#11301: mattH — 12/16  at  09:32 PM
Bummer for him, but I bet he took it well.

#11305: — 12/17  at  12:43 AM
Congratulations to you and Connlann! Is he interested in Bio (in various forms) I recall that Madison has world class departments in Microbiology and Biochem, IIRC.

#11306: Sharon — 12/17  at  02:36 AM
Only about a ten hour drive, eh. It's always hard to grasp the scale of America. Ten hours would virtually take you one end of the country to the other here (on the mainland)... even on the bloody trains.

#11309: Stephen Brophy — 12/17  at  04:35 AM
Congratulations! best of luck with the finances!
Honestly, a 10 hour drive?! I could get there in 10 hours; and I'm not even on the same continent!
Have you thought about college in Ireland?!

I'm only half kidding: I know several American students who have chosen Ireland because even with flights and accomodation it works out pretty good value. We're no saints, but there are a few notable scholars around...

#11313: PZ Myers — 12/17  at  07:26 AM
Hmmm. I could see shipping him off to the UK, except that the exchange rate right now probably means there's no way I could afford it (damn you, GW Bush!)

And no, after years of jerking the family around the country following the usual low-paying academic jobs, I think there is no way any of my kids will want to follow in their father's footsteps. Connlann is thinking about computer science.

#11318: Niket — 12/17  at  09:01 AM
Congrats to Connlann and good luck with financial aid.

#11326: — 12/17  at  10:16 AM
He could be on a more liberal campus at the People's Revolutionary Universtiy of Havana.

Good Luck!

#11337: Tom Bozzo — 12/17  at  11:33 AM
Sorry to hear about Conlann's first choice. There are certainly far worse places to be than here (Madison), and the UW, notwithstanding the efforts of our lunatic legislatiure, remains a pretty good bargain. (And isn't there a tuition reciprocity deal for Minnesotans?)

There actually is money being made around here in life sciences, but computer science is not a bad choice at all. After seeing what the assistant professors in the field make, computational finance would seem to be a good way to end up lording one's math skills over one's high school classmates...

#11338: PZ Myers — 12/17  at  11:38 AM
I must have phrased that badly. Madison is his first choice. And yes, we do have reciprocity, which will help a lot.

#11340: — 12/17  at  11:40 AM
Congratulations.

#11341: Tom Bozzo — 12/17  at  11:54 AM
Well, then, hooray!

I did misinterpret the small type in the post, and shame on me (a graduate of public universities, at that) for assuming that the UW wasn't his first choice.

#11344: — 12/17  at  12:07 PM
I'm already feeling this sort of college-related financial anxiety, tho' my daughter's only 13. I'm a poor person's lawyer by trade, which is the same thing as a poorly paid lawyer.

This makes me want to talk about my daughter (I don't have my own blog, so I'll play freerider here). She's adopted. She was exposed to cocaine (and perhaps alcohol) in utero, and was born premature and with (we learned much later) significant learning disabilities. By dint of a kind of hard work that the privileged middle class kid I was could probably never have managed, she taught herself (with some help from us) how to read, and now burns through novels on her own at an impressive pace. She plays the violin and sings in a children's choir. She has a toughness, stiff spine, very rare in other children her age. I wondered for a long time: can she be a college student? Then she participated in a YWCA program that showed her how to apply to college and for scholarships. Thanks to this program, I learned something I hadn't known, or had only a vague notion of: many colleges now provide a wealth of services for students with learning disabilities. So I'm hopeful, if I can just afford it! One of her assignments in the aforementioned program was to draw up a 20-year plan. At present, the plan includes an undergraduate degree from Spellman, then getting a Ph.D. in archeology from Brown. I love her quite fiercely. To the extent that Bush is aggravating the economic insecurity of the middle class (not to mention an unjustifiable war, and the usual doormat treatment for poor people), I hate him just as fiercely. My daughter's life prospects make it all personal in a way it wouldn't otherwise be.

#11345: — 12/17  at  12:22 PM
C. Schuyler: You sure chose to bite off a lot of responsibility. Hats off to your sense of dedication—and to your daughter's. My 16 year old was born at 7mo/2lbs and has what the neurologists call a 3% palsy (CP). The challenge for my (ex1) wife and I was to not make it a focal point of her life. We used the term "glitch" while doing all the exams and phys. therapy stuff. Indiana's school system was very helpful. Fortunately, she's bright (altruistically joined PETA, then quit when they badgered her) and when her grandfather died, everyone was surprised to find he had left her a $56k education trust. I always knew dad was a good guy, but wow. Despite the "glitch" she now has every reason for success, just like your tough little girl.

#11348: — 12/17  at  12:28 PM
Richard, I'm glad to hear it.

#11350: Les Lane — 12/17  at  12:38 PM
I spent 11 years in Madison getting all my degrees. It's a great physical as well as intellectual environment. As an entering freshman in engineering I hadn't the foggiest idea of what an "intellectual environment" was. It took me several years to learn. I was quickly disabused of the notion that I was cosmopolitan (coming from CT). I asked my taxi companion where he was from (condescending voice). He replied "Southern Rhodesia."

#11351: — 12/17  at  12:42 PM
Beautiful town, Madison. I visited once as a kid, and never fogot it. The University Bookstore was spectacular. Is it still?

#11363: PZ Myers — 12/17  at  02:02 PM
I've been there a few times myself for meetings, and I agree, it'll be a good place to live for a few years. Not 11 though! I'm not paying 11 years worth of tuition!

#11467: — 12/19  at  02:30 AM
Well, I am in 2 years deep with Derek the Math Major at Iowa. Talk now is of adding Poli Sci, MIS, preparing for Grad school, maybe Law. 11 years it may be ... ouch. He works to carry part of the load and we have yet to purchase the lake house, Porsche and matching McMansion.

Watching them flower even more intellectually when they are immersed in the university is great though. Even bright kids with parents on the 'inside' still rarely envision how college will shape their lives. I hear Madison is a cool place and hope he, and you, are able to fulfill his dreams.

And PZ you could sell the car since you can walk to work in the Metropolis of Morris (has a nice ring to it)!

#11495: — 12/19  at  02:18 PM
"The All Children Are Above Average Fund", apologies to Garrison.

I just returned from Portland where signs of the locals trying to overcome a statewide funding cut for education are everywhere. Funds have been set up for individuals and corporations to contribute to improving the quality of Porland schools above the lowest common denominator approach that statewide tax cut fever has created.

Many towns have scholarship funds for select students sponsored by local businesses or civic groups. A few of these benefactors have committed to whole classes of students receiving college funding. It may be time to go to the next level.

The "Morris (or your town here) All Children Are Above Average Fund" would be set up as a trust for all future graduates of Morris High who wish to go on to college. Citizens and other interested parties would contribute to the fund. No doubt it could be formed to include a tax benefit as additional incentive for contribution. Morris could break free of the lowest common demonimator funding preferred in less enlightened locales, UMM could use it as a recruiting tool for employees, and it would probably help build some good will with the rest of the community since those Morris employees are probably among the best paid in town and should make the highest contribution (and keep on giving after their kids are through college). Maybe the citizens of Morris would even be willing to tax themselves to build this fund since they know who will benefit.

Yes, I would prefer that this be a national or state effort, but if the political will is not there, then we dont have to let the expense of college fall all the way to the individual. Counties, Cities, School Districts all are logical entities to 'sponsor' such funds.

Of course none of this helps your son or mine directly, but there are more children coming who deserve a chance to become "Above Average" if they are willing to do the work. I've got my checkbook ready.