Ranking the U.S. College Rankings

I was just reading an article this morning about women's professional tennis and the flaws in its ranking system. I also see weekly reviews often at this time of the year when different people are giving their opinion about the various ranking systems in college football. There are computer programs that use data analysis; there are coaches votes; there are win/loss and strength-of-schedule ranking systems . . . indeed, there are different ranking systems based on the weight of each different criteria that is ranked. Honestly, I find it to be a bit of overkill. So how do the U.S. College Ranking systems work? Which U.S. College Ranking organization is most reliable?

So this is the most important thing to remember before you read any further: if a school makes you happy and the education that you are getting is of value to you, you should not be too concerned or caught up in where, exactly, that school lands in any of the number of U.S. College Ranking lists. So, with that out of the way, let's cut to the chase about these dubious (and multitudinous) U.S. College Rankings.

Are they (U.S. College Rankings) legitimate for the quality of academics that are available at each school for every single person? No.

Do they have any necessary influence on how much money you will be earning when you graduate? Not really. Look, if you're going to be a high school math teacher in Arkansas coming straight out of Harvard versus Arkansas State, you're making the same salary. If you're graduating with a degree in business, try to go to a school that has a strong alumni network and is near or in a city with booming industry. But don't make your choice on college based on what you HOPE will be your future career earnings. Things like this, when revealed to rationale people, just make you sound like a pompous fool.

Back to the U.S. College Rankings.

Will you be happier at a school which is ranked 20th in "level of student satisfaction" than you would be at a school ranked 30th in the same category? Not necessarily.

Can you find someone at every school in this fair nation who thinks that their school is the best school there is? Probably.

Can you find someone who thinks that their school is the worst? Almost without a doubt.

Certain aspects, which I think can be glaring, are not factored in to many of the U.S. College Rankings, such as student suicide rate, student exercise rate, and alumni involvement (no, I don't mean JUST financial donations- there are other ways to serve your institution). I also believe strongly that whereas the quality and diversity of food was extremely important in my college selection, some people just don't have such a refined palate. And where Greek life might have played a significant role in your selection of college/university, for me it did not. But these are both areas which are tucked away and given a very arbitrary amount of weight in the College Ranking process. For some, however, they deserve more or less mention than they do get.

One of the major points of the U.S. College Rankings has to do with the number of faculty on a campus, and the number of those faculty who hold what are considered "terminal degrees". A terminal degree is the highest degree that a person in that specialty can achieve. So, in English literature, the terminal degree would be a Ph.D. However in a field such as creative writing and poetry, it might be an M.F.A. (Master of Fine Arts). So, when we read that 98% of a universities faculty hold terminal degrees, that's all well and good. However, some of the best teaching, many would argue, has come from those who do not have the terminal degree or maybe they're pursuing it. Perhaps they enjoyed the teaching aspect and not so much the research necessary for finishing a doctoral program. Who am I to say? But I do know that the rankings think that they can judge that and while it MAY be true in some cases, it is certainly not true in all.

If there is anything that U.S. College Rankings have done is that they have increased the hype for a small pocket of elite schools across this country. This has been, essentially, a self-fulfilling prophecy for those schools because when an alumni sees his/her school around the top of a U.S. College Ranking list, the swelling of pride might just induce a monetary donation. That monetary donation can be one small step in actually raising the profile and ranking of said university even more, which then makes even more alumni swell with pride and donate, as they believe the value of their degree is also being enhanced by this ranking. Be aware supportive elite-university alumni. A recent article had a very interesting point to make:

http://chronicle.com/article/Think-Tank-The-Veritas/48590/

I don't know if I have actually made any significant progress towards a conclusion on whether or not U.S. College Rankings are beneficial or harmful to our system of higher education. So, in summary, I would say that while there is certainly some validity to ranking categories like "class sizes", "average incoming gpa" and "graduation rate", because these are statistics that should be known and available to all students who are researching prospective schools, do any of these mean that YOU will be more or less successful at a top-ranked school versus a school ranked somewhere in the ambiguous folds of the pages of some U.S. College Ranking magazine? No.

And in response to the question regarding WHICH U.S. College Ranking system is most reliable? Well, the answer is simple, of course: Your college ranking system is most reliable! Visit a campus, call the admissions office, read about it on the website, chat with students who go there, etc . . . Are we really becoming such passive thinkers that we have to just rely on what information other people give us? No. We are smarter than this.

Please don't think that way. Or soon, you, too, will begin to sound like a bit of a pompous fool.

If YOUR college ranking system fails you, contact me. I am never one to hold back on this topic.

As always, thanks for reading and don't hesitate to email me if you need help deciding whether you should apply to Harvard or Arkansas State--or both.

California's In Crisis. Is The Education System In Crisis Also?

