When a client asked me the other day about the importance of student to faculty ratios, I got to thinking about other supposed indicators of educational quality.

The other oft-cited statistic when visiting an admissions office is “average class size.” As with student-to-faculty ratios, the size of the classes at a college is assumed to reflect the quality and the intimacy of the educational experience. Small classes–so the assumption goes–are interactive and provide ample opportunity for interaction between students and faculty. The pedagogy of these classes is more a facilitated discussion than a lecture.

This assumption is generally true: small classes are more interactive. Yet I could cite numerous examples of professors I have known who stand and deliver lectures from prepared notes to a class of seven students. Just because a class is small doesn’t mean it’s any good.

The use of the “average class size” can be very misleading, however, and masks some more important facts about the quality of education delivered by a college or university.
Consider how the following scenarios have an impact on how “average class size” is calculated.

• Some of the smallest classes are taught by the least effective, least popular professors. In a world of university tenure, bad professors cannot be chased out. So they end up teaching ever smaller numbers of students, while the more effective, popular instructors see their class sizes swell.• Some of the smallest classes are in obscure subjects. Some of these are new courses professors are trying out for the first time.
• They can be experimental. And few students are willing to take risks of this sort (credits are too expensive, too dear to take such risks).
  Class sizes in some departments are much smaller than in other departments. Courses for popular majors such as history, economics, and biology may be large, while equally good courses in anthropology and art history may be tiny. Here quality of the individual course is not the issue–it’s the popularity of the major that may affect class size.
• Professors generally do not like teaching huge courses–not because they hate lecturing–but because they hate grading so many tests and term papers. So they ask administrators to cap enrollments, insisting that “small classes are better” (when, in fact, they are simply concerned about their own work load).
• Professors and administrators cap enrollments in popular courses in order to keep the average class size small. Even the most popular courses at small, liberal arts colleges are not allowed to grow large–because those colleges are protecting the ratio. In a competitive environment that values small class sizes over large ones, institutions of higher education are loath to allow classes to grow too large. So from an administrator’s point of view, the question is not so much access to great courses or the quality of the individual course (some large lecture classes in the hands of an outstanding professor can be awesome). An administrator’s job is to keep “average class size” as low as possible.

This final point leads to some very troublesome effects on college campuses. An article a few years back from the alumni magazine of my alma mater, Dartmouth College, points out that the real, untold story is how the mania to protect the “average class size” statistic is shutting students out of popular courses. The article makes the point this way:

In [the department of] economics, with 453 students registered as majors, minors, or modified majors, students get closed out of as many of 20 percent of their course choices, a rate that far exceeds the rate of closeouts campus wide, as estimated by [Dean of the Faculty Carol] Holt.

To further elaborate the point, a “small class” in the economics department at Dartmouth is 30 students: the department would likely cancel a class with such “low” enrollment. While in the department of anthropology, a “small” class might be 5 or 6 (in my department at the University of Denver, a course with fewer than 7 students was considered “uneconomic” and therefore cancelled).

(Note to future economics majors: if you really want to small classes, go to a college where economics is NOT a popular major.)

Believe me, this is not the sort of information you will hear from an admissions counselor. They will sing out their statistics on student-to-faculty ratios (8-to-1 at Dartmouth) and “average class size” is probably around 15 or so.

Student to Faculty Ratios Can Mislead

But the statistics, beautiful though they are, do not tell you the whole story. In fact, they can be grossly misleading. And they do not necessarily bear any relationship to the quality of the education being delivered.

As an alumnus, of course, I would tell you that the quality of the education at Dartmouth is more a function of the quality of the faculty and the quality of the student body. Dartmouth can afford to be more discriminating in its offers of tenure, it offers higher salaries to faculty, and the student body is one that any high-quality faculty member would love to teach. And only teachers who love to teach undergraduates would be motivated to apply for a job at Dartmouth–for there are few graduate students.

In the same breath, however, I would criticize the quality of a Harvard undergraduate education, where the student-to-faculty ratio is an ultra-low 6-to-1, but average class sizes are generally much larger, and graduate teaching assistants perform the overwhelming majority of grading and lead almost all the class discussions. To be graduate student at Harvard is to be on top of the heap; to be an undergraduate is fun an exciting, but the teaching is just not as good.

Why would I say that?

Two reasons.  First, my experience while a graduate teaching fellow.  I was an assistant for two different courses over a few semesters.  These were 200-level courses in the economics and political science departments (international political economy and political theory, respectively).  While I enjoyed my experience, I found the lectures by the professors to be relatively boring, and I also found it weird that I was leading discussions on the readings despite my relative lack of expertise in either subject. I also was in charge of grading all papers and exams, some of which were awesome, and other were complete pieces of crap. But the professors allowed us to give nothing less than a “B” grade to anything, no matter how horrible or off the mark the work was.

