|
Choosing a College or Graduate School
‘Tis the season to pick your college or grad
school.
But how to choose? The colleges don’t make
it easy. So many students end up choosing the
slickest brochure or most engaging tour guide
rather than the best college or graduate
program.
Here’s an insider’s approach to
choosing:
Ask to see the college or program’s most
recent accreditation visiting team report. That
document summarizes experts’ evaluation of the
college or program. Where might you obtain it? The
admissions office, an administrative assistant in
the academic department in which you’d be a
student, the department chair, the
institution’s website, or the office of the
president.
Ask for the results from the latest student or
alumni satisfaction survey. Try the above sources
or the alumni office.
Ask an admissions officer or the chair of your
prospective academic department, “What percent
of students graduate in the expected time?”
For example, what percentage of undergraduates
graduate in four years? Even better, ask,
“What percentage of students with grades and
test scores similar to mine graduate in the
expected time?”
Check out a prospective advisor. Read the
faculty biographies in your prospective major or
graduate program and phone the person you think
you’d like to be your advisor. Would you like
that advisor to be your mentor?
Go to the college’s or program’s
website. Review the course descriptions and syllabi
for the courses you’d likely be taking. How
beneficial do you think those courses would be?
Sit in on advanced class. At the end of class,
ask students how they liked the program and about
the career prospects for graduates. Afterwards,
also ask yourself, “Could I see myself fitting
in with these students?”
Compare financial aid packages among the schools
that admitted you. Many financial aid packages
consist mostly of interest-bearing loans. Also ask,
“If my financial situation doesn’t
change, am I guaranteed the same amount of cash aid
each year I’m in school?”
Talk with the person who specializes in helping
graduates find jobs. What percentage of graduates
in your major or program land good jobs within six
months of graduation?
Remember, there is a glut of college and
graduate degree holders. The Bureau of Labor
Statistics just reported that for the first time
since it started collecting data, there are more
unemployed college graduates than high school
dropouts! Why? Because colleges continue to admit
students without regard to whether they will be
employable, and because companies are offshoring
many well-paying jobs but not the low-paying ones
that only high school dropouts are willing to
accept.
Don’t be deceived by the statistic that
college and graduate degree holders earn much more
over their lifetimes. You could lock the
college-bound in a closet for four years and
they’d earn more because, as a group,
they’re brighter, more motivated, and have
more family connections than the non-college bound.
Yes, a degree adds to your employability, but so
would four years at what I call You U: on-the-job
training, especially if you supplement by finding
mentors, reading books and articles, attending
seminars, and professional conferences. And instead
of spending tens of thousands of dollars,
you’d be earning tens of thousands of
dollars.
Advice I’d Give My Child
Amy, colleges and graduate schools are great
places to learn for the sake of learning, to become
a more thoughtful citizen, a connoisseur of life,
and certainly to meet interesting people. But
colleges do a poor job of career preparation. You
spend too much time learning huge quantities of
arcana of interest primarily to academic types or
theoretical models with little applicability to the
real world. .Think of all those Yale Law School
graduates you know who came out feeling they had no
idea how to practice law and had to learn on the
job.
Sure, if you wanted to be a doctor, you have to
go to medical school. But as someone who aspires to
being a leader, an activist, and the like, consider
foregoing State U let alone Private U in favor of
You U.
© 2010, Marty
Nemko
* * *
Marty
Nemko holds a PhD from the University of
California, Berkeley, and subsequently taught in
Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education. He is
the worklife columnist in the Sunday San Francisco
Chronicle and is the producer and host of Work With
Marty Nemko, heard Sundays at 11 on 91.7 FM in
(NPR, San Francisco), and worldwide on
www.martynemko.com
 .
400+ of his published writings are available free
on that website and is a co-editor of
Cool
Careers for Dummies.
and author of The All-in-One College Guide.
E-Mail.
Contact
Us |
Disclaimer
| Privacy
Statement
Menstuff®
Directory
Menstuff® is a registered trademark of Gordon
Clay
©1996-2023, Gordon Clay
|
