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Kiplinger’s 08 Top 100 Public Universities: Surprises!
CSU Shortens Application Period to Cut 10,000 students
26% of College Freshmen Drop Out!
As college freshmen return home for the holidays educational psychologists encourage parents to watch for signs of depression. When they left for college they may have been full of optimism, but going back they know what college really is, and for many that wasn’t great. Maybe football games were really fun, but roommate was awful…or classes were so hard, no time to hang out and make new friends…or just don’t like all the rain.
So what to listen for?
1. Does your freshman mention new friends at school? Does he/she text message, email or call them over the holidays? I ask my kids for their friend’s addresses so I can send them a Christmas card…good information for the future.
2. How were the first semester grades? Were they different from grades in high school? Ask which classes they liked and which they hated? Find out specifically what academic advising your student has received and will receive. Check out the school’s web site and give your son or daughter the “How to” of getting academic tutoring if need be. Listen for the name of a professor who they really respect and again jot down the name. You may need it sometime in the future.
3. Listen for what your son/daughter does for fun at school. If for example they’re on a dorm intramural basketball team suggest they get some new shoes or shorts over the holiday. Let them know you want them to be doing more than just studying. Listen for the name of the older student in the dorm that seems to be the one your son/daughter likes to talk to.
4. MOST Important! Set definite dates for your next visit. You be the judge of how soon that needs to be based on your time together at the holidays.
And finally, if your son or daughter is one of the 26% welcome them home with a big hug and don’t panic. Emphasize that the only failure was a failure to pick the right college–the right match! Start anew rebuilding their confidence, listening to what was right about their first college, what was wrong and find that “Perfect Match”.
“I wish my teen were interested in something…”
As parents we all cherish those rare moments watching our child do something they truly love. However, more common is to worry over a child who seems without interests either inside or outside of school. To follow are five suggestions for parents wanting to support their child’s discovery and exploration of individual interests. For most, passions are nurtured over time, not found overnight.
1. “Why” Respond to most (if not all) statements with this three letter word.
- Don’t be surprised if at first you don’t get an answer.
- Be patient. Reflecting on the “Why†of issues is a skill that requires practice.
- Even more challenging can be expressing the “Whyâ€.
- “Who?†Set as overriding goal for your teen/young adult the exploration of who they are.
o Remind yourself that if you truly believe every child is different, why do we judge them all by the same standards and ask them to all do the same things.
o Listen and watch your teen/young adult to see both large and small clues that might lead to the discovery of an interest, and later perhaps a passion.
- “What?†Continuously encourage your teen/young adult to evaluate their classes, organized and unorganized activities in terms of “why†they like/dislike them and how that relates to “who†they are and/or might aspire to be.
o Facilitate exploration of “new†interests both academic/ nonacademic
o Suggests avenues to pursue identified interests
o Provide teen/young adult with factual consequences of proposed decisions
o Celebrate the “tryingâ€. Lessons learned are the key (both positive and negative).
- Develop personal self-confidence/independence in your teen/young adult.
o When your teen/young adult makes a decision based on thoughtful consideration of the “why/who/what†for him/her, support that decision whole-heartedly.
o Encourage your teen to participate in activities away from familiar places or people giving them opportunities to practice making new friends and adjusting to new places. Gradually increase time and distance from comfort zone.
- Exploration of post-secondary academic/career alternatives should be seamlessly added throughout high school years following the same “Why/Who/What†process.
END GAME: If the process is working the parent will gradually be replaced as the leader of the self-exploration process. However, the mutually respectful dialogue will have become a central part of your relationship with your child and will continue on into their adult life as they maneuver through the working world and starting their own family and all each entails.
Students, Don’t Take New Orleans Off Your College Destination List
Tulane University, Loyola University New Orleans and others report there incoming class of 2007 increasing in numbers and approaching pre-Katrina levels. In fact, Loyola recently reported that it has increased numbers of students from out-of-state in its freshman class. It is good news for college applicants that these universities located in such an exciting part of the country are “alive and well”.
