Higher Education

We reached a “red letter” day in the family last week.

The twins, who will graduate from High School next June, have been accepted into colleges.

Colleges which require them to move away from home, live in a dorm and share the bathroom with 800 other college students.

For a while, it was questionable. They both got turned down by their first choices much to our surprise. After all, they had average SAT’s and a 3.5 GPA. We assumed that’d get you into a state college without any trouble.

We were in for a shock. Apparently, with the economy in North Carolina in the toilet, the folks who would normally have sent their kids to private schools – Wake Forest, Duke, etc – have backed up and sent them to our outstanding state colleges – UNC, NC State, etc.  Add to that the "non-traditional" students who are older, unemployed and returning to school and massive budget shortfalls in the university system, and you've got a recipe for a lot of rejection.

The thing that put us at a disadvantage is that the parents of those kids who would normally have gone to private schools have been building those applications and resumes’ for college since little Tiffany and Armbruster were in the 2nd grade. They definitely had the paper advantage.

So the first choices fell by the wayside – UNC-Greensboro for Jordan and their College of Nursing, and NC State in Raleigh’s School of Engineering for Taylor. Instead, Jordan’s been accepted to UNC-Charlotte and Taylor to Western Carolina in Sylva.

The process has been eye opening, too. They have SAT scores within 2% of each other and identical GPA’s. Both have similar extracurricular activities, and yet some places accepted one and denied the other.

They aren’t intent on going to the same college, so that’s not really an issue although it does make one question the admission process somewhat.

Decisions aren’t cast in stone yet. Taylor hasn’t heard from Appalachian State in Boone, a mere 45 minutes away, or from Oklahoma State which emerged as a late contender, nor has Jordan heard from UNC-Wilmington.

The chances of transferring to a preferred school after a year are significantly better. Of course, there’s always the possibility that they’ll decide they like the place they’re at and choose to stay there. North Carolina has an exceptional university system, so a degree from the regional colleges is not necessarily a detriment in looking for a job later.

But for now, everyone will be loading into a car to go live “away” come next August, and that’s a good thing for everyone.