[Willie Green]

Many students find it difficult to cope in the real world when they're confronted with the fact that everything isn't just handed to you on a silver platter. While these college amenities are nice, they can also be counterproductive in preparing students for a successful future. IMHO, our institutions of higher education are doing our nation a disservice by not practicing and preaching the virtues of discipline, hard work and frugality.

[maxwell]

Gad. These kids have it all. Little ninnies. I negotiated every detail of my college experience from my choice to my finances. No parental handholding here, no campus tours-- too busy. I lived off campus, worked an outside job at least 32 hours a week, studied my Republican wazoo off for a double major, ate corn chips and discount frozen pizza and had no life.

[cynicom]

Is there some secret curriculum that is only taught at the upper crust schools. Do their professors have wells of ancient knowledge open only to them? Do they use some super secret textbooks? Is the calculus taught there a superior brand to that taught at East Overshoe U????

[Helms]

The writer went to Alleghany College in Meaville PA-http://www.allegheny.edu/index.php. Are there not solid conservative colleges: George Mason?

[js1138]

There are, of course, some unspoken risks in going to college. For women, the risk of being killed is about the same as for a member of the military. For men, even greater, but in their case, death is likely to be self-inflicted.

[dark_lord]

If Freepers ever banded together we could form a nonprofit corporation that would float a bond issue to buy a small junior college. The corp could then heavily leverage teleconference facilities to acquire the services of heavy duty professors from reputable universities to teach courses long distance. Get accredited from a major college association and go into business. Low everhead, good professors, and low costs.

This is not a new idea of course. There are some schools that do this but the few that go 100% distance learning do it in reverse - students stay home and the instructors are centralized; or maybe both are distributed. Such "universities" are usually focused on "certificates" rather than 4 years degrees, or on single programs (eg. MBA) and quality varies highly. Most kids want a party school and the parents if they want cheap just go in state community college and then state school; and if they want good just go for the "rated" schools -- ivys and etc.

But a Free Republic university....as time goes one we should have enough critical mass to float such a concept.

[Dan from Michigan]

Best thing I ever did was take a year off for experience.

[nevergore]

Thank God my daughter is going to the Air Force Academy this summer......

Besides the price (it's free - actually, after you finish paying for your kid's college some of your taxes goes to give my kid a free ride), the values, morals, ethics and self sacrifice the school empasises are a refreshing alternative to state university and college system....

NeverGore :^)

[quebecois]

I graduated from an Ivy League school in the late 80s. The cost was obscene and the liberal arts were completely replaced by naked marxism. And the tuition there has doubled since I gradated.

At some point, middle americans are going to begin to wonder why they should blow their life's nest egg by sending their kid to a school where he will be bombarded with liberal propaganda.

Education is today where the media was circa 1985. People are well aware what is wrong and who is causing the problem...but they don't yet have an alternative. I'm eagerly awaiting the appearance of the academic equivalent of EIB and Fox News. If you think that the lefties are upset about the loss of their media monopoly, just wait until they see the children of middle america going to schools that they don't control.

[Pukka Puck]

Cara

He misspelled Clara.

[Pukka Puck]

"Cara worked incredibly hard in high school, pulling more all-nighters in one semester than I did in four years of college, and I am proud of her."

Having to pull an all-nighter shows poor self-discipline and planning skills and is nothing to be proud of.

[Pukka Puck]

"the considerable sums Penn will soon extract from mom and pop (and Cara too) for membership in its club."

Where in the hell did Cara get considerable sums at 18 years of age? If she has that much money I would let her go to Pitt or Penn State and pay for it herself.

[Pukka Puck]

"Or the effect such factors as "legacy" can have on admittance."

Hmmm. I guess affirmative action doesn't mystify him a wit, even though affirmative action is a much large factor in admission than "legacy".

[SuziQ]

The idea of not having visited your prospective college at all before arrival is as incomprehensible to her as staying at a motel was to my father.

Our oldest didn't tour any colleges before applying. He was flown to CA on a scholarship interview at Claremont McKenna; he loved their dining hall! He took a test at UMass-Amherst for a scholarship, but didn't go anywhere else on campus that day. He ended up getting a full scholarship at UMass, which is why he chose to go there.

