Final Stop

Today we made our final college campus visit, Marquette University, my alma mater.  It was a good thing that it was local, because I had an audit to go through at work, so I was able to take off for just a couple of hours rather than having to take the entire day off.

I have been back to campus a couple of times in the past 5 or 6 years, but only to get some materials from work from the library.  I forgot how much I liked walking around the campus, especially when the weather is nice (as in not winter).  The campus isn't nearly as large as Madison's, but I like it.  As always, we had to sit through a 30-40 minute pitch on the University and surrounding community and what it had to offer.  They mentioned a few things that I had forgotten about when I went there, mainly that you begin right away taking classes in your major.  There is no 2-year "pre-major" period before you have to apply to the school/major you want.  You start taking those major classes right away as a freshman.  In addition, the professors get to know who you are right away.  I remember that clearly when I transferred in.  There were two professors that I had for class who would greet me by name as I was walking through the halls of the engineering building.  I remember thinking that was pretty cool.  

There were only about 20-30 kids there touring, and they broke the groups down, I think, based on the majors that the kids were thinking about.  And of all the tours we went on, I would say that the Marquette tour was the most personable.  We were lucky that there was only one other kid in our group, so it was a very intimate tour, so to speak.  Our guide tried to engage the kids as we walked, as well as the parents.  and just like the other campuses, we didn't get to stop and see a whole lot, other than a couple of classrooms, the library, and a general history of the campus and buildings.  We did get to go into the St. Joan of Arc chapel, which I thought was very cool.  I used to study outside the chapel when the weather was nice since it was right next door to the engineering building.  

When we were done, Sarah said she really liked the campus, and Kris told me that Sarah had said that MU was now her #2 choice.  There was something that made me feel good about that since it was my school too.  I do think though, that one of the things that might be attractive to her, in addition to the size of the campus/student body, was that she got to tour their cadaver lab last year for her anatomy class, so she has an idea of the type of facilities they have.  

I think that we are done touring now, though we may go back to LaCrosse to see if we can tour the biology department and talk to some instructors.  But aside from that, it is time to start getting ready to fill out applications.  One good thing is that Sarah got her letters of recommendation set up at the end of the school year in June, so I think she is at least on her way to getting her applications sent.