Category: Common

Not all colleges are created equal and, honest as with people, every college earns a reputation, whether gracious, poor, or somewhere in between. Now believe that once you get a degree from a college, its reputation will be associated with you for the rest of your life. Every employer will stare the name of the college or university you attended on your resume. Consequently, below are a few reputation-related considerations you should weigh prior to making a commitment to befriend.

Distinguished or evil

Is the name of your school instantly recognizable? If so, it is either famed or imperfect. Of the two, being distinguished is the only one better than being unknown. If a college has an unpleasant reputation, it may in fact contemplate on you. Schools that are illustrious can be a gigantic assist to graduates; one that no one has heard of won’t distress, but a school with a poor scholastic reputation should be avoided.

Specialization

Some colleges are only well known for one course of search for. This means it may have a bland, or even negative, reputation for other majors, while brandishing a mountainous name in the site of your interest. If you are confident that the one specialty is for you, these schools are an expansive choice. Objective produce definite you do not extinguish up at one of them studying outside their specialty.

Accreditation

This may be more crucial than any other factor. Is your college actually friendly to provide you an excellent education? There are many levels of accreditation, and each determines whether the institution is a university or simply a college. It also factors into the availability of a major in the subject you want, because a school must be accredited for each major. Even though its administration may claim to offer a “course of watch” in your chosen field, it may not have the accreditation needed to offer that field of gaze as a recognized major.

How to Evaluate a College’s Reputation

Evaluating a school’s reputation is more an art than science. Ask older people you know what they contemplate of the college and what it is best known for – then research what they swear you to ensure the accuracy of those comments. Teach with the school’s occupy representatives about your questions or concerns, but don’t necessarily embrace all you are told because they have incentive to site the school as positively as possible. Additionally, simply try researching the college via an Internet search engine to peer what curious information pops up.

A school’s reputation is perhaps the most considerable factor to reflect when weighing the impact of your college on your future. If an employer believes you attended one that likely did not adequately prepare you for the job under consideration, it doesn’t great matter in that place whether you loved it and received an expansive education – it could mild assume poorly on you. Instead, you want the name of your school to abet garner instant respect and admiration.

When doing research into your post-secondary education options, you will swiftly learn that there is an almost overwhelming number of options for both career training and obtaining an advanced degree. No matter where you live, it is likely that you have access to number of both private and extinct colleges, which offer programs of survey related to your residence of interest.

There are many differences between private colleges and broken-down colleges. One major incompatibility between these two types of institutions is the quality of education. For those focused on obtaining the high quality skills and training required for career success in the shortest and most efficient manner, private colleges tend to be the better choice. There are a number of benefits associated with private colleges.

Benefit: Smaller Classes

Classes at private colleges tend to be considerable smaller than those of extinct colleges. When classes are smaller, the instructor-to-student ratio is worthy lower, allowing for more individual attention in class. The learning environment also tends to be distinguished more interactive in smaller classes than in larger ones.

Benefit: Emphasis on Teaching Rather than Research

In extinct colleges, faculty members are not only assigned to declare classes, but are also required to emphasize academic research. Typically, faculty members in stale colleges are required to devote a famous amount of time and energy to conducting and publishing academic research designed to reach the body of knowledge in their particular region of expertise.

In private colleges, however, the famous role of a faculty member is to converse classes and to relieve students gain the skills they need to become successful in their chosen fields. As a working adult, it can be great more wonderful to learn in an environment where teaching, not research, is the indispensable focus.

Benefit: Emphasis on Skills Development

Most private colleges tend to emphasize the development of practical skills that can be applied in the workplace. For working adults who are seeking post-secondary education as a means of advancing their careers, this is of the utmost importance.

Many extinct colleges focus more on preparing learners for graduate-level look. Because of this, the training is often more theoretical in nature than the training one would receive at a private college.

Benefit: Responsiveness to Change

When seeking post-secondary training that can be directly applicable in the workplace, it is indispensable to fabricate certain that the training you receive is as up-to-date is possible.

Because private colleges function more along the lines of a business model than of an educational institution, private colleges tend to be quicker to adapt their curricula to the swiftly changing demands of the job market than do ancient colleges.

