Georgia has nice girls with a trimmed hedge. Reader, Air Force Academy better simply for scenery.

Oddly as much as my parents stressed higher education, my only real college was to West Point. I've never been to Pepperdine, but it's hard to say that there isn't a more beautiful campus than the USMA.

And my parents were horrified at how in love with the place I was. And then I got shipped to the armpit of the Big 10.

Depends what the goal is; if it's educational merit, big-ass flagship southern universities top out at the level of directional midwestern universities. Purdue, Illinois heads and tails above any SEC/southern ACC school for quality of book learnin'. And if you're talking STEM or finance you'd have to go to MIT or CalTech or Carnegie-Mellon + a handful of others on the coasts to get access to a better regarded education in those fields than Purdue or Illinois.

But if you're looking to crush puss and pound brews without the distraction of rigorous course work, definitely head south.

I did not know you went to Purdue.

BigW you have always been one of my favorite posters. It is sad to see your rankings. I guess even the best guys have moments of bad.

I've long believed that Bloomington is a beautiful campus, and only stopped in West Lafayette once, for gas. It seemed like a mid level suburb.

I did not know you went to Purdue.

BigW you have always been one of my favorite posters. It is sad to see your rankings. I guess even the best guys have moments of bad.

Actually I think that it's really cool that you took the time to go on an extended trip with your son BigW. Probably a good thing that you didn't go on a football Saturday.

Oddly as much as my parents stressed higher education, my only real college was to West Point. I've never been to Pepperdine, but it's hard to say that there isn't a more beautiful campus than the USMA.

And my parents were horrified at how in love with the place I was. And then I got shipped to the armpit of the Big 10.

Agreed. I've been following the journey on Facebook.

Agreed. I've been following the journey on Facebook.

"great" University of Illinois.

THESE

I had a great time a year ago this week visiting schools out east with Young Crest.

Fabulous memories that will last a lifetime.

He ended up going to school at a place we never visited in Texas.

Hey, take it easy.

In all seriousness, and I mean this because it concerns a young person and their future, UofI is a fantastic and well-respected Engineering College. That's not me being "UofI Guy". I honestly believe that and know many successful professionals that went to the UofI College of Engineering and have 2 kids there myself right now.

Purdue is also an excellent Engineering school.

Obviously the others you mentioned are excellent. My oldest applied to Georgia Tech also but chose Illinois with no (honestly) influence from me. He could choose anywhere.

I loved Pepperdine. It was beautiful but my parents and I -

1 - Didn't think I had any chance of affording it
2 - Couldn't go that far away

Best trip I have taken with my oldest son was to Vanderbilt. Hit the Titans/Seahawks game and toured the campus on Monday. He's a Seahawks fan because they were good on Madden about 8 years ago on the Super Bowl runs.

Beast Mode.

It's funny you mention a Cali school. Mine was Stanford. After my parents said no to West Point, they then turned around and said no to my next choice. They didn't think that I'd come back (I wouldn't have) and didn't think that I was mature enough to be so far away (I probably wasn't).

Different era but my mom was first of her family to go away but also the youngest kid. She wanted to go to Washington but her dad said no and said she had to be within x amount of miles of Oaklawn. She took out a compass, drew a circle and went to the school furthest away that she could afford.

Well Doc, our visit to U of I was cancelled due to “staffing issues”. How much would it cost to get a Doc led tour? (Note: jk)

I'd settle for a double bacon burger with fries at Murphy's.

Was that the place with Little Kings Thursdays? If so I loved that place. And the pizza place next door.

The thing that was interesting about Vanderbilt, and something I did not know when I was in HS, they just flat-out give you a lot of money.

So, yes, it's like $80k/year, but in the orientation visit they give you a scale based on your family income that tells you how much money they will give you if you are accepted.

My wife and I make a pretty good buck, but we would have gotten like $50k a year from college grants, discounts, whatever you want to call them to make it where it would be pretty much the same cost as UofI, more, but reasonably close.

I knew universities with large-endowments are their own countries but I just guess I didn't understand they give the money to everybody that goes there.