The second is that a friend of mine wrote me a note about his experience in choosing and attending Harvard.  While he enjoyed his time at Harvard overall, his classroom environment not all that memorable.  Here is what he wrote:

I didn’t think very critically about which college was the right “fit”. All I knew about college was gleaned from family trips to University of Notre Dame for football games. I knew I wanted to go away to college, and I had been to Washington DC so I applied to Georgetown. I applied to University of Michigan Ann Arbor as my “safety” school. And at the last minute, my Dad told me he had spoken with a friend whose daughter had gone to Harvard and enjoyed it. So I applied to Harvard.
When I got into Harvard, I was so overwhelmed with people’s responses to that fact that it seemed to me the right thing to do to go there. I had never been to Boston and had no idea what Harvard looked like and no real appreciation for its history. In fact I almost cried when I rode into Harvard Square because it didn’t look at all like “college” to me!
It turned out to be a wonderful experience for me, not because of the undergraduate academic offerings (three or four truly exceptional courses) or the career guidance (zero) but because of the terrific students and graduate students I met and became friends with. It is a part of my life I treasure. Looking back, I’m not at all sure that I couldn’t have gotten an equally wonderful (though of course different) experience at any number of other colleges. I will say though that the Harvard name has opened many doors for me, many of which I am probably not even aware.

So how can you uncover the truth behind the statistics?

Here’s a short video I did a while back expressing gratitude for the clarity with which Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, calculated its student to faculty ratio.

The Truth Behind Student to Faculty Ratios

How can we compare and contrast the educational services offered by different institutions? How can we get beyond these simplistic numbers?

You must ask more substantive questions about how courses are taught, and not to focus solely upon the size of the class.

But there are other questions that prospective students and their parents might ask in order to understand and predict what their experience might be like if they matriculated to a particular college or university.

1. What is the “course load” for faculty members? How many undergraduate courses is each faculty member expected to teach every year? Is this number the same for all departments, or does it vary by discipline?
2. What percentage of courses is taught by adjunct or part-time faculty? Is this percentage the same across departments, or do some departments rely on part-timers more than others?
3. What percentage of courses has a waiting list? How does the college (or the individual department) determine who gets off the waiting list and when?
4. How many campus lecture halls seat 100 students? 50 students? 500 students? How many seminar rooms are there? What is the ratio of lecture halls to seminar rooms?
5. How small must a class be before it is canceled by the administration?
6. What is the most popular course on campus (or in your department)? Is enrollment in this course capped? Who gets in, and who doesn’t?

As you ask these questions, you should not permit admissions people to give vague answers. They will hem and haw. They will will be imprecise.

But these figures do exist on campus, and they exist in the office of institutional research. The administrators in this office crunch the numbers. They have the facts. If you really want to know this information, you need to ask to be put in touch with someone in the office institutional research who can provide this information to you.

Still, you must not focus solely on the statistics. Every educational institution has administrative problems like the ones at Dartmouth described above You will never be able to guarantee that your son or daughter will not be shut out of a class. You will not be able to ensure that every course he or she takes is a gem.

But if you dig deeply enough, you may be able to figure out how forthcoming and honest the faculty and administration is about the difficulty of measuring educational quality, and you will learn how they are working to deliver the quality you expect–and will be paying for.

Need to understand the data and how it applies to you?

The college admissions counselors at Great College Advice have access to the latest higher education data to help students and families make the right decisions about their educational paths. We can guide you toward the information you need to choose the right colleges and ensure that you get the educational opportunities you most desire. Give us a call for a free consultation or fill out our contact form. We’d be delighted to get acquainted and explain how we help families make the admissions process less stressful and more successful.

Great College Advice

The post Class Size & Student to Faculty Ratios: What Research Says? first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

So, here’s how the “writing about failure” prompt reads:

The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

Below we will review all the key words of this prompt, and give some tips about how to address this prompt of writing about failure.

Recount a Time 

First, you are being asked for a specific event in time in which you encountered some sort of obstacle. Thus you will tell a story to your reader in which you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. This story should be a very succinct one, but it should have a beginning, middle, and an end. You also want to give enough detail that your reader can follow the narrative, but not so long that you get boring—or worse, go over the word count limit. But bear in mind that the story is merely the entry point to the heart of the essay:  your “reflection” on this failure. 

Also keep in mind that the “failure” at the heart of this essay does not have to be a big, embarrassing, terrible event.  In some cases, a failure might be one that is otherwise invisible to other people.  It could be an incident in which you failed to live up to your own moral standards.  Thus the magnitude of the setback or challenges is not what is important; rather it is how you responded to these obstacles is what will be at the heart of your essay.

