As summer vacation wraps and the back-to-school frenzy begins, millions of families are focusing on a different kind of college prep. While the anxiety of standardized testing has passed, another variety of college-bound anxiety surfaces as parents and students shop, sweat and scramble to become “university ready”.

Dorms and drop offs have changed since I left the quad. Foot lockers have been replaced with carts and duffles on wheels (REALLY? The geniuses couldn’t have come up with that one before 1981?), RAs have at least a dozen heavy lifting assistants for move in day and dorm hall phones have disappeared like woolly mammoth.

Looking back on my college past and anticipating our children’s college futures, I came up with two very different college wish lists for CollegeProwler.com. Read them here….