Tuesday, October 2, 2012

The Road Not Taken

Above is the spectacular Comenius Hall on the campus of Moravian College in Bethlehem.

In a recent blog entry, I wrote that I had two criteria for choosing a college-- close and affordable.  Marywood and the University of Scranton were at the top of the list.  I could have walked to the Penn State campus in Dunmore, but it didn't offer what I wanted.

I don't know if it still works this way, but back in the day, you could have your SAT scores reported to three colleges free of charge.  Additional colleges were extra.  My three?  The U of S, Marywood, and the University of Miami.  There was no way I could swing becoming a Hurricane, but I needed a third, and it went down on my form.  I should note that the material I received from Miami was spectacular.  The brochures looked like items you would receive from a travel agent, rather than a university.  Marywood and the U sent the bare minimum.  It didn't make much of a difference.  I wanted Marywood.  I settled on it early in the process.  It was smaller, and a better fit for me  At the time, the U didn't have a real broadcast radio station (Marywood did), and the U's urban campus (since greatly improved) left a lot to be desired.

Something strange happened during my final high school months.  Moravian in Bethlehem kept sending me tons of stuff.  I never found out if they heard I was a decent chap with good grades (top 15 per cent of my class), or if this was standard operating procedure.   Moravian looked like a great place, but my mind was made up.  I was destined to become a Marywood Pacer, rather than a Moravian Greyhound.

Moral of the story?  I should have checked out Moravian.  I'm not saying I would have changed my college choice, but I do regret not exploring every opportunity.  As some recent sightseeing showed, it's a very nice place.  I think I could have been happy there.

Again, as noted in an earlier blog, I received a solid education at Marywood, and there are no major regrets, but I do wonder what things would be like if I made a different choice a long, long time ago.