Bombing a math test is not the best topic when sriting A college essay about failure

However, one set of failures is unlikely to be good stories at the center of this essay:  a failure in a class or on a test in high school.  While you are applying to college–where academic credentials are central to the application–it’s rare that an essay about the time you failed a math test or did poorly on a paper is going to be a great topic.  While we “never say never,” consider other sorts of failures before you decide to write about an academic failure at school.  Most of these sorts of essays come off as trite and mundane, and really don’t tell us much more than “I learned my lesson and ever since I study harder and now I get much better grades.” Think about failures or obstacles or 

How did this experience affect you? 

What was the impact of this failure? How did it make others see you? How did you see yourself after this incident? Be reflective. Examine your emotions. Did it make you angry, embarrassed, disappointed, secretly thrilled, or downright sad? What was the immediate impact of your failure? This is perhaps the hardest part of answering this prompt: you have to go into that mess of feelings that you’ve tried to put behind you. But the admissions office is asking you to share, so share you must.

What did you learn?

This seems obvious, but these lessons can be hard to articulate. So begin with a list: how many things can you pinpoint that you learned from this mistake? Think about how you can learn things at different times, too. Sometimes we learn things from failure immediately. Other lessons take longer to sink in. Again, you have to be analytical. I recommend that you come up with three solid lessons for this essay.

Writing a college essay about failure:  Summary

Writing about failure can be difficult. And when writing about failure, the fear is that the essay will come off as too negative, too self-critical. The ultimate direction of this essay should be positive and optimistic. You should not worry too much about the nature of the mistake: we’ve all made them, and admissions officers, frankly, have seen them all. The point of this is to allow you to demonstrate your maturity, your humility, and your ability to turn a bad experience into a good one.

So in order to really turn this negative experience into a positive one, you really do have to dig into the ways in which this challenge or obstacle affected you.  And if you can carefully and thoroughly present the ways in which you have learned from this failure, you will be on the road to writing an amazing college essay that will convince readers that you are just the sort of human being that belongs on their campus. 

Need help writing a college essay about failure?

The team of expert college counselors at Great College Advice have helped thousands of students write excellent college essays on every Common Application prompt.  We can help you brainstorm topics, structure your prose, hone your messages, and edit the essay to perfection.

If you’d like more information about our college essay services or our comprehensive college advising packages, please contact us. Or just give us a call. We would be happy to chat with you. 

VIEW THE COMPLETE SERIES OF POSTS ANALYZING THE COMMON APPLICATION PROMPTS

Writing About A Belief or Idea
Writing About A Place or Environment
Writing About the Transition to Adulthood
Writing About Your Background Story

The post How to Write The College Essay for The Common App on Failure first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

Thanksgiving is not the best time for college tours

During the week of Thanksgiving, colleges are often open, but the students have already ventured home to be with their families. College admissions officers, too, are very often out of the office entirely–finally getting a few days to spend with their families during a grueling travel season. Rarely do colleges even offer tours and information sessions during Thanksgiving week. You may be able to meet with someone in the admissions office, but it will be difficult to get a feel for the college culture without students present. On many campuses, all dining facilities and campus amenities will be completely shut down as staff are given a few days off for the holidays.

So we recommend you forget Thanksgiving as a viable time to visit a campus, unless all you want to do is look at a bunch of locked and empty buildings.  Not a super helpful time to get to know a school and its’ community.

The winter holiday is not the best time for college tours

Winter holiday break is just as bad, if not worse. When students leave campus, many offices also close up.  Dorms are locked up tightly while students are away.  The library may be on limited hours if it is open at all.  Faculty leave town and go on their own vacations.

Most colleges may be completely closed from December 23rd to January 2nd. If you venture to a college that third week in December, a few admission counselors may still be in their offices, but they will more than likely be knee-deep in reading applications. So here again, unless all you want to do is see a bunch of locked and empty buildings, the winter holiday is not a great time for college tours.

What about summer for a college tour?

For many families, summer is the best time for a college tour.  This is when students are no longer wrapped up in the demands of the academic year and time is a bit more flexible.  While summer is not a perfect time to visit a college campus, it is better than Thanksgiving or the winter holidays. Some colleges and universities do have summer sessions, and most will have some sort of activities going on–even if they are not set up for their regular student bodies.  Offices are generally open, as are most facilities.  During the summer, you may not see the campus operating as it does during the academic year, but at least the admissions office is set up to show you the best of what the campus has to offer.  While you’ll find it harder to have conversations with current students, at least you’ll get an idea of the what the campus feels like when there are actual humans around.

So when is the best time for a campus visit?

Unfortunately, the best time to visit a college campus is during the school year. This is when you will see the college or university in actual operation.  Students will be going to class, all the facilities will be open–and bustling–and you’ll get a better idea of not just geography of the campus, but the people who animate it.

