When I was 14, my parents wanted me to know what a college campus looked like, so they took me to Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio, right across the river from our home in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Since then, I’ve learned a bit about colleges; for 55 of the last 56 years I’ve been either attending college, working at a college or writing for colleges and independent schools. (I spent one year “off campus” helping create ads for Post Raisin Bran, Post Bran Flakes and Kool Aid at a NYC ad agency.)

Most of my career involved writing admissions and fund-raising materials for colleges and schools around the country — over 150 places in 28 states. I’ve also written scores of profiles and stories for alumni magazines. My clients have been large (UC Santa Barbara) and small (Maine Coast Semester); elite (five ivy-league schools) and open-to-all (Community College of Baltimore); all-female (Pine Manor College), all-male (Gilman School) and coeducational; liberal (Antioch College) and conservative (The Citadel); professional (New York Chiropractic College) and liberal arts (Davidson); religiously affiliated (Gordon College) and non-sectarian (most of them).

As with all careers, mine presented both challenges and rewards. When outsiders are brought in, for example, some insiders take umbrage. Ever had your writing reviewed by a committee, when some of the committee members want you to look bad? Working alongside super sensitive graphic designers and photographers can also test one’s patience. I recall one designer who quit in a huff in the middle of a sentence. And then there was “Shorty,” a talented but irascible seven-foot photographer who screamed at the food service manager at a college in front of the whole student body. The manager had insisted that Shorty take one hot dog and then return again and again rather than take three hot dogs at once. I had to write letters of apology to five people at that school. The brochure with Shorty’s photographs won a New York Art Directors award, but we never hired him again. Oh, and long airport security lines, delayed flights and harrowing experiences, such as being on a plane forced to make an emergency landing at Logan Airport (bring on the foam!) forever tarnished the glamour of business travel.

The rewards, though, far outweighed the challenges. I witnessed first-hand the extraordinary diversity of educational institutions across the land. During oncampus visits, I engaged with thousands of talented young people and marveled at faculty dedicated to introducing students to the power of their own possibilities. I learned how to write concisely, an essential skill for any writer. And, perhaps most important, I spent my working life doing something more meaningful, in the grand scheme, than trying to convince people to choose Post Raisin Bran over Kellogg’s Raisin Bran.

Next week I’ll pass along some tips for choosing — and thriving at — a college based on a perspective gained from toiling in collegiate fields for many years.

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David Treadwell, a Brunswick writer, welcomes commentary or suggestions for future “Just a Little Old” columns at dtreadw575@aol.com.