More Clueless Questions about Choosing a College

[goldberry]

Okay... so we have a college list down based on affordability and the school offering what program DD is looking for.  She wants to major in  math or science with a secondary education certification (for teaching at high school level). 

 

I'm reading about being in contact with the "department" etc.  What should we be looking at now as far as further specifics?  What kinds of questions should we be asking?  In other words, what would make one college better than another at this point?

 

In other words, if we can afford it and she can get the degree she wants there, what other factors should we be looking at, other than general campus environment suited to her?

[Home'scool]

One thing I have found ..... students SWITCH THEIR MAJORS ALL THE TIME!

 

Make sure that the school has enough other choices of majors so that if she does decide to switch her major she won't have to transfer schools.

[creekland]

At our school it doesn't matter where teachers get their degree from, so any school is suitable.  That said, it's always good to ask where recent teacher grads have found jobs - just to be sure their education is up to snuff.

 

If everything seems suitable there, I would pick based upon fit and finances with both working out if possible.  It's nice to have choices and let the kids be able to choose for themselves (from among financial fits).

[Grantmom]

I am thinking about this too.  I don't have any solid answers for you, just what I've gathered and read so far.  As far as looking at a particular department or major, I would think about what she wants to get out of the four years.  Do they have a good internship or practicum program, with good placement rates?  Employment rates after college?  Do they help you find a job and how many grads have a job at graduation?  Where are they getting jobs?  Study abroad?  Other clubs or activities that she wants to be able to participate in while at school?  If there is some sort of certification exam that everyone in that major takes, what is the pass rate?  Does she want to have an opportunity to be involved in research with faculty members?

 

 

[goldberry]

Thanks for your answers so far...  Her major is not super specialized or particular, but when I read some of the other threads, I thought I might be missing something I'm supposed to be looking at.  

 

Here's a question:  Do all schools have pretty much the same set of requirements for a certain major?  Like math or biology?  Or do schools differ from one to another?

[goldberry]

One thing I have found ..... students SWITCH THEIR MAJORS ALL THE TIME!

 

Make sure that the school has enough other choices of majors so that if she does decide to switch her major she won't have to transfer schools.

 

That's really valid I think.  She has been wavering between teaching and nursing.  All of the schools also have nursing except for one.

[hornblower]

That's really valid I think.  She has been wavering between teaching and nursing.  All of the schools also have nursing except for one.

 

 Do the schools she's considering allow transferring into nursing? My system here is totally different but what I'm hearing in the US too is that in many colleges you can't transfer into nursing. It's a separate program and even if you're already a student at the college there's a competitive admission procedure to get into the nursing programs.  So that would be another thing to perhaps consider : how easy it would be to switch plans if she decides to do that. 

 

 

[goldberry]

 Do the schools she's considering allow transferring into nursing? My system here is totally different but what I'm hearing in the US too is that in many colleges you can't transfer into nursing. It's a separate program and even if you're already a student at the college there's a competitive admission procedure to get into the nursing programs.  So that would be another thing to perhaps consider : how easy it would be to switch plans if she decides to do that. 

 

 

 

No, it wouldn't be easy anywhere really.  Just trying to add up all the factors.

[gingersmom]

My daughter is in a 4 year nursing program.

 

At her school to transfer in you need specific classes. They have about 125 kids in the nursing class and I think my daughter said they take less than 15 transfer students (based on how many kids leave the program)

 

At another school (2 year nursing program ) they said you had a better chance of being admitted if you were applying from another school (no idea why)

[*LC]

I recently visited with old friends with rising seniors in teaching and nursing. Based on what we talked about, I have a few thoughts for you.

 

I agree with the previous post about making sure there are other majors available. I have a friend whose daughter thought she wanted to be a teacher and she paid extra to go to a private school that has a great reputation for teaching majors, however, after 1 year she decided she didn't want to teach. She decided it wasn't worth the extra cost for a different major. 

 

1. For teaching, ask about student teaching. Where the students do student teaching? How far away do students need to travel to get there? What type of schools are they?  Is your student okay for those schools? (One friend's daughter transferred, because she did not want to student teach at the Title 1 inner city schools where student teaching happened at her first school.)

 

2. For nursing, ask the same type of questions about clinicals.

 

Also this is probably school specific, but I will mention it anyway. Two of these students go to the same school, which has two campuses about an hour apart. One was assigned to student teach at the secondary campus even though she attends/lives on the main campus. The second student applied the nursing major and was assigned to the second campus with a spring start. So, she will have no classes fall semester. 

 

 

 

[G5052]

I recently visited with old friends with rising seniors in teaching and nursing. Based on what we talked about, I have a few thoughts for you.

 

I agree with the previous post about making sure there are other majors available. I have a friend whose daughter thought she wanted to be a teacher and she paid extra to go to a private school that has a great reputation for teaching majors, however, after 1 year she decided she didn't want to teach. She decided it wasn't worth the extra cost for a different major. 

 

1. For teaching, ask about student teaching. Where the students do student teaching? How far away do students need to travel to get there? What type of schools are they?  Is your student okay for those schools? (One friend's daughter transferred, because she did not want to student teach at the Title 1 inner city schools where student teaching happened at her first school.)

 

2. For nursing, ask the same type of questions about clinicals.

 

Also this is probably school specific, but I will mention it anyway. Two of these students go to the same school, which has two campuses about an hour apart. One was assigned to student teach at the secondary campus even though she attends/lives on the main campus. The second student applied the nursing major and was assigned to the second campus with a spring start. So, she will have no classes fall semester. 

 

Exactly. When the local community college started offering nursing, the clinicals were over an hour away. That's a long day if you have to be there at 6am and then come home and write up what they assign. I have a middle-aged friend who did that, and it was really hard on her.

 

Thankfully now they do some of it locally at a smaller hospital, and they're only doing the long commute for a certain modules.

[Bluegoat]

I would want to know something about the general approach of the department to the subject, their "philosophy" of it, what the professors are involved in, the size of classes, that sort of thing.  Who teaches the lower level classes, and what I the social life of the department like?

 

This is a bit of a difficult thing for parents and prospective students to assess, but there is IMO often a big difference between a department that is fairly large and impersonal and one where there are real relationships created, in terms of getting something out of the educational opportunities.

[Mom22ns]

It can matter where a teacher gets their degree. What matters most is that she gets her degree from a University near the place she wants to teach or that caters to the place she wants to teach.

 

My parents were both school administrators (different districts). The state flagship and the Universities nearest them (they were in a large city) all contacted their districts and asked what they wanted students to know. They tailored programs around what the big districts wanted to see. It doesn't relate to high school, but for example, my State U. was teaching whole language reading at the time (it was THE thing back then). My mom's district wouldn't hire anyone that hadn't learned how to teach phonics in addition to whole language. So the state flagship made sure the teachers got a class in teaching reading that included phonics instruction. My state U didn't. My friends couldn't be hired by my mom's district which was a rapidly growing district hiring more teachers than any other in the state. 

 

So all that to say, make sure that the school she goes to is teaching her to teach in the way that the market she wants to teach in prefers.

[Paper In Fire]

One thing I have found ..... students SWITCH THEIR MAJORS ALL THE TIME!

 

Make sure that the school has enough other choices of majors so that if she does decide to switch her major she won't have to transfer schools.

 

 That, and make sure the credits received at the current college are easily transfferable should a school transfer be necessary.

 

Other than that, I think you have everything else nailed down.