Try to pick a time, such as a February or March break, but be careful not to overlap with the college’s spring break if possible (once again, the college just won’t look or feel the same when the students are not around). Make sure you do your research and look at the school’s campus tour calendar. Most colleges have sign-ups online.

For more tips, read our previous blog post:  Planning the Perfect Campus Visit.

The post Holiday Breaks – Not the Best Time for College Tours first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

I while back, I was driving to pick up my kids from school when I heard a piece on National Public Radio’s “Talk of the Nation” about how to choose a major for college in tough economic times. This was back during the recession of 2008 and 2009. The piece was headlined by a professor of labor statistics, whose basic argument is that students need to consider the return on investment when choosing a college major. They need to understand, he argued, that certain fields will have a bigger payoff. Health care was one of his primary examples: the industry is booming, so his advice was to head for jobs in that sector.

As I listened, the piece grated on me because only one viewpoint was represented here. Specifically, the viewpoint is the idea that education is primarily about getting a job. What was missing was the perspective of those who see education as an edifying experience, who believe that “training the brain” to be nimble, and to be able to “learn how to learn” are the chief values of education (for an explanation of this alternative point of view, see this post).

Furthermore, many observers (Thomas Friedman, Daniel Pink) have pointed out that many of today’s top-earning jobs didn’t exist ten years ago. And while the professor identified healthcare as a good field to head for, we can also bet that the healthcare industry may undergo tectonic shifts in the next decade (hello, Artificial Intelligence).

Just consider “communications” or “marketing.” If you had studied these in college fifteen years ago. Who would have foreseen the social networking and marketing tools that we now take for granted?

How to choose a major in the 21st Century

Anyway, I was following my friends on Twitter the other day, when someone else complained about this NPR story. This someone else was Alex Berger. Thus began a conversation about this NPR story that led him to write an extended email describing his take on education in the 21st century. In a separate post, I will reproduce his email in full (with his permission, of course).

I think more people should be having this sort of conversation about what education means in the 21st century. While there is no getting around the fact that we all need to earn a living and that our educational backgrounds do–in a very real sense–prepare us for our economic success and social contributions, a purely instrumental view of education can be self-defeating.

For example, does it really make sense to spend a bunch of money to educate oneself to read and interpret X-rays, when much of that work is being done more cheaply in India?

Or does it make sense to get a degree in accounting? Today, highly trained and able accountants in India are filling out IRS 1040s for US citizens more cheaply than H&R Block?

Translation work might seem lucrative, but in fact, it’s cheaper to pay Chinese people to translate my documents into Chinese than to pay an American with a Masters degree in Chinese language to do the same work.

The fact is that as we decide upon our major, we have to realize that the economic landscape is going to change. The professional preparation we begin in college is only the start. We have to continue to learn, modulate, and roll with the times. The labor market is going to evolve, and some jobs that pay well today may pay poorly tomorrow. Or vice versa.

So in counseling our clients about their majors, we really try to hone in on the student’s aptitudes and passions: what sort of domains of knowledge to they really enjoy?  What interests them? Then I spend time talking about appropriate learning environments. Because college is really about learning–and not merely about acquiring knowledge.

Read more on this topic with guest blogger, Alex Berger.

Get help if you need it

And if you need help in thinking about how to choose the right major, get in touch with us.  The team of counselors at Great College Advice have years of experience guiding students toward their academic and professional goals.

The post Choose A Major Based on Career Interests? Pros and Cons first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

One of the most important goals a college counselor has is to bring a little bit of their college to a student who may not have the opportunity to visit or is considering planning a visit.  The best way to do this is to have a reception or an “on the road” information session.

What is a college reception?

A college reception is different from a college fair, and different from a high school visit.  Usually receptions are put on by more than one college and are held in the evening.  They are often held at a local hotel, or sometimes at a high school.

Students often receive invitations to these events. If you have signed up for more information about a particular college, you may receive an invite.  Or colleges and universities may get your contact information from either the SAT (College Board) or ACT.  Students may receive emails or glossy invitations about the event.  They are often held at a local hotel or sometimes at a high school.

The structure of the events vary, but often times students can expect to see the same or a very similar presentation to what is offered at the on-campus information sessions. The admissions counselor will give an overview of the basic statistics of the college and the admissions process.  This is a great opportunity to learn some information about the school that may not be available on the website.

One big difference is that you may hear presentations from 2 or 3 different colleges.  In some ways, this can be less helpful than a more focused session on one school.  If you are particularly interested in one of the participants at the reception, you may have to wait patiently through the presentations by colleges that interest you less. On the other hand, you may be learning about a college or two that has not yet been on your radar screen, and you may decide to expand your list as a result of the reception.

An on-the-road college reception may also be a great time to meet with other members of the college community.  Sometimes colleges will bring current students to the reception to talk about campus life and personal experiences.  Professors may come to discuss the courses they teach and the academic goals of the college.  Alumni will often speak of life after graduation and the job searching process.

