet Guy! Sounds like he’s well on his way already! I did want to mention one thing: sometimes out-of-state private universities match or exceed the financial aid packages of in-state universities. At least that’s what happened when one of my daughters was looking: she was planning on FSU when Boston U offered her enough to make the total cost, including travel, less. She loved Boston! This was some time ago so things might have changed, of course, but just thought I’d mention it. I went to a small private college, also in New England, back when it was a (then)very expensive $2000. per year — WAY BACK! In my latest alumnae mag I saw that it now costs …gasp!… $70,000.!!! Cannot imagine anyone who can afford that! Have fun with the search!
I had a similar experience. Although I got free tuition at any school in my state system based on my SAT scores, I attended a prestigious, small college in New York for very little more than the cost of the state school. And the contrast between a school for 2000 and a school for 50,000 is great. So much more attention, so much flexibility. Private schools give so much more aid than state schools. Plus, schools in the east want kids from the west for diversity purposes, and vice versa.
Laura,
Its amazing how fast time flies. The kids I babysat in college are now college attendees or seniors themselves. I moved from the UK to the US for college. I attained my AAS degree in interior design from a community college and then I attained my BFA in interior design from a religious liberal arts university. It was far from the movie adaptations. Nuns frequently walked around our campus, there was chapel, and a retirement home a few steps away. I hope you take lots of pictures of the campuses for us, there’s some beautiful and some not so beautiful, but what really matters is the aura, for lack of a better word. There’s some colleges where the students look happy and at ease and others where they look unhappy and can’t wait to leave.
Happy hunting!
~Kiki~
Oh wow, it’s hard to believe he’s picking collages. My word, time really does fly. Such an accomplished young man too. Can’t wait to see what he picks.
We are hoping Bekah will be transferring to A&M in the fall. We are soooo impressed with A&M — smart and friendly kids! I graduated from Oklahoma Baptist University — great small college that is family.
I graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU) in 1970 with a degree in Clothing & Textiles and minored in French. My family was living in Houston, so Nacogdoches was just far enough away without having to travel a great distance. I fell in love with the campus and that it was not a gigantic college with many thousands of students. Good luck with your search!
Looking at the map of “most desirable colleges by states”… Texas stands out!
But for me, I went the route of the Fashionista, community college first.
Enjoy traveling!
Another vote for Stephen F. Austin in the Oldest Town in Texas! They offer LOTS of degrees in many areas of interest and gaming and sports are right up there. Can’t beat the beauty of the campus. Strong churches in town cater to the college students.
Wishing you both safe travels and good fortune in finding the right campus and the right deals to apply for scholarship wise. Such a big time for a kid’s life. And yours too, I think.