Visiting Colleges

Well, I have arrived at that moment in life where my kids are looking towards college.  My oldest daughter, whom I affectionately refer to as 'Squirrelly Girlie the Elder," is now halfway through her junior year in High School, which means that over the next 7-8 months she will need to familiarize herself with the college application and admissions process, choose colleges to apply to, and submit applications for admissions and for scholarships.

And given that she has expressed some interest in studying in Southern California, I have taken advantage of my need to visit the Los Angeles area for work to make it also a college visit trip and brought my daughter along.

It has been a very good trip so far -- informative for her, but also interesting for me.  Even though I work at an elite University, it's fascinating for me to see how the admissions process is handled from the point of view of a parent and prospective student going through the process.

Anyway, we've spent the past two days visiting a variety of colleges and universities in the Los Angeles area.  We've been to USC, Loyola-Marymount, Occidental College (where Obama briefly attended), and UCLA (the big state University).  And today (Saturday), our last full day in Los Angeles, we're going to make an unplanned trip out to the Claremont area to see the well-known community of liberal arts colleges that make up the Claremont college consortium (Claremont-McKenna, Pomona, Harvey Mudd, etc.)

It's been a great visit so far, and I hope it has been beneficial for SG the Elder as she starts her foray into the college search process.