In my last post, I wrote about ways to ensure that you'll be able to keep a "safe body" while on campus. This week I'll write about the "sound mind" portion of the equation.
In his pamphlet, "What is a College Education? (and How to Get One)" published by the National Review Institute, Jeffrey Hart, professor emeritus of English at Dartmouth College, writes about Allan Bloom's, The Closing of the American Mind. Hart states that,
"Bloom's great theme throughout is that ideology has invaded
the academy to an absolutely unprecedented degree, closing the
American mind - at least the academic American mind - to the
truths about human nature as it actually is and has aspired to
be."
Often on college campuses, speech codes and victim group sensitivies trump the rights of the individual to express, debate or even examine ideas that run counter to the pervasive campus ideology. It is important to know if your school of choice is tolerant of and, even better, fosters individual intellectual freedom. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, FIRE, is an organization whose mission
"is to defend and sustain individual rights at America's
increasingly repressive and partisan colleges and
universities. These rights include freedom of speech,
legal equality, due process, religious liberty, and
sanctity of conscience - the essential qualities of
individual liberty and dignity. FIRE's core mission
is to protect the unprotected and to educate the
public and communities of concerned Americans about
the threats to these rights on our campuses and about
the means to preserve them."
The Foundation has taken an active role in adjudicating specific cases where a student's Constitutional rights have been violated. One such case involved a student who actively and openly opposed the construction of a parking garage on campus. While this issue may seem mundane, the student was expelled. He filed suit in cooperation with a First Amendment attorney who is a FIRE Legal Network member. Not only was the student's expulsion reversed, the university president was held personally liable for damages owed to the student.
By going to FIRE's website, theFIRE.org, and surfing FIRE's Spotlight, you can find information on speech codes and rights violations at over 400 academic institutions. Each school's page also displays FIRE's red, yellow or green light speech code rating and links to the campus' current policies "restricting individual rights, as well as that campus' advertised commitments to freedom of expression".
Another way to judge a college's adherence to the philosophy that it is a "marketplace of ideas" is to see who has been invited to speak on campus and what the reception of the speaker was like. Were they allowed to present their views or heckled and disrupted to such an extent that they were unable to present? College, among other things, is supposed to be a place for the civil exchange of ideas - a place where one is encouraged to perfect how to think not what to think. If your college won't encourage that, you're not going to get your money's worth!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Safe and Sound - Part I
One of the suggestions that unigo.com makes on its campus tour checklist is that you tour the city and town around campus. While you are not planning to buy a home, you will be living in or near this community for the better part of the next four years and, as with real estate, one of the prime considerations is location, location, location! Depending on the distance the campus is from your family home, you may not be able to leave the environs often during your college years so you need to know as much as you can about the area surrounding your campus.
A site which is actually geared for prospective real estate buyers is invaluable for those searching not only for a college that fits their wants but a community that suits their needs, specifically safety. www.neighborhoodscout.com is touted as a "Neighborhood Search for Home Buyers and Real Estate Investment". You can search an address or neighborhood by city, state or zip code or actually click on a state on the map. You will be taken to information about the area which includes a "Crime Rates" tab. You will be able to locate the "10 Safest Cities" in that state. If you put in the college's actual address, (You can use the location of the admissions building.) you can get details for that specific area. These details include a shaded map of the area which denotes the safest to least safe areas.
You could and should visit the college's security division and ask for this information but keep in mind that they are part of the institution. The local police department or precinct would also have these statistics but someone may not be available to you on your visit. Another source would be the school paper but not all security incidents may be reported. Overall, www.neighborhoodscout.com might provide the most detailed and accurate information regarding the degree of safety and security you can expect in a specific locale.
A site which is actually geared for prospective real estate buyers is invaluable for those searching not only for a college that fits their wants but a community that suits their needs, specifically safety. www.neighborhoodscout.com is touted as a "Neighborhood Search for Home Buyers and Real Estate Investment". You can search an address or neighborhood by city, state or zip code or actually click on a state on the map. You will be taken to information about the area which includes a "Crime Rates" tab. You will be able to locate the "10 Safest Cities" in that state. If you put in the college's actual address, (You can use the location of the admissions building.) you can get details for that specific area. These details include a shaded map of the area which denotes the safest to least safe areas.
