Sometimes I think about how Jacob once described computers to me when he was a little boy.
“I don’t understand why you like computers so much? What is it?”
And he says, “Because you can do anything on a computer, Mom. There are no limits. You can fly. You can be whatever you want. You can do all kinds of things you can’t do in real life.”
That sure stuck with me. Not only was it the clearest, most optimistic view of a world of possibilities, but also it made sense coming from a child who was always striving for more knowledge, more power, and more freedom from the grown-ups fencing-in his life.
Which is why Jake was singularly focused on computer science for as long as I can remember. But with time and maturity and exposure to more options, cracks are starting to form in that resolve. And most certainly the fear-mongering headlines proclaiming all our children’s future jobs will be replaced by AI. Let the record show that a guy I worked with named Paul Oh was whiteboarding about “the cloud” ten years before it became a thing. Same with software-as-a-service– started as “Colo’s,” died, was resurrected practically fifteen years later. Humans love to proclaim our own demise and to overestimate our ability to metabolize change. It’s what we do.
In any case, we had a fun and productive Spring Break college tour road trip. We learned you most certainly can give yourself a tour and you should drive around the campus and get your bearings before you decide to get out. If you decide to get out. For some schools a drive-through is all you need. And having just done the full Cal Poly tour with Sarah, Cora, and Beckett, I was reminded I am not an organized tour person. I find myself consistently wandering off, zoning out, and losing the group. Good thing Sarah was there and we always have plenty to talk about.
So save the ninety minute campus tour for after you’ve been accepted, or if you’re trying to make a hard choice between two or three options. And now, on to the scores! The boys were asked to rate each school on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best. I do not accept decimal point answers and demand whole number certainty. My rating system, my rules. Did you enjoy that sushi I bought you for lunch? I thought so.
- UC Irvine: N9, J9
- UCLA: N8, J9
- Cal Poly, SLO: N8, J8
- UCSD: N7, J8
- UCSB: N7, J8
- Cal Poly, Pomona: N6, J6
- Harvey Mudd: N3, J4
- Cal Tech: N3, J4
And the winner is… UC Irvine. Followed by UCLA. They both liked big schools with big buildings and big grass. Irvine was centered around a surprisingly pretty central park. And unsurprisingly, the scores plummeted as the temperatures ticked up, the further we wandered inland. Cal Poly, Pomona was deemed, “Same school, worse place.”
Jacob is still considering what he wants to study. Don’t ask too many questions. He says he’ll figure it out. And I have no doubt he will.
Recently I’ve noticed a lot of dust bunnies in the boys bedrooms. I thought it was their down comforters, but I zipped them up in new duvets and it’s still a problem. I ask each of them separately and they both say the same thing…
“What is going on with all of these dust bunnies under your bed?”
“I don’t know… they just spawned in.”
In their worlds, I appreciate that everything is possible.