Overall, attending a college reception in your hometown is a valuable way to learn more about a school.  It can help you decide if you want to spend the money to visit a school in order to learn more.

What to expect at a college reception after the presentations are over

Usually after the presentation, you will have an opportunity to meet individually with the admissions representatives. They will set up tables in different parts of the room, and you can waIk up and ask questions. So be prepared to ask some! Research the information you want to know about majors, student life and the admissions process.  Having an audience that asks questions really helps keep an admissions officer going.  Remember that they may have been up since 5AM trying to make it to all their high school visits and are now working into the evening to showcase the college that they work for.  So show them that you’re interested, and they will feel energized!

Also don’t forget to send a follow up “thank you note” to the person who presented on the college or colleges that interest you. It’s a great way to demonstrate interest and get some more brownie points for attending the college reception.

Need more help on what to expect at a college reception? Give us a call.

We helps students prepare for every aspect of the college preparation, selection, and admissions process.  We can help you get ready for that college reception–or the campus visit or the interview or any other aspect of the process.  We have helped thousands of students make solid educational plans.  We’d love to hear from you. So give is a call or contact us on our website.

Mark Montgomery
College Admissions Expert

The post What To Expect At A College Reception first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

The short answer is yes. So don’t panic!

Some instances in which you might want to make changes to a college application:

•  Your mom decided to read your essay “one more time” and found an error. Send admissions offices an updated version of your essay and ask them to replace it with the copy submitted with your application.
•  Your history grade improved from the C reported on your first quarter grades to a respectable B because you aced your last exam. Kindly ask your history teacher to write a few comments about your improved grade and sign it. Scan the letter and email it to all of the schools you have applied to and put a hard copy in the mail.
• The mayor of your city has just recognized a non-profit organization that you helped create. Cut the article out of the newspaper and mail it into the schools you applied to, along with a letter. If you can provide a link to the article, send an email in as well.

How to make changes to a college application

In most cases, you cannot actually change the application.  Once it is sent, you cannot alter it. You probably even made a declaration when submitting saying something to the effect that “I understand that once I submit my application, it cannot be changed.”

So the only way to make the change is to contact the admissions office. You will need to write an email.

Who shall I contact to make changes on a college application?

Preferably, you’ll write to the admissions officer who is going to read your application.  Most admissions offices read by geographic reason, and most admissions website will have a tool for you to look up the admissions officer who is responsible for your state and your high school. So take the time to look up who this person is. You may even find a bio on the website that tells you a bit about that person.

Once you have found that person, compose an email. It doesn’t need to be long or involved. It just needs to state the facts and request an alteration.

So if you need to resubmit your essay because it was all messed up, attach a PDF copy of it.

If it was something you inadvertently left blank but wanted to answer, give the answer in the same format in which the original question was answered. For example, if you left out an activity, provide the activity in the email in the same format that is required on the application.  On the Common App, there are specific character limits for each of the blanks, and required information about when you participated in this activity. Follow that same pattern exactly.

If you answered a question wrong (i.e., you wrote your test scores incorrectly, or you clicked the wrong box for citizenship), just explain the error concisely and provide the new, corrected response.

Do NOT spend a lot of time apologizing. Do express regret, but do so without a lot of wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth.  Just apologize, and then express gratitude to the recipient of your email for taking the time to make the correction.

Accidents happen.  Things go wrong.  People make mistakes.  Generally, admissions officers are understanding of these little goofs, and are happy to make the changes in your file.

In fact, it’s better to recognize the mistake early and make the correction than to let the admissions officer read the incorrect information and make a judgment on your application before you have a chance to communicate the error.

So if you find a mistake, correct it!  It is possible to make changes to a college application even after it is submitted.

Remember that it is important to provide colleges with all of the information they need to make an informed decision about your application. Just because application deadlines have passed, does not mean that you can not submit additional information.

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant

The post How To Make Changes to a College Application first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

Not too long ago, there was a major ethnographic study of how college students actually use libraries for research and learning demonstrated the degree to which students make use of libraries and librarians: not much.

The fact is, college libraries now serve multiple purposes. If I take a college tour, and the tour does not include at least a cursory look at the lobby of the library. Then I double back after the tour and try to figure out why. Some of them are palaces for the studious. The library at Grinnell College has tiered study carrels that all face the windows, each with its own comfy study chair and lamp.

Libraries also do store a bunch of stuff. But as the world goes digital, some of that stuff can be stored off-site, away from campus, and held for those who really take an interest in 16th century mining techniques in Serbia. Some libraries, like Widener Library at Harvard, are gigantic, with many sub-basements and tunnels connecting to other libraries. Being something of a geek, I always enjoyed studying in a library.  Something about the smell of all that ancient paper, the binding glue, the leather-bound volumes helped me take my task seriously.

