From newsletter.

When it was time for my perfectly average kid, Jonah, to apply to college, I wasn’t worried. Balancing his interest in large schools, his grades/SAT scores, and our bank account, I knew exactly what kind of college that he should apply to. 

Of course, it wasn’t obvious how much we were going to pay for college, because the price of college is totally mysterious. Because of that uncertainty, we applied to 12 colleges hoping that one would be affordable. Even with that uncertainty, I had no trouble compiling a list flagship state colleges, we visited many of them, and then he applied. After acceptances arrived, we balanced price tags with ranking numbers and made a final decision. 

Because my life is always fodder for my writing, I wrote about that process extensively on my blog and in more professional spaces. All those links in the above paragraphs go to my work. I even blogged about taking 5 college tours, in 5 states, in 5 days. 

Sidenote: I thought about writing a travel/memoir, where I visited 100 colleges and went on all the tours. Maybe I would have attended some frat parties or something, too. I don’t know. It didn’t happen. 

So, my second son is going to finish high school in three months. I basically have no clue what he’ll be doing then. 

He’s got high functioning autism, so he would struggle with a typical liberal arts curriculum at a four-year college. He’s not reading and writing on grade level. And he has some quirks, so he might not blend into a tech program at the community college either. He might. He might not. I have no idea. 

Continue reading “Fear and Loathing On the Non-College Trail” →