Fat Mango

Let’s just say it out loud, applying to college is weird these days. It isn’t clear to students and parents what the point of college is. Is the purpose to get a great job? To solve the big intractable problems? Should students try to “find themselves?” Colleges often don’t directly engage these questions. They may talk about the hundred majors they offer, the brand-new residence halls and the Wellness Center, but they don’t always make it clear why families should spend $50,000 or even $90,000 a year. The basic questions can’t be answered.

College is a place where students should learn to problem-solve in open and sophisticated ways. To be intelligent is not just the knowledge of facts, it is the power to leverage experience, nuance, change, and the kaleidoscope of meaning into a synthesis that can adjust. A student might never use the facts they learned in their major, but they’ll need to be able to work through problems and forge new opportunities. College is the place where we begin to become the people we want to be. At Fat Mango, your child is more than a number on a spreadsheet. They’re a person we want to develop.