I cannot believe college is even on my radar for a child of mine! I seriously feel like I am still college age and should be touring these places for myself. Where did the time go?
A couple of months ago Will and I did some research into the art departments at some of the colleges in California. We found out that (no surprise) some of the top programs were at UCLA and USC. Will did some more research and found out when each school was having art department specific tours and info days. He was a super star and booked the tours and our flights for the end of November. We did not consult Lorien.
She has been resistant to the idea of going to college in California. She wants to go FAR away from home and experience something different. She thinks Southern California is too close to home and too predictable. I have an Aunt who lives in Huntington Beach and we've been to Disneyland a few times. So she thinks she knows Southern California too well.
We told Lorien about the tours and she agreed to come along (like she had a choice). We left our other kids in the care of Dave and Angela and headed south with our oldest daughter. I cannot think of a time Will and I have had so much one on one time with a kid. The youngest kid always gets a lot of one on one time with older siblings in school...but not for days and a night.
First, we waited in an eternal rental car line. Sometimes the most affordable rental car is the one that costs the most in time. By the time we got the car and headed up to UCLA we figured we could have left our house at the same time that morning in our own car and made the drive to UCLA in the same amount of time. This was particularly frustrating for Will, but I was happy we flew down.
UCLA was cool. I loved it! We found out that UCLA has played Harvard more times in TV and movies more often than Harvard actually has. We also learned about how small the campus is geographically (you can cross campus in 15 minutes if you are walking with purpose). We also learned that as long as you meet the minimums for admission into a UC school, the art department will advocate for your acceptance if you impress with your portfolio. All good information.
After our UCLA tour Lorien muttered: "I'm lowkey convinced to come to a school in Southern California." Turns out she was going along with the trip to indulge her parents. She was convinced she would hate everything about every school we looked at in Southern California. After one school, she was hooked.
We left LA and drove down to Huntington Beach to have dinner with my Aunt Colleen and Uncle Richard and spend the night at their house. Traffic was a killer! I will not enjoy that if Lorien decides to go to school in the LA area. I guess she wont have to drive much but I might have to drive a lot to see her down there.
The next morning we did a self guided explore of UC Irvine. They also have a top rated art department. Lorien loved the campus, it is very new and modern. It feels like out door IKEA. The housing was really adorable. We learned that UC Irvine does not have the same level of art department advocacy as UCLA. You just have to get into the UC system on your own merits.
Finally, we toured USC (boo). Their campus was beautiful! New buildings and classic architecture combined in a beautiful way. They just finished a big addition and the campus is an exciting place. It is also in the heart of LA and has a unique feeling because of that.
Will got to check out USC Heisman trophies...and even touch them. Dream come true. Too bad we hate USC...especially for football.
Lorien, however, fell in love with USC. She loved their art department the most of all. We had a regular college tour and then a sit down with an art department person and a tour of the art department with her. We learned that yelling "Fight on!" to everyone around you is socially acceptable. We learned that USC works with industry leaders in every department and internships in industry (concept art for animation) are plentiful. We also learned that USC is not actually part of the UC system...they are a private university...and it costs an arm and a leg to go to school there.
Still, the art department was amazing. Lorien was so excited after touring the department. She loved seeing other student's work and feeling supported in going off on interesting and unusual creative routes with her art. It was great!
Lorien was a little dejected by price. Seriously, I don't know how universities charge so much for school these days. Still, she was inspired by how cool college could be. She will find her place, it might be at UCLA or USC or UC Irvine. It was nice to see her motivated.
The weirdest thing was to be off with just one kid for a couple of days. It was so nice to not have to worry about where the other kids were, if they were lost, playing in a water fountain or about to get run over while we crossed a street. It was nice to not be asked random questions when I wanted to listen to the tour guide. Mostly, it was weird to not have to worry about so many other people. With Lorien as our only child we were ultra concerned about her comfort. We pressed her to take sips of water, to put on a jacket or to pick where she wanted to eat. With no other children to distract us she got the full power of our parenting...and were are concerned parents. I wonder if she enjoyed it...or got sick of it...quick.
I am so glad we went on the tours. I hope we will get to take her to see some more over the next year or so.
*post edit* After our tours we knew Lorien needed to figure out her foreign language situation. The plan was to take a year of Japanese through the local community college. A semester of a language at a community college counts as a full year of a language in high school. So a single year at DVC would get Lorien her two years of language for graduation and acceptance into most universities. It has been a year since she took her first semester of Japanese. Her love of all things Japanese has waned and trying to get back into a second term of Japanese after a year off sounded daunting. She was considering starting new with a different language at the community college level. So, when we got home I kept telling her to make an appointment with her school councilor to get it sorted out...she kept forgetting. Finally, last week (December 14th) she met with Mrs. Levy-Wendt. Now, I love Mrs. Levy-Wendt. She has been an awesome councilor for Lorien. She is kind and supportive and tells it like it is when needed. She encouraged Lorien to peruse Japanese and made sure all of the appropriate paperwork was in place with the school for Lorien to get credit. She also helped Lorien through a difficult social situation last Valentine's day. She is awesome!
Anyway! In the meeting Mrs. Levy-Wendt told Lorien that the language credit had changed. As of a few weeks ago, if you took a semester of some (difficult) languages at the community college level, that semester counted for TWO YEARS OF HIGH SCHOOL CREDIT! Seriously! How lucky is my kid? I guess, they reviewed the classes and what is covered in one semester at DVC is equivalent to two years at high school. Additionally, they just changed the requirement but they grandfathered in kids who took DVC classes last year (Lorien). Oh, and you had to get a C or better in the class...Lorien squeaked out a C! Pretty freaking amazing, if you ask me! We feel so happy and lucky. All that driving up to DVC last year (in traffic) was totally worth it. Totally!
