The Good College List
At a time when the Federal Government has taken greater interest in the demographics of select institutions, state governments are urging their institutions to reduce majors and waitlist anxieties have hit new heights. I must consider how future seniors should prepare a college list.
Exceptionally bright and intellectually curious students will doubtlessly set sights on schools with low acceptance rates.
But there are prospective students are exceptionally bright but not intellectually curious. There are also intellectually curious students who do not present transcripts that show their curiosity. Yet there are schools that fit each market.
Many public colleges and universities accommodate all three markets.
Yes, there are exceptions. California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Washington have flagships with exceptionally selective admissions. Others, like Purdue, have exceptionally selective majors.
But most other public institutions, including flagships, are more likely to say yes, welcome most applicants in the fall and not restrict entry into popular majors.
The big question for the bright as well as the intellectually curious: how many restrictions will you accept when you choose a school?
Those who are admitted to their chosen program or college within the university don’t need to worry about an answer. Those who are offered a second choice do. Transfer into their first choice might never be possible.
I like for my students to have choices up until the spring of their sophomore year.
This is possible at most public institutions. Architecture and nursing, among other fields, might be exceptions. Some schools admit students under an umbrella such as Exploratory Studies. They can use the first year or two to sample introductions to possible majors then transfer into their major program. Other larger universities enroll incoming students into their college of arts and sciences knowing that some will seek an internal transfer.
What about small colleges?
Too often I’ve seen the phrases “small college” and “liberal arts college” used together. That’s fine when a college has less than 3,900 students—using Bucknell as my largest example—and offers very few majors that could be considered “job training.” That’s not the case with Bucknell.
Bucknell is listed as a liberal arts college in published rankings. However, it has separate business and engineering schools that also grant graduate degrees.
Bucknell has more than 60 majors. Seventeen of these majors including the business disciplines, biochemistry, chemistry, data science, mathematics and the engineering programs are the most likely to be part of an on-campus recruitment schedule or job fair. If someone told me that these were the most popular majors at Bucknell I wouldn’t argue. I would also add that the Bucknell student receives a more personal educational experience than someone who attends a much larger university. However, it’s almost impossible for a Bucknell freshman or sophomore to make an internal transfer from arts and sciences to either business or engineering—just as it is at a larger school.
I recently visited Holy Cross, a sports rival to Bucknell.
Holy Cross has 3,200 students, all undergraduates, and 40 majors. Nine of these majors might be included in an on-campus recruitment program or job fair, ten if I add education, since many larger schools host teacher fairs. Holy Cross is a rigorous “single doorway” school; it doesn’t admit to a major.
I’m more likely to view Holy Cross as a liberal arts college than Bucknell.
Not long ago, I profiled Husson University, a school in Maine that has 2,800 undergraduates as well as around 600 graduate students. The vast majority of their undergraduate degree programs are directed towards preparation for employment in business, criminal justice & law enforcement, health professions, computer technology, and more. Few majors are in more traditional liberal arts subjects.
So, my suggestion, for those who want a school with up to 3,900 students is to think about academic options, community and costs.
While I’ve seen large university systems, Indiana’s being a good example, rush to drop low-enrollment majors, I haven’t seen smaller private schools rush to shrink their offerings But I have seen many that have updated programs to enter into new areas such as data science or digital media.
The bright and intellectually curious might want to consider smaller schools.
They might want to be noticed by the faculty, want more flexibility (and less bureaucracy) in their choice of majors and opportunities to do original research. Cost-conscious families might want to look at public honors colleges (versus honors programs) that offer similar benefits as long as they can open clear paths to a choice of majors. It’s easier to enter undecided at schools such as Holy Cross that have only one undergraduate college. However, it’s best to consider whether there are at least three possible majors of interest that would lead a student to explore, then make a well-informed choice. It’s harder to enter undecided at a school like Husson where the preparatory courses are different between majors.
What about more specialized institutes of technology?
I like these schools for those who are anxious to explore the sciences or engineering. Some also offer exciting opportunities to explore architecture or business. I’ve found these schools to be more project-immersive than the engineering schools at much larger universities. They attract students who have done their own experiments and projects outside of the classroom. However, these schools offer a smaller set of majors, often fewer than a school such as Bucknell.
What makes the most selective private universities so special besides brand recognition?
