Mark Montgomery, educational consultant and college admissions expert, reminds prospective university students that while their image of college may be composed largely of parties and meeting attractive people and the like, they will (ideally) be spending a good portion of their time studying. And doing so in their dorm rooms may not be such a great idea. He advises students why college study spaces are necessary when touring a school, and shows some of the offerings at Seattle University.
Transcript:
So one of the things I like to do when I visit a college campus is to check out the study spaces. And some of my students of course think I’m crazy. Because how boring is that to think about studying when you’re in college. Much more fun to think about all the parties. And all the social things and all the activities you might be involved in. But you will spend a lot of time studying.
So I do ask students when I’m on a tour or when I’m looking around, “Where are the possible places or what are the kinds of places you can find on campus to study?” A lot of students like to study in their dorm rooms. I’m not always sure I like that. I think that’s a great idea. But here at Seattle University in Seattle, they have all these individual study rooms that you can come and grab. This is a Saturday; there are hardly any of them being used. People are doing other kinds of things today. But very comfortable, nice chairs, Herman Miller, a really great place to sit down.
And then over here, there’s another little room here for students to sit down and relax and have a little bit more informal kind of studying – reading, working on a particular homework. You have cup holders here. And everything so you can have your drink that you buy down in the café, down in the library. And then over here, there’s another group study room right here so that you can reserve the room for a group of you if you have a project that you’re working on with other students.
You can actually here, you can reserve it with a touchpad and keep it for two hours without running into another reservation. It tells you whether it’s available or unavailable. And then if you want to do it in advance, you can go online here at the university and you can reserve that room well in advance.
So this is just a sample of the kinds of places where you could study in a library. Often the different floors, Beach One has its own kind of study space. It’s a good thing to check out because you are going to be spending some time studying. I know that sounds kind of crazy. But you are going to spend time studying and you want to be able to know, “Well where are the cool places? Where are the quiet places? Where are the places that are going to be right for me to study and get my work done?” So think about that when you’re choosing a college.
Mark Montgomery
Expert Educational Consultant
