Apr
09

Ramapo College SAT Case Shows Flaw In U.S. News Rankings

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This weekend I read a story on NorthJersey.com that Ramapo College of New Jersey, a school that has been previously profiled on EducatedQuest, excluded the SAT scores of students who were admitted under programs for economically disadvantaged students as well as students who were offered admission based on special talents, such as portfolios in the arts, when the school submitted data to U.S. News for inclusion in their latest college guide.

The story mentioned that this had been a past practice, and the magazine had acknowledged it by marking the school’s name with an asterisk (*). When the SAT scores for all freshmen were considered, the median combined scores for Critical Reading and Math were 1113. The median reported to U.S. News was 1165. The college reported the higher scores to U.S. News because it believed that the audience for the publication was parents, and that they would be more interested in the scores for the “typical” students in the class.

This exposes not so much a flaw in the school’s logic, but a problem with the rankings in general. The U.S. News publication has such a large audience, the ones who actually pay for college on behalf of most students, that it pays for schools to “game” their scores to help  their cause. The problem it ignores is that state-supported schools have obligations that privately-supported schools do not. Participation in educational opportunity programs is one of them. Ramapo is far from the only school that participates in programs that help students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds gain admission and to succeed academically. Rutgers-New Brunswick, the state’s flagship university, as one example, also takes on such obligations. This is a quote from the Rutgers page:

EOF has also been a leader and a linchpin in the higher education system’s effort to increase diversity. While participation is not limited to minority students, EOF sponsors more than one-third of the African American and Latino students at the state colleges and New Jersey’s independent institutions, and over one-quarter of the African American and Latino students enrolled at New Jersey colleges and universities participate in the EOF program. EOF enrolls about 12.5% of the first-time, full-time New Jersey freshmen who enter the state’s colleges and universities each fall.

None of the published rankings address student success as the result of EOF and similar programs in other states. Nearly all of them touch on retention and graduation rates, which are very important, but none touch on a school’s ability to serve segments of the student population, including students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. In fact, at several schools that rank exceptionally high in U.S. News rankings including Harvard, Michigan, UNC-Chapel Hill, Notre Dame, Cornell. Johns Hopkins, Rice, William and Mary, Columbia and Duke, less than 15 percent  of the students receive Federal Pell Grants. By comparison, more than a fifth of all students at UCLA, UC-Berkeley,UC-San Diego and UC-Santa Barbara are Pell-eligible. These schools also rank very high while accommodating economically disadvantaged students.  Maybe they should get extra points for that.

I have frequently challenged rankings because they do not paint a true picture of what a school actually does for its students. A school that admits exceptionally bright students with high test scores is quite likely to have very high retention and graduation rates. This is not only because the school does a great job of selecting a class that will succeed, but also because the students who chose the school are happy and want to be there. The schools that say ‘yes’ to students who are very bright, though they may not have the test scores they would need to get into a prestige school, and successfully guide them to graduation at rates equal or better than many ‘prestige’ schools deserve their due.

I would love to see a ranking that takes into account:

  • Four-year and six-year graduation rates for all students
  • Four-year and six-year graduation rates for students in educational opportunity programs
  • Four-year and six-year graduation rates for athletes
  • Freshmen retention
  • The difference between the predicted graduation rate and the actual graduation rate
  • The ability of a school to meet a family’s financial need

But we are unlikely to see such a ranking. People, including education reporters, are too fixated on acceptance rates, standardized test scores and starting salaries for recent graduates, none of which are valid indicators of the quality of a student’s education and the support s/he will receive. Nor do they tell anyone anything about the students who would be happy there. I have been one to contend that schools such as U-Conn, James Madison and Ramapo may be “better” because of the successes they have achieved while not having the same students as ‘elite’ schools do.

I started this post by talking about Ramapo, which is still a top-performing public college. No matter what the median SAT scores have been, nearly two-thirds of the students who start there graduate on time. Only 10 national research universities and only four public liberal arts colleges and regional universities have done better on this measure.  And if you visit, stop by the admissions office and pick up a brochure. Go to the last page, inside cover. You will learn that 96 percent of Ramapo’s EOF freshmen return for the sophomore year, ten points higher than for the college as a whole. No one can take their success, or the success of their school, away from them.

 

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Apr
05

Profile: Fashion Institute of Technology

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After returning from Northern Virginia, Ed decided to stay close to home and visit one of New York’s pre-eminent public institutions, the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). As usual, he came home with enough information to write a comprehensive profile for parents and students.

