According to an article in Axios in early July, more and more students from the Northeast are enrolling in SEC schools than ever before. Leading the way is enrollment at LSU and Tennessee, followed by Ole Miss. In two decades, 84% more students from the North attended public schools in the South, per a Wall Street Journal analysis last year. It jumped 30% from 2018 to 2022.
"The Racehorse Who Waited" is a wonderful essay about the state of our society as always rushing, always running, looking for ways to be faster and quicker. Not so with a horse named Journalism at the Preakness Stakes. He was all about patience. As Mark Robichaux writes, "...we all remember the kids who seemed to have it all figured out at 17. But time has a way of revealing what matters. Some of us come from behind."
The University of Connecticut at Storrs is not just about Huskies basketball, although you can be sure that our tour included a visit to the storied Pauley Pavilion, where basketball history has long been made....Trinity's strong sports programs include men's squash and basketball, as the Batnams won their first NCAA Division III national champuionship in 2025.
I took three side trips to revisit three universities: Indiana University in Bloomington, Purdue University in West Lafayette and Rose Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute. Each one is an hour from Indy, an easy car ride.
A visit to colleges that have accepted you is a good idea if you can do it. All this month, colleges host Admitted Student Days. And even if you can't make it to one of those sessions, you can still sign up for a tour and an information session at any other time that is more convenient to you.
Whether you can tour - or not - here are some suggestions to help you in your decision-making.
Students work hard at Wesleyan but say that it is not a competitive place. Social life happens mainly on campus. The school is fully residential from freshman through senior year. An important mention is Wesleyan's open curriculum in which students direct their own education in consultation with faculty advisors.
Located on California's Central Coast about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a California public university where the motto is "Learn by Doing." And that is exactly what I found on a trip to this surprisingly modern campus. The curriculum is "flipped," meaning that from day one, students are taking classes in their areas of study. And they don't just sit in class. This is a hands-on university.
ASU West is a 35-minute shuttle bus ride from the Tempe campus, yet it is a world away. It's hard to find a public university with a small student population, but ASU West is one. There are just over 4000 students attending this pretty modern campus...
CalArts was founded by the Disneys in 1961 as a performing and visual arts educational institution. It is a direct entry school, which means that a student applies into a particular program. CalArts houses six separate schools—Art, Critical Studies, Dance, Film/Video, Music and Theater. All undergraduate programs – there are around 70 - lead to a BFA degree.
Current Common Application membership is 979 colleges and universities, 63 of whom are international. Members hail from 19 countries outside the US. This year, 1.2 Million first year applicants submitted 7.5 million applications.