Charles -
I can't say enough to thank you for opening our eyes (me, my wife and Courtney's) about colleges and universities beyond the UC system and Stanford as options for Courtney to apply to due to the ILC program. Since Courtney's summer session in UPENN, she has received a ton of letters of invitations to visit different colleges and universities all over the country (This sure was a HUGE difference comparing it with her older sister - 90-95% of the college solicitations came from within California).
A major impact of this program to Courtney is that she has expanded her career options; for a long time she's been set on getting a nursing degree in UCLA without much hesitation from her when asked. Just three weeks ago, while we were having a father-daughter dinner at a Chinese restaurant, she asked me what's a good career combining biology, chemistry and math (I can only attribute this to the bio-medical class she took in UPENN last summer.) Because of my state of shock - the first thing that came to my mind was biochemistry which can lead her to multiple paths i.e. research (drugs), medicine and even nursing. I also told her that chemical engineering might be a good option for her. I told her to ask her school if they do office/plant/lab visits as part of their college career program - I sensed that she can't imagine what they do so she can't decide on whether she will like a certain career or not.
I still hope that she will consider attending an Ivy League school for college (crossing my fingers!) But, like I mentioned to you from past phone conversations, I will ask her to apply to the Ivy League schools even if she is not considering them at this time. (Not for her to know that she could go to an Ivy League school but for the Ivy League schools to be an option for her in case she changes her mind).
Joey Mariano
