October brought with it two very different parent weekends at the boys’ schools.

A’s school only has family weekend for freshmen and juniors, so this was the last one that I will attend for him, just a week after I attended G’s first one.

Neither one of the boys was too into the planned activities, and I had to drag them to one or two of the parent/faculty encounters just so we could say we participated. Other than that, it was long walks and good meals, and just time for us to catch up with each other.

G’s weekend turned into just a day. Looking at the calendar of events, and factoring in that we’ve been doing Penn State stuff forever, there really wasn’t a need for me to spend the whole weekend out there. G had practices to attend and homework to finish, so I didn’t want to disrupt too much of his time.

A’s weekend, on the other hand, turned into a four-day-long event because as long as we were heading north, I decided that we needed to take the opportunity to scope out some schools for E along the way.

Yes, that’s right, we’re now starting college visitation/application round three. E is not quite as decided as the boys were as to what her future holds, so she wants a school that will have a lot of opportunities for her if she changes her mind. She also is leaning toward a school in New England.

I have decided that the people in our family have either the New England gene or the Penn State gene. My dad headed to UMaine, I went to Boston U, and A gravitated there, as well. Steve never looked anywhere else but Penn State, and G pretty much followed in his footsteps.

E is leaning toward a much smaller school. Penn State isn’t on the list, even a smaller branch campus. We stopped at one school that has about 2,700 undergrads enrolled and another that has about 3,500. She said she felt that the 3,500 was almost a little too big.

She also yelled at me for being on my phone too much during one of the campus tours. At this point, my college tours are in the double digits, and quite frankly, they’re all starting to sound a little bit the same. But she was right: She and her school search deserve my undivided attention.

From Saturday in State College to Thursday and Friday touring schools, to Saturday and Sunday in Cambridge, then home, and back out State College to take my dog/cat/duck/chicken sitter back to school, I had a lot of college time with all three of them.

As usual, the differences between them are just so striking. It’s not just that they’re each at different stages in the process, it’s also their approach to the process, and in the boys’ cases, what they’re each taking from their experiences, and what E hopes to take.

E’s plan to enter as undecided is uncharted territory for me. With a big school like Penn State, I wasn’t as worried about G finding a good program if his interests changed, but it certainly helped that their engineering programs are top notch. All of A’s top school choices were due to their excellence in the programs he wanted to study; location was third or fourth or fifth on the list of important things for him.

A has sought multiple organizations that appeal to his many interests. I’m surprised that he can keep them all straight and balance all his commitments.

G walked around the activities fair and settled on the crew club, which is both his physical activity and a lot of his social engagement. He told me that he enjoys having one thing to focus on and doing that one thing well.

E, on the third hand, is also looking at schools where she can continue her swimming career. She loves it, she’s used to the workload, and it is one thing that she is sure that she wants to continue to do, but she thinks she also wants to get involved in activities that she hasn’t had the chance to before. She’s got a lot of options, and decisions, in front of her.

As for me, sometimes I do get a little jealous. I get to be a part of this process up front, but eventually, it is all them, and they’re the ones who get to move forward.

I am limited to a few weekends here and there and what they choose to share with me on our far too infrequent phone calls. I get to see just enough of their worlds to know that they’ve made the right decisions, they’re in the right places, or at least starting on the path to find the right place.

Three parents weekends down, only about seven or eight more to go. Once again, I’m reminded that time is moving way too fast.

Liz Pinkey’s column appears on Saturdays in the Times News