My weekend camping trip in Big Sur was interrupted by a voluntary evacuation due to wildfires. So what was supposed to be a second night in Big Sur became a night in San Luis Obispo, and predictably, an impromptu visit to Cal Poly.
I don’t expect high school students and parents to have the same sick compulsion to visit colleges that we do (medication and therapy don’t help. It’s completely and totally incurable). But I’ve visited several hundred colleges, and not many of them are in a town as safe, quaint and college-friendly as San Luis Obsipo. I think any student or parent, even one who (mistakenly) believes the colleges on the US News Top 10 list are the only ones worth attending, would agree. So the next time you find yourself in a new town, whether you’re vacationing or visiting or voluntarily evacuating, pay a quick visit to a college in the area. There’s a good chance you’ll start to see what we mean when we talk about just how many great colleges there are worth (voluntarily) attending.