You could and should visit the college's security division and ask for this information but keep in mind that they are part of the institution. The local police department or precinct would also have these statistics but someone may not be available to you on your visit. Another source would be the school paper but not all security incidents may be reported. Overall, www.neighborhoodscout.com might provide the most detailed and accurate information regarding the degree of safety and security you can expect in a specific locale.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
College Campus Tours and Visits
While I've written in previous posts about websites on which you can find vitual tours of college campuses (collegeboard.com, unigo.com, and www.campustour.com), nothing beats actually visiting the campus of a school in which you're interested. You can find out most of what you need to know to arrange a tour on the school's website. Many of the colleges that require pre-registration to visit, ask you to do so online. In order to get the most out of the trip, you should have a plan of action. After all, you don't want to possibly travel many miles just to take a hopefully pleasant stroll around campus with a guide who's probably a Work Study student and might know less about the university than you do!
On the homepage of unigo.com there is a site index on which you'll find the link "Checklists and Worksheets". A mere click brings you to a comprehensive three page "College Visit Checklist" that you can review and even bring with you on your visit. (What you might consider "nerdy" - checklist, clipboard, etc. - might be perceived as conscientious and well-thought-out to those you meet while at the college of interest.)
Under the preparation section of the list there are two items I would add. Notify a college representative whom you might have already met at a college fair or high school visit that you are visiting the school. If you are involved in a sport which you would like to play in college, notify the athletic department as well. Obviously, most of the sought after, scouted players already have a relationship with the athletic department. But if the school has an intramural or even club team for a certain sport, there are coaches and advisors for that also. The same holds true if you have a certain talent. If you play an instrument, act, sing in the choir, cheer, or tutor, notify the advisor of the pertinent club or group on campus. Anything that you can use to stand out from the crowd, put a face to the name - anyone you can meet who might take an interest in your gaining admission to that school is an asset.
A lot of the answers to the questions on the checklist can be found on the college's website or on other sites such as Unigo. You might want to jot down brief answers to the ones you already know. Shortly after your visit, while it's still fresh in your mind, take a few minutes to write your impressions of the college on the back of the checklist. In that way you can save the checklist and use it as a resource when you narrow down your choices as to which schools you will actually apply.
One question which is not included that I feel is very important is, "How are dormitory accomodations and roommates decided?" Unless you have special needs, freshman year assignments are often random but many schools allow accepted students to ask to room with other accepted students whom they already know. Find out if assignments after freshman year are made on a lottery or point system. Personally, I feel the lottery system is lazy and doesn't reward students who work harder to earn prime dorm locations/choice of living companions.
In the next post, I'll write about intellectual freedom and physical safety on campus.
On the homepage of unigo.com there is a site index on which you'll find the link "Checklists and Worksheets". A mere click brings you to a comprehensive three page "College Visit Checklist" that you can review and even bring with you on your visit. (What you might consider "nerdy" - checklist, clipboard, etc. - might be perceived as conscientious and well-thought-out to those you meet while at the college of interest.)
Under the preparation section of the list there are two items I would add. Notify a college representative whom you might have already met at a college fair or high school visit that you are visiting the school. If you are involved in a sport which you would like to play in college, notify the athletic department as well. Obviously, most of the sought after, scouted players already have a relationship with the athletic department. But if the school has an intramural or even club team for a certain sport, there are coaches and advisors for that also. The same holds true if you have a certain talent. If you play an instrument, act, sing in the choir, cheer, or tutor, notify the advisor of the pertinent club or group on campus. Anything that you can use to stand out from the crowd, put a face to the name - anyone you can meet who might take an interest in your gaining admission to that school is an asset.
A lot of the answers to the questions on the checklist can be found on the college's website or on other sites such as Unigo. You might want to jot down brief answers to the ones you already know. Shortly after your visit, while it's still fresh in your mind, take a few minutes to write your impressions of the college on the back of the checklist. In that way you can save the checklist and use it as a resource when you narrow down your choices as to which schools you will actually apply.
One question which is not included that I feel is very important is, "How are dormitory accomodations and roommates decided?" Unless you have special needs, freshman year assignments are often random but many schools allow accepted students to ask to room with other accepted students whom they already know. Find out if assignments after freshman year are made on a lottery or point system. Personally, I feel the lottery system is lazy and doesn't reward students who work harder to earn prime dorm locations/choice of living companions.
