our first college tour (lyn)

I didn’t visit any schools when I was applying to colleges.  I was a straight-A student, but still not educated enough to know what to look for in a school.    So with no guidance, I applied to a handful, got in, and went.  Today it is a much more complicated and involved process.  Tutors, tours, advisors, consultants.  SAT prep alone is a $4 billion/year business.  Getting into a good school is much more difficult than it was forty years ago.

Today we visit the University of Pennsylvania, the first of our college tours.

We leave the house around 7:30 to take the Bolt Bus to Philadelphia.  In anticipation of possible food temptations, I pack a low-point breakfast: a cut-up apple and an Arnold thins-lox-and cream cheese sandwich. 

We arrive 45 minutes early for the bus, so we go to Starbucks where Alexander orders a toasted bagel and butter.  By comparison, my little sandwich looks measly. 

We arrive at Penn around 10:30 and meet up with Zelia, and her kids, Rodrigo and Victoria.  We stop by the bookstore and our skinny teens are hungry.  They eat a snack, and then we go to lunch.

We are all impressed with the food court.  Sushi.  Pizza.  Deli sandwiches.  Mexican cuisine.  Everything looks so good.  While the kids are contemplating the many choices, I pick up a spinach salad, which turns out to be excellent.  The accompanying balsamic vinegar is so good I want to bottle it and take it home.  So far, I could attend Penn based on the food alone.

After lunch we head over to the Admissions office and join hundreds of other parents and perspective students.  We register and then go to a big auditorium where an energetic and knowledgeable speaker presents info on the school.  Everything she says reinforces what I already think:  this would be the perfect school for Alexander.  We then take a campus tour, and by the end, I’ve totally fallen in love.  We all have.

We leave Penn around 3:30 and forty-five minutes later Zelia wants to stop for coffee.   We use the GPS to find the nearest Starbucks.  It’s twenty something miles away, so we settle for a Dunkin’ Donuts, under five miles from where we are.  Within minutes, we are pulling off the NJ Turnpike, into one of those convenience stores next to a gas station, only this one also happens to house a miniature Dunkin’ Donuts.  The kids get home fries that actually look great, and Zelia splurges on a chocolate covered delicious-looking donut.  I roam around the dumpy little store searching for something to eat.  I reject the raisins with cashews.  The fat content is too high.  I check the ingredients on the back of cookies, candies, and an assortment of other potential foods, but reject them all.  Where are the 2-point bags of Weight Watchers Multi-Crisps when you need them?  Finally I settle on a small container of Special K’s.  Big mistake.  They are awful.

We pile back into the car, and end up sharing stories and laughing all the way home.