Looking at Colleges With Alec

I am in Southern California this weekend speaking at a big junior high event put on by the South California Nazarene churches. I decided to bring my son Alec with me so we could look at some “SoCal” (Southern Calif.) colleges. He’s a junior in high school right now, but we wanted to get an idea of what schools to consider.

Usually when I travel I just grab a cheap rental car. But since I have Alec with me,  I dropped a few extra bucks and rented a brand new Camero (what can I say… as a frequent renter, Budget gave me a deal!) Alec is loving touring SoCal in a new Camero- makes for a fun father/son weekend. He had me quick a few pics of him in the car to send to text to his buddy back home!

Friday the two of us went by Biola University and took an official tour. Alec really liked what he saw. We had heard from several friends that Biola had a real “community” feel… almost like family. The campus was really friendly. I was also impressed that every student is required to get a Bible minor.

Today when I finished speaking we stopped by Vanguard University near Newport Beach. Very pretty location. We couldn’t get the official tour there because of my speaking schedule (who’s gonna give a tour at 5 p.m. on Saturday?)  But we stopped by and asked random students on campus about the school. The students were very nice and informative. The dorms looked nice- we even went in the cafeteria- didn’t look half bad. It was hard to get a “feel” for the campus at night- so it was hard to compare to Biola. But we liked what we saw. (Obviously we’ve been looking at academics at these schools too… but the “on campus” peeks give you a look at things that you can’t see from reading brochures about majors, minors, requirements, etc.)

Tomorrow (Sunday) we are going by Point Loma. We have a friend attending there right now (one of the students I interviewed on our podcast last year) and she’s gonna show us around. We’re staying the night in San Diego right now- truly one of the more beautiful locations in the U.S.

The weekend has been great so far. Alec keeps mentioning how excited he is about college now. I’m excited to hear that out of him (Muuuuuaaaaahahahahah! My college “tour” weekend has worked exactly as I planned!)

One thing all three of the colleges have in common: they’re gonna break us financially!!!!   🙂 

My kids are worth it!   (although if any of you would like to introduce me to anyone in admissions or on any scholarship commitees at these schools… feel free!)   🙂