What College Should you Attend?

Attend The College

For many people, choosing a college course, or even which college they should attend, is the first major decision that they will make on their own. For years they had been told what to do, following nationally mandated curriculums or obeying parents’ rules. Suddenly, they’re told that they not only can choose what they want, but that they have dozens, even hundreds, of options. That can be a pretty scary decision. Here are some ways to help you narrow down your list of colleges.

The first step you can take is…towards the library. Or even the biggest library in the world, the Internet. Find out as much as you can about a school’s history, the thrust of its curriculum, the number of people in each class, and the teaching methods it employs. You can also google for alumni of the school, or search for awards or citations that the school has received.

You can print the school’s materials (the web pages itself or any pdf documents it may have) or collect brochures from the library. Another great source of information is the school guidance counselor.
The second step is organizing the material. It’s much better to keep your information in one place, like an expandable folder or a box of folders. Assign one folder or divider per school, so that you have a handy reference point when you go on a campus tour.

The third step is to get a first hand, personal idea of how a school works. Remember that marketing materials are still geared towards “selling” the idea of going to a school. Naturally they would build the hype, and smooth over the negatives. And much of the information is simply too general—just because something works for another person, doesn’t mean it’ll work for you.

To get this complete picture, you should ideally go on a campus tour of the top three schools you feel that you are most likely to be accepted in, and which you can see yourself attending. And when you do go on the tour, don’t just passively wander around the school grounds. Do your best to meet as many people as you can, from teachers to janitors to the students sitting on the library steps.

UniversityPreparation.com : Administrator 6:14 am : Comments (0) :

The Search for an Online University

Aah, if finding the best online university were only as simple as googling it! Unfortunately, web spiders can find the online schools (and there are thousands) but they can’t tell you which ones are actually good. Search engine ranking does not equal academic ranking. So how do you separate the qualified schools from the quacks?

There are several factors to consider before deciding which school to invest your money and your time in. The first, naturally, is the university’s regional accreditation. You would never go to a lawyer who had never passed his bar exam, would you? Nor would you see a doctor whose credits are limited to reading “Medicine for Dummies.”

In much the same way you should check if the school’s curriculum, teaching method and overall quality of education has met the standards and requirements of your country’s educational board, and that they have been given the proper accreditation. It doesn’t matter if a school is cheap—if it’s not going to be recognized by other schools, or will generally send you useless material and provide unreliable service, then you have thrown that money away.

Aside from verifying whether or not a college has been accredited, you also have to weigh which program is better. “Better” is relative; some schools have specialized in some courses. They are good at that particular field, and noticeably weak in others. You should also look at the quality of the faculty. How many years of experience have they had in that area? Do they have teaching credits? Are they available to he students and actively participate in discussion groups or consultations, or are they difficult to contact?

This doesn’t mean to belittle the issue of cost. Naturally you need to stick to a budget, and if a school is too expensive, then you may find yourself struggling more on paying the bills than actually studying. Luckily online education is, by nature, less expensive than traditional programs. And you can enjoy a flexibility of study hours that lets you continue to work at the same time. You can also get a student loan.

UniversityPreparation.com : Administrator 6:11 am : Comments (0) :

The Study Habit

Study Habit

Today’s university students are lucky. They have, at their disposal, a huge library of books, the Internet, online discussion groups that let you brainstorm with classmates in the middle of the night.

However, there is no substitute for good old-fashioned hard work. There is no gadget that is more effective than simple human discipline and determination. Unfortunately many students fail in this regard. They have no study habits, and the independence of the college environment make it even more difficult to “obey” a rule when there is nothing except their own willpower to enforce it.

The secret is concentration. Without this valuable still, it becomes near-impossible to master any subject matter despite reading the text book over and over again. Thoughts wander, your attention distracted by phones, TV, your nails. Get to business. You have to clear your head of any other non related thoughts, and get into “the zone” where only you and what you are reading matter. Yes, sometimes it helps to be “narrow minded” if it means narrowing your focus to what you are studying!

You will also need to set up your own study area, preferably in an area where won’t be any people moving around and talking in the vicinity. Sometimes a small thing like moving where your desk faces—so your back is to the noise, and you’ll face a blank wall—can make a difference. You can also get an answering machine so that you won’t hear the phone ringer, or if you’ve got a chatterbox roommate, playing instrumental music on your iPod to drown out her conversations on the phone.

Also work around your body clock. Look at your natural patterns of activity. Ahen are you more energetic and alert? What time of the day are you able to get things done really quickly? If you can work for long bursts during the early morning, then take a nap after dinner and wake up at one. You’ll get more done than if you forced yourself to study during the evenings.

It’s best to take breaks instead of forcing yourself to study for long chunks of time, where your concentration dips. Schedule 10 minute breaks.

UniversityPreparation.com : Administrator 6:09 am : Comments (0) :

Slick Theme Chooser

Archives

Stuff

28-01-2006

What College Should you Attend?

The Search for an Online University

The Study Habit