Set aside today for picking through all the college solicitations and filling out some applications with Daniel.
eeeeeeks.
How did I get here?
He has the day off from school and since the first college app deadline is in just over a week, I figured we better sit down and wade through. That and the discussion in our house continues about where, what major, and on some days there is the question of...
"Why should I go at all"?
This one is particularly frustrating when Daniel, if accepted, could go to the University of MD for free. For a parent with a little hindsight this is a no brainer except that I have read a few pesky articles about why sitting out a year could be good for a would be freshmen. Of course this is my version of "not going", meaning that you are eventually going to go, just taking a year off.
This is a tricky thing for someone who once thought that going to college these days doesn't have the educational bang for the buck that it used to in our society. Meaning that if you get experience you can get the work. Well that has sort of changed with Bryan working at the UM. In being involved in the hiring process there he has gotten a taste of how there are no open doors unless you have that college degree.
Frankly I think that could eventually lead to lawsuits for discrimination if a person could show that they had all the experience and could do a super job at a given occupation.
Call me crazy.
But putting all the silly ponderings aside, we are looking at what may work for young son to thrive not dive. Last thing we need is for him to go somewhere all ready to face the world and get blind-sided by it. UM is a huge school. That is probably my one reservation. It can be big and scary with large classes and little community. But smaller, private schools are ooooodles of money and frankly, for the same amount of money when you do the math...
We could afford to
• build a garage with an apartment that he could live in
and
• furnish it
and
• buy him a car
and
• get his first book published (agent fees, etc) and possibly his second
and...
well you get the idea. The price tag for education is unbelievable. And Bryan and I paid that price early in our marriage with student loans the first ten years for our education. It just seems economically silly to go to a school and graduate in debt with starting salaries not even meeting that debt.
So UM is looking pretty good. Again, if he gets accepted.
He struggles with the romance of it (or lack). Picturing himself at UM instead of some arts school in an artsy town, with artsy people is tough. It is big academia and somewhere along the line he has equated it with everything he disliked about high school. Next week we get to visit it and hopefully, he will get a taste of something that appeals.
So today we fill out the app, look at majors and other college related stuff. The next SAT, how his AP scores may allow him to skip some of his freshman classes. We will do it over cappuccinos and hopefully all will be bliss.
Let us pray.
Praying.