Ed is not a fashion-forward man, but he’s been known to watch Project Runway as often as he can. Four FIT graduates: Victor Luna, Joshua McKinley, Austin Scarlett and Daniel Vosovic, have reached the finals of the seasonal competition; another, Kimberly Goldston, came close to making the finale in Season 9. FIT is considered a “destination school” for budding fashion designers, though it offers strong programs in 43 other fields as well. However, it is best known for its rigor, location and alumni base in the fashion capital of the world. Norma Kamali, Calvin Klein and Michael Kors learned and refined their craft at FIT and Nina Garcia learned to be a demanding judge on the runway. FIT has New York’s only fashion museum dedicated to honoring the contributions of not only students and alumni, but also the industry and its importance to the city’s economy.

 

 

From a visual  and marketing standpoint, the FIT campus can be described as a gateway to future professional success. This gate, at the intersection of 27th Street and 7th Avenue, is closed to cars while classes are in session, and turns the street into a lively urban plaza on nice days. The subway also stops on campus though many students live close by in Kaufman Hall, the second largest student residence in the country. Renovated and opened in 2006, Kaufman houses approximately 1,200 students in a building that has rooftop views of the Hudson River waterfront and the Empire State Building. Don’t even try to guess what non-students would pay to get these views from this neighborhood.

 

Unlike Parson’s which is spread throughout the city–FIT students live and attend classes on a single campus.  The first photo is of the residence halls across from the academic buildings. The second was taken at street level from in front of the academic buildings while the last  was taken in front of the entrance to the David Dubinsky Student Center, named for the founder of FIT as well as the entrance to the main dining hall.

 

 

You can find all this and more at the most fashionable intersection in America, though it’s better to leave the car at home when you visit!

 

Check out Ed’s profile of FIT now!

 

 

 

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Apr
04

The Good and the Bad about Greek Life

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Two of the questions Ed hears asked most often on college campus tours are: “Are there fraternities on campus?” and “Are fraternities a big deal here?” The most common answers are: “Yes” or “No,” depending on the school, and “You don’t need to participate in Greek life to have a good time.”

Since this is not enough for parents and students to go on, and high school juniors and their parents have already started taking college tours, Ed thought it would be useful to share the good as well as the bad about going Greek. While he never pledged a fraternity he had many friends who did, with few or no regrets.

What are some of the good things about Greek organizations?

  • These social groups can help make a large school seem smaller. College is a more pleasant experience when you have a home among a circle of good friends.
  • Greek organizations are the social center of many schools. Not only do they host parties, in some cases, they play active roles in leading campus-wide events. They lead the cheers in the stands at the big games at big schools.
  • Greek organizations have their own competitions, which can be fun.
  • They offer leadership opportunities as well as the experience at governing through a multi-chapter council.
  • They help students make contacts on campus as well as with alumni.
  • Many provide a place to live. This is something parents and students should not take lightly. Many schools will not assure on-campus housing after the freshman year. The better-endowed fraternities and sororities have nice houses. The cost to live in one might be lower than the costs of sharing an apartment off-campus.
  • When they have a house, they can provide a place to park a car on or near campus. This is also something not to be taken lightly at the large state schools as parking on campus is scarce.
  • They often have files of past exams in the most difficult majors. Extra help can never hurt.
  • The strong organizations have some sense of honor among members. It is far more difficult to lie or steal among brothers or sisters than among people you do not know.

What are the downsides?

  • Taking rejection. Greek organizations choose the members they want. Discrimination is very difficult to prove. However, students should question whether they would want to join a group that does not want to welcome them.
  • The pledge process takes more time than it does to join other organizations, with the possible exception of athletic teams or the musical groups. However, unlike those organizations, students can delay joining a Greek organization until a later semester.
  • Campus media and news media try to push perception as reality. Greek organizations are perceived as elitist, abusive and disorderly, although the vast majority of the time they are not.
  • Students pay membership dues, an extra charge on top of their expenses for college. They pay dues to a national organization as well as their chapter. While the national dues might be fixed, chapter dues are necessary to cover the expenses of running the house. Each year a fraternity or sorority must replace the members it loses to graduation as well as those who leave school for other reasons. Ideally,  the next pledge class has the same, if not more people than the number who left. If the pledge class is much smaller, the members absorb a larger hit on the dues bill.
  • Students continue to pay the dues if they decide not to live in the house.
  • All members are responsible for the misdeeds of one member. Fraternities and sororities must obey campus and local laws. If one member, for example, serves beer or other alcoholic beverages to minors, all of the members can be punished for the crime.
  • It’s no fun to clean up after the big parties.

