Campus Tours

 

I blinked and now I have a high school junior living under our roof. Which means college is on everyone's mind.

College was a transformative experience for me. I have deep Penn pride, and owe much of my current identity and success to those first four years. But it was also, independent of the school, a grown-up process and a grown-up decision, to figure out where I wanted to go to college and then (in my case) to fly across the country to do so. I'm thankful my parents gave me the freedom to go anywhere I wanted, and to largely leave to me to figure it out.

Fast forward to the present, and Amy and I have largely put Jada in the same situation. Which, in part, entails getting her to these places so she can make an informed decision, which is to say both based on what's on paper as well as getting a feel for the places. Yes, even as COVID has shifted what we think of when we think of the collegiate experience, and the industry is in a great disruption as it unbundles itself in response to the proliferation of information and experiences now available, I still believe in the power of going to a physical place for four years to rub elbows, stay up late, and soak it all in. So the least I can do is bring Jada to her choices so she can take a quick sip and see what she likes.

Now, her choices are geographically diffuse, and my schedule is not very accommodating. Nor do I want to pull her out of school for these visits; many of my friends do, and I don't begrudge them that choice, but for me I just would rather not. So getting to campuses has been months in the making, least of all since COVID has complicated things.

Jada's first stop, UCLA, earlier this calendar year, is an example of that. On-campus tours were the first to go - thanks, Omicron! - and then one-on-one's that I'd brokered with kids of friends who are current students were out when UCLA went remote for the first two weeks of spring quarter. Then the airlines messed up our flight, leaving us to scramble through campus the morning we had to unexpectedly ship back to Philly.

As with UCLA, Jada and Aaron both hit Penn State together, and this time they had more time to take in the full campus, meandering through a self-guided tour with two of Jada's friends and being able to horn in on the many guided tours that were happening at the same time. I'm hoping for at least that experience at her next stops, which will tentatively be:

* Pitt next month

* Berkeley, Georgetown, UNC, and Duke in late August

* Columbia and NYU in October

* Penn on her own time

I'm trying to get her to pick at least a couple more, which I hope we can get to this calendar year in advance of her starting applications senior year. And trying to be prayerful too, for man plans but God has His own plans, and I have to remember Jada is in good hands. See you on campus!