I feel like by now I should be a pro at helping our kids choose a college. After all, this one is our third and final kid to go. So why did I feel so lost the past few months? The reality is, each kid is different well, at least mine were.
My son always knew he wanted to go into mechanical engineering and hoped to work locally so PFW made sense. The cost was low so that was a huge plus. My middle daughter is my kid that likes hanging out with us so I knew that we needed to push her out of the nest so she had to live on campus and meet people. She was thinking of some type of engineering and did not want to venture too far from home. She became interested in Trine’s Biomedical Program after a campus visit. The Pandemic hit and that solidified our decision to have her go to Trine where she could live on campus, but come home easily and their classes were small enough to not all go virtual.
Now we have our youngest, the girl that says no engineering for me! She thought that playing volleyball in college would be a factor in her choices, but after 3 knee surgeries, she decided only on intramurals. She was set on looking at occupational or physical therapy direct admit programs, but after weighing the cost of grad school and all of the schooling associated with that major she decided that a business degree would suit her better.
Recently, I made her write out her pros and cons list for each school and the Kelley School of Business at IU stood out. She was already accepted at IU, but we did not check out the Business School when we did our visit months ago. I felt like we were practically starting all over again! So, I tried to schedule another visit on their website and they were booked solid over the next month, but they did have a few cancellations for the Business School session the next day. We packed in an hour and drove down that night. I called the Admissions Office the next morning to get parking information. The Admissions person said we should go to the “Red Carpet Day” instead and told us it started in 30 minutes. We left the hotel and arrived at the campus just in time. The “Red Carpet Day” was just what we needed! We felt like God was guiding our steps the whole way.
She decided that IU is the right fit for her and of course before we headed back we used the 20% coupon to buy some IU apparel. So what I have learned is to treat every child’s college journey as if it’s your first because more than likely it will be different than the “last one.” Blessings to all of you as you make college and high school decisions in the coming months and I will be lifting you up in prayer!
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:6-7
Dawn Schuller,
Director of Admissions and Retention