In the next post, I'll write about intellectual freedom and physical safety on campus.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
My Niece and Naviance
In the last post, I wrote about attending a college representative's visit to your high school as a way of sizing up your possible local competition. On collegeboard.com there is a feature which helps you see how you "stack up". You enter information about your GPA, rank in class and courses taken, etc., and it helps assess your chances for admission to a particular school. Often colleges try to accept a geographically diverse student body and try not to accept too many students from one region and especially not from one school. The Naviance guidance delivery system is a resource to which many schools now subscribe that can help you find out more about with whom you're competing.
The website, www.naviance.com, is interesting but does not allow general access to detailed information. However, if a school district is a subscriber, the information is very extensive and tailored to the individual high school. Students and parents also have access as part of a "Family Connection". The system offers a feature which shows how successful students from the subscriber school have been in gaining admission to specific colleges and universities. I believe this feature is only available to the school's guidance professionals and other personnl. I've only had limited exposure to this system. At the party my niece had for her son's first birthday, she enthusiastically took the time to give me an overview of the program. She, too, is a counselor and, yes, she generously took time from her hosting duties to share this new knowledge with me. What can I say? We're guidance geeks!
I was pretty impressed. If you're fortunate enough to have this tool at your disposal, take the time to learn it and the opportunity to use it.
The website, www.naviance.com, is interesting but does not allow general access to detailed information. However, if a school district is a subscriber, the information is very extensive and tailored to the individual high school. Students and parents also have access as part of a "Family Connection". The system offers a feature which shows how successful students from the subscriber school have been in gaining admission to specific colleges and universities. I believe this feature is only available to the school's guidance professionals and other personnl. I've only had limited exposure to this system. At the party my niece had for her son's first birthday, she enthusiastically took the time to give me an overview of the program. She, too, is a counselor and, yes, she generously took time from her hosting duties to share this new knowledge with me. What can I say? We're guidance geeks!
I was pretty impressed. If you're fortunate enough to have this tool at your disposal, take the time to learn it and the opportunity to use it.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Virtual Tours and Other Tools
OK - You've got a few places in mind in which you and your family can justify spending THOUSANDS of dollars! What's next? You need to get up close and personal - visit the campus. This part of the process may seem daunting. You may have a few dozen places of interest all over the country. Luckily, you have an invaluable tool at your disposal - the Internet.
When you look up a specific college on www.collegeboard.com, you are often given a link which will take you directly to the college website. Many times that site will include a virtual tour of the campus. There is another site, www.campustour.com, which provides virtual campus tours for many colleges and universities. As stated in a previous post, www.unigo.com is another excellent resource which links to campus tours as well. While these virtual tours are not a substitute for actually visiting a specific school, something you see or learn from the website may rule out a campus or make it a definite "must see".
Another way to learn about a school is through college fairs or a college representative's visit to your high school. These events are often only as good as the rep sent by the college. However, it is a good way to pick up brochures and applications if the school does not accept the Common Application which I'll cover in a future blog. (Many schools have online application procedures but having a paper copy will help you prepare a rough draft.) If a college representative does visit your school, it's a good idea to attend the session even if you have already visited the college and have decided to definitely apply. If it's a group session, you'll get an idea of which other students in your school are considering that college and you can "size up" your local competition. Try to meet with the rep personally. Be sure to take her card or get contact information such as an email address so that you can get in touch with a follow-up email if you have further questions. If you decide to apply to the college, email the rep to let her know. Considering all the students a rep visits with, she may not remember you but anything that might put a face to the application papers is worth a try!
When you look up a specific college on www.collegeboard.com, you are often given a link which will take you directly to the college website. Many times that site will include a virtual tour of the campus. There is another site, www.campustour.com, which provides virtual campus tours for many colleges and universities. As stated in a previous post, www.unigo.com is another excellent resource which links to campus tours as well. While these virtual tours are not a substitute for actually visiting a specific school, something you see or learn from the website may rule out a campus or make it a definite "must see".