Have Fun with Your Senior Despite College Applications
“Did you ask Mrs. Smith if she would write your recommendation? And did you remember to pick up the unofficial transcript in the office today? You should register for SATII’s right now if you want to get a good location.”….
No surprise that your senior is avoiding you.
It’s your last year with your senior at home, dont let college applications spoil it. In order to avoid this stress trap I recommend that you Schedule two ( for some as short as 15 minutes) “meetings” each week to discuss college to do’s or questions. Ideally, one will be on the weekend and one midweek. In return for your senior promising to attend these meetings, you will promise to save all of your college-related questions for the next “meeting”. Setting up a place on the refrigerator where questions can be listed will allow you both to move on without fear of forgetting the question.
Its a great way to get your senior back, and feel that you are driving the college admission process not being driven mad by it. Though some days it is difficult to believe that the college application process is not the center of your universe, it isn’t. Being there when a test score is disappointing or a funny thing happened at lunch may do more for your senior in the long run than never-ending reminders about his or her college applications.
PS You might wish to ask your senior if they would prefer to not have every extended family gathering include a discussion of where they are applying to college. One senior sent her final list to her family via email and promised to let them know any news as it arrived.
Eight Important Considerations Before You Finalize Your List
Now is the time for seniors to finalize their College List and move on to the applications. I am confident all have evaluated each college’s location, cost, reputation, Greek life, academic program, and extracurricular activities such as NCAA sports, intramurals, and the arts.
But stop! Before that list is finalized, have you considered whether or not the college offers:
1. First-year experiences are first-year seminars/colloquiums or other programs required of freshmen that group 20 students who meet regularly with the faculty member both academically and socially. Often times the students develop lasting friendships with their fellow students and the faculty member –helpful throughout and after college.
2. Internships/Co-ops facilitate student opportunities in the real world through superviesd internships that give students critical insights into potential careers in addition to adding perspective and variety to their studies with off-campus hands-on work.
3. Senior capstone or some culminating experience in which students design a project that integrates what they have learned and requires them to apply it to answer a question important to them. In addition to academic benefit, this experience will create yet another working bond with the professor who is the sponsor.
4. Undergraduate research/Creative projects where undergraduate students working with faculty do research or creative work that results in an original scholarly paper or other product presented on or off campus.
5. Learning communities where students take two or more linked courses as a group and get to know one another and their professors especially well. These are often tied with a student residential choice, also called a theme house.
6. Study abroad are programs that involve substantial academic work with considerable interaction between the student and the culture. Colleges vary significantly in their commitment to study abroad programs. Check to see the resources alloted to the study abroad office and the effort on the part of the college to advise the student to assure he will select the best fit program for his academic interests and still graduate in four years.
7. Service learning programs involve volunteering in the community and are a requirement of a student’s coursework. For example, a psychology major may be required to volunteer at a nearby psychiatric facility.
8. Writing in the disciplines is where colleges make the writing process a priority at all levels of instruction and across the curriculum. This is an expensive proposition for colleges, but critical for graduates in any field to be able to communicate with the written word.
No college has everything, but it certainly should have 80% of your Requirements List. I recommend that you will add some or all of these eight programs to your Requirements List.
The blog is based on a recent article in the US News & World Report Magazine describing the research of Robert Morse, Director of Data Research for US News & World Report Magazine. If you wish to learn more about the methodologies behind America’s Best Colleges visit US News site and search for his blog entitled Morse Code.
Appalachian State Makes Headlines
If you’re looking for a college that lists music as one of its major programs and now famous for its football…beat No. 5 Univ of Michigan 34-32 (my sympathy to Wolverines). Located in Boone, North Carolina near the famed Blue Ridge Parkway…lots of beautiful country! When you think you’re familiar with most colleges…there’s always another to be discovered. Equally important to remember is that the students at Appalachian State are loving their college experience, even more today. A good day for the lesser-known college that in reality is not a lesser college for its students.
Shopping for College: Time is Your Best Friend
I know it sounds crazy, but Sophomore year is not too early to begin the process of shopping for college. If that’s not possible don’t lose the summer before your student’s Junior year. Let me explain…
Imagine you arrive at a new shopping mall. After circling for a parking spot, you enter the closest door looking for the Information Sign …”You Are Here”. You are looking for art supplies. Will you find those in Accessories, Specialty Stores , Miscellaneous or Other? I’m not sure how this mall works.