But libraries have always been social spaces, too. Some of the rooms in large libraries are places to meet people, pass a few pleasantries, or to make eyes at one another. At my alma mater, it was the ’02 Room where more social interactions took place. The stacks (yes, that’s where I hung out) were a sort of solitary confinement that people enforced upon themselves to get their work done.

The last decade, however, has taken the social aspects of the library to new levels. At most places, you will find that each floor–or parts of floors–that are designated as “high volume,” “low volume,” and “silent” workplaces. At some, you can barely hear yourself think above the roar of the cappuccino machine, which has become de rigeur on an increasing number of campuses (and parents wonder why college costs keep going up…we’re all addicted to lattes).

Anyway, I have begun to ruminate on the place of libraries on college campuses, and I did this short little video at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on a recent trip there. Libraries will continue to evolve. This video points to the fact that the digital age may actually allow some colleges to recover beautiful common spaces that had to be refitted to hold “stuff.”

Have a quick look. Or you can read the transcript below, if you are so inclined.

Right now I’m on the campus of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and I’m in the library. It’s a very nice space, but I noticed a couple of things that were kind of interesting. This room is a vast, old room. Architecturally, quite nice, but you can see here behind me that these metal shelves were put in here—this is the periodicals room—and to shelve periodicals; so there’s a copy of the London Times, Le Monde, La Stampa from Italy, Die Zeit from Germany; all these newspapers and then periodicals, including scholarly journals.

An interesting phenomenon happening on campuses today is that all of these periodicals are being eliminated because everything is available digitally. There are some libraries that are actually moving their entire book collections off-campus so that they can repurpose some of the buildings and the storage spaces. So you can see that this room—I don’t know how many years ago, but not all that long ago—was divided up, and they put these metal shelves in to actually create more storage space. Well, now the storage space is all on a computer chip.

It’s going to be interesting to see what colleges do with their space—if they repurpose it and if so, what are they going to repurpose it for?  I’ve talked before about the fact that a lot of common spaces on campus are not used that much. Because students are connecting via Facebook and text rather than actually congregating in particular places as they used to. So I think college campuses will make a pretty rapid evolution to repurposing the spaces that they use. It’ll be interesting to see.

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant and Library Connoisseur

The post What Is a College Library For? first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

I reviewed a question the other day on LinkedIn. The question was this:  what can you do with a major in philosophy? I thought I would share my response with you.

Here’s the question:

Is philosophy a good major?  Why?  Just wondering what you can get with a philosophy major or if it’s worth the time and money.

And here is my response:

Good question. I get this sort of question a lot in my line of work.

The answer to your question does not lie in the opinions of others. It must come from within yourself.

What can you do with a liberal arts major?

Let’s be philosophical. Some value college as training for a profession. Others, who tend to pursue degrees at liberal arts institutions, see college as a process of training the mind. As you may have experienced, most folks who hear this question. Immediately begin thinking about the economic value of a philosophy degree–immediately upon graduation. But what they don’t know, is that plenty of philosophy majors at liberal arts institutions go on to very successful careers.

Did you know, for example, that statistically one of the best majors with the highest percentages of acceptance to medical school is (drum roll….) philosophy? Medical schools like people who have thought deeply about what it means to be human, to appreciate beauty, and to have thought theoretically. Medicine has plenty of technicians, but not an awful lot of deep thinkers. And medical schools value deep thinkers.

Furthermore, in a liberal arts context, I firmly believe that it matters little what you major in. What matters more is what you can do–the skills you acquire (a second language, computer programming skills, strong economics, scientific research skills). You can acquire some of these skills even as you complete a philosophy major. Or you may acquire them in graduate school or in the working world after graduation.

It’s possible that you can prepare for several careers (as you are statistically apt to have at least seven before you retire) simply by training your mind to be flexible, creative, analytical, and quick. If you read Daniel Pink’s book, A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future. For example, you may be convinced that philosophy actually is much better training for careers of the 21st century than accounting or marketing or biology, even.

Finally, you ask whether the degree is “worth” the time and money. Well, be philosophical: define “worth.” Certainly a philosophy major does not have immediate, tangible value that is easily calculated in “return on investment” (ROI) terms. Such a calculation is easier with a professional degree (MBA, JD, Engineering) or with a licensing program (e.g. teaching/education).

But if you define “worth” more broadly, you might agree with Socrates: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” So maybe you want to examine human nature, appreciate the concept of beauty, think about what constitutes the “good life.”

While I respect the opinions of those who pooh-pooh the value of a philosophy major, I wonder how many of them have actually ever taken a philosophy course. How many of them know successful people in business, the arts, the law, journalism, medicine, and other professions who pursued a liberal arts degree and majored in philosophy?