Most of us like to think that anyone can succeed or fail monetarily depending on how much effort they put forth towards making themselves do well. Unfortunately, that is often not the case. Statistics have shown that the amount of formal education that a person has impacts the amount of wealth that they are likely to bring in throughout their lifetime. In fact, education level is a leading factor in determining someone’s likely earnings potential.

Logically it makes sense that those who are comfortably rich tend to have had more educational backgrounds. They have been well trained in how to function in the workplace and how to move up the ladder. They are also given better opportunities based on the education that they have received. Those who come from poorer backgrounds are less likely to have the same level of education and are therefore less likely to be comfortably rich at any point in their lives.

There are a number of factors that contribute to these findings. Lack of resources in the schools in more disadvantaged areas is a major problem that holds a lot of people back. There is also often a lack of personal motivation to go along with the poor quality of education. Those two factors combined can lead someone to drop out of school earlier and pick up a low paying unskilled labor job. Once this has happened, it becomes difficult for them to move up the pay scale in any very significant way.

There are of course exceptions to this rule. Some who do live comfortably rich have not even finished a college degree. It is often pointed out that Bill Gates (the wealthiest man on the planet) just recently finished his college degree. He made his billions before he had even tried to finish college. Unfortunately, situations like his are very rare. Generally, the averages show that the more education you receive, the more money you will be making.

The largest pay difference is between those who have just a high school diploma and those who have a college degree. By getting a bachelor’s degree, the average person increases their earnings potential through the roof in comparison. If you have dreams of living comfortably rich, then it is a wise first step to get as much formal education as possible. Every step up the education ladder is a step up the pay grade.

The next horizon for improvement is secondary school.

In what follows, we will look at the needs and entitlements of children entering secondary school who have identified special education needs and those who are entering and later discovered to have a special education need.

My child has been receiving extra help in primary school. What should I look for in a secondary school?

You should look for a school with a special education teacher in place on a full-time basis to support all children with special needs in the school.

A child who has been receiving special education resources or support in primary school is eligible for continued support at secondary level so long as they continue to have a special education need.

Your child will be entitled to the same general provision he or she received in primary school. This support is to be determined based on need with the number of hours of support being determined by the Individual Education Plan (IEP) drawn up in the last year of primary school. In general, students in secondary school are eligible for the same supports as in primary school. Remember that upon entering secondary school a Transition Plan may be in place that slightly alters the previous IEP. The Special Needs Organizer (SENO) assigned to the school should be alerted as well as the appropriate special education teacher(s). Speak to your child’s special education teacher first and be clear about your concerns.

Not all children who have special education needs come to the attention of parents or educators in primary school. In secondary school, the curriculum subjects become incredibly complex each year. There are students who have had no difficulty suggestive of a special education need at primary school who suddenly seem to have many difficulties in secondary school. It is important to recognize that some students, no matter how well they performed in primary school, may have a special education need that does not appear until secondary school.

First, speak with your child’s teachers. Begin with teachers, speak to Year Head, go to Principal if necessary and do not forget the Special Education Needs Organizer (SENO).

If your child is found to have a special education need an IEP should be written. This is, as stated previously, a road map to your child’s education plan. The special education team often referred to as a multidisciplinary team, will be responsible for writing the IEP.

Autism/Asperger’s in Secondary School

Unfortunately, there is little that can be done if a school refuses to enroll a child on the autistic spectrum. There are considerable challenges in the future to our secondary schools in education these children and it is time to get it right. Those schools, which stubbornly refuse to enroll children on the spectrum, are in the stone age of education.

ADHD

As in the case of children on the autistic spectrum, once educators and schools get it correct for children with ADHD they have improved the educational provision of all children.

Special Education in Ireland’s Secondary Schools

Individuals and organizations can choose from a number of environmental courses to understand the importance of environmental education. Environmental licensing, evaluation of environmental impacts, environmental auditing, environment and sustainable development, etc. are some of the courses available online. The Environmental Licensing and Environmental Assessment course has gained great prominence. Social responsibility and sustainability, solid waste management, auditing, environmental education and ethics, etc. are some of the popular courses.

