Any College Will Do
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Any College Will Do
| Thu, 09-28-2006 - 4:27pm |
I thought this article was quite interesting and thought I might share:
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB115853818747665842-bQpIq_rc1S7SD7PSxAWyKVDFmgY_20061025.html
Let me know if the link doesn't work.

As both a college teacher and a parent of college students, I found that article very interesting. I teach at the community college and I must admit that sometimes I hear people putting it down b/c it is smaller than some high schools. However, I agree with the article that we can give our students much more personal time and attention than the larger schools.
Oldest DD went to a very small private 4 year school. She received a full scholarship so she really didn't have a choice in my book. I don't think she would have done as well in a larger state school. She was pre-med at the time and her school had a much higher acceptance rate than the larger state schools so for her this seemed to be the place to be. Her decision to not go to med school once she was accepted had nothing to do with the school but more to do with her desire for a personal life.
Youngest DD wouldn't have anything to do with a small community college or a small private school regardless of their acceptance rates into grad school. I disagreed but ultimately it was her decision.
Having spent 20 years in the business management, I agree that the college usually doesn't matter in that arena. But I think it does matter if the student is planning to attend grad school for a specific field. They need to check into the undergrad's acceptance rate into grad schools for that field. If they have a low acceptance rate, I feel that this is an indication that the school is not fully preparing the student for grad school work.
Interesting article. Thank you for sharing.
I think you must have college on your mind these days, Marie ... Hhhhmmm DS is a junior now? Are you all starting feel the pressure?
Very good points made in the article, I think. Maybe the pendulum is starting to swing the other way? Maybe all our kids will end up at UC Santa Cruz or UC Berkeley barefoot, protesting the war at sit-ins and protesting the exhorbitant costs of college educations (and gasoline) by marching in demonstrations? Or will they drop out of UC and Ivy League schools and enroll in Liberal Arts colleges?
West Valley College is a fine community college in your area. That could be one for you all to consider.
I printed out this article to show to my DD who isn't that happy about maybe going to a state college due to the cost. Of course, she wants to be a nurse and the Ivy leagues don't have nursing programs anyway.
My boss was telling me a funny story this week. He started out going to Boston Univ., a private school but transferred after one semester to UMass Boston, a state school. He felt bad that the cost was so much as his parents were blue collar workers. So everybody he ran into basically asked him if he transferred because BU was too hard or did he flunk out. Later he went to NYU Law School, which is a very hard school.
nothing new in that article, at least in my country.
It doesn't matter where you go for a university degree. It matters more what you do with that degree.
Oh no, actually no pressure here. He isn't even going to try to get into any UC or State university - first of all we will save on the costs, but mainly because of his constant struggles with school. We've known since last year that we wouldn't be going the 4-year straight of out h.s. route. We did the learning disabilities testing and are awaiting the results. I know my ds16 doesn't have dyslexia but he does have ADD which is often accompanied with other LD's. We suspect a processing disorder right now, possibly memory issues. We do already know that he doesn't learn things in the same way that they are taught in schools - mostly by "rote". His mind doesn't work that way. I often wonder how many of these so called "slackers" are kids with LD who were never identified. In our case, he fell through the cracks in the system - his LD is not severe enough for anyone to catch outright, instead he got continually blamed for being lazy. The educational therapist said that he will have to learn math in another way, she has several programs available. This is where we will probably spend the money that other parents might spend on UC's. But if it helps him to become the best that he can be, its money well spent.
Right now his plan is to go to De Anza and study criminal justice. He is interested in going into law enforcement (for now). He's still very immature and dealing with low self esteem where it comes to learning so he will have to work out those issues before we spend any money on universities. And just yesterday I heard about West Valley's two year fashion design program, and that is right where dd14 is headed - she's very talented.
I just like to let other parents know that their teens fate isn't decided by the age of 17 if they can't get into "the" university. After all, some (not all) of the time, the pressure to get into the university is coming from the uber-successful parents who expect to send their children there. This can be alot of pressure on the kids whose heart just isn't in it. I wish parents would just let their kids be who they are and we would all be better off.
Oh gosh, Marie, I hope that last post didn't come off mean-spirited or sarcastic! I apologize if it did. What I meant was that isn't it junior year when the students get all sort of SAT, college talk at school and from counselors, etc.? I remember our high school counselors calling each student into the office during jr. year to discuss college plans. I didn't have any so it was quite a brief meeting :-). My DD's high school has a college faire on campus every year! Primarily for juniors and seniors, but "everyone is encouraged to attend because it's never to early to start preparing for college!" No pressure there, is there?
Did I mentione to you the lady I know whose son struggled in school and was found to have an auditory processing issue? Apparently, one has to be 'right-ear dominant' to learn through usual methods. Her son wasn't and she was able to find an advocate for extra assistance at school and a counselor to help him develop his auditory processing. A bit odd, I know, but it does make sense when you consider the theory of 'right brain dominance'. Why not right ear, too?
I'd completely forgotten about De Anza college. I remember West Valley because it has such a lovely campus and the husband of an old friend who still lives in San Jose teaches at WVC.
DD has some very lofty goals for herself, college-wise, which I'm starting to feel she may have to re-think. She may need to spend a couple years at a community college and transferring after GE to her dream school. Not that I don't think she's capable of pulling it off, but because I don't know how we'll afford it at this point -- unless we leave California first.