They're coming

The University of Chicago has a zombie readiness task force. Which is awesome. That is all.

Just how easy is it to be green?

Do you know what I love? A college that completely ignores my interests.

When I took the PLAN and the PSAT, there were sections asking about your grades and school career to help colleges scout students. One section asks what career or area of study interests you. On both tests, I answered either Television or Creative writing, or something to that effect.

I got an email the other day from Stony Brook College Southampton. The email told me about their exciting green technology curriculum. What? Apparently they think that the green boom is so big that every student, everywhere, will drop their original college plans, and race to apply to Stony Brook.

The problem is that many schools now have green technology programs, if not majors. Most of them, though, only show it off to students who have already shown interest in similar programs. Just because I'm "focused on my future" doesn't mean I'll be swept off my feet by a green technology program.

In My Own Backyard

Often, college view books include a list of the attractions their school's area has to offer. Schools in New York coo over tourist destinations Broadway or the Empire States Building. Chicago colleges suggest that visitors see a Sox game, or try their famous deep dish pizza. Even schools in small towns can tout their local charm and quaint shops. These pages are useful, since they give student who can't visit a feel for what their city's like, and helps students who do visit get to know the place better. However, when you live near the school, these pages just feel odd.

Instead of enticing me with a world famous cultural center, I see the place I went on my last birthday. When the book offers up an ordinarily impressive museum, instead it's the place I went to on a field trip. If any of these had been in another state, or in a far off city, they would be exciting and even exotic, but because they are all old hat, the college seems behind the times.

I propose that colleges create a veiw book specially for people who live within 200 miles of the school. It would be identical to the ordinary book except for the page about local attractions would be missing. In it's place, there would be a blank page that simply reads "We know you know the area, please come here anyway."