 

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Apr
03

Some Interesting Tidbits on Student Loan Debt

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I have been a fan of Consumer Reports for many years. This month you should be, too. This month’s issue has an interesting story about student loan debt and the potential repercussions that excess debt can have on the larger economy. For example, using data from The Institute for College Success (TICAS), an Oakland, California-based non-partisan, non-profit education research organization, the story mentions:

  • In 2010, the amount of student debt owed by Americans exceeded outstanding credit card debt for the first time.
  • Two thirds of college graduates carried some debt at commencement.
  • The Class of 2010 had an average of $25, 250 in student debt.
  • It is estimated that Americans owe more than $900 billion in Federal and private loans.
  • Two-year default rates on all student loans hit 8.8 percent for those starting repayment in 2009.
  • An estimated 22 percent of student debt from non-profit four-year colleges was composed of private loans.
  • The unemployment rate for newly minted college graduates was 9.1 percent in 2010, the highest annual rate on record.
  • The average debt for graduating seniors attending a public college was just over $20,000 in 2010.
  • Those who attended a private non-profit college had an average debt of around $28,000 in the same year.
  • Those who attended a private for-profit college had an average debt of approximately $33,000 in the same year.

Anyone who follows higher education has read of the pitfalls of excess debt and the problems of default. The longer it takes to discharge such large debts the less likely that a recent graduate will be able to make other large purchases such as a new car or a home.  Those who default put their creditworthiness at risk for years. However, a massive number of defaults would devastate the economy. Banks and the Federal government would not have the money to lend for other purposes. Non-students would face higher costs for mortgages and other loans. If they do not need to change their living situation in the short term, they would choose not to borrow at all.

This story did an excellent job of summarizing the best steps for graduates to take to manage their debt. However, since EducatedQuest is an admissions site, it is also useful to provide some thoughts as to how to avoid such debt in the first place.

  • Consider schools that are most likely to reduce their price by providing merit-based and need-based aid. Some schools are more likely to meet a student’s full need than others. Others are more likely to award merit aid based on academic accomplishments as well as standardized test scores.
  • Students should take Advanced Placement (AP) exams in the subjects of greatest personal interest to them, to see if they can earn college credit. Students are not required to have taken an AP course to be able to sit for an AP exam.
  • Consider schools that charge no tuition at all, if they have an academic focus that fits.
  • Students should take a work-study job, if it is offered. Not only does it provide a salary; work-study wages are also exempt from Social Security taxes.
  • Students who are interested in a military career, at least for the first five years after college, should consider applying to military service academies, if they qualify, or for ROTC scholarships.
  • Students who have some idea of what they would like to study, and also believe that they will maintain a commitment to that major should investigate what starting salaries will be after they complete their degree. Neither students nor their parents should take on more debt than their first-year salary.

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Apr
02

Profile: University of Mary Washington

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Ed has been to few schools that have shown him the hospitality that he saw at the University of Mary Washington. That enabled him to write a very complete profile, one that ended up being more comprehensive than most.

Founded in 1908, the school was once the women’s college of the University of Virginia. By 1972, the school became independent and co-ed. By then it was also selected to have a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest and most recognized national college honor society. A liberal arts college with around 4,400 undergraduates, Mary Washington is located in Fredericksburg, Virginia, one of the few cities where battles were fought in the Revolutionary War and the the Civil War. George Washington was born nearby–the university is named for his mother–and so was Robert E. Lee. Although the university’s roots are in the 20th century, the dominant architectural themes come from Colonial America.


 

Ed was fortunate to visit this school on an exceptionally nice day for March when students were relaxing, shopping and sunbathing. Final exams were a ways away.

 

Ed got some interesting shots at this school. The first is of three students in a classics club who were celebrating the Ides of March, when Julius Caesar was slain. The second was my introduction to the university’s mascot on Destination Day. The last is, to Ed, a symbol of the university’s honor system. This hat was left on a campus bench–and no one took it or threw it away. It’s a safe bet that the hat returned to its rightful owner–or it’s still waiting on the bench for him.

 

Newer buildings, as well as older ones, follow the Georgian Colonial style. Here are photos of two planned renovation projects. This first, for the Mason and Douglas residence halls, is well underway. The second, for a new student center, is in the planning stage. The last is the main lobby of Eagle Landing, a beautiful student apartment complex for upper-class students.

