Where would YOU attend if you (the parent) could choose any school as a freshman in 2026? And why?

[Anonymous]

Big state school. Love the opportunities and school spirit.

[Anonymous]

Anywhere but the south or southwest. I hate the heat.

[Anonymous]

Probably Yale, though I’m LAC-curious. I went to Harvard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UCSB -- seems like an idyllic college experience on the beach with the great town of Santa Barbara a short free bus ride away.

This is my answer, too.

So Isla Vista is pretty grimey and very loud. Basically the opposite of the town of Santa Barbara. It’s honestly great if you are a college kid who loves to party and is happy to pack many people into a house.

[Anonymous]

As to why Yale, I like the residential system and was a humanities major. My sense is that the students are happier than at Harvard.

[Anonymous]

We looked at dozens of schools all over the place. The ones that gave me an immediate warm & fuzzy feeling were:

U of Richmond
Lafayette
Miami (Ohio)
Wellesley
Dartmouth
U of Oklahoma
Southern Methodist
Boston College

Honorable Mention:
North Carolina
Colgate
Auburn

[Anonymous]

UC Santa Barbara all the way…

[Anonymous]

Stanford or Harvard. Love the locations.

[Anonymous]

Probably Brown. Also love everything I read about Rice, but only if I can pick it up and move it. Not even about politics per se, not that I like them, Texas just doesn't appeal to me.

[Anonymous]

Rice. I visited it’s a beautiful little bubble of hope.

[Anonymous]

No Ivies for undergrad. No fun at all anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:myself: yale/mit followed by cal/umich

my kid: cal/umich followed by u florida

as to why, since i went to a subset of schools on my list above, i know i could handle without much difficulty at all; my kid, on the other hand, might not be a good fit to the very top colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stanford or Harvard. Love the locations.

A few years back, I used to think Stanford was the best, as its curriculum is a combination of HYP and MIT, until I saw quite a few 30under30 fraudsters coming out of the school: it seems to attract a particular type, or such a value is common among certain students there! I heard Stanford loves to admit high-profile kids who have appeared in newspapers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just curious. It's fun to see the schools that parents identify with or fall in love with through their kids' college process.

"Fall in love?"

That right there is what's wrong with DCUM parents. It's not a marriage. It's college. Y'all are over the top.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious. It's fun to see the schools that parents identify with or fall in love with through their kids' college process.

"Fall in love?"

That right there is what's wrong with DCUM parents. It's not a marriage. It's college. Y'all are over the top.

I’d say you’re more what’s wrong. It wasn’t that deep, just an expression, but you had to pick it apart on Page 7 of a peaceful post.