My husband has been the one to go on all the visits so far. I didn't want to stress out our son. Hubby and son went to Anderson University for a final visit a few weeks ago. He loved it!
I took the day off of work today to go with them to Indiana Wesleyan.
Our appointment began at 9, so we left the house about 7:15. I have to mention, the thing I hate most about Daylight Saving is that it is dark in the morning again. You just start to have hope again and, "boom!" it is taken away. As we pulled out of the driveway, I mentioned how wrong it was.
I sat in the backseat, so Son could be in the front. He is quite good at being the DJ with his phone and the bluetooth. He kept us in music the whole 105 minutes.
We arrived in time, and shortly after, we had a meeting with an admissions counselor. She answered questions and explained our day. We were then referred to a student who would take us to Chapel.
Wesleyan is a Christian university and chapel will be required 3 times a week. All in our small visiting group attended, which was a good thing. For my husband and myself, who were raised United Church of Christ and Lutheran, the service was a bit intimidating. I married into the Lutheran faith and both boys have been raised in a Lutheran household. However, we haven't really gone to church much in the last 5 years, so Son wasn't intimidated in the least.
When I say intimidating, I mean they had a band, and the entire student body was in attendance, many waving their hands in the air, playing air guitar, and bouncing to the music. Their voices sang along to words projected onto two screens. To traditional church goers, of traditional services, in small churches, this felt suffocating. If I were the one attending, I could have left then, confident this school was not a good fit. Son enjoyed it.
We next went to lunch. They had great choices, and the food was quite good. Son and Hubby said the food was better than Anderson.
Next was the campus tour. Our guide, Dylan, was fantastic! The tour was very thorough, and Dylan was funny and asked questions and answered all of our questions. I was impressed.
One of the stops, of course, was to see an example of what a dorm is like. The rooms are impressive. The layout seems to offer some privacy and they have suites that share a bathroom, so no communal bathrooms.
We sat in on a creative writing class, which is Son's major of choice. Hubby and I got to sit in as well. I found the professor to be engaging and fun. He had Son sit at a table with kids from the class, and they treated him like an equal.
After the class, we met with the same professor. He let Son know what the Writing major requirements were. He was friendly and helpful.
We went back to the Admissions Center to check out, and Son got a free T-shirt.
We, of course, had to stop at Ivanhoe's for milkshakes on the way home.
The way the college choice points stack up right now:
Both have chapel requirements, but Indiana Wesleyan is much more Faith based.
Anderson had a great History professor. IWU had a great Creative Writing professor.
Then IWU wins in food, dorms, and the fact that they have more band opportunities.
Hubby and I went to Valparaiso University for our Freshman year and graduated from Purdue because Valpo was so much more expensive.
Oldest started at Indiana Tech, but no longer wants to be an engineer, so he is taking the semester off while he decides what he does want to be, and what school will offer that.
What I worry most about, is Youngest will start at a school where Faith is expressed more visibly than he may be comfortable with and need to find a new place to belong.
It's his first "most important decision of your life" decision. It's hard knowing I am not needed or even wanted as anything more than a consultant. But I have to believe we've done our best, and I'd like to think we did a pretty good job.
Indiana Wesleyan University moves to first place.
Next is Ball State.
Then the decision.
Ready or not, here comes the future.
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