For years, ACT and SAT scores have made high school students all over the country shake in their boots. There’s pressure, lots of studying, and a ton of stress involved, because colleges based their admissions largely on those test scores.

So where does that leave the kids who hate testing or just aren’t good at it? You know the ones… those students who do amazingly in the classroom but poorly on tests. Sometimes it’s because of pressure, sometimes its nerves, and other times it’s just testing anxiety. They know they could do well, but when that timer starts and the test booklet and Scantron sheet gets put in front of them, they freeze. Deer in headlights! Except in this case, the deer is the student’s brain and the headlights are the empty bubbles waiting to be filled in.

This can be a very dangerous thing for the students, both in the testing process and for the effect it could have on their futures. For this and other varying reasons, many colleges have decided that test scores are no longer the deciding factor in a student’s acceptance into their institutions. Instead, they’ve begun basing their acceptance on the applications and the students’ performance in the classroom.

This is good news! High school students can now rest easy and stop stressing out about their test scores.

This seems to be a growing trend, especially since colleges like Stanford and Harvard have also switched to something called common applications. This secure online application lets high school students submit applications to colleges and universities without having to necessarily do amazingly on the admittance tests. You’re more than just a test score, just like Zinch’s web site says! This is a beautiful thing and allows for more students to have a chance at getting degrees, especially if they’re underprivileged.

When it comes right down to it, students are so diverse that a sit-down test can’t possibly give the best idea of someone’s potential and skill set. Many colleges have now decided to focus more on the students’ ability to function and thrive in the classroom. According to Education Portal, “Most institutions found that, after making the tests optional, the qualified number of applicants went up significantly in many formerly underrepresented groups, including first-generation, minority and low-income students.”

So what’s the moral of the story? Test scores aren’t everything! High school students can now celebrate the fact that more institutions are realizing this, and let’s hope that we make further strides in improving the education system and process for everyone. There are a ton of students who need a chance, and that’s it… if they never have the opportunity to further their education, then through no fault of their own they’re robbed of experience and education.

I love the fact that this is happening for the simple reason that my kids will have a better chance of getting into a college based on their skills and knowledge, not their ability to stay calm during a test or perform well in a high-pressure situation. After all, this isn’t the TV show Chuck and most students don’t go to college to learn how to become a CIA agent. Most students just want to be able to follow their interests and get good jobs, so college is a good way to help make that happen.

While we have spent the past few blogs exploring the world of federal loans awarded through the FAFSA, it is important to also spend some time on other monies available to students via the FAFSA; monies that do not have to be repaid upon graduation. These typically fall into two categories: work-study and grants. This post will look at the most frequently awarded and coveted grant: the Pell grant.

Unlike Stafford loans, the Pell Grant is money awarded by the government that does not have to be repaid. It is typically awarded to low-income undergraduate students pursuing their first degree, although in some cases it is awarded to students pursuing secondary degrees. This money is looked upon as a “gift”.

Student eligibility for a Pell Grant is based on three things:

• Income level
• Enrollment Status (full vs. half-time)
• Cost of Attendance

It is important to remember that although this is gifted money, you can lose eligibility if any of the above items change or if your GPA falls below the standards.

Remember: The Pell Grant is money awarded from the federal government that you do not have to repay upon graduation. This grant is awarded based on your responses to the FAFSA and factors in your income level, your enrollment status, and cost of attendance.

When you decide to go to college, you have to find a happy medium between what you want to do and what will get you decent work. A college degree doesn’t serve a lot of purpose if you can’t get hired anywhere, right?

So which college majors have the highest unemployment rate? The Huffington Post did a piece on this, and for 2011, the results were pretty interesting.

Let’s go through the list and see what the top 5 are.

5. Educational Psychology

Educational psychology is the study of how people learn in educational settings and various factors that play a part in the effectiveness of education on children from various different backgrounds and in various class environments. An educational psychologist likely does some studies to determine the effectiveness of small, medium, and large classes, and works with educators to improve the education system.

