This morning on my drive to work I heard an interesting feature on the radio about how this year will be the peak year for graduating high school students in the state of Minnesota with 64,000 students expected to graduate. In just three years that number is expected to fall off to 58,000.
However, colleges are still expecting just as many applications and enrollments out of that group due to a higher percentage of the kids graduating attending college. In order to achieve that higher percentage some of the Minnesota colleges are reaching out to students as young as 7th and 8th grade to get them started thinking about college.
The interesting thing I thought was that it's not really a recruitment effort... it's more to get some kids (and many who would fall into the category of less likely to attend college being from low income, first generation American or first generation college student families). They're trying to reinforce the idea that college is for everyone, you CAN attend college and it is within your reach to go.
I think that is pretty cool. That makes the job of the high school counselor much easier when helping the student figure out life after high school in that college is more of an automatic choice. (Yes, I am of the mindset that everyone should at least try college. Every college might not be for everyone but there are so many types of colleges out there that there has to be one that will appeal to each person... plus you don't know until you try!)
I knew quite a few people who always said "College isn't for me, I hated high school and I will hate college so I'm not going." Personally, I've experienced three types of colleges though work and attending them and none of them had the feel of a high school. So again, to present the idea at a young age that college is something different and that is attainable is something that I think is great that these theatres are doing!
When did you really start thinking college was an option? Have you run into the mindset of "I'm not going?"
Showing posts with label student perspectives. Show all posts
Showing posts with label student perspectives. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
My best advice to anyone in college.
Keep things from classes. Especially the syllabus and any major papers you write for the class.
Why?
Let me back up and talk about what prompted this. Standing in line waiting to get my sandwich at lunch today I was behind two local college students. There are about three major colleges and a community college in the town we're located in so I'm not sure which schools this guy was talking about. He was quite upset that he was trying to transfer between two of the schools here and the school that he wanted to go to was not going to take 35 of his credits. Understandably he was fairly upset about it and in the end decided not to do the transfer. (Or at least that is what I got out of my eavesdropping.)
What I really, really wanted to tell this guy was that the initial credit evaluation when transferring usually works out that way. Upon first glance you lose a bunch of credits. However, when this happened to me at my third school I was able to get about half of those lost credits put back onto my transcript because I was able to bring in syllabi and papers from the classes that they were not going to allow to transfer.
Typically the reason that a school disallows transfer credits is that they cannot see from the first glance what the course is about. You may know that English Language in America was a writing intensive class that counted for the writing requirement at School A, but School B can't tell that when looking at your transcript so it doesn't count. However, when you bring your syllabus from the class in that shows the ten papers you wrote for the class as well as a copy of your fifteen page term paper and give them either to your advisor or to the transfer office your chances are much better. (HINT: give them a copy because you may not get the original back!)
This process is expedited if you have the syllabi from the various classes you have taken, but in the case where you don't have it still you can try to email the professor and get a copy. This will be much for feasible if the class was in the past year; beyond that gets iffy. I realized that when I was missing the syllabus for one class (arg!) that I had taken five years previously and the professor had a new computer by then that didn't have any of the old syllabi, etc from his old computer and old classes. With no proof that the class was more than the transcript said it was I ended up having to re-take it at College #3. (This should also be another reason not to take eight years and 180 undergraduate credits across three colleges.)
Moral of the story: Make a folder for all your old syllabi. Keep it until you graduate from college... maybe longer. You may thank yourself someday.
Why?
Let me back up and talk about what prompted this. Standing in line waiting to get my sandwich at lunch today I was behind two local college students. There are about three major colleges and a community college in the town we're located in so I'm not sure which schools this guy was talking about. He was quite upset that he was trying to transfer between two of the schools here and the school that he wanted to go to was not going to take 35 of his credits. Understandably he was fairly upset about it and in the end decided not to do the transfer. (Or at least that is what I got out of my eavesdropping.)
What I really, really wanted to tell this guy was that the initial credit evaluation when transferring usually works out that way. Upon first glance you lose a bunch of credits. However, when this happened to me at my third school I was able to get about half of those lost credits put back onto my transcript because I was able to bring in syllabi and papers from the classes that they were not going to allow to transfer.
Typically the reason that a school disallows transfer credits is that they cannot see from the first glance what the course is about. You may know that English Language in America was a writing intensive class that counted for the writing requirement at School A, but School B can't tell that when looking at your transcript so it doesn't count. However, when you bring your syllabus from the class in that shows the ten papers you wrote for the class as well as a copy of your fifteen page term paper and give them either to your advisor or to the transfer office your chances are much better. (HINT: give them a copy because you may not get the original back!)
