College trip Archives - The Grassy Road

1000 miles of colleges – Preppy to hippie and in between

1000 miles. 7 schools. Preppy to hippie, Amherst to Bard and NYU in the middle. And an "OMG I'd better study for the next 6 weeks" reaction from Sebastian (a junior) which meant mission accomplished for me.The US college system is so very different than the UK that it's really a debate in my mind which is better. Is it better (as I did) to specialize in maths and physics at 16 and then from 18 on only study maths? I came out of a 3 year program with a [...]

It’s cold in Ithaca son

8 colleges in 5 days, starting in Ithaca New York. I check the weather as we leave Manhattan, and then don't pay attention to the results, thinking it can't really be 28 degrees in late March. Sebastian refuses to take even a sweatshirt claiming he does not get cold. Monday morning and we were at Cornell. It’s 18 degrees outside and all I had was a thick sweatshirt. “Don’t worry Mom, just wear layers”. 3 t-shirts, a sweater and the sweatshirt later and he's right, except for my ears. Wow. [...]