James and I drove down on Sunday (arriving ahead of the torrential downpour) and stopped in Columbus to take Madeleine out to dinner (somehow we also detoured to Walmart). We even spent some time in her dorm getting to know her friends and giving James a chance to see a little of what students do on a Sunday night at the W.
Monday morning we headed to Starkville (just 30 min away). James checked in, got a goodie bag (cup, pennant, pen, window cling, tshirt, etc) and then we headed to breakfast. Turned out it was not a group breakfast but rather a $5 voucher good in the Food Court. We had eaten at the hotel so I used mine for Starbucks and James just chilled. From there we went to a general assembly where we heard from various individuals from MS State.
We then opted to go on the tour of the dorms. We were able to see three different types. After seeing so many dorms with now two children, I've come to the conclusion that a dorm room is a dorm room and there are pros and cons to all rooms I've seen. So it really depends on what the student wants - a larger fridge, more storage space, private bath, etc. We then hurried to the cafeteria for lunch where we ended up in the burger/fries line since it was crowded and we had about 15 minutes. I sure wish I had seen the line for the Indian food first; I would have enjoyed that much more.
Next on the agenda was an assembly for the College of Arts and Science. It was not as informative as I would have hoped but I guess that's to be expected since it covers such a wide range of departments. We were able to say hello to Dr Travis - undergrad adviser to Poli Sci majors. Then the last assembly was the 'important' stuff - honors college, scholarships, etc. Chances are very good that James will be accepted into the Honors College (about 500 freshman are each year) and chances are good that he'll have scholarships to cover both tuition and out-of-state fees. The Distinguished Scholar award (covers tuition, room/board and more) is probably not going to happen as they only award 7 of those each year and while James has outstanding ACT scores and grades, he probably doesn't have enough activities as he only has Scouts and church. The final event was an ice cream social - we were in a hurry to get home before dark (and Boy Scouts) so we took our ice cream to go. James grabbed Muscadine Ripple - it was scrumptious and I will look to have more next time I am in Starkville.
1 comment:
sounds like a great trip. I really enjoy reading about your experiences sending your kids to college, although they are very different than ours... sending ours from overseas back to the states for college. Keep us posted on how all those visits go and where he decided to attend!
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