 

No discussion of Mary Washington, including the one in Ed’s profile, would be complete without showing pictures of downtown Fredericksburg. While the downtown is more of a tourist town, it does have several attractions for college students. One is Hyperion, a coffee shop where students and faculty are quite likely to meet. The next is one of the more eclectic stores downtown. The last is Carl’s, famous for frozen custard. You can get your’s in only four flavors: chocolate, vanilla, strawberry or pineapple, but as you see, the line forms around the block.

 


Check out Ed’s profile now!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Apr
02

Do’s and Don’ts of Choosing a Major

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While most colleges do not expect most high school seniors to know exactly what they want to study, they hope that they can narrow it down to a small number of subjects that they would be most interested in. While ‘Undecided’ is quite often the most popular choice among applicants to the freshman class at any school, a college admissions office usually needs to know something about a student’s passions in order to make a decision to offer them a spot in the class.

Based on the school visits conducted to date as well as several years experience working with colleges, Ed recommends that:

  • Students and parents do some homework. Find out what people do with that major during the first five years after college. Graduates in some majors go right to work, graduates in others continue their education within two years after they have earned their bachelors degree. Students who are interested in a major where most degree holders go on to further education should consider attending a less expensive undergraduate school. The reputation of the graduate or professional school program will serve them better.
  • Students and parents snow that some fields pay higher than others; creative fields generally pay very little. Students should ask themselves how much they willing to struggle if they are likely to work in a field that is known to pay very little in the early years of employment. They should also appreciate that the more successful people in these fields worked for very little at the beginning, too.
  • Students try to choose a school that offers all of their possible majors, so they have the option of staying there instead of transferring. Admission to top schools is very hard, but admission as a transfer student is very hard, too, because these schools have very high retention rates. Students who gained admission as freshmen are less likely to leave.
  • Students and parents should narrow that down further, to choose a school that allows some flexibility for students to change their mind and still graduate on time. Typically, a large university will have every major, but it will also have several schools that each have their own requirements, a set of courses that freshmen and sophomores must take before they can devote full time to their major. It might be more difficult for someone, for example, to switch from studying engineering to studying business without have to make up some courses. A smaller school will have fewer divisions within, as well as fewer courses, but it is more likely to have a set of general education requirements that everyone must take before declaring a major. This is one reason why smaller liberal arts colleges have higher four-year graduation rates than larger schools.
  • Students and parents fine out which majors are the most competitive to gain admission at your target schools. For example, the College of New Jersey, which has had a six-year bachelors/MD program, rejects far more prospective biology majors than it admits. The median SAT scores for the biology students were more than 100 points higher than the median for the full freshmen class. At other schools, Maryland, Virginia Tech and Penn State being three examples, engineering students will need higher math scores than the median for the class. At Rutgers admission to the Mason Gross School of the Arts is as selective as most Ivies.
  • For those who have already started college and are in a position to decide between majors, consider taking the required courses that will qualify for any major. For example, if you are undecided, between journalism, political science and marketing–the person Ed knows best was one of these people–then take the math course that would qualify for the marketing major, because it would satisfy the requirements for all three. Take the political science course that would meet the major requirements, but would also meet general education requirements if you don’t declare the major. The same is true for journalism writing.
  • For those who are already in college, don’t choose a major because it is “easy,” and therefore it is the most likely path to a degree. Today a college degree is more like a high school diploma. The employers you want to hire you expect more than just a degree; they want someone who worked hard, too. Choose something you enjoy that will help you build a resume towards the job you want, even if that job requires further education.

 

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Mar
29

Has success at basketball changed the quality of education at Virginia Commonwealth U?

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Today’s USA Today has a cover story about Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and its commitment to head men’s basketball coach Shaka Smart. Last season, Smart took the VCU Rams to the NCAA Final Four; he is only the second coach to take a team from the Colonial Athletic Association, a mid-major conference, this far in the Big Dance. This year, the Rams won 29 games, one more than last season, but they were beaten in the round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament. Since coming from the University of Florida, where he was an assistant coach, Smart has won 84 games over three seasons and lost only 28.

According to the USA Today story, Smart recently turned down a offer to become the head coach at the University of Illinois. Illinois had a down season, but they play in the Big 10 With 12 Teams, a more competitive conference with a higher national profile. Smart would not need to average 28 wins a year, as he has at VCU, to get the Fighting Illini into the Big Dance. He would also make more money, though the story mentions that he has not done badly by VCU. Last season, in order to keep him, VCU gave him a huge raise in guaranteed money from $420,000 to around $1.2 million. The raise was funded largely through an increase in student fees. He also got a larger budget for recruiting and travel.