Another way to learn about a school is through college fairs or a college representative's visit to your high school. These events are often only as good as the rep sent by the college. However, it is a good way to pick up brochures and applications if the school does not accept the Common Application which I'll cover in a future blog. (Many schools have online application procedures but having a paper copy will help you prepare a rough draft.) If a college representative does visit your school, it's a good idea to attend the session even if you have already visited the college and have decided to definitely apply. If it's a group session, you'll get an idea of which other students in your school are considering that college and you can "size up" your local competition. Try to meet with the rep personally. Be sure to take her card or get contact information such as an email address so that you can get in touch with a follow-up email if you have further questions. If you decide to apply to the college, email the rep to let her know. Considering all the students a rep visits with, she may not remember you but anything that might put a face to the application papers is worth a try!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Feeder Schools
We're just about at the point where you'll have whittled down your list of college possibilities from a hundred or more to a few dozen or less. In the past few posts, I've written about finding schools with good programs in the areas of study in which you're interested. If you have a goal in mind that includes graduate study, you should consider whether your choices are good "feeder schools".
I've written about what a great resource Dr. Sowell's Choosing a College is. In it he speaks about schools that are good "feeder schools", those from which many respected graduate programs accept applicants. By reading Dr. Sowell's book, I found out that the Office of Institutional Research at Franklin and Marshall College issued a publication called, Baccalaureate Origins of Doctorate Recipients: A Ranking of 4-Year Private Institutions. I contacted the research office at Franklin and Marshall and they no longer issue the publication but Dr. Alan Caniglia was kind enough to respond to me and give me a lead that resulted in finding an article out of the University of Illinois. "Graduate and Research Programs" gives synopses of different sites that offer rankings and information about graduate programs. Studies are referenced that show which pre-professional undergraduate programs graduate the most students who get into graduate programs. I found the article at http://www.library.illinois.edu/edx/rankings/rankgrad.html The National Research Council in Washington is given as a source as it is in Dr. Sowell's book. However, these printouts are not free. Your guidance office or library might have a volume of the printouts entitled, Baccaulaureate Origins of Doctorate Recipients from US Universities.
What I found most helpful in the University of Illinois article was the synopsis of a great FREE article that was written by Elizabeth Bernstein, staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal. The article is entitled, "Want to Go to Harvard Law?" and was published in September 2003. It is available at http://wsjclassroom.com/college/feederschools.htm on The Wall Street Journal Classroom Edition site. (I am struck by the number of times in these posts that I've referred to something I've found through The Wall Street Journal. It is a fantastic resource!) The article gives a list of the most effective feeder colleges and the methodology by which they were chosen. It is an excellent tool for students whose career goal necessitates graduate school.
That may have seemed like a very detailed and roundabout way to direct you to a site I could have given you in one paragraph. In December I posted about "leads", detecting information from a site that leads you to another where you learn even more. That's what I did to find this information. You should be doing the same. In this advanced technological age you can find information in a matter of hours that formerly might have taken days or even weeks. I remember snail-mail and microfiche! (I just asked my 20 something daughter how to spell that word and she said, "What's that?" You kids have it easy!)
I've written about what a great resource Dr. Sowell's Choosing a College is. In it he speaks about schools that are good "feeder schools", those from which many respected graduate programs accept applicants. By reading Dr. Sowell's book, I found out that the Office of Institutional Research at Franklin and Marshall College issued a publication called, Baccalaureate Origins of Doctorate Recipients: A Ranking of 4-Year Private Institutions. I contacted the research office at Franklin and Marshall and they no longer issue the publication but Dr. Alan Caniglia was kind enough to respond to me and give me a lead that resulted in finding an article out of the University of Illinois. "Graduate and Research Programs" gives synopses of different sites that offer rankings and information about graduate programs. Studies are referenced that show which pre-professional undergraduate programs graduate the most students who get into graduate programs. I found the article at http://www.library.illinois.edu/edx/rankings/rankgrad.html The National Research Council in Washington is given as a source as it is in Dr. Sowell's book. However, these printouts are not free. Your guidance office or library might have a volume of the printouts entitled, Baccaulaureate Origins of Doctorate Recipients from US Universities.
What I found most helpful in the University of Illinois article was the synopsis of a great FREE article that was written by Elizabeth Bernstein, staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal. The article is entitled, "Want to Go to Harvard Law?" and was published in September 2003. It is available at http://wsjclassroom.com/college/feederschools.htm on The Wall Street Journal Classroom Edition site. (I am struck by the number of times in these posts that I've referred to something I've found through The Wall Street Journal. It is a fantastic resource!) The article gives a list of the most effective feeder colleges and the methodology by which they were chosen. It is an excellent tool for students whose career goal necessitates graduate school.
