Bear Down

We spent Friday in Tucson giving Carol the opportunity to check out the University of Arizona. It was a good trip. She was not too sure how she felt about leaving home to go to school, but she was interested in seeing what they have to offer. We found out about a program they have called UA Up Close and were able to get in to a Friday session. The next openings were not until the end of January.

There is an intro talking about the overall university and then the students have the opportunity to pick two college presentations to attend. Since Carol's chosen major is Family Studies and Human Development, the first one we went to was the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. There was a rep there from her major and she ended up having a one-on-one discussion with her. It was a good meeting. She told Carol about a Child Life Specialist position as a possible outcome for her considered major - it is right up Carol's alley.

The second department we listened to was the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. There are a couple areas in that college that interest her and she has to have a minor with her major so that meeting made sense.

After lunch, which they provided and also included an optional panel of current students, we attended a session on financial aid and then had a tour of the campus. The program changed Carol's mind about the possibility of going to UA. She was still not interested in "breaking out of her bubble" and getting involved in anything outside of class, but we were not through...

We went by the Institute so Carol would have the opportunity to see what it was like. We were able to meet the Director and one of the Instructors. The secretary also showed us around and showed Carol why it is that the students spend so much time hanging around the Institute. It was nice to have someone else tell her that she needs to expand her social circle and she will be glad she did. There were a couple students in the rec room that were quick to support the claim.

Our last stop of the day was a meeting with an advisor, which turned out to be a really good thing - it answered several questions. First of all, Carol found out she needs to change the math class she is registered for next semester. The good news, though, is that the only other "math" she will need to take is a stats class. We also found out that she has to have 24 credit hours completed in order to apply as a transfer student; otherwise, she had to take the SAT or ACT and that just isn't a part of her plans. So, she can either apply between the end of Spring semester and June 1 for next Fall or go for another semester to CGCC and then apply for Spring 2010. This applies whether she decides to apply to UA, ASU, or BYU.

The trip was really good (except for the migraine I had by the time we got home). Carol felt much better about the possibility of going away to school. UA is now a definite possibility. She is opening up to the importance of getting involved in activities outside of the classroom... at least a little bit.