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Many of us were not adventurous enough, at age 17, to send applications to schools across the country, let alone out of our state of residence. Then, some of us, with 20:20 hindsight, say "If I was to do it all over again ... " With that in mind, what are the 10 universities or colleges you would have liked or that you might have wanted to attend?
First batch of 5 (no particular order):
1) University of Virginia - beautiful, historic, high quality instruction, and reasonable size; for some reason, a little foreboding with its traditions
2) University of Washington - nicest urban campus on the West Coast and a great school that is diverse without hitting you over the head with it
3) University of Florida - surprisingly nice campus with a bunch of Gothic brick buildings instead of the newer community college "look" one would expect in Florida; not far from the beaches for day trips and reasonably good school that's always had smart people
4) University of Massachusetts - seems like a neat place to have gone to school with a bunch of different offerings and close enough to Boston, yet far enough away
5) McGill University - I'm cheating, given that it's in Montreal - a fantastic school on a fairly nice campus dropped into the middle of Montreal's financial district (if I had to give an alternate to stick to the U.S., I'd say University of Vermont at Burlington, about 1.5 hrs. south of Montreal and on Lake Champlain)
Second batch of 5 (no particular order):
6) University of Michigan - great school, nice quad, a destination for students from all over, graduating really smart people who, from what I've seen, are less pretentious than what other top schools turn out
7) Georgia Institute of Technology - a great school on a nice campus in a not-so-nice area, but close enough to nice areas of ATL; beats the heck out of Georgia State and, at the time, Univ. of Ga. did not impress me
8) SUNY Plattsburgh - not as many offerings as UVt Burlington, but across Lake Champlain, in an unpretentious college town
9) Florida State University - was really surprised to see that Tallahassee is a nice little town, the state capital, and close enough to the Panhandle; (would have liked to have said UWF, but in Pensacola, I doubt the languor of the area would contribute to academic dedication)
10) University of Rhode Island - decent school and close to Newport, RI, and about half-way between Boston and NYC
I was reaching from about 7 onward. Add your list if you would like to do so.
If I had the chance to do college all over Robt, I'd go to the local state university, do the 6 year Pharmacy program, be done with school forever, get a job at CVS and live in stable middle class forever while I pursued what I really wanted to do on the side. Lol.
Hmmm interesting thread.. I would have liked a small, highly selective east coast College that focused on undergraduate education such as:
1. Swarthmore
2. Haverford
3. Williams
4. Wesleyan
5. Bowdoin
OR overseas:
6. University of Adelaide. Gorgeous main campus. Nice liveable city. Drinking age is 18, close to fabulous wine regions (Barossa, McClaren Vale, Clare)...
Where I actually went:
1. CAL for undergrad. I'd do it again, but would have liked being outside California
2. Cornell (grad school #1 but I did not finish)
3. Columbia -- where I got my first masters degree.
4. Uiversity of Adelaide (Australia) -- where I got my second masters degree. I had a ball.
Hmmm interesting thread.. I would have liked a small, highly selective east coast College that focused on undergraduate education such as:
1. Swarthmore
2. Haverford
3. Williams
4. Wesleyan
5. Bowdoin
OR overseas:
6. University of Adelaide. Gorgeous main campus. Nice liveable city. Drinking age is 18, close to fabulous wine regions (Barossa, McClaren Vale, Clare)...
Where I actually went:
1. CAL for undergrad. I'd do it again, but would have liked being outside California
2. Cornell (grad school #1 but I did not finish)
3. Columbia -- where I got my first masters degree.
4. Uiversity of Adelaide (Australia) -- where I got my second masters degree. I had a ball.
What did you study at Columbia? I'm looking at that school for an MBA.
Williams College (MA)
Franklin & Marshall (PA)
Hamilton College (NY)
Case Western (OH)
U of Chicago (IL)
Dennison (OH)
Alfred (NY)
Bowdoin (ME)
Harvard (MA)
U of Miami (FL)
My son wound up at Case Western. It has a lovely urban campus in a vibrant part of Cleveland. I preferred the rural schools but he has been happy there.
