Narrowing Your Search

So often I am asked by parents and students,  “How do I know if this is the right college for me?”

Here are some things to consider when making your final decision:

1.     Make a list of your non-negotiables.  These are things that the school MUST have in order for you to attend.  These are things you believe that you cannot live without.  This list should not be taken lightly.  This should be the key filter in which every college is initially judged.

2.     Make a list of your “nice to haves.”  Once you have this list created, you should rank this list.  This will help you later when you are making your final college choice.

3.     Visit the campus more than once.  The summer visit is nice, but you are seeing the campus at its cleanest and without its main student population.  You want to see the campus when it is in full swing.  This will give you the true sense of what this college is really like.  When you see a residence hall in July it is clean and looking nice.  When you see it in October when student have settled in and are living there, it will have a completely different feel.

4.     Talk with someone who can give you unbiased feedback.   You need to be able to explore this college from all angles.   Getting this kind of feedback will be beneficial in making your choice.

5.     In the end, which of these schools on your final list are you the most excited about?   Ultimately it is your choice and you need to be the one who it truly excited to attend there.   Selecting the college you are going to attend should be a huge and exciting moment in your life! 

Passion for Learning

Recently there has been much chatter about the cost of education vs. what your education does for you.  We read about all the people with their "Liberal Arts" type degrees being unemployed.  We hear that STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) is the way to go.  If you don't have a STEM degree, you will have a tougher time finding work.  STEM is the way of the future!

Or Not.

Look, there are many jobs (high paying at that) out there that are not STEM related.  There are people all over the country doing amazing things that are not STEM related.  There are people without STEM related degrees out there who are also happy with what they do.  How is this possible?  Hmm.  I am going to say it has everything to do with PASSION.  No acronym here.  Just plain old passion.

If you are a student who is passionate about English, study it, master it, and you will find a job doing something with it.  Same goes for Psychology, Sociology, you-name-it major.  Just in the same way, you can study those subjects, choose them as your major, not care really about the subject matter and then not know how to find a job using the skills you were taught in college.  Oddly enough, that also applies to STEM related majors.  If you are not passionate about the subject matter, it is not as easy to sell yourself in a job interview.

As a Nation, we are all jumping on board to the idea that we need more college graduates.  We do.  We do not, however, need more college graduates with degrees in subjects they have no interest in.  When is the last time someone achieved greatness in something he/she was not passionate about?  I'm not talking 15 minutes of fame, but true greatness.  I'm sure it happens, but a blind squirrel also finds an acorn once and a while, too.  What we need are students studying subjects they love.  This will make all the difference in the world.  Can you imagine if we could teach all of our students to love to learn?   We would unharness creative minds like we have never seen before.  In all subjects.  Our education system would again be #1 because we would be developing the best thinkers on the planet.

How can we make this happen?  It starts at home, then in elementary school, on to middle and high school, then to college.  Choosing the proper college adds to the mix.  When students attend colleges/universities that are "best fit" for them, they are more likely to feel comfortable in the environment.  When they feel comfortable, they are more likely to explore the opportunities the institution has for them.  When they explore, they find their true passions.  When they find them, they study them and learn them.   Now we have passionate people who are ready to take on the world.  Can you see it?  Me, too.  Let's make this a priority!