I don’t object to the coach getting such a raise. For one thing, he earned the money. He exceeded the expectations of the people who hired him. Not that VCU was a bad team before Smart came to Richmond. The Rams had won 76 games over the previous three seasons, and they made the Sweet 16 in 2006-07. But I doubt that anyone besides Smart, his coaches and players believed that his team would make the 2010-11 Final Four. And last year, North Carolina State tried to woo him away.

The USA Today story mentions that the mandatory fees at VCU were $1,587 in 2011, of which $559 went to athletics, including all club and varsity sports. This year, the fee rose to $1,637, of which $610 went to athletics. Essentially all of the $50 per-student increase went to sports, mainly to the men’s basketball program.

At Rutgers, where I went to school, this would have been enough reason for people to get upset. At VCU, the fee increase was supported by the university president as well as the president of the student body, although expenditures for planned renovations on campus were deferred. And, while students paid the extra fifty bucks, they could get to all but three of the home games were free; three games filled up early, so students had to be turned away. I last paid $35 for an upper-tier seat at one Rutger’s men’s game. Free admission has to help. Students are forced to pay or enter a lottery to get tickets to see men’s basketball games at traditional powers such as U-Conn and North Carolina.

The athletic fee, when included in the remainder of a student’s tuition and fees, still left VCU competitive with other Virginia state schools, even though Smart had the most successful season of any sports coach in the state, with the possible exception of Frank Beamer, who took the Virginia Tech football team to the Atlantic Coast Conference title and the Orange Bowl. In-state students pay just over $9,500, including the athletic fee, more than they would pay to go to James Madison or the University of Mary Washington (which does not play scholarship sports), also in Virginia, but less than they would pay to go to Virginia Tech, William and Mary or the University of Virginia.  The same is true for out-of-state students, who are asked to pay around $23,000.

What surprised me more in this story were the comments from VCU president Michael Rao. He said that athletics play an important part in how America views and evaluates universities. “Everything people believe about the VCU basketball program, they need to start believing about VCU in general.” Rao also said that he said the University of Illinois’s main campus as a “public research peer.” I find that very hard to believe since Illinois, where I earned a master’s degree, has so much more invested in research than VCU, and it is a flagship state university. The university is also a founding member of the Association of American Universities, a group of the leading research institutions in the U.S. and Canada.

But I can see that a successful men’s basketball team might help Rao get the students he wants, and also help him raise money for academics as well as athletics. But success in a sport never raises the academic reputation of a university, though it may sometimes hurt it. Investments in sports might also come at the expense of other programs and projects. Every public university, VCU included, has its backlog of deferred maintenance.

But Rao’s comments raise a point that I tried to address in a previous post about mid-major private schools that had also done well in the NCAA men’s (and also the women’s) basketball tournament. Did high quality basketball teams impact the volume of applications the school received from prospective students,  and did they change the general make-up of the student body from the standpoint of test scores. I’m not a fan of the SATs, but I used the because all of the students took them. I did not know about the quality of education that each student received at their high school.

In applying the same thought to VCU, I looked at the university’s Common Data Sets. VCU had its last losing season in 1998-99. Fortunately, the college provides sets from the next school year, 1999-00.

In 1999-00, VCU attracted 6,746 applicants for 2,460 seats in the freshman class. Seventy four percent of these applications were accepted. The yield rate, the percentage of students who decided to come to VCU, was a very high 50 percent. The school did not use a waiting list. The middle 50 percent of the students scored between 900 and 1040 on the SATs. Twenty-one percent of this cohort graduated in four years, 43 percent finished in six.

By 2003-04, VCU had started to win again. The Rams made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in eight seasons. 9,836 students applied for 3,364 spots in the freshman class for 2004-05. Again, seventy four percent of all applications were accepted. The yield rate was 46 percent, still very good for any school, let alone one as large as VCU. Again, the school did not use a waiting list. The middle 50 percent of the students scored between 950 and 1170 on the Critical Reading and Math sections of the SAT. Twenty-three percent of this cohort graduated in four years, about 51 percent finished in six.

In 2006-07, VCU reached the Sweet 16 under Smart’s predecessor, Anthony Grant. For the 2007-08 academic year, there were  15,160 applicants for 3,882 spots in the freshman class. This time, the percentage of applicants who were accepted dropped to 62 percent. The yield rate dropped to a still very good 42 percent.  This time, 100 students were placed on a waiting list, though none were admitted. The middle 50 percent of the students scored between 960 and 1170 on the SATs.

In Smart’s first season, 2009-10 VCU won 22 games during the regular season and in conference tournament play, but it was not selected for the NCAA Tournament nor the National Invitation Tournament. It was invited to play in the College Basketball Invitational, a 16-team tournament, and won the title. There were 14,086 applications for 3,615 spots in the freshman class entering in 2010. The acceptance rate was 66 percent. The yield rate had gone down to 39 percent. Now there were 895 students on the waiting list and 77 were admitted. The middle 50 percent of the students scored between 980 and 1210 on the SATs.

Last season, Smart took the Rams to the Final Four. There were 14,336 applications for 3,803 spots in the freshman class entering in 2011. Interest in the school did not go up very much, though nearly 200 more seats were available. The acceptance rate was 66 percent, the same as the previous year. The yield rate went up to 40 percent. There were 687 students on the waiting list, though none were admitted. The middle 50 percent of the students scored between 980 and 1190 on the SATs.

After looking at this information, I cannot conclude that men’s basketball helped make things better from the standpoint of attracting more freshmen. Applications to a reasonably-priced state school did not go up by much after an extremely successful season. However, the quality of applicants never went down. It went up most of the time.

This look at VCU refutes an often-made point that a successful high-profile sports program, has a negative impact on the quality of the student body. In fact, those who tie quality to test scores can say that VCU’s student body has gotten better. In addition, it does not appear that students would refuse to go to VCU because they help to pay a coach’s salary–for at least as long as he wins. They’re still get a pretty good deal on their education.

 

 

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Mar
29

How to Work an Accepted Students Day

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Last week we put up a post about Destination Day at University of Mary Washington (VA), a school that will be profiled shortly. Each year, the university hosts several Destination Days to welcome prospective freshmen. Events like this are probably not a new phenomenon in college admissions, but they did not exist when I was looking at colleges. Back in 1978, Rutgers had no such event, unless your application was at the top of the pile. Then you were invited to a Scholars Day where you got a longer tour of the campus and had the chance to talk to faculty.

The college marketplace is very different now. Even large universities such as Rutgers run these events to help students and parents make their final decision–Rutgers-New Brunswick will host their event on Saturday, April 14 for those who are admitted and interested--because they have to attract the best freshman class that they can possibly get. Although state-supported schools are usually less expensive than private schools, even for out-of-state students, their yield rates, the percentage of accepted students who decide to come, are below 30 percent. The brightest students have the most choices, and the private schools that want them will try to assemble the best financial aid packages to get them.

In addition, while larger schools have more of everything fun, they are usually perceived as impersonal. Admissions officers use Acceptance Days to put a more personal face on their school, whether it is as smaller or smaller than Mary Washington (around 4,200 undergraduates) or as large or larger than Rutgers (around 30,000 undergraduates).

Acceptance Days also give a school a chance to showcase itself at its best, especially when the weather is nice. You can bet admissions officers across the country pray for sunny skies the night before. At Mary Washington the current students were enjoying the day as much as the happiest visitors. Many were participating in a run for charity–the visitors were happy to donate–while others were sunbathing, some with books, others without.

Although Mary Washington and Rutgers-New Brunswick are state-supported schools, and usually a “least cost” option for prospective students, bright students do not necessary choose a school because it is the least cost option. Quite often their parents will feel the same way. Students want another chance to get a feel of the place, to meet people who might become their classmates in the fall, to experience the dining hall food and take a look at the dorms where they might be living. They cannot get the whole picture from a one to two-hour tour that they took several months before. Parents want to know that their students will be safe. They want a sense that they can trust the school administration. They also want to know about on-campus living, computers and financial aid, among other things. Acceptance Day is an opportunity for parents to ask their questions without embarrassing their students.

So what should parents and students do after they have been invited to Acceptance Days?

Well, for one thing, they should go, if they are truly serious about the school. If the school was a “safe school,” the 12th choice on a 12 school list, the place where a student would go if s/he did not get in anywhere else, then parents and students should pass, if they have more attractive alternatives. There is no point in misleading people at a school that you have no intention of attending.

And here are some tips for visiting the schools that are higher up the list.

  • Parent and student should go together, even if it is a school where the student is likely to live at home. I found that students who came with their friends took information sessions, campus tours and the Acceptance Day events less seriously, or they got only a possible student’s perspective. Besides, it makes little sense to choose a school mainly because friends from high school will be going there, too.
  • Book two days near campus, the day before or the day after the Acceptance Day and walk around the campus and surroundings, parent and student separately, if possible. Talk to students. Buy a snack at the student center or the dining hall and observe how people interact. Get to know the surrounding area. Is it a long walk to downtown, or is downtown outside the main gate? Can you get around the campus and community without having a car? Most colleges do not allow freshmen to have cars, but most students do not want to feel “stuck” on campus when they want to have fun. If you are on campus on a Friday or Saturday night, try to get an idea of where students go when they want to go out.
  • Be polite to everyone who works for the school. Administrators remember everyone who is nice to them and they also remember everyone who is rude to them. Do not use Acceptance Day as an opportunity to brag or convince the admissions and financial aid officers that your student (if you’re a parent) is better than they think or more deserving of assistance than similar students. The smart administrators smile, then they excuse themselves. But they always remember. So do the student ambassadors who help the admissions office host these events.
  • At the same time, don’t be shy about asking them about special needs: medical, dietary, religious and so on. Colleges are expected to be accommodating to these needs, as long as they are aware of them. Administrators who want you to come to their school are more than happy to set you up with doctors, dining services, anyone who might need to assist you.
  • Keep the embarrassing questions private. These events are run with large groups in mind, especially among the students who might be coming there in the fall. A student who becomes red-faced over an embarrassing question from their mother or father will be remembered by future classmates in September. Not to mention that other parents will move over a few seats.
  • Wait until the event is over to review the school and, if you like the place, to surrender a deposit. Parents and students should talk over everything privately away from campus, as their financial and family situations are uniquely their own. Share notes, even if they’re different. Both parents and students have to be comfortable with their decision.

Acceptance Days are a great way to get to know a college before you commit your student and your money. They provide a longer exposure to a school than you will get from an information session and a campus tour and they help you get your questions answered. They are a win for the colleges, too. They want nothing more than satisfied students who have made a well-informed decision.

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Mar
28

Art and Design School vs. College: Pros and Cons

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In two or three weeks Ed will be posting his profile of Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City, the first design-focused school he has visited. So, in advance of this upcoming profile, it’s time to share some of the pluses and minuses of studying the fine arts or the performing arts at an art and design school versus a college.

The advantages of choosing an art and design school:

  • Standardized test scores will be less important than they would be at a more traditional school. Creativity and the academic transcript will carry more weight. However, in most non-artistic subjects, good-to-excellent grades will be seen as a sign of maturity as opposed to being predictors of success in college-level courses.
  • Art and design schools ask students to declare a major and show your portfolio of when you apply. Faculty evaluate student work not only for creativity, but also for demonstrated knowledge of technique. They want future students who have learned something and are also teachable.
  • Faculty at art and design schools tend to be more career-oriented and better connected. They are practicing artists. Quite likely they still work at their craft. Their professional credentials are more important than having a doctorate or scholarly bent.
  • As a result, students may receive harsher criticism of their work. Those with talent as well as a thick skin are more likely to be successful.
  • This is, in part, because the students came in more career oriented. They have likely put more of their energy into building a body of work than a broader academic program.
  • The instruction at art and design schools lends itself better to small classes than larger lectures.
  • The career services professionals at art and design schools are more likely to be artists who understand the career issues faced by artists.

The disadvantages are:

  • With the exceptions of the Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) and the North Carolina School of the Arts, art and design schools are private colleges, and they can be quite expensive. In addition to tuition, fees and living expenses, students are required to purchase computers and software tailored to the curriculum. While they would have to do this at any school, the added costs can make a privately-supported school even less affordable.
  • Art and design schools tend to have lower endowments, which provide scholarship funds for their students. One exception: the Rhode Island School of Design, which has an endowment in excess of $200 million.
  • It is more difficult to transfer out of an art and design school into a more traditional college or university. It is not unrealistic to expect the faculty at the more traditional school to consider the liberal arts courses to be too “watered down” to be credit-worthy.
  • Art and design schools do not usually offer the same types of business courses that traditional colleges and universities do. Artists are more likely to become entrepreneurs or independent contractors than people who work in other professions. A basic grounding in subjects such as accounting, small business management, marketing and finance can be a huge help at the start of a career.
  • Art and design school offer a smaller selection of majors and most are studio-based. There are fewer opportunities for free electives than there are at traditional colleges and universities.

