365 Days of Colleges and Universities

The college experience is so different for everyone. My husband and I have some similarities in that both of his parents were college professors and both of my parents attended college. Our daughter however, did not begin with those familiar experiences in her own home, but her desire for the college experience was always there. As we do with everything since embarking on this journey called parenting, we wanted the selection process for her to be one that was both relaxing and informative while at the same time enabled us to make the journey with her.

Our daughter will be a junior in the Fall of 2009. She wants to be a pediatrician and is weighing heavily towards being a biology/Pre-medicine major in college. We have tried to focus on schools that have very good programs specializing in these areas. With her we decided that instead of limiting her choices to just schools close to home, we would encourage her search to be nationwide. We talked with family and friends who agreed to host her when we couldn't travel with her and there was a particular school near them. It's a daunting yet fun undertaking. We have no idea how this will all work out, but we anticipate it will be yet another memory we can all share in the future.

A Parent's Introduction

Funny how time flies. My husband and I have only been parents for a little over a year and already we are searching for colleges with our oldest daughter. The reality of it makes us both happy and sad at the same time. We have had to wrap our brains around the fact that we truly only have her for 3 years. We never got to hear the first cry, see the first smile, change that first stinky(but precious) diaper, nurse or bottle feed her(I will not start crying, I will not start crying...lol). There is so much that we have been trying to pack just in this first year alone. In our own way we created ways to feed her by having her taste all sorts of weird concoctions in the kitchen, I have sat with her and held her while she cried over a (stupid..lol) boy and we saw that genuine smile when she realized that for the first time she would have a room that was her's alone. We have come to realize that you can't take the time you have with your children for granted no matter how old they are.