Location: Just transplanted to FL from the N GA mountains
3,997 posts, read 4,149,199 times
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I would have liked to finish college first and foremost...
But having gone through the app project with my son I saw so much to be interested in eighteen years later.. While I realize not all institutions have the same degree strength, if I was going to pick 10 I would have to say location would probably be most important. So knowing myself I'd have picked warm and sunny or just by location alone...program be damned...
1. University of Miami - The boy is now an alumni of the U. The campus was amazing. He got a wonderful undergrad experience and education that is serving him well.
2. Pepperdine -
3. University of Florida
4. University of San Diego
5. Duke
6. Tulane
7. New College of Florida
8. University of North Carolina
9. UCLA
10. Stanford
I would have liked to finish college first and foremost...
But having gone through the app project with my son I saw so much to be interested in eighteen years later.. While I realize not all institutions have the same degree strength, if I was going to pick 10 I would have to say location would probably be most important. So knowing myself I'd have picked warm and sunny or just by location alone...program be damned...
1. University of Miami - The boy is now an alumni of the U. The campus was amazing. He got a wonderful undergrad experience and education that is serving him well.
2. Pepperdine -
3. University of Florida
4. University of San Diego
5. Duke
6. Tulane
7. New College of Florida
8. University of North Carolina
9. UCLA
10. Stanford
Ah Pepperdine.. beautiful campus.. but when I heard it was a Christian college I lost interest (no offense meant). I wanted a non-sectarian school. If I didn't live so close to Stanford and did not have family members that had gone there I would have applied to Stanford.
Many of us were not adventurous enough, at age 17, to send applications to schools across the country, let alone out of our state of residence. Then, some of us, with 20:20 hindsight, say "If I was to do it all over again ... " With that in mind, what are the 10 universities or colleges you would have liked or that you might have wanted to attend?
First batch of 5 (no particular order):
1) University of Virginia - beautiful, historic, high quality instruction, and reasonable size; for some reason, a little foreboding with its traditions
2) University of Washington - nicest urban campus on the West Coast and a great school that is diverse without hitting you over the head with it
3) University of Florida - surprisingly nice campus with a bunch of Gothic brick buildings instead of the newer community college "look" one would expect in Florida; not far from the beaches for day trips and reasonably good school that's always had smart people
4) University of Massachusetts - seems like a neat place to have gone to school with a bunch of different offerings and close enough to Boston, yet far enough away
5) McGill University - I'm cheating, given that it's in Montreal - a fantastic school on a fairly nice campus dropped into the middle of Montreal's financial district (if I had to give an alternate to stick to the U.S., I'd say University of Vermont at Burlington, about 1.5 hrs. south of Montreal and on Lake Champlain)
Second batch of 5 (no particular order):
6) University of Michigan - great school, nice quad, a destination for students from all over, graduating really smart people who, from what I've seen, are less pretentious than what other top schools turn out
7) Georgia Institute of Technology - a great school on a nice campus in a not-so-nice area, but close enough to nice areas of ATL; beats the heck out of Georgia State and, at the time, Univ. of Ga. did not impress me
8) SUNY Plattsburgh - not as many offerings as UVt Burlington, but across Lake Champlain, in an unpretentious college town
9) Florida State University - was really surprised to see that Tallahassee is a nice little town, the state capital, and close enough to the Panhandle; (would have liked to have said UWF, but in Pensacola, I doubt the languor of the area would contribute to academic dedication)
10) University of Rhode Island - decent school and close to Newport, RI, and about half-way between Boston and NYC
I was reaching from about 7 onward. Add your list if you would like to do so.
I DID travel across the country, and went to two of the schools on your list. Hated one (Virginia), loved the other (Washington). If I could do it over again I'd probably do the same thing. I grew up in a small town with a lot of small-town, narrow-minded people, and all I ever wanted was to get out of there and never go back. Ultimately, I accomplished that, so I don't regret my choices. I probably would like to change some things about grad school, like the student loans I took, but that's another story.
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Lol.