The unemployment rate for this field is at 10.9%, higher than the national average, which is currently at 9.1%.

4. Library Science

Library science encompasses many different disciplines, but essentially is the organization of information sources and archival thereof. How libraries and information are organized and presented in an orderly fashion so information is easier to find for the public or for people who need it is what library science is all about – a sort of large-scale organization of information. This field deals in information organization and archiving of information and its sources, which means that information technology is also a factor in this field.

The unemployment rate for this industry is a whopping 15%.

3. US History

Our country’s rich and colorful history may be interesting to study, but apparently someone with a degree in this field has less a chance of being employed than other fields. It’s sort of ironic that the country’s historians and history scholars are less employable than others, but unless you combine this with a teaching degree, apparently you won’t be as likely to find a job as other majors.

The unemployment rate for this field is at 15.1%.

2. Fine Arts Degrees

If you choose to study fine arts, then you may want to pull yourself out of the “starving artist” mindset or you could wind up with the 16.2% of degree holders that are out of work. This is unfortunate, as art is such a rich and amazing study, but no matter what kind of fine arts degree you’re pursuing, the unemployment rate seems to be higher. The good thing about artists, though, is that they always seem to keep doing their work no matter how poor they are, so let’s hope that the majority will fail forward.

1. Clinical Psychology

I guess people are beginning to cope with their problems a little better, otherwise this field would still be thriving… either that or the average person is just too broke to go to counseling these days. Whatever the case may be, this is the degree with the highest unemployment rate – an astonishing 19%!

Choosing the Right Degree

How can you make sure that the major you’re going into has a lower unemployment rate or that you’ll be able to do something with the degree no matter what? Do some research!

There’s always that balance to uphold: doing something you love that will also pay well. Unfortunately, these two don’t always go together. I, for example, am majoring in Creative Writing – a field that doesn’t necessarily even have an unemployment rate if you acknowledge all of the self-employed people. Every author is either employed elsewhere or self-employed; with the internet and so many companies outsourcing, its common sense to guess that people will find alternative ways of earning money.

If you’re in it to make money, your best bet is to go to college for something such as nursing, business, or another growing field. Nursing is an especially good choice, because the medical industry is always in need of more professionals. Those brave and dedicated individuals that do go into the medical field definitely have to love what they do, anyway! Doing a little research can easily teach you how to become an EMT or a nurse, so if that’s your calling, then go for it.

If you feel like you have to follow your heart, then do what you love and blaze your own trail – if you can make money doing something you love, you win twice!

Find a doctor and ask him to tell you about medical school. Find a marine and ask her to tell you about boot camp. Find somebody who has done anything of some significance and see how complete a picture you get. Human beings have immense difficulty consolidating dramatic experiences.

For something at least physically non-painful like study abroad, this is intensified. In an almost cult-like fashion, students will sing the praises of hopping on a plane to have at it for a few months in another country. As someone who has just recently finished studying abroad, let me give you a bit of insider information.

You WILL get bored.

You’re still going to have to do your dishes, wash your clothes, and have a weekly routine. That cathedral you took awesome pictures of in August will be blocking your precious sunlight in late November as you battle the wind on the way to school. Things will become ordinary and it is up to you to find new things to do.

The people living in your host country do NOT know you are an exchange student.

I once thought that being an exchange student was a golden ticket into the hearts, minds, and homes of every person living in your host country. Wrong, wrong, WRONG I was! These people generally didn’t even look at me in the street. If you want people to know you are studying abroad, you have to TELL THEM! If you want to eat with them, YOU have to ask! The amount of initiative required to overcome the fact that these people are simply living their daily lives is ENORMOUS so sharpen your ax before you get there and get ready to get culturally cracking!

You have to make your own friends.

The staff at your host university is not going to tell you where all the best dance clubs are located. Also, most students are not going to be amazingly willing to drag lost, helpless foreigners along with them, either. Acquiring friends abroad is your number one and most difficult priority.

Classes are classes regardless of where you may be.

You’ll have something resembling a chair, something resembling a desk, and something resembling a professor. Don’t expect anything groundbreaking. School is school.

