Three Kids and a Dog: College Visits for Austen

Seems like just yesterday he was at the Montessori Academy of Chicago for his infant, toddler and early elementary years and now we are researching colleges and getting prepared to send our first born off to school.

How bittersweet that truly is. So excited for him to experience college and the fun and lifelong friends to be had from there. To date, it's one of my favorite times of my life. However, I realize he may never truly live with us again for an extended period of time. But we do have time left now so we are taking advantage of family vacations when we can and taking him on many adventures to visit colleges and do soccer ID camps too.

In February, he went to see University of Michigan for the second time and attend their college soccer ID Camp. That visit solidified that that school is his #1 choice. He would forsake all others if he could get in there. Total long shot for him given the high school he's applying from and all the smart kids apply there and they only take a certain number from each school. I told him he could transfer to our beach house in Michigan for Senior Year and then he'd surely get in (since Michigan caters to in state residents). He said no to that though. Anyway, he loves that school.

After Michigan, he flew to Boston to do another soccer ID camp at Boston College. He got a personal tour from my aunt's friend's grandson who plays club soccer for BC so that was wonderful and a great perspective for Austen. He liked BC too although not quite as much as he did Michigan. He did like that we have family out there too so I know he'd be well taken care of when he was away.

Just last weekend, he had some soccer games up in the Milwaukee and Madison area (Wisc) so we made a weekend out of it. He played in his first game on Saturday morning then it was off to see Marquette. That visit confirmed that Marquette is not on his list (way too urban for him). From there we headed west to Madison where he had set up another personal tour with another freshman he knows at University of Wisconsin at Madison. Now, when I visited that school when I was 17, I did not like it at all. It was on my list and then came off my list after my visit. Way too urban for me (and it wasn't even that urban)! So I was interested to see what Austen would think. We visited the Union, hit the bookstore and took a driving and mini walking tour before he met up with his friend and was gone for a good few hours. The consensus, he loved it! Kind of surprised but it was prettier and less urban than I remembered. So that's still on his list (for business) and not playing soccer or playing club soccer.

So he's figuring it out. Gaining some clarity on what he likes and what he doesn't like. He has time. Cast a wide net everyone says. The admission process is a crap shoot these days and of course I know there's more than one perfect fit for every kid. What a ride though and I intend to enjoy the process as much as he is although it's a lot of work for him and us! Good luck, Austen!