Midwestern Days

[pollaczek]

A week ago today Emma and I landed in St. Joseph, MI, her hometown on the southwestern Lake Michigan beachshore, and land of ice-cream, fudge, and spectacular Bells Beer (actually based in lovely Kalamazoo). All of this time has been greatly appreciated after two happy weeks on the road, camping in northeastern Oregon at Wallowa Lake, driving

Comments

[pollaczek]

I hear you on the attractiveness of the east coast. Certainly, too me it seemed like a strange and bewildering place for an undergrad, but now I find the idea of living in a place like NYC quite compelling on some level. Still, I hear you on the expense: the excellence of the program would have to greatly outweigh going into serious debt paying for tuition and housing.

Maybe I'm rationalizing at this point, but for me the attractions of the midwest ameliorate this problem, to a certain extent at least. You may give up the tremendous variety of cultural experiences and big-city excitement of NYC and the seaboard cities living in some midwestern cities, but often the cheaper prices and more accessible culture can outweigh these losses. I'm still waiting to see on Urbana-Champaign- and I have only my parent's friends who were born there to tell me that it's a "fine place"- but all that I have heard about Madison has been overwhelmingly positive. I had a friend from my high school in Roseburg who went there as an undergrad and absolutely loved it, in the politics or journalism program if I'm not mistaken; and I currently have another friend who is starting as a grad student in the music department this fall, and is very keen on being there over a number of other midwestern schools she was accepted into. Honestly, I was rooting for Emma to go there, but for a variety of reasons this didn't happen due to her favored adviser not accepting new students. In fact, on the way in to St. Joseph, MI, her mother told us that we had to skirt the city so I wouldn't be depressed by the sheer beauty of Madison that I would soon be missing. That, and I've heard that the academics are excellent as well.

[ganatronic]

Thanks for the info! Researching schools really takes up a lot of time. But hopefully I'll be able to make some good decisions. Madison looks dope -- and maybe I'll be able to visit at some point in the near future. It really helps to get firsthand (or secondhand) feedback, like you're giving me. Otherwise, all the websites start blending together.
Funny thing: my parents received the UCI alumni newsletter the day you posted this. Well, I thought I it was funny.