Avoiding English speakers or other international students to fully immerse yourself is impossible.

Say what you want before you get there, but watch what happens. Embrace the inevitable and try to find a compromise between yourself and these people that permits everybody to get the most out of their time abroad.

A summer program is better than a semester or a year abroad during your regular academic year.

Colleges are horribly picky about the credit they accept from abroad. Unless you have exact matches with courses and your academic adviser that approves your credit is having an affair with somebody at your host university, stick with the summer. Time spent during fall and spring semesters is incredibly valuable, and more and more companies are realizing that study abroad isn’t such an amazing resume-filler after all. An intensive summer program will be more than enough to do the job.

If you don’t live with a family, you may as well stay home.

I cannot stress this enough. Let me repeat it. FIND A HOST FAMILY, OR STAY HOME!!! Do you have that in your head? Do you realize how vital it is to live in the real environment every day to get anything worthwhile out of a study abroad experience? You get the customs, the food, the language, everything all in the same place you wake up and go to bed. Don’t settle for less than a home-stay just because you are itching to go abroad. Take your time and find a family. You owe it to yourself.

In our previous post, we began talking about how to start your own student organization by looking at how to attract and retain members and how to come up with a mission statement to solidify your organization. Now that you know how to get started, we will look at how to establish your organization as credible in your university and in the surrounding community. Although there are many ways to do this, there are two main avenues that I urge you to explore when starting an organizations: faculty involvement and local-business endorsement.

Faculty Involvement is crucial to establishing your fledgling organization as credible. The reason for this is simple: university faculty is already established as an integral part of the educational community and having one or two faculty members involved in your organization extends that legitimacy to what you’re trying to accomplish with your group. How do you go about getting faculty involved? Really, it’s not too difficult. Just ask. If there is a professor that you take class with that you feel would be beneficial to your cause, schedule a time to meet with him or her and clearly lay out your organization’s purpose and goals. Invite him or her to a meeting to see what the dynamic of a group is. If the first faculty member you speak to is too busy to be involved, ask another. Chances are, you can find a professor that has some interest in your organization of you look.

Scope out your local business owners and meet with the owners to explain what you are trying to accomplish in your organization. Don’t just pick any business; do your research and find a business or businesses whose values align with those of your group. For instance, if your organization is about feeding the hungry, meet with a local restaurant owner and see if they would like to help out in some way. Once again, the key here is persistence. If one business is unwilling to help, another might be. Gaining local support in your community will not only help your organization survive, it will also help its success.

Starting your own organization can take some time, but in the end it is worth it. Not only will you be able to say you started something that will exist past your time as a student, you will also be able to say you made a difference!

As we move through our investigation of the benefits of membership to student organizations, it is important to remember that organizations come in all shapes and sizes. In the last post, we began looking at nationally recognized student organizations whose membership was based on academics. Today, we will wrap up our look at nationally recognized student organizations by giving a brief overview of the Greek System on college campuses: what it is, why it can be beneficial, and how to join.

The Greek System is most commonly known as sororities and fraternities, with sororities being limited to female membership and fraternities being limited to male membership. These organizations are known as the Greek System because they are identified by two or three letters of the Greek alphabet. Generally, sororities and fraternities have houses–or chapters–all over the country. There are sororities and fraternities for everyone: some base membership on major, some on family, and some on whomever wants to join. Most people join the Greek System their freshman year, although some wait until their sophomore year.

People who wish to join the Greek System must undergo a “pledge period”, usually occurring at the beginning of every semester or quarter, where the person who wishes to be a member must undergo intensive activities relating to the sorority or fraternity. Once initiated, the members live together in houses, often sharing rooms, meals and expenses. For many, this is a great alternative to living in dorms.

While it is true that members of the Greek System have a reputation of being wild and unruly, this is not a universal, and membership to these organizations has many benefits, as well. For instance, because most sororities and fraternities have chapters nationwide, membership gives you a vast array of contacts across the country. Also, membership means you will be in constant contacted with like-minded individuals. And finally, many employers look upon membership in a sorority or fraternity favorably upon graduation, as it shows that you can be part of a team.