We officially kicked off college visits with Whit, and our first stop was University of Tennessee.
At the time, about five months ago, he was leaning toward electrical engineering, specifically power systems, so Tennessee felt like a natural place to start. It also checked a few other important boxes… a large university in the South and within a reasonable driving distance from home.
We decided to stay overnight in Knoxville to really get a feel for everything – the campus, the town, and what day-to-day life might look like.
We did both the general campus tour and the engineering-specific tour, and both were extremely impressive. The engineering program is part of the Tickle College of Engineering and is especially strong in areas like power systems and energy, with a clear focus on real-world application and industry connection. The facilities reflected that. They were bright, modern and truly state-of-the-art.
While the decision will ultimately be Whit’s, Honey and I were incredibly impressed and think it is a good fit for him. We’ve now toured four schools with Whit, and this was by far the best tour we’ve had. The campus is beautiful, the students we met were friendly and engaged and there was an energy that just felt right. The funniest moment of the trip came when Whit looked at me completely deadpan and said, “I’m afraid if I come here, Dad will come too and live on my futon or something. He really loves it here.” And honestly, he’s not wrong.
If there was one hesitation, it wasn’t the size… it was the distance. For Whit, it felt just a bit farther from home than he might prefer, which is something we’ll continue to weigh as we visit more schools.
We didn’t really do college tours like this with John. He had his heart set on Auburn from the beginning, and while we did insist on visiting a few schools in the spring of his senior year just to be sure, it was a very different process. This has been such a fun experience with Whit and we’re learning a lot along the way.
If we ended up with four years of Rocky Top, I would be more than okay with that. Go Vols!
Next stop: University of Georgia.
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