This process is expedited if you have the syllabi from the various classes you have taken, but in the case where you don't have it still you can try to email the professor and get a copy. This will be much for feasible if the class was in the past year; beyond that gets iffy. I realized that when I was missing the syllabus for one class (arg!) that I had taken five years previously and the professor had a new computer by then that didn't have any of the old syllabi, etc from his old computer and old classes. With no proof that the class was more than the transcript said it was I ended up having to re-take it at College #3. (This should also be another reason not to take eight years and 180 undergraduate credits across three colleges.)
Moral of the story: Make a folder for all your old syllabi. Keep it until you graduate from college... maybe longer. You may thank yourself someday.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The "Four Year Degree" in Three Years
With the economy down this educational idea is starting to catch some interest again. Basically the premise is this: In a four year degree you complete either 12 quarters or 8 semesters worth of classroom time. This becomes four years when you do either two semesters or three quarters in a year, taking the summers off. However, if you complete another quarter or semester during the summer session you can cut your time at the school down from 4 years to 3, still getting the same amount of academic credit. The college I used to work at had this system in place, so I'm quite familar with it.
The biggest argument to this idea can be summed up as experience vs. economy. While you do not save money on credits by doing all of your coursework in three years you do save money on a year's worth of living expenses while in college, and also you get into the workforce sooner. (Which, in brighter times than we're in now would have meant potentially another year's salary to add to your lifetime earnings.)
However, many opponents of this have argued that because much of college is a "finding yourself" process that this gets lost in the highly focused three year degree programs. The other issue this runs into is how to make the three year student's schedules work with the four year student schedules in terms of course sequence. If All the students who started class together in the Fall of '09 need to take a particular class their junior year which is only offered every other year, that forces the 3 year students to either wait until their senior set of semesters/quarters etc to take the course (which could potentially mess up the subsequent courses which use the course as a prerequisite) or take the class earlier in the course sequences as a sophomore which again could potentially be detrimental to the student due to lack of prior knowledge gained the full sophomore year.
Where I stand on this is somewhere in the middle. I don't think the three year program is for everyone as it does force more focus upon which classes the student is going to take each quarter/semester in order to complete the program in that amount of time. On the other hand, I experienced a huge lack of focus when I was doing my undergraduate course work (is that why it took me three schools and eight years?) because no one ever looked at my schedule and said "WHY are you taking that class? You could be taking a required course instead and spend your money on that course rather than exploring your side interest in political philosophy, which you could do on your own." I didn't really understand until I have started paying back my student loans that each of those meandering side classes I took, while interesting, cost money and delayed my finishing my degree. I truly believe that had I been offered a three year program I would have done it and completed it happily.
However, I don't think any college or university can straddle the fence without shortchanging some students. Either offer the degree in three years or four. I think if you get a student who wants to do the four year degree in three years he/she will figure out how to get the summer classes needed to make that happen. There may also be programs that lend themselves to a three year program better than a four year program, which can also be looked at by the institution.
Where I believe this discussion needs to start happening is with the students themselves. In looking into this more I heard a lot of academics talking about the pros and cons- basically deciding what is best for the students- without hearing student voices from what I could tell.
So, students... what do you think? The traditional four years for a "four year degree" or three years?
The biggest argument to this idea can be summed up as experience vs. economy. While you do not save money on credits by doing all of your coursework in three years you do save money on a year's worth of living expenses while in college, and also you get into the workforce sooner. (Which, in brighter times than we're in now would have meant potentially another year's salary to add to your lifetime earnings.)
However, many opponents of this have argued that because much of college is a "finding yourself" process that this gets lost in the highly focused three year degree programs. The other issue this runs into is how to make the three year student's schedules work with the four year student schedules in terms of course sequence. If All the students who started class together in the Fall of '09 need to take a particular class their junior year which is only offered every other year, that forces the 3 year students to either wait until their senior set of semesters/quarters etc to take the course (which could potentially mess up the subsequent courses which use the course as a prerequisite) or take the class earlier in the course sequences as a sophomore which again could potentially be detrimental to the student due to lack of prior knowledge gained the full sophomore year.
Where I stand on this is somewhere in the middle. I don't think the three year program is for everyone as it does force more focus upon which classes the student is going to take each quarter/semester in order to complete the program in that amount of time. On the other hand, I experienced a huge lack of focus when I was doing my undergraduate course work (is that why it took me three schools and eight years?) because no one ever looked at my schedule and said "WHY are you taking that class? You could be taking a required course instead and spend your money on that course rather than exploring your side interest in political philosophy, which you could do on your own." I didn't really understand until I have started paying back my student loans that each of those meandering side classes I took, while interesting, cost money and delayed my finishing my degree. I truly believe that had I been offered a three year program I would have done it and completed it happily.
