Now, I come from simplier stock. I only had a few colleges that I was interested in and most were in Texas. This was back in the days that, if you applied to one of these state schools and you could pay your bills, you were in. Not like now where you have to have perfect grades and you have to apply to each university with a 3 page thesis on why you should go to the University of Overpaid Professors and Ugly Mascots. My choices were down to two: Stephen F Austin or Texas A&;M. If I pursued my love of nature, I would have gone into Forestry and SF Austin was the place to be. But, I am more of an Engineer by nature and blood. Like to take things apart and put them back together. Ergo, as an Engineer, A&M was one of the top Engineering Schools in Texas. Besides, my dad and older brother went there, so it kinda ran in the family.
Junior, on the other hand, followed a different path. He was going for computers. Most of the schools I listed before were the top placed for computer geeks, but, honestly, they were obscenely expensive. I cringed at the tuition requirements, but I did not want to hold him back from his dream. We took a road trip out to LA to check out Caltech in Spring 2006. Great weather. Got to tour the general area around Pasedena, CA. Being an A/R sort, I planned ahead and score us some tickets to the Tonight Show (yes, we met Jay Leno). We did Six Flags California, toured the Rose Bowl, did the Walk of Fame, oogled Grauman's Chinese, toured NASA JPL, got hit on by a hooker. An outstanding road trip.
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| Waiting to get into the Tonight Show |
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| Grauman's Chinese Theater |
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| Voyager |
4 comments:
Any video would be great!
Hm, now I am assuming that the hooker didn't literally HIT you - unless you told her she was overcharging or something? :-)
Facing huge Uni fees over here now too, made worse by the fact that half of the current coalition got tons of votes by saying they would abolish fees altogether!
My kids picked state colleges... WHEW! They sort of knew up front that if they wanted to get into one of the pricier schools, they were going to have to fight for it with good grades and scholarships.
Kinda wish we'd have done a few road trips in the college search.
What? OMG!!
"You met Jay Leno, did Six Flags California, toured the Rose Bowl,and the Walk of Fame, oogled Grauman's Chinese, toured NASA JPL, got hit on by a hooker."
An outstanding road trip - INDEED!
Can you please bring me along next time?!
Cal Tech? I think you need to know a bit about math to get in there, last I checked.
Sounds like you did the trip up right, though!
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