Girlie AGDee's College Search Thread

[LAblondeGPhi]

Originally Posted by KDCat

Michigan is an awesome school. If she wants the far away experience, she should could do a semester abroad. I didn't do a semester abroad and I regret it.

I think that going to a major university and living in the dorms DOES give you the "going far away to college" experience.

For years I under-appreciated UCLA because I thought it was too close to home to give me the experience I wanted. I was totally wrong. Once I was in the dorms, living with kids from all over the state (and one or two from other states), being on my own, meeting people with such a variety of experiences, it was like I was living on a different planet from my parents.

As for finances, there's always taking a part-time and summer job. I had a job throughout college, and I had sisters who used their summer jobs to pay for their sorority dues. This is kind of random, but I was a waitress right after college, and I wish that I had started in a restaurant my freshman year. I had a great above-minimum wage campus job that gave me good experience, but waitressing can pay A LOT more, and it was much more flexible than my campus job.

[Sciencewoman]

Originally Posted by LAblondeGPhi

I think that going to a major university and living in the dorms DOES give you the "going far away to college" experience.

For years I under-appreciated UCLA because I thought it was too close to home to give me the experience I wanted. I was totally wrong. Once I was in the dorms, living with kids from all over the state (and one or two from other states), being on my own, meeting people with such a variety of experiences, it was like I was living on a different planet from my parents.

My parents had Michigan football season tickets for decades. They'd stop by my dorm on home game Saturdays and pick up my hometown roommate (whose parents also had season tickets) and take us to tailgate with them. Neither one of us felt smothered...we loved seeing our parents "just enough" and having good food on those Saturdays.

By sophomore year we were each living in our respective sororities, and hung out more with our sisters and fraternity tail-gate partners on Saturdays, but I really liked seeing my parents frequently during the fall my freshman year. It did not cramp my style.