However, I don't think any college or university can straddle the fence without shortchanging some students. Either offer the degree in three years or four. I think if you get a student who wants to do the four year degree in three years he/she will figure out how to get the summer classes needed to make that happen. There may also be programs that lend themselves to a three year program better than a four year program, which can also be looked at by the institution.
Where I believe this discussion needs to start happening is with the students themselves. In looking into this more I heard a lot of academics talking about the pros and cons- basically deciding what is best for the students- without hearing student voices from what I could tell.
So, students... what do you think? The traditional four years for a "four year degree" or three years?
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Education and Web Technology
We've finally caved and joined Twitter.
After hearing and hearing and hearing about it we finally decided that we should join the bandwagon, create and account and start "tweeting" (hey, all the cool kids are doing it!). What surprised me the most though was the creative ways that teachers and professors in both k-12 and higher ed are using the various services.
Some classes are using it to collaborate with students across the country, professors use them to facilitate online discussion for projects or answer student questions... it goes on and on. This is fantastic- and I think so incredibly useful. The best part of it is that it doesn't cost the schools anything to use, other than the upfront cost of the computer and whatever the internet service costs are- both of which I'm fairly sure the schools have anyway.
I've also seen some college admissions departments use it to broadcast open houses, deadlines, etc which I think is absoultely brilliant. What an easy way for students to keep up with the college and feel connected to it. I know it's not in person, but any more it seems that more and more socializing is taking place on the web (how many kids spend hours and hours and hours on Facebook, or XBox Live?) so why not connect to students that way with a continual feed of information? It seems pretty logical at this point.
Are you using any of these tools in a creative way? Is your school utilizing any of these websites to connect to students, or is a particular teacher/professor? I would love to hear about more ways that these sites are being used!
After hearing and hearing and hearing about it we finally decided that we should join the bandwagon, create and account and start "tweeting" (hey, all the cool kids are doing it!). What surprised me the most though was the creative ways that teachers and professors in both k-12 and higher ed are using the various services.
Some classes are using it to collaborate with students across the country, professors use them to facilitate online discussion for projects or answer student questions... it goes on and on. This is fantastic- and I think so incredibly useful. The best part of it is that it doesn't cost the schools anything to use, other than the upfront cost of the computer and whatever the internet service costs are- both of which I'm fairly sure the schools have anyway.
I've also seen some college admissions departments use it to broadcast open houses, deadlines, etc which I think is absoultely brilliant. What an easy way for students to keep up with the college and feel connected to it. I know it's not in person, but any more it seems that more and more socializing is taking place on the web (how many kids spend hours and hours and hours on Facebook, or XBox Live?) so why not connect to students that way with a continual feed of information? It seems pretty logical at this point.
Are you using any of these tools in a creative way? Is your school utilizing any of these websites to connect to students, or is a particular teacher/professor? I would love to hear about more ways that these sites are being used!
Monday, January 12, 2009
College Rankings And You
"College XYZ Is the #1 Ranked College In America!"
How often do we see this? Colleges often use these badges of recognition to advertise for prospective students, and students looking for colleges ask frequently about rankings.
The only trouble is: whose rankings?
There seems to be this perception that XYZ College is the #1 College in the Country or the #1 College in the country for Business Majors or for... well, you name it. But what does that #1 mean? Does it mean that they have a higher percentage of students that are employed immediately out of school? Or that their students graduate on time in higher numbers than similar schools? (Similar schools... that's always a good one. Only compare yourself to schools that are similar in affiliations, size, location, athletics, demographics... you choose the statistic that works best for your comparison.) Or does it mean that the 5 students who graduated out of the program of 1,102 got really good jobs (but never mind about the rest of the students)? Or that the faculty has the most experience/highest degrees/most published material/most prominent backgrounds? Or.... this list could go on and on and on... there are so many variables that can make a school or the program the "best" that any number of schools could claim that #1 spot depending on the variable being looked at.
And then we get into different ranking agencies. The Princeton Review and US News may have very different ideas of what goes into a college ranking... again giving a maximum number of schools the opportunity to be #1 at... well... something!
I see so many students and parents getting caught up into this "must go to high ranked school" mindset... but I wonder how many of them understand the ranking system and what goes into it? Beyond that I have serious issues with students choosing a college based on it's ranking rather than how they felt on the campus, whether they liked the course offerings and if the overall school was a good fit. Believe me, it's not worth struggling through college and hating every step of the way just to go to a school that some organization somewhere along the lines said was the #1 school in something.
So, as a response to the students and parents who ask for Anycollege to post college rankings I have to say that's a next to impossible order because 1) whose rankings do we use and can we trust them? and 2) there are better ways to choose a school.