Most of the most selective universities are what I would call “mid-sized,” with between 3,900 and 10,000 undergrads. There are a few exceptions such as the larger schools in Boston (Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern University), NYU, the University of Southern California, Georgetown, Cornell and Penn.
Yet, while most of the most selective schools are mid-sized, they try to offer closer student-faculty-relationships for students who reach their junior and senior year. I have worked with students who attended schools such as Case Western, Tufts and Stanford who were as engaged in undergraduate research as students at smaller schools that have few or no graduate students. Interesting to me: their student-faculty ratios are closer to small colleges than to very large ones. Yale and Princeton, as examples, have student-faculty ratios of 5 to 1.
The mid-sized schools are also separated into fewer undergraduate divisions, the most common being arts & sciences and engineering. Case Western is one exception; it also has undergraduate business and nursing. Yet most of these schools are “single doorway” schools. With few exceptions, like Case Western in nursing or Johns Hopkins in Biomedical Engineering, they do not admit to a major. Their admissions offices want a bright and intellectually curious student who has the potential to succeed in any program they offer. Academic excellence across the board is expected. Those who have a serious weak spot or showed dislike for a particular academic subject are less likely to be admitted to these schools.
What do I wish more prospective students would do?
Ask themselves how serious they are about a potential major.
I found an article by the Student Research Group that lists percentages of students who switched out of their first intended major. The highest percentage were in mathematics and engineering; the lowest were in the health care fields. The next question to ask is then “if I find that I won’t like this major, are there others that I might like?”
Consider how they want to be taught.
Most high school students, whether they come from traditional or non-traditional educational backgrounds, did not take large-lecture classes in high school. They knew their teachers and could approach them when they had problems in the classroom. Those who relied more on a teacher to help them learn might want to consider schools where first and second-year classes are smaller and where they won’t compete with graduate students for attention.
Consider the life experience at the school outside of the classroom.
The largest numbers of students I meet and read about want either a school in a college town and a campus setting that has many diversions such as Greek social life and high-profile sports or wish to be a student-citizen of a very large city. At some schools such as Ohio State or the University of Southern California they can have both.
The question to ask is: which diversions important to your education?
I’ll use myself as an example. I went to Rutgers-New Brunswick for my bachelor’s degree, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for my first masters. Both schools have very large enrollments, and both compete in the Big Ten. While it’s quite possible to go to either school and never go to a basketball or football game or a fraternity party, it is far easier to avoid them at Rutgers. Illinois has a much stronger athletic tradition and over 6,000 students engaged in Greek social life. Rutgers has about the same number of undergrads; less than 4,000 are involved with fraternities and sororities. Those who get into both schools and want sports and Greek life are more likely to be happy at Illinois.
Smaller schools will have their own diversions.
I’ve been to schools smaller than Bucknell where Greek life is important as well as several where it is non-existent. A smaller school that is not immediately near a large city is more likely to have a campus based social life. It’s going to be more of a fishbowl. Faculty are also more likely to be involved in student activities. Students are more likely to know their professors outside of the classroom.
Then there’s diversity.
Diversity on campus means that there are students with different ancestries, economic backgrounds, races, faiths and sexual orientations. You might find YouTubes from current students and recent graduates that discuss diversity and how students get along. You can see students mingling on campus and also see how diversity is represented through clubs and organizations on and near campus.
It’s easy to put a school on a list if it has strong representation in ways that might matter. But I really recommend a second visit after an acceptance comes in, and to spend time talking with students after the formal information session and tour are over. Attending an admitted student’s day is a good idea for students who want to know who their classmates are likely to be.
How many schools should be on a college list?
This depends on how many choices you want. Personally, I care more about choices than I do about “conquering” a low acceptance rate. Every school on a college list should have everything academic and social that a student believes that they must have as well as unique things they like that other schools on their list do not offer.
Every school on the college list should be affordable when costs are a concern.
It helps to know this in advance before applying. With some exceptions such as public university systems that allow you to apply to more than one school on a single application, I would recommend no more than a dozen schools.
Getting your college list down to a dozen might be hard.
But it forces a student to really think about whether a school is the right fit. Many schools have a version of a “why us?” question where a generic answer just won’t do. The most selective schools favor students who have taken a mature approach to find their musts and wants in a college.
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