[speaker001:] okay
[speaker002:] okay
[speaker001:] well did you go to college
[speaker002:] yes I did
[speaker001:] and where did you go
[speaker002:] I went to a small liberal arts college in Virginia
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] um it was Sweeper College it was about seven hundred and fifty students I had gone to a small school growing up uh and a lot of my friends went to univerty University of Michigan but my parents were retiring in South Carolina when I graduated and um were looking for a southern school and
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] um also U of M seemed overwhelming in size and um what about you
[speaker001:] well I went to the University of Minnesota
[speaker002:] oh so you're from the Midwest too
[speaker001:] I am uh-huh where do you live now
[speaker002:] um I live in Texas now where are you
[speaker001:] well I'm in Texas I'm in Austin
[speaker002:] oh um my brother's in Austin um he lives Lakeway he um had moved uh we're in Plano
[speaker001:] uh-huh I'm familiar with Plano I visited once or twice
[speaker002:] and oh Austin is so pretty I really like it
[speaker001:] oh I love it I love it I really do
[speaker002:] and your daughter is going to be a sophomore
[speaker001:] that's correct I have two daughters but my oldest will be will be a sophomore
[speaker002:] is um because you live in Austin is she thinking about the University of Texas
[speaker001:] she has her heart set on U T and um you know having gone to the University of Minnesota I know what a big university is like and um one thing that I did this summer which I thought might benefit both my daughters is my youngest daughter got involved in band and Baylor has a band camp
[speaker002:] oh
[speaker001:] so she went for a week and it was overnight and they lived in the dorms and I thought this would expose both of them to what it's you know like on a college a smaller college campus and um my oldest one just wasn't impressed at all with the idea of a small school so um I I I still think the exposure was good
[speaker002:] yes
[speaker001:] the reason I ask if you went to college is I thought well you know what were your selection criteria did you base it on what you wanted to major in or what you would feel comfortable with or what you could afford or you know there's all of these areas to look at in making the decision
[speaker002:] um yeah those um and those were several uh that we did consider um my parents uh um certainly didn't push but wanted me to look in the south and because I had been in a small school they suggested that I probably I when I say small my graduating class had eighteen in it
[speaker001:] oh wow
[speaker002:] and so they suggested that I might want a smaller school because I was used to a lot of one-on-one
[speaker001:] oh definitely
[speaker002:] um or small group situations and I did pick it because at the time I was interested in majoring in biology and I also wanted to spend
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] one year studying in Europe um I had had an A F S student from Germany live with us our senior year
[speaker001:] oh how exciting
[speaker002:] I and we just thought that would be a wonderful thing and I ended up majoring in French one of the reasons I picked the school was because they had a strong science department they also had a strong language department and I'd always loved working with children um and I found that I couldn't fit everything in but because I had had a fair amount of French going in I was able
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] to do my year's study in France and able to take a lot of the other courses that interested me um
[speaker001:] oh that was a that worked out very well for you
[speaker002:] and so that was some of but several of the things you mentioned were the things that um our son has talked a lot about Texas A and M he's but he thinks he wants to be a writer and I don't think that
[speaker001:] well then he should come to U T
[speaker002:] yes um and really his his graduating class will probably be in the neighborhood of eight hundred and fifty to a thousand
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] um and so he's used to a bigger size and because my brother is there
[speaker001:] large classes
[speaker002:] uh he would have family close by so there there are advantages um but I also because I had so many friends who did go from our small school to University of Michigan which was so large and they really felt um like they were numbers
[speaker001:] oh I went from a large high school to a university large university and I definitely felt like I was a number um I mean
[speaker002:] you still yeah
[speaker001:] it is a different feeling but that was that was my only option I I mean I just really couldn't look at anything else that was the one and only thing I could really afford other than a junior you know a junior college which I didn't want to do so that's how you know my decision was made but um
[speaker002:] well that's that's certainly um especially today with the cost of college I mean that is a a major um consideration and I do feel fortunate that Texas has so many good schools and even though Baylor um
[speaker001:] yes
[speaker002:] and when you mentioned that we we have friends who have children there who just love it and for a private school it is not as expensive as most are and it is a smaller size and um I do feel like there are a lot of options it's it's but I had been hoping some schools I know give um oh even this year Jay had an aptitude test um
[speaker001:] what what does he hopes to be a writer
[speaker002:] yes he thinks that's what he'd like to do but he's really strong in math and science too and
[speaker001:] huh
[speaker002:] we keep encouraging him to keep an open mind does your daughter know what she'd like to do
[speaker001:] oh she she has uh you know interests that are just you know going in all directions um
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] what she talks about a lot is theater which I think is okay Bethany let's be real um she really is is pretty unfocused at this point and I don't know she's taken a lot of French and she may end up doing something with that and I am a single mom so I've been and I made the mistake of dropping out of college to get married so I'm trying to have my children not make the same mistake and I'm you know showing them if you're strong in math and science kiddos this is one area where women can make some decent money
[speaker002:] yes
[speaker001:] you know I mean I'm kind of really putting the practical application you know and and saying yet d o something that you enjoy
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] by all means go get that piece of paper you know do you just have one son
[speaker002:] yes
[speaker001:] I see well it sounds like he's got some really you know good strong ideas of what he wants to do
[speaker002:] well he but he has even now that he's in high school um and of course there's there is still time but he's beginning to feel that as much as he enjoys writing he wonders if he can make a living at it you know it's the it's