(And I don't mean Junior meetings - I mean basketball!) You can take the girl out of Indiana (ranked as a #4 seed, aahhhh!), but you can't take the Indiana out of the girl. My favorite time of year is here again where my love of amateur sports is combined with my love of colleges - it is time for March Madness!
This year is a bit unique for me, in recent memory, because there are soooo many more 'little guy' teams that made the cut. This is exciting to me from a college counseling prospective because regardless while you could argue if it is fair or not, the exposure that comes from being a part of the tournament really can help students and families discover schools that they may ordinarily have overlooked. See the full Men's bracket here and Women's bracket here.
Some of my perennial faves? Davidson - pleassseee consider schools in the south, they can be awesome! Creighton - yes, it is in Nebraska. But it is ranked the #1 Regional University in the Midwest (yes I hate rankings, but I do like them if it helps a student/family open their mind to new options). Plus, it is Jesuit so it is automatically close to my heart as someone who has previously worked for a Jesuit school. And while we're in the Midwest, don't overlook Kansas - it is far less rural than it sounds and offers some really top offerings in journalism and communications without being prohibitively difficult to get into (I'm looking at you Northwestern and Syracuse).
So the next time you tune in to a game, fire up the Naviance as well and learn more about the schools themselves. PS - just for fun - if you are into the competition of it all, consider joining a charity bracket like the one being run by the One Percent Foundation - their mission is to encourage all people to donate 1% of their income to charity. Check it out!
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