What has stuck with me on this point for many years was from when I was looking at schools myself. The admissions counselor said to me "I guess we're ranked in the top three theatre schools in the country, but I don't know who said that. For all I know it was the Moms of [College Name] Theatre Students who decided that, so I don't put much stock into it. Why don't you just look at the program and decide for yourself."
I didn't end up going to that school, but it was the best advice on looking at colleges I ever had.
How often do we see this? Colleges often use these badges of recognition to advertise for prospective students, and students looking for colleges ask frequently about rankings.
The only trouble is: whose rankings?
There seems to be this perception that XYZ College is the #1 College in the Country or the #1 College in the country for Business Majors or for... well, you name it. But what does that #1 mean? Does it mean that they have a higher percentage of students that are employed immediately out of school? Or that their students graduate on time in higher numbers than similar schools? (Similar schools... that's always a good one. Only compare yourself to schools that are similar in affiliations, size, location, athletics, demographics... you choose the statistic that works best for your comparison.) Or does it mean that the 5 students who graduated out of the program of 1,102 got really good jobs (but never mind about the rest of the students)? Or that the faculty has the most experience/highest degrees/most published material/most prominent backgrounds? Or.... this list could go on and on and on... there are so many variables that can make a school or the program the "best" that any number of schools could claim that #1 spot depending on the variable being looked at.
And then we get into different ranking agencies. The Princeton Review and US News may have very different ideas of what goes into a college ranking... again giving a maximum number of schools the opportunity to be #1 at... well... something!
I see so many students and parents getting caught up into this "must go to high ranked school" mindset... but I wonder how many of them understand the ranking system and what goes into it? Beyond that I have serious issues with students choosing a college based on it's ranking rather than how they felt on the campus, whether they liked the course offerings and if the overall school was a good fit. Believe me, it's not worth struggling through college and hating every step of the way just to go to a school that some organization somewhere along the lines said was the #1 school in something.
So, as a response to the students and parents who ask for Anycollege to post college rankings I have to say that's a next to impossible order because 1) whose rankings do we use and can we trust them? and 2) there are better ways to choose a school.
What has stuck with me on this point for many years was from when I was looking at schools myself. The admissions counselor said to me "I guess we're ranked in the top three theatre schools in the country, but I don't know who said that. For all I know it was the Moms of [College Name] Theatre Students who decided that, so I don't put much stock into it. Why don't you just look at the program and decide for yourself."
I didn't end up going to that school, but it was the best advice on looking at colleges I ever had.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Blog Addict.
I'm not sure if I'm embarrassed by this or simply shocked. I never thought I would be one of "those people", but here I am, following avidly the blogs of people I don't know.
Typically they revolve around subjects near and dear to my heart such as marketing for higher ed (I'm always looking for new ways to reach out to high school students) and community college education. (I'm an education junkie, it's OK, I have come to terms with that.) But I didn't realize how much I looked forward each day to see what the new blog topic was going to be and the discussion around it until there wasn't a new posting on one of them today. And it made me sad! I couldn't believe it! My day was a little less bright because there wasn't a new post yet on a blog. What on earth has my world come to?!
But, in my defense, I didn't know how interesting blogs revolving around a specific topic could be. I actually find myself searching out blogs on college websites when I am working with the schools to get a student perspective of the college and see what they are like. I also find myself using the blogs as a source of inspiration when I've hit a roadblock. It's nice to see a journal of sorts of how someone else approached a similar issue and what problems came up as it was worked through.
So yes, I have now found myself a blog addict. Well, the first step in recovery is admitting you have a problem, right?
Have a great holiday everyone! I will be back on next week.
Typically they revolve around subjects near and dear to my heart such as marketing for higher ed (I'm always looking for new ways to reach out to high school students) and community college education. (I'm an education junkie, it's OK, I have come to terms with that.) But I didn't realize how much I looked forward each day to see what the new blog topic was going to be and the discussion around it until there wasn't a new posting on one of them today. And it made me sad! I couldn't believe it! My day was a little less bright because there wasn't a new post yet on a blog. What on earth has my world come to?!
But, in my defense, I didn't know how interesting blogs revolving around a specific topic could be. I actually find myself searching out blogs on college websites when I am working with the schools to get a student perspective of the college and see what they are like. I also find myself using the blogs as a source of inspiration when I've hit a roadblock. It's nice to see a journal of sorts of how someone else approached a similar issue and what problems came up as it was worked through.
So yes, I have now found myself a blog addict. Well, the first step in recovery is admitting you have a problem, right?
Have a great holiday everyone! I will be back on next week.
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