What All College Tour Guides Have in Common

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1. Advanced skills in walking backwards.

2.  Effusive about junior year abroad.

3. Proud to display their student I.D. cards, which can be swiped everywhere for cash, sports tickets  and food. 

4. Fearful of losing above cards.

5.  Have all taken a lecture class with 100 kids, and the amazing professor learned everyone’s names!

6. Have eaten less than half the food their parents paid for on their meal plans, but luckily they can donate the balance to charity.

7.  Can list six of the a cappella groups on campus, but have to think for a minute before remembering the name of the seventh.

8.  UGGs

9.  Danceathon fanatics.

10. Thinking of declaring a major in neuroscience, whatever that is. 

Expert College Critiques

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Our original list of colleges to visit was too ambitious.  But fortunately there is a girl in CJ’s class traveling in the opposite direction.  This compulsive texter has been providing CJ with instant feedback about every school she visits.  Early on we were able to eliminate Trinity College from our list because College Critic told CJ that the entire student body of the highly selective liberal arts college was "stupid". Her tour guide, she reported, had a 3.3 high school GPA and was rejected by the University of Miami. Then today, she sent out a missive letting everyone know that all 12,000 students at Cornell are "too serious".  She did say, however, that she was "obsessed" with Colgate, so we will still have to visit upsate NY.

Update/Disclaimer: We are now in New York visiting friends who have kids who attend a top boarding school in CT.  They say Trinity is a fine school with intelligent students.  In fact, one of our smartest friends went to Trinity and went on to attend an Ivy League Law School.

Duke: Castles, Tents and Basketball

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It has been only two days and we have managed to find the perfect school, or rather a collection of Cambridge-like castles surrounded by woodland. Stunning, Gothic architecture, life-changing research programs, diverse student body…plus tons of school spirit.  A highlight of the school for CJ were the outdoor eductation opportunities: If you want decent basketball tickets, you get to live in a tent for a month.  Unfortunately it is not easy to be accepted here, but if CJ gets 2300+ on his SATs and starts a foundation, he’ll stand a chance. 

Tomorrow, after a 4.5 hour road trip:

Washington D.C. – George Washington and Georgetown

Pulpits and Pulled Pork

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Greetings from Vanderbilt University, alma mater of Al Gore, but not a Prius in sight.  This is the ideal school for CJ if he decides to become a Divinity major.  There is a church on every corner and an inspirational bookmark section in the campus bookstore, where all of the sales associates have missionary haircuts.  The one landmark our cab driver pointed out was a huge bronze statue of Billy Graham, arms outstretched before a giant cross.  CJ and his buddy Genius Surfer, our travel companion for the first two legs of the trip, are not fazed by the abundance of bibles in Nashville, because there is also an abundance of fraternities.  After a dinner of pulled pork and bluegrass, the boys headed off to Kappa Alpha Psi to experience Southern Greek life with a former soccer teammate.  It is almost midnight and they still haven’t returned, so I would guess that so far Vandy gets their seal of approval. 

Tomorrow morning is our tour.  This place is full of smart, polite kids and we’re looking forward to finding out if you really have to wear ties to football games.  Can’t wait to get the details about other popular majors here, like ROTC.

Tomorrow afternoon: Duke 

Google Blocked my Blog and Called it “Spam”

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Received an email from Google early this morning.  I hoped it would be an offer to turn my blog into an HBO series. Then we might be able to pay for CJ’s college education, if he happens to be accepted at a college.  But in fact the email said that access to my blog would be blocked for several days because it had been identified as a “spam blog”.

“Blogs engaged in this behavior are called spam blogs, and can be recognized by their irrelevant, repetitive, or nonsensical text…”

A reader reacted to Google’s assessment of the blog: “It’s bad enough getting notes from Disney, now you have to get notes from Google.”

In anticipation of tomorrow’s journey, I found out some important info last night about Vanderbilt University, which is our first stop. I happened to meet an alum interviewer at the most unlikely of places – a bar mitzvah.  As we enjoyed our lamb chop h’or deurves, she told me that at Vanderbilt, boys wear shirts and ties to the football games.

Shared that news with CJ and that did not deter him from touring the school, so we’ll be on our way in the morning.