Anonymous wrote:I would go where I could get in. It's not as easy as it used to be. Who knows? I'm may not even be able to get into my lame ass college today.

Excellent point!

I went to one small liberal arts college, transferred to another, took some time off, studied abroad, and ended up with a good education and some good life experiences - but I also feel like dumb me back then (20+ years ago now) didn't realize that I could get out of the NE winter and go somewhere warmer.

So I guess I'd tell my younger self to look for warmer climes. Maybe UF New College? I dunno. I had bad grades, good SATs, so I'm not sure where I'd have even gotten in.

I'd go to Smith all over again. Loved that place.

If I couldn't go to Smith I would choose Williams or possibly Wellesley so I could do the cross registration with MIT.

Anonymous wrote:UVA. I had great SATs but was a lazy sack in high school and squeaked into Mason. It was fine and I make a good living now, but I spent many fun weekends with friends in Charlottesville and love to visit there to this day. If I had a do-over, that's what I'd do.

I went to UVA but if I had to do it again, I'd go somewhere smaller like James Madison or W&M. UVA was just too vast for me.

Anonymous wrote:Wow, shocked at all the Northwestern love. I went there and hated it. Full of careerist types with inferiority complexes about not getting into an Ivy. If I had it to do over, I'd pick a small, friendly liberal arts college. But, hey, I'm a non-profit librarian. YMMV.

northwestern gets good optics because it blends d1/big ten atmosphere with elite academics and extremely well known journo and b-school combined with safe/upper class location but close enough to a global city.

stanford and vandy might be the only other schools that combine all of these attributes (big time d1 college sports, elite academics, proximity to city).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Virginia Tech. Love Blacksburg and what VT offers in the way of the whole university experience.

This is where I went and I'd do it all over again. The perfect in-state, all-around college experience.

Care to say why it was so great? Really I'd like to know. I meet tons of people from UVA, but few from Virginia Tech who rave about their school. Growing up, it was known as a party school full of VA families and many high schoolers traveling down there on the weekend to party. I know the reputation has gotten better over the years though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I played a string instrument in college but gave it up. If I could do it all over again, I would go to the Berklee College of Music and major in Film Scoring. I always loved music and good movie soundtracks.

I think I'm going to cry. No second chances like this at my age.

This is why my kid can major in Film, if he wants to major in Film. My parents forbid me to do it and I'm sorry that I'm not in the industry.

+1. Ahhhh....for a 2nd chance!

Wow, shocked at all the Northwestern love. I went there and hated it. Full of careerist types with inferiority complexes about not getting into an Ivy. If I had it to do over, I'd pick a small, friendly liberal arts college. But, hey, I'm a non-profit librarian. YMMV.

Anonymous wrote:I went to Penn and I'd go again!

Me too!!

I would still go to the same big state school I went to, the University of Florida. It was pretty much the perfect college experience for me.

gross...in nowhere IN

Would still go to Notre Dame....

Tough one.

Maybe UVA because there are some faculty there doing work I am interested in. U Chicago, same reason, and GMU too.

Second level criteria: mountain proximity and length of ski season.

But if there had to be a practical reason, I'd go to a big state school like Penn State or U Mich because it gives you small talk, connections, and a social outlet forever.

Columbia, Brown, Smith, U of Chicago.

This is of course pretending that I have my "smart-enough-to-bother-studing-in-high-school" brain instead of the high school one that let me slack off and beg my way into U of Wisconsin (which was also great).

I would go where I could get in. It's not as easy as it used to be. Who knows? I'm may not even be able to get into my lame ass college today.