Shopping for college will be even more foreign. In all likelihood television’s college bowl games and March Madness are your most current source of college information. Some lucky students have actually attended a tailgate and football game, but most not. In fact many parents haven’t spent more than a weekend at a college in over 20 years.
In addition to this void of information, inertia favors no proactive college exploration, no change. By their sophomore year in high school, most students have found some good friends, a few teachers they like and have busy schedules after school. They’ve got a comfortable life. Its only natural that most high school students don’t want to leave their family, friends, room and high school to attend a college where they have to study something they haven’t a clue what it is, in a different city, while sharing a room with a total stranger.
This is where TIME is your student’s best friend. Going back again to the shopping mall, if you must find your art supplies in one hour before your class you will have to go to the first store you see and settle for whatever they have no matter whether they are precisely what you want or not. Adding to the college search challenge,high school students do not start even knowing what they want in college. Therefore, most high school students are shopping without a list for something they’re not sure they want.
For all of these reasons, TIME is your student’s best friend in the quest to find the perfect match college. Sophomore year is a great time to informally visit colleges and attend games, plays or other events with college students present gradually exposing your student to the “fun” side of college. Summer before Junior year your high school student should take formal tours at 6-8 colleges, each selected to explore different questions such as size, location, academic programs etc. Building on this foundation the college search will continue to narrow until the end of summer before Senior year when your student’s college list is set and your focus can be on creating quality applications.
Time will not only make the process less stressful, but it will make the process more successful at finding the Perfect Match college for your student.
Colleges That Change Lives: Go West Pope We’re Here
As promised I made my way last night to the Universal City Hilton for the annual Southern California CTCL panel discussion and college fair. Students and parents continued to stream into the room as the introductory speaker explained the origins of Pope’s book of the same title. As the now legend goes Pope working as an education writer for New York Times was concerned about all of the “horror” stories surrounding college admissions, particularly surrounding Ivy league and “Brand name” colleges. Insisting that the majority of colleges accept 70% of those who apply and most students are accepted to their first choice college, he set out to find the quality, lesser known great liberal arts colleges by interviewing students and faculty without the knowledge of college administrators. His current list (schools can be dropped and added) includes 40 small (under 4000), liberal arts colleges and universities.
Of course I was nodding agreement when CTCL rep emphasized that “match” was the key, not the “prize”. However, a critical element in any student’s “match” is location and Pope has failed to find a single CTCL’s in sixteen states including California most western states and the midwest. When asked why California has not one CTCL Pope is reported to answer, “I sought the unknown schools and most California schools are well-known.” Antioch (though closed now) , Beloit and Reed college are far from unknown. If Pope wishes to help students from all over the country find a good match and I challenge him to look at an Occidental College, Mills College or any of the Claremont Colleges. California does have CTCL.
However, don’t misunderstand, I support wholeheartedly the core characteristics of the undergraduate education that Pope identifies including frequent opportunities to work with professors and frequent opportunities to work and play with students pursuing a myriad of interests outside the classroom. But for some students the good match is a medium sized school with a broader curriculum and more diverse student body…or even a large school for others. For example, University of Oregon is a medium sized public university that works very hard to offer many smaller learning experiences for undergraduates.
My recommendation is to read Popes’ book particularly the first two chapters, familiarize yourself with the desired qualities and find colleges and universities that “match” your student’s broader interests with as many of these CTCL qualities as possible.
One Postscript: Did CTCL offer an alternative to the “horrors” of college admissions as was their express motivation. Approximately 400 students and parents were present last night (100 without chairs during the panel discussion) and then directed to visit 35 college tables in a crowded room (at any given time 5-10 people at each table). Unwilling to push my way to tables, I left early. In the foyer I found numerous high school students shaking their heads saying “It’s crazy in there”. I wonder if they are more confident about their chances to get into their first choice school after last night?…or do they think there’s so many applicants, will I be accepted anywhere?
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