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Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Choosing a College, Intelligently

By: Louis E. Newman
You are among the hundreds of thousands of high school seniors who are about to begin the difficult process of selecting a college where you hope to spend the next four years of your life.  For most of you, it will be the most significant decision of your lives to date; for many of your parents, the most expensive.  This is especially the case for the increasing numbers of you competing to be admitted to the nation’s most selective private schools.  Yet few students ask the sorts of questions that really help distinguish one college from another. 
            Here is some advice from an insider.  Skip the campus tour.  Most students are unduly swayed by the enthusiasm of the tour guide, which tells you nothing meaningful about the school.  Don’t bother attending a class.  Every college has good classes and bad ones.  What you experience in one session can’t be generalized, not even to the whole of that course.  And don’t ask about the cafeteria food.  There will always be enough of it and students will always tell you it could be better.
            Here are some questions to ask and things you should investigate:
            1.  How available are faculty members?  Check out how many office hours they set aside for students each week.  Do a random survey of students you meet to find out how many can name a faculty member they would call a “mentor.”  If college, especially private college, is worth the cost, it is because it gives you an opportunity to really engage with great teachers.  If you’re not getting that, you’re probably not getting your money’s worth.
            2.  What sort of advising system exists, especially for first-year students?  How often and how extensively do advisers talk with advisees about course choices and academic (and personal) concerns?  Every college student needs help navigating college requirements, finding courses at the appropriate level and learning how to meet the challenges of college.  Without a good advising system, the chances of your floundering are greater and the likelihood of recovering when you do are slimmer.
            3.  How satisfied are students (and alumni) with the quality of the education, the co-curricular activities and the campus climate?  All colleges survey students and alumni to gather this information.  Ask to see this data, especially the NSSE (National Survey of Student Engagement; nsse.iub.edu/html/annual_results.cfm) or equivalent surveys conducting by the college.  Ask about the CLA (Collegiate Learning Assessment; www.collegiatelearningassessment.org), a measurement of students’ analytical reasoning, which many schools now administer to both freshmen and seniors to see how much their scores improve.  Then do your own comparison among the schools you are considering.  The results will be far more telling than the generally vague answers you get from asking a few random students, “how do you like it here?”
            4.  How extensive are the health, especially the mental health, services available on the campus?  How long does it typically take to get an appointment for a routine medical problem?  How close is the college to a major hospital?  You will probably get sick at some point during your college years and when you do, the answer to these questions will matter—a lot. 
            5.  How satisfied are the professors with the institution?  How strong is the sense of collegiality among faculty and how deeply committed are they to institutional values and goals?   These data are collected from most major colleges in the country through the HERI (Higher Educational Research Institute; www.heri.ucla.edu/facoverview.php) survey of faculty satisfaction and engagement.  Ask to see this information and compare it for the colleges you are considering.  If your professors have a strong sense of shared purpose and believe their work is valued, it is more likely that they will bring that positive energy into their interactions with you. 
            6.  How much support does the college provide for faculty development?  Does the college have a “learning and teaching center” that offers programs to help new faculty succeed and more seasoned faculty remain energized?  What sorts of incentives does the college provide faculty both to pursue their research and to develop new courses (or revise tired ones)?  All faculty need opportunities to collaborate, hone their pedagogical skills, and learn the latest technologies to enhance their teaching.  They also need mentoring from more established colleagues and support to attend conferences, so they can continue to grow intellectually.  If the college supports its faculty through such programs, you will experience the benefits in ways that you couldn’t discover just by reading the College’s course catalog or publicity materials.
            While you’re visiting the college, you might spend some time checking out the bulletin boards and reading the college paper—there is no quicker way to gauge the atmosphere on a campus.  Try standing in a well-trafficked place looking lost (often not a hard thing to do) and see how long it takes before someone—preferably another student--offers to help.  It will give you one indication of how friendly and supportive the campus is.  Another way to determine student satisfaction with their college experience is by the percentage of alumni who make annual contributions to the college—ask the Admissions office for this information.  Finally, count the number of students you see wearing items of clothing with the college’s name emblazoned on them—it’s one measure, albeit a rough one, of school spirit. 
            Most of us long ago learned not to buy anything we really care about, especially if it’s expensive, based on the ads, the hype, or the personality of the showroom salesperson.  Consumer Reports is a much surer guide to the sorts of considerations that really matter.  Choosing a college will have a profound impact on the quality of your education and, very likely, on the rest of your life.  This is one time when doing your homework really matters.  Start your college career right by making this decision intelligently.

Louis E. Newman is the Humphrey Doermann Professor of Liberal Learning, the Director of the Perlman Center for Learning and Teaching, and the John M. and Elizabeth W. Musser Professor of Religious Studies at Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota