How do you "check out a college"?

[Hot Lava Mama]

So, ds is only finishing 8th right now. But dh wants us to look at the colleges close by. When you (or your dc) were/are looking at a college, what kind of things do you look at? I think I can figure out how to determine what degrees they offer, approximately how much it costs, but what else do you look at? How do you find out how the college is "rated"? How do you find out what college it feeds into if it is a community college? What other things do you look at? Brand new at this as this will be the first one heading in that direction. I know we have plenty of time, but I want to figure out the landscape beforehand so I can guide him in making his decisions.

Thanks for your help!

:)

Hot Lava Mama

[AngieW in Texas]

You can go to the college board website and look specifically for 2-year and 4-year schools within maybe 20 miles of your zip code.

 

For me, that search brings up 13 schools. Five of them are regular 4-year schools. One is the community college I am in-district for.

 

There is also:

1 upper-level seminary school

2 2-year technical schools

1 2-year culinary school

2 4-year online schools that have a local office

1 2-year school for medical stuff (billing&coding, pharmacy tech, ...) and office stuff

 

For each of the schools, you can go to the main website for the school and see what they list as majors and as certificates (4-year universities have some certificate programs also).

 

If your ds has any idea what he wants to major in, that can help you narrow things down if it is something that isn't generally at most schools. My 17yo wanted a school with neuroscience. There aren't a ton of them, so that narrowed down her search considerably, especially since she wanted to be within 4 hours of home and within 1 hour of relatives and NOT at a school with any religious affiliations.

[Candid]

College rankings from US News are online and at least the surface of them are free: http://www.usnews.com/rankings

 

What you've got to do is to determine the climate at the schools at well in terms of a match for your child. Since you are looking local except for really large and prestigious research universities you are likely to find many folks you know either have gone to these schools or have children who have. See if you can talk to them about their experiences both in college and after in terms of job prospects.

[creekland]

If you're looking for general rankings, US News and Forbes each have their version. Take it only as a foundation as, personally, I think there could be 400 colleges in the Top 100 and probably 100 in the Top 20 pending what the student is looking for...

 

US News is here:

 

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges

 

Type in college names in the box. Click on "more" where offered.

 

Princeton Review also does a bit about colleges here:

 

http://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings.aspx

 

Type the name in the box at the top right and see what comes up for pros, cons, etc. (Click on "more" for campus life, etc.)

 

Otherwise, as you get closer to college age, check with employers in a desired field and ask them for recommendations. In a competitive job market, it helps to know schools employers view positively - even if they aren't nationally ranked. National rankings mean nothing if no one in the field considers them worthy compared to other schools.

[Chez J]

I am listening to this as well. :lurk5: :bigear:

 

 

I told DH last week that for our next few vacations, we were going college shopping instead of "vacationing." But, would you do that during a summer vacation? Or would it be better to go on a regular week during the year?

 

How many can one tour in a since excursion without overloading? Can you take lots of pictures to help you remember?

 

When is a good age to start?

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Community college coursework could be accepted at a number of different four year schools. It depends on the receiving school to say what will transfer and if there are limitations. If you're asking about what courses automatically transfer you want to look for transfer articulation agreements or memorandum of understanding. Usually the CC will post these on their website.

 

In my area you can see the articulation agreements for the cc with about 40 different schools. They are very specific about which courses transfer and how.

 

ETA: Here are the articulation agreements for one local CC system, so you can see what I mean. Or coming at it from the other end, you can read the Transfer Guide for the receiving school to see how they handle incoming transfers. A wise student probably reviews both (and saves a copy of the agreement/guide for when they were transfering). A wise student would look to see if different majors have different details (for example, a cc language course might be fine for an engineering student, but require an exam or interview for a classics major or a cc chemistry class might be fine for an English major, but not be accepted for a transferring nursing student). You might also look for Guaranteed Admissions Agreements between the CC and other schools.

 

I also really like the list this system has for CC students who are planning to transfer to a BA/BS program. They have checklists for each semester before the transfer.

[creekland]

I am listening to this as well. :lurk5: :bigear:

 

 

I told DH last week that for our next few vacations, we were going college shopping instead of "vacationing." But, would you do that during a summer vacation? Or would it be better to go on a regular week during the year?

 

How many can one tour in a since excursion without overloading? Can you take lots of pictures to help you remember?

 

When is a good age to start?

 

Summer and weekends aren't the best time to visit as the "feel" is simply not the same even when there are still some kids on campus. If that's all one can do - it's definitely better than not visiting. Larger schools and research schools still tend to have a fair number of kids around, but it's still a percentage of the whole.

 

How many you can do on an excursion depends upon the individual. Hubby, middle son, and I all loved visits and could have made it a job looking at all the different schools. Oldest and youngest were more interested in just looking at specific schools that interested them and could get weary after a couple. All should give you some sort of literature/brochures. Write notes on those. I, personally, don't care to see more than one college per day, but some cram in two.

 

A good age to start? Junior year is recommended as you won't look out of place or be called "super-achiever" or other similar names in group sessions as those younger often are, BUT my middle and youngest both benefitted from being dragged along on visits with their older brother(s). They, fortunately, didn't look as out of place since they had an older sibling "excuse."

 

In all seriousness, starting too young can desensitize a student and make them bored with the whole thing. Starting junior year is more "real" to them as apps come the fall of senior year.

 

I always recommend checking out schools close to where you live first whether you intend to go to them or not. It helps give the student a sense of fit - LAC vs Big State U vs Medium Private, vs CC, etc., secular vs religious (if either are options), research heavy vs not, Greek heavy vs not, dorms, classes, etc. Once they start figuring out fit, then expand your search to other schools that are similar and do "vacations" to them.

[Hot Lava Mama]

How about graduation rates? I have been reading a lot on the college loan crisis, and many have mentioned that people don't generally pay attention to graduation rates, but they should. I guess if dc gets a great financial package, but said school has a low graduation rate...that means ???? what? Are there more factors that influence graduation rates in some schools rather than others? What would influence a higher drop out rate in some schools that don't in others? Any thoughts on this?

Thanks!

Hot Lava Mama

[Hot Lava Mama]

Community college coursework could be accepted at a number of different four year schools. It depends on the receiving school to say what will transfer and if there are limitations. If you're asking about what courses automatically transfer you want to look for transfer articulation agreements or memorandum of understanding. Usually the CC will post these on their website.

 

In my area you can see the articulation agreements for the cc with about 40 different schools. They are very specific about which courses transfer and how.

 

ETA: Hereare the articulation agreements for one local CC system, so you can see what I mean. Or coming at it from the other end, you can read the Transfer Guide for the receiving schoolto see how they handle incoming transfers. A wise student probably reviews both (and saves a copy of the agreement/guide for when they were transfering). A wise student would look to see if different majors have different details (for example, a cc language course might be fine for an engineering student, but require an exam or interview for a classics major or a cc chemistry class might be fine for an English major, but not be accepted for a transferring nursing student). You might also look for Guaranteed Admissions Agreementsbetween the CC and other schools.

 

I also really like the list this system has for CC students who are planning to transfer to a BA/BS program. They have checklists for each semester before the transfer.

Thank you very much for this information. This is one thing that I haven't been able to figure out. I really appreciate this!

:)

Hot Lava Mama

[Hot Lava Mama]

One other thing, I am currently reading a book called College (un) Bound. It talks about how different the landscape will look for college in a very short while. He talks of on-line colleges (which I have previously asked about and received some very good information) as well as "unbundling" of college degrees. He thinks future colleges will offer "specialities" in various categories that a person could personalize for themself, think of badges in Boy Scouts. So, as you go through college, you pick up these various skills and knowlege that is shown somehow different than a 4-year degree. I suppose that means that a degree earned that way would be more specialized. You couldn't count on a degreed person to have exposure to "_____" (fill in the blank, world history, basic science, etc.) I am curious as to what the hive thinks about this. Especially the college professors and employers of college degreed people.

Thanks!

[Sebastian (a lady)]

 

Thank you very much for this information. This is one thing that I haven't been able to figure out. I really appreciate this!

:)

Hot Lava Mama

 

 

Just remember that you have to look at the agreements with the specific CC you are considering. The agreements aren't the same from state to state or school to school.

[Hot Lava Mama]

Just remember that you have to look at the agreements with the specific CC you are considering. The agreements aren't the same from state to state or school to school.

 

I have been looking at the community college around here. I found the articulation agreements. Is there an easy way to find out which cc's transfer to a "particular" 4 year college (via searching on the 4 year side...ie: if we know which 4 year he eventually wants to go to and want to find out which cc's transfer to the 4 year)? I can't seem to find "articulation agreement" on the 4 year side (I searched two 4 year schools) to see which cc's roll into the 4-year he might be interested in. Should I be using some other terminology?

Thanks!

:)

[Dana]

Articulation agreement is probably the best to check. You can also look at transfer student requirements because that is where they may be most likely to have info on how the receiving college will handle incoming credit.

 

Hang on to course descriptions published in the college catalog where you take courses and also the syllabus. Those will be asked for if there are any questions about what the course you took covered.

[Hot Lava Mama]

Articulation agreement is probably the best to check. You can also look at transfer student requirements because that is where they may be most likely to have info on how the receiving college will handle incoming credit.

 

Hang on to course descriptions published in the college catalog where you take courses and also the syllabus. Those will be asked for if there are any questions about what the course you took covered.

Thank you!

:)

[Amominfl]

I have been looking at the community college around here. I found the articulation agreements. Is there an easy way to find out which cc's transfer to a "particular" 4 year college (via searching on the 4 year side...ie: if we know which 4 year he eventually wants to go to and want to find out which cc's transfer to the 4 year)? I can't seem to find "articulation agreement" on the 4 year side (I searched two 4 year schools) to see which cc's roll into the 4-year he might be interested in. Should I be using some other terminology?

Thanks!

:)

 

 

You can go on this website http://www.collegetransfer.net/Search/SearchforCourseEquivalencies/tabid/100/Default.aspx and enter in the From and To colleges and the click on Search. It will show you if any classes at the FROM college have been accepted by the TO college

[daijobu]

Does he have some ideas about what he wants to study? Is he interested in research while he's in school? He can consider making an appointment with a professor during your visit. In addition to a regular college tour, see if there is a special tour for prospective applicants. Sometimes certain schools within a university have their own tours, like the engineer college versus a humanities college. It doesn't hurt to start your search early! Good luck.

[Bootsie]

Pick up a campus newspaper if you can. You can see what types of issues students are concerned about, the level of writing ability at the university, and who likes to market to the students through the ads in the paper (this gives you a bit of an idea of what type of "consumer" the average student is).

 

Browse through the bookstore. What does the level of textbooks look like? What is being sold as non-academic reading material?

 

Spend some time in the cafeteria or coffee shop (or ones near the campus). What types of conversations do you overhear?

 

Check out the bulletin boards. What campus groups seem to be active? Does the typical college organization put together material that is free of spelling and grammar errors?

 

If you talk to a student or a professor, ask how much reading and writing is done during an average semester.