He'll enter Law School in the fall, and though he'll owe plenty after several years there, he won't have the additional monetary burden of the 4 yrs. of undergrad school!

Our #2 son flew out to Carnegie Mellon for a weekend to see the campus after having applied to the school, but because he left his suitcase on the bus coming from the airport, spent most of his weekend tracking it down! He ended up going there because it was his first choice, and will owe BIG bucks when he gets out, but it is the best school in the country for Computer Science, so it is where he needs to be! He didn't tour any other schools.

[Sonny M]

Having now guided two children through the process, I'll confess that much about college admissions mystifies me. Like why certain colleges are considered "hot" schools. Or the effect such factors as "legacy" can have on admittance.

Certain colleges become "Hot" through different means. It can range from both the success of there alumni, to the large donations they receive from there successfull alumni, with the money being used to bring more services and anemeities then the usual school. Some schools also "cheat" the system to build themselves up, the newest method is to reject students who are going to be accepted into better colleges, because the school knows full well, they are not going to be going there. I.E. the kid is going to go to harvard, so you reject him, before he turns you down. Also as for legacy's, its actually not a big hinderence. Ann Coulter actually did research into comparisions between legacy's and affirmative action, and found that something like 87% or around that number of legacy's would have gained admission anyway, regardless. Affirmative action varied from school to school, At yale, less then 15% of the students would have gotten in, if affirmative action wasn't there. (I do not know how she did her research or where she got her numbers from, or her methods used).

[Tijeras_Slim]

The author graduated from Allegheny in 1978. I can guarantee you that he would be dazed by a choice of attractive, much less edible, food from a college dining hall. The alternative at the time was the "grill" which could screw up a grilled-cheese sandwich, or several off-campus dives such as Pizza La Roma (stick with toaster pizza, it's better) or the Deer's Head Inn (all you can eat spaghetti on Tuesday, but you won't...)

Regards, Slim: Class of '81

[Xenalyte]

Cara worked incredibly hard in high school, pulling more all-nighters in one semester than I did in four years of college, and I am proud of her.

Whoa up a sec. Sleep is incredibly important to a growing body, and when you're a teenager you are definitely still growing. Why on earth any parent would allow his child to stay up all night - for school, fun or any other reason - is utterly beyond me.

If I'd felt the "need" to stay up all night for schoolwork, Xena's Folks would have had me drop a few extracurricular activities.

[Publius6961]

If Cara is the person you describe, you should stop agonizing and let her decide.
I did that with my daughter and never regretted it.

This was around 14 years ago, but I'm sure things haven't changed that much.
She was accepted by all seven Universities to which she applied, including Stanford, UC Berkeley, U of Penn and Amherst.
She chose Georgetown.

[nmh]

University of Penn in Phila. is a liberal mecca. My niece went there. I helped her move into the dorm. As we were moving her in a mob of lesbians descended upon us. They practically harassed Andrea, my niece into attending their lesbian welcoming gala.

It got so bad that I stepped outside her dorm room and waiting for the next gang of them to come by and invite her. When they came I told them in NO uncertain terms to take their immoral behavior and "celebration" of this trash elswhere since Andrea was a STRAIGHT woman who was too polite to voice this fact.

Next they called me every filthy name in the book so I closed her dorm door. I could see they had to restrain themselves from attacking me personally. Later I had a chat with Andrea. I allowed their vile mouthing off to better illustrate who they are and furthermore, WHY she had nothing in common with them. It worked to only reinforce that being straight is the ONLY way to go.

Also the "courses" required for graduation leave something to be desired. For example, do you think working for free in a homeless soup kitchen should eb a REQUIRED course for a comp. sci. major? Let alone pay the expensive credits for this? I don't. Yet they do.

[rwfromkansas]

The food at my college cafeteria is less than tasteful. And the dorm needs to be torn down. But, I love the school.

I have seen the state schools (those are the ones with the food court style etc.) and wow.....the food is amazingly good. Blows your mind.

[RWG]

Typical elitist rambling. Going on and on about how things were different and better but then going ahead and giving in to the trend of today.