K-bug should definitely look into Chicago. I speak from experience. My family moved me out here at 16, the summer between my sophomore and junior year. I was PISSED and when it came time to apply to colleges, I only applied to schools in the South (I was going back home, damn it). By the time college came around, I had a boyfriend and a bunch of close friends and didn't want to leave CA. I tried applying to CA schools, but it was too late. I was heartbroken at going to the local JC while all my friends went off to the dorms at various schools. Better safe than sorry.

ETA: Moral is you never know where your head/heart will be when the time comes.

Remind me who our Chicago buffista are...maybe I can use that as incentive...

Me, ChiKat, tommyrot, brenda m, aurelia, and, of course, shrift, to name but a few.

ETA: I say "of course, shrift" because she's been on my mind, what with her bad luck with CTA transportation...

I don't know that I would have moved 3000+ miles away from my mom if she'd been somewhere sane. I think I still would have gone out of state if possible, but maybe just a state over or something.

Aren't you from Alaska? A state over IS 3000 miles.

Aren't you from Alaska? A state over IS 3000 miles.

Well, yes. Sassypants. But if we'd been in, say, Washington? I probably would have tried (harder) to go somewhere in California. A little closer, is all I'm sayin'. As opposed to the "well, fuck, it's going to take forever to go home anyway, may as well go wherever" mentality I had in applying to colleges.

Andi, have you thought about using Blue Agave Nectar as a sugar substitute? I have not actually baked with it myself, yet, but it is a low glycemic sweetener that actually tastes good. [link]

Sparky, sorry the open houses weren't successful. Better luck next time, I hope. Fall is supposed to be a good time for real estate, I've heard.

My big college crush was from Hawaii--he didn't want to go to a CA school, like all of his classmates did, so he picked pretty much at random and ended up at Marquette.

(Oh, he was beautiful. Polynesian/Chinese parentage, with a gorgeous face. I pined for him for three years, and even went on an arranged date with him that was just buddies, but I had dreams...)

I moved 1500 miles away for undergrad, and then 2500 miles away for Grad School.

Vortex, I'd actually be interested in hearing how many colleges you think kids today need to fill out applications for in light of all the accusations of colleges trying to manipulate the US News survey numbers by boosting the # of applications they get so they can turn more people down. Like K-bug, my niece is applying this year, and seems to think she has to put her parents in the poor house just because she's being flooded with brochures.

Cash, may your family work it all out and may you have the most fabulous vacation!

JZ, I hope you feel better soon.

When I applied to colleges (graduated high school in 1999), I applied to 11, which, for my school (suburban NJ school where something like 95% of students went on to 4-year college), was a high number, but not ridiculously so. My sister, four years ahead of me, applied to 14, which was considered a bit excessive. I'm pretty sure that, in that town, somewhere between 10 and 15 is now pretty standard.