Yesterday Andy and I went to his first college open house. I was amazed at how many people showed up, and apparantly so was the school- they had to have two opening sessions with the university president because we couldn’t all fit into the theater for the originally scheduled one session.
It was a state college, one of the “lower tier” schools based on admissions criteria, but NJ state schools are all becoming increasingly competitive, and I came away impressed. Andy wasn’t feeling well so we didn’t do the campus or dorm tours, but we did speak to one of the political science instructors about options for pre-law, and Andy came away from that impressed enough to keep this school on “the list.”
A major plus- they have the lowest tuition in the state and many merit scholarships to offer. A major minus (depending on point of view)- the campus is only about 15 miles away. Too close to home for dorm living? Of course, those 15 miles are along the absolute worst stretch of traffic-filled roadway in NJ, so the actual driving time can easily hit one hour each way. In fact, on our way home we crawled along at 10mph for a good 5 miles (Cat, I do believe you know the road of which I speak…) On a highway. Due to volume. Ugh. So housing on campus would definitely be the way to go. Especially because he’ll turn 17 (in NJ the age eligible to get a drivers license) 2 weeks before the start of his freshman year. And if he’s like me at all there’s no guarantee that he’ll actually get his license on his birthday. There is no way I’m going to drive my son to college every day :ohreally: .