So what can you do with a major in philosophy?

So to reiterate by returning to your question: “what can you get” with a philosophy degree? On the one hand, absolutely nothing. On the other, everything.

People who major in philosophy can work in artificial intelligence, science policy, medicine, law, banking, and just about any business you can imagine. Philosophy majors work in high tech. They work in government. They run organizations.

The skills of analysis, logic, and problem solving are relevant to any profession.

In the end, doesn’t the answer to your question depend on many variables well beyond your choice of major?

As was inscribed above the entrance to the Oracle at Delphi: “Know Thyself.” Start there, and the answer to your question will be come, well, self-evident.

What if I can’t decide my major?

Most young people have a difficult time settling on a major. Despite the Oracle at Delphi, most teens are just getting to know themselves and figure out what is important to them. If your family has a teen who is struggling to make this sort of decision–and struggling to create a solid college plan, give us a call at Great College Advice. We helps students wade through these tough decisions and create an action plan.

Mapping College Journeys. It’s what we do.

The post What Is Value of a Major in Philosophy (or the Liberal Arts in General)? first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

Lawrence University which is a liberal arts college that also has a music conservatory. It offers both a specialized Bachelor of Music degree, as well as the Bachelor of Arts degree.  The BM degree is more narrowly focused on music, and it generally the choice of students who want to major in performance in voice or on an instrument, or perhaps they want to pursue a career in music education. The BA degree is the liberal arts version of a music degree: you can major in music within the liberal arts.  For the BA, you would take about 25% of your courses over four years in the music department.  For the BM degree, it would be more like two-thirds or even three-quarters of your courses in the music department. 

The Reasons Why Major in Music

Whether or not one aspires to be a professional, performing musician, there are many answers to the question of why major in music. Even in this day and age of high technology and the importance of science and mathematics, or even business, music remains a viable option that can give any student the sorts of skills and habits that employers value.  

Music Majors Make Independent, Diligent Employees

Music majors are used to working independently to achieve a goal.  They meet with their supervisors once a week.  They review past work.  Then they get new assignments to continue to improve and amplify what they are already doing.  The supervisor gives assignments and expects the person to return the next week with those assignments completed.  During that week, the employees work on their own and they puzzle out the problems, and ultimately through practice and exploration, they find the solution to that problem or puzzle. They practice whatever they need to practice in order to make sure that it’s right. A week later, they return to their supervisor and say, “Got it done; give me my next problem.”  That’s exactly what musicians do.  When they are going to their private lesson for an hour each week and they’re getting information, they are getting an assignment and they complete it.  They are developing the independence to take direction, do the work, and continue to improve over time.  

Why Major in Music?  Collaboration!

The workplace today requires people who can collaborate.  Employers want team members who can listen, appreciate the contributions of others, seek out the voices that may complement their own, and work together toward a common goal.  Musicians do this sort of thing on a daily basis. In every ensemble that they are ever in, they are working with one another to achieve a common aim: to perform a piece with a clear vision that may be jointly defined.  Importantly, they are listening to one another.  They respect the roles that each plays in the accomplishment of the goal.  They are attuned to what other people are saying and communicating so that they can take that information and do something with it.  

Practice, Practice, Practice

Music develops the sort of habits that any employer values. However, no employee is going to be perfect every single time.  Some things take practice to get right.  Musicians are used to practice. They are also used to making mistakes and then fixing them.  Musicians know that in order to improve, in order to build technique, and in order to get it right when it counts, it’s important to practice over and over until things become routine and the ultimate performance is stellar.  

Importance of Communication

Finally, he talked about the importance of communication. And then he talked about while he was in Microsoft, that he was working with some of the biggest brains in the world. But sometimes despite those big ideas that these smart people had, these people at Microsoft weren’t communicating. It’s one thing to have ideas, but if you can’t be a good communicator–especially to others who may have different perspectives or roles within the organization, then those ideas really aren’t worth all that much.  Employers want good communicators.  What do musicians do on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis?  They communicate.  They do so through the music itself, and they have to do so with words–so that they can agree upon and work toward a common goal.   Further, a musician is used to performing in front of large groups.  They are accustomed to the jitters that can be channeled in a positive way to make the performance better.  Performance is something that musicians are able to do very, very well.  They’re not afraid to put themselves out there and show people what they can do. 

Employers Value Young People with a Music Degree

The fact is that most employers are not looking for people with specific majors or degrees.  They are looking for team member who can get the job done.  People who can learn quickly.  People who can work independently to achieve a particular goal.  People who are not averse to practicing over and over until things are done right.  People who know how to collaborate with one another.  People who can communicate clearly with others as they map out and accomplish a common goal.  People who can share ideas with others and who can perform when the time comes.

So why major in music?  Because it develops the skills and habits that employers of the 21st century value–and pay for. 

