A common work
conversation this time of the year is about your kids’ college choices. So, choosing
a college is one time when doing your homework really matters. Over this past
Easter weekend, I was visiting in Washington, D.C. and spent time at the
Capital Mall and its resources, as well as making an overdue trip to Mount
Vernon. Mount Vernon reminded me that the European aristocracy had little over
the American aristocracy. But among the many visitors at both places were
parents with their high school juniors who were also visiting potential
colleges in the D.C. area.
The college visit is not something to be taken lightly. In today’s world, with Harvard accepting just 5% of its applicants and Chicago just 8%, our kids are going to need several backups. And some of you will end up spending $300,000 for your kid’s education. I recently updated my kids’ college costs to this year’s money. I don’t even want to think about how much it cost. So you’re going to need to be very thorough in researching potential colleges if you want to get your money’s worth of education for your kids.
But what’s the right way to choose a college?
As a former university professor and often “recommender” of colleges, I thought I’d been around the barn on this subject. But this morning’s Minneapolis Star Tribune had an absolutely masterful eleven paragraph narration of the issues, along with the appropriate questions to ask and the material to request.
In big bold letters, an important recommendation revealed: Skip the campus tour. The enthusiasm of the guide tells you nothing meaningful. Don’t worry about food. There’ll be enough. Instead. . . . I wouldn’t take that recommendation too literally, but don’t ignore it either. Here are just a few of the unique recommendations from Louis Newman, of Carleton College (a fabulous liberal arts college, by the way).
- How available are faculty members? Check out office hours and randomly ask students.
- How good is the freshman advising system? It can be the difference between success and mediocrity.
- How satisfied are students and alumni? The National Survey of Student Engagement can be made available to you. And you can even check out students’ analytical reasoning on the Collegiate Learning Assessment.
- How long does it take to get an appointment at the campus health clinic? At some point, your kid will be sick. I spent two days in the clinic during my freshman year.
- How strong is faculty collegiality?
- Check the campus bulletin boards and the college paper to gauge the atmosphere of the campus. And stand in the middle of a traffic pattern looking lost, just to see how long it takes for someone to offer help.
These recommendations are pure gold. You’ll want to file them and check them out for every one of your kids.
Download all eleven paragraphs here: The Right Way to Choose a College.
Photo by Ruth Flickr