The advantages of choosing a more traditional college or university depend, in part, on whether the school has a college of fine arts or performing arts, or whether it does not. Schools that have a separate college will also require a portfolio, and that portfolio will be evaluated by faculty members. The faculty will be just as connected as they would be at an art and design school. If the school is a part of a very large university, it is likely to have more space for student exhibitions than a pure art and design school. In addition:

  • There are a greater selection of public and private educational options.
  • A more traditional school will require students to complete general education courses that are required of all students, regardless of their major. While this means that every student is likely to take classes in subjects that were of less interest to them in high school, it also means that they can build upon a more flexible transcript. When students decide that the specialty school is not for them, they can change their mind and transfer to another school within the college or university without losing credits.
  • The more traditional school will have a more diverse student population in terms of academic interests. Creativity can grow by being around people who study other things.
  • The more traditional schools, especially the larger research-focused universities and top liberal arts schools, have more money to offer scholarships. Parsons, one of the leading art and design schools in the country, benefits from its affiliation with New School University (NY), which has an endowment of around $200 million. About two-thirds of the university’s student body study the visual arts at Parsons or performing arts at the New School for Drama, Mannes College, the New School for Music or  the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music.
  • There will be a greater number of free electives at a more traditional school, including business courses, among other subjects. There are also opportunities to add second majors or minors. While art and designs schools have added courses to help students who might be interested in teaching art in the elementary or secondary schools, the more traditional schools are more experienced at training teachers and managing student teaching assignments.
  • There are a greater number of clubs and organizations at the more traditional school.

And the disadvantages:

  • Standardized tests will be a more important consideration, as will grades in the non-artistic subjects. The admissions office will want to be sure that students can do the traditional academic work as well as the artistic work.
  • Not every prospective artist wants to take courses in the subjects that they did not enjoy in high school.
  • While the career centers at more traditional schools will be better staffed, they are less likely to have counselors who are familiar with students who want to work in the visual or performing arts.
  • A more serious student will be challenged to find their way at schools where most of their classmates do not need to take demanding studio or performance courses.
  • There are more distractions at the more traditional schools, especially at larger universities.
  • Art and design education at a more traditional school is subject to the whims of faculty and administrators who do not teach art and design. It is easier for them to cut budgets or focus fundraising in other directions in ways that do not benefit the visual and performing arts.

 

 

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Mar
27

Profile: Temple University

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On a rare 50+ degree day in February, Ed put aside his loyalties to Rutgers and his beloved New York Yankees and headed into the City of Brotherly Love to visit Temple University, the 28th largest public research university in the country and one of the five largest located in a major city. While Ed may be too “New York-centric” at times, he will concede that there are few cities with more things to do than Philadelphia. Just don’t expect him to root for the Eagles unless they’re playing the Cowboys. However, you can always count on him to write a complete profile.

Like Boston University, George Washington University, Northeastern University and NYU, Temple serves as an educational center for many adults as well as traditional (18 to 22 year old) college students. Being on a small (105 acre) campus, undergraduates will easily bump into graduate and professional school students at all hours day and night. However, while Temple is a national research university like the aforementioned schools, it’s student body comes largely from the Philadelphia area.

Temple does not have a lot of green space–more is on the way–but that does not stop students from mingling outside on a beautiful day in February. The first photo was taken along Liacouras Walk, a main pedestrian pathway through campus. Our tour guide told our group that this is the brightest night spot in Philadelphia. Note the stadium lighting. The second photo is of the outdoor food concessions at the heart of campus, while the last photo is at the base of the Bell Tower which chimes on the hour. Across from the Bell Tower is Beury Beach, which is one of the largest swarths of green space on campus.

 

While Temple was first chartered in the late 19th century, the campus has several modern academic buildings. The first photo shows Alter Hall, which is home to the business school and the travel and tourism management program. The second pictured is the School of Architecture, while the third is the main entrance to the Liacouras Center, which hosts the Temple Owls men’s and women’s basketball teams as well as an impressive calendar of events and performers. No urban university in the Northeast has a similar venue.

 

Temple also has some nice facilities for students. These are some views of the student center. The flags in the center photo represent all of the countries where Temple students are from.

 

 

If you are interested in Temple, stop by the bookstore for your very own Hooter the Owl and see how Temple’s logo has blended with those of the Philadelphia professional sports teams!

 

Check out Ed’s profile of Temple now.

 

 

 

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