That may have seemed like a very detailed and roundabout way to direct you to a site I could have given you in one paragraph. In December I posted about "leads", detecting information from a site that leads you to another where you learn even more. That's what I did to find this information. You should be doing the same. In this advanced technological age you can find information in a matter of hours that formerly might have taken days or even weeks. I remember snail-mail and microfiche! (I just asked my 20 something daughter how to spell that word and she said, "What's that?" You kids have it easy!)
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Choosing a College, Continued
In the third post in this series on choosing a college, we are moving from websites to books. You remember those compilations of fact and fiction produced on tree pulp for general consumption. I guess that definition would have to be revised in this "Kindle" generation. Forget the social commentary. In this post I intend to focus on the Princeton Review's publication, The Best 373 Colleges.
In Choosing a College, Dr. Thomas Sowell seems not to place much stock in many of the college guides he reviewed. However, his book was published in 1989 and the Princeton Review series was first published in 1992. Had Dr. Sowell been able to include it in his treatise, I think he may have found many worthwhile features. This post will concentrate on a few that I think are most beneficial.
-The book provides a guide as to what a student should do during each year of high school to enable her to be admitted into college.
-It provides tips for getting financial aid in the form of scholarships and grants.
-It provides listings of "great schools" for 15 of the most popular undergraduate majors and the rationale for inclusion in the lists. The book gives detailed descriptions of how schools were selected from their surveys which included admisnistrative personnel and students.
-The Review presents 62 top 20 rankings in eight categories:
Academics/Administrative
Quality of Life
Politics
Demographics
Town Life
Extracurriculars
Social Scene
School by Type
-There are three "honor rolls" dealing with Financial Aid, Fire Safety and Green Rating.
In Part 3 of this volume, the schools that have been rated as the 373 best are then presented in complete profiles that contain facts and impressions by which you can decide to include or exclude the specific institution from your list of application possibilities.
It's a very good guide which I can personally recommend. Regarding good college guides, Dr. Sowell writes that,
Guides that are in your home can be read
whenever the time and the mood are right,
over a period of weeks and months.
Special things about particular colleges
can be underlined and comments put in the
margins to be looked at perhaps months
later, when you are ready to decide where
to send your applications - and still later
again, when making your final choice among
the colleges that accepted you. (p. 149)
Come to think of it, can you do all that with a Kindle? For these reasons and those listed above, I believe that the Princeton Review's, The Best 373 Colleges is a very wise investment.
As we begin the Spring Season (in reality, Spring Training), the constraints of other commitments will confine these blogs to a biweekly schedule. (I always liked alliteration!) The next post will be on March 16.
In Choosing a College, Dr. Thomas Sowell seems not to place much stock in many of the college guides he reviewed. However, his book was published in 1989 and the Princeton Review series was first published in 1992. Had Dr. Sowell been able to include it in his treatise, I think he may have found many worthwhile features. This post will concentrate on a few that I think are most beneficial.
-The book provides a guide as to what a student should do during each year of high school to enable her to be admitted into college.
-It provides tips for getting financial aid in the form of scholarships and grants.
-It provides listings of "great schools" for 15 of the most popular undergraduate majors and the rationale for inclusion in the lists. The book gives detailed descriptions of how schools were selected from their surveys which included admisnistrative personnel and students.
-The Review presents 62 top 20 rankings in eight categories:
Academics/Administrative
Quality of Life
Politics
Demographics
Town Life
Extracurriculars
Social Scene
School by Type
-There are three "honor rolls" dealing with Financial Aid, Fire Safety and Green Rating.
In Part 3 of this volume, the schools that have been rated as the 373 best are then presented in complete profiles that contain facts and impressions by which you can decide to include or exclude the specific institution from your list of application possibilities.
It's a very good guide which I can personally recommend. Regarding good college guides, Dr. Sowell writes that,
Guides that are in your home can be read
whenever the time and the mood are right,
over a period of weeks and months.
Special things about particular colleges
can be underlined and comments put in the
margins to be looked at perhaps months
later, when you are ready to decide where
to send your applications - and still later
again, when making your final choice among
the colleges that accepted you. (p. 149)
Come to think of it, can you do all that with a Kindle? For these reasons and those listed above, I believe that the Princeton Review's, The Best 373 Colleges is a very wise investment.
As we begin the Spring Season (in reality, Spring Training), the constraints of other commitments will confine these blogs to a biweekly schedule. (I always liked alliteration!) The next post will be on March 16.
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