Hey graduating high school seniors: You sure you want college, now?

"S," who is working on her thesis on whether it will be to the students' advantage if they are counseled about a gap-year between high school and college, or even when in college, might be happy to read this advice from across the continent (if she does read my blog, eh!):

[Don't] rush into college right after high school if, like me, you would benefit from an extra year of growing up. People are starting their careers later than ever, and in the long run it’s better to be a 25-year-old with a degree in something you’re passionate about than a 22-year-old with an aching feeling you just wasted four years. And don’t pick a school for name recognition or because you like the way it will look on your resume. Why anyone would choose a prohibitively expensive school like Harvard or Penn or Dartmouth (minus a scholarship of course) for their undergraduate degree when there are plenty of quality universities offering a solid education at a reasonable price is beyond me. (At $180 a credit, Community College of Philadelphia has a first-year honors program that rivals those at many four-year colleges.) Save the big names for graduate school when they’ll pack more punch.
Finally, consider spending your first year in a comprehensive liberal arts program.

Yep!