To hear Brian Pertl deliver his own TedX talk about majoring in music and pursuing the liberal arts, have a look at this video.

Mark Montgomery
College Admissions Expert and Arts Advocate
 
 

The post Why Major in Music in College? first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

• Pay attention to each student’s needs
• Alleviate stress for both student and parent
• Give the student a competitive edge
• Eliminate the confusion
• Save money

Personalized Attention

College selection and application is a very time-consuming process. Counseling—of all types—requires time and energy from a professional. But school guidance counselors are overworked and have less time than perhaps they once did to give personalized college counseling.

The National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC) recommends that a college counselor work with no more than about one hundred students per year. However, a study by the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC) measured the degree to which school counselors are overworked.

• Nationwide, the average college counselor in a public high school serves 315 students. In Colorado. The public school student-to- counselor ratio is 553:1.
• The student-to-college-counselor ratio is higher in large schools: nationally, in schools of more than 2000 students, the ratio is 654:1. Colorado has 18 high schools of this size–all along the Front Range.

Choosing a college is not something that is easily left to computer programs and mathematical algorithms. The admissions process, while seemingly quite simple on its face. Can necessitate different strategies and tactics for each individual student. As public schools continue to reduce the number of guidance counselors. Parents are turning to private counselors to ensure that their children get the direction they need and deserve.

Alleviate Stress

Choosing a college can be stressful for a variety of reasons. First, parents, who have been nurturing their children since the day they were born, have a hard time delegating this important decision to their children. Second, students are not always equipped to make this first great life decision: most students have not made their own educational decisions or chosen their schools. They may not possess the self-knowledge to make this decision, and may need to work through a process to develop a strong set of criteria on which to base this decision.

To make matters worse, the junior and senior years of high school can be very difficult for students. They have many competing priorities to balance: improving their grades, deepening their extracurricular commitments, and preparing for those annoying SAT and ACT tests (and don’t forget the difficulty of maintaining a social life!). For these reasons—and many others—the college selection and application process becomes a vortex of anxiety for everyone.

An experienced college consultant can help reassure nervous parents. Guide students through a process of self-discovery, and ensure that all the administrative pieces are managed with efficiency and accuracy. The transition from high school to college should be an exciting time in a young person’s life, full of anticipation and promise, and a professional college counselor can maintain the focus on the excitement—and not the stress.

Competitive Edge

College admissions today seems much more competitive than ever before. More and more students are applying to college, and each student is applying to more colleges. Acceptance rates at selective colleges continue to decline. So how can college-bound students give themselves a competitive edge?

As noted above, high school guidance counselors are overburdened. So more and more families are turning to private consultants to help select the right colleges and guide the student through the admissions process. According to the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA). An estimated 22% of freshmen at private, four-year colleges have used some kind of consulting services in the admission process.

Private day and boarding schools have more robust college counseling programs than do public schools. The student to counselor ratio at a private school may be as low as 50:1, compared to the national average of 315:1. Obviously, some students are getting more help than others.

Good guidance in selecting the right schools and in completing the application can make the difference between acceptance and rejection. We can help your son or daughter develop an appropriate college selection and admissions strategy to give them the best possible chance of reaching their educational goals.

Eliminate The Confusion

One of the great benefits of the Internet age is that students and parents have much more access to enormous amounts of information. With literally thousands of websites devoted to college selection and admission, parents and students can learn more about college admission than ever before.

But knowledge is not bliss: the overwhelming quantity of information that does little to clarify our vision and answer our individual questions. Which information is useful and Which sources can I trust? Which information applies to my child’s particular situation? The huge expansion of available information has created a new burden of having to sift through zillions of bits and bytes for useful tidbits.

An experienced college consultant can help do the sifting for you. By focusing primarily on your student, the counselor can pull the information that is directly relevant to the student’s situation. And because a good counselor also knows colleges well, he can select colleges that closely match the student’s needs, abilities, and ambitions.

Save You Money

In today’s economy, almost all parents are looking for a bargain in higher education. The biggest sources of financial aid and scholarship money in the United States are the colleges and universities themselves. Colleges award better financial aid and scholarship packages to the students that best match their institutional values and priorities. Thus for the price-sensitive family, it is crucial that the student select colleges that are a perfect fit. Not only for the student, but for the college.

While we can never guarantee a particular outcome, we have a strong record of helping families reduce the overall cost of a college education by carefully selecting the right colleges to which to apply. Even families that do not expect any financial aid often find that working with us can save them tens of thousands of dollars in tuition bills.

So while hiring an educational consultant may seem like a hefty cost. Many families are surprised at how much money they can save by hiring an experienced college consultant.

Read five more reasons to hire a college consultant.

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant

The post Why Hire An Educational Consultant? first appeared on College Admission Counseling.