The best time to dig deep into a college's culture is after you've determined that the college meets your academic and financial and practical needs, and you've visited once. When you're ready to put together your final list of eight to ten colleges that meet all of your basic criteria, you need to further evaluate your chances for success at them:
1. Read about the college‟s mission statement, strategic plan, and President‟s message on the web site. Ask to see the most recent student satisfaction survey, which should be on file in the President's office.
2. Don't assume that a college that is affiliated with a religious institution will express that heritage in daily campus life. The influence of that institution may or may not be dominant on campus.
3. Ask the tour guide and college representatives about the social tone, campus culture (or campus climate) and to provide examples of how they experience it.
4. Visit your final choice colleges a second time, after you‟ve been accepted, but before you accept the financial aid offer. On this visit:
- Pay attention to verbiage used in event posters, student newspapers and presentations. And ask random students on campus for their opinion about the campus climate.
- Take advantage of overnight stay programs that are commonly offered by the Admissions Department.
- Have your child visit or call the residence halls, explaining that he/she is a prospective student and ask the same questions that you asked of the tour guides and official representatives.
5. To fully understand how diversity and collaborative learning impacts daily campus life, take the extra effort to interview faculty members (especially those in your child‟s field of study). Be sure to ask for specific examples or data about the following questions:
- How does the institution encourage activities where students from different backgrounds meet and work together? Ask for examples where the activities impacted the majority of students, not just members of club or academic program.
- How often do students work in teams to complete assignments, solve problems or apply course content?
- How frequently do students engage in service learning or take part in community-based projects to fulfill class requirements?
- How many students collaborate on research with faculty members?
- How many interdisciplinary courses are offered? Are they open to all students?
- How many students are involved with living and learning communities? How is the faculty involved with these communities?
7. Since retention and graduation rates are correlated with student satisfaction, look them up on the College Board College Matchmaker, or other, college search engine, and compare your final choice colleges.
8. Consult student-written guides and forums about campus life, which are available for selected campuses. The most popular guides are:
“The Insider‟s Guide to The Colleges,” The Yale Daily News
“Students‟ Guide to Colleges”, The Penguin Group
“The Big Book of Colleges”, College Prowler
Visit online forums, where you can read comments and pose questions to experienced parents and students:
www.collegeconfidential.com
www.campusdirt.com
9. You may want to have a discussion with your child about the importance of campus diversity and culture to his or her happiness as a student. But don‟t expect tremendous insight. Your child‟s personality is still in a formative stage and he or she has a limited worldview.
10. Resist the urge to judge the campus morals and values, superficially. What you think is best for your child might not, in fact, be best. Listen beyond what your child says about a campus. He or she wants to please you and may be telling you what you want to hear. Look for signs of genuine enthusiasm.
My mission is to empower youth with: - The knowledge about career possibilities, and the education and training needed to attain them - The creative-thinking and emotional skills that make for good career decisions and which employers prefer; - And the resilience needed to flourish in life.