First of all, let me be very specific about one factor: many of the very quality private schools in California have weathered the economic storm quite well. Their endowments shrunk, of course, but they remain in a fairly healthy financial condition. It’s the public schools that I’m referring to here. At the moment there are nine University of California (UC) campuses- the research-intensive branch of the California public higher education system and twenty-three of the California State University campuses (CSU). The major differences are few, but the minor differences are many. The level of academics tends to be more competitive at the UC campuses because more full-time students who are on a more academic track with the idea of graduate school, professional school and/or research on their minds. Keeping in mind that public higher education in California is paid for by the citizens of California and thus, there to serve the residents of California. This is why in-state tuition is less than out-of-state tuition, as an example.

There have been many items tossed around the proverbial table with regard to the state of the system. Everything from shutting down the newest campuses in both the CSU and UC branches, to a fee increase to offset some of the costs, has been proposed. The thing that most people have to understand, first and foremost, is that the cost of educating a student at even the most expensive university in America is higher than the cost of full-tuition. In other words, if tuition at George Washington University is $45,000 per year, the actual cost of the education is closer to $65,000 once you take into consideration all of the academic advising, career support services, tutoring, mentoring, student life opportunities, etc . . . The cost of a university education is fair in many ways. But public universities are in a very different league.

Most public universities are slaves to the annual budget of their respective state. For the majority of the top publics in the country, this has not been terribly harmful as the state continues to fund a significant portion of the university. For California though, that is not the case. California has continued to decrease its support, funding, research monies and expansion investment dollars. The pace of growth in qualified kids who should be guaranteed spots within the system is much faster than that which the system can grow.

California Students:
So how does this play into the opportunity for one to gain admission into UC Berkeley or UCLA or UC Davis or UC Santa Barbara, to name a few? If you’re in California, your chances are slightly worse than years past. In a nutshell, a student must graduate in the top 10% of their high school class, still earn solid SAT/ACT scores and be a stellar candidate. The likelihood that a student with great credentials, graduating from a California high school, will be admitted to a UC is high. The likelihood that it is the student’s top-choice campus is not so high.

International Students:
The admission process for this group of students is going to remain as competitive as it has always been. The California system will not be cutting a significant number of their international student “slots” because this is where they gain some of their greatest diversity: those coming in from Africa, Europe, Asia and Latin America will only see their probability go down if the number of International applicants rises. Otherwise, the percentage of students on each campus who are admitted from out of the country will be steady.

Non-California Domestic Students:
This will be the biggest single group affected by the admission numbers as the only significant percentage drop in UC and CSU admissions will be coming from those students who are graduating from high schools out-of-state. However, due to cut back enrollment numbers on all campuses and increasing percentages of in-state students for admission, the domestic, out-of-state students will suffer greatly. Couple this with the fact that application numbers continue to rise every year for the various UC and CSU campuses (and the obvious cutback in admitted numbers) and it’s going to be a tough road for those students who are outside of California, but domestic nonetheless.

Overall, my recommendation is, like everything else, be very careful and thoughtful about how you will present yourself as an applicant. Unless your scores are phenomenal and your math and science curriculum is really the absolute most competitive, DON’T apply engineering or math and science. You’re competing against the best of the best in not only the UC and CSU systems, but the world! You’re competing against those students from around the country who have perfect scores, IB and AP classes, near-perfect and perfect SAT II’s, etc . . .

I hope this is helpful for those who have been struggling with how and where to apply in California. Good luck and, as always, thanks for reading.

The Importance of Reading and Writing

Greetings!
With the beginning of a new year it seems as though there has been an inundation of discussion and discourse on the topic of young people and reading. I am always intrigued by the topic as it is one area where, I am sure, our schools are failing-- and thus, creating a vicious cycle which will only weaken our social system, from the work-force and economy to the leaders we create for political and industry leadership.
Bottom line: for some reason there is a large percentage of students who think that it is okay to NOT read. With great sadness I believe that this is a group of young people who will, many of them at least, look back in retrospect on their teenage years and wish they would have had a book in their hands. Or, perhaps, their ignorance won't permit that. Regardless, it seems that the subject has been appearing quite often in the headlines. Some of the better articles that I have seen are linked below:

Each of the short essays is on a different aspect of importance in the educational journey of young people, written wonderfully by a long-term professor at one of a number of distinguished institutions. I implore you to read them all (which would take, perhaps, 15 minutes). But if you have to choose just one, I recommend the brief essay, Off-Campus Life. However, they're EACH wonderful.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/opinion/06collegeadvice.html?em

This is a wonderful post by Stanley Fish (who also had the first short essay in the above link). The problem that occurs- and that which Fish points out- is that the lack of reading does not just affect the student. The obvious lack of reading carries over into his/her writing, verbal communication, vocabulary, effect on others, all-around competency, etc . . .  I believe it's something that needs to be taken very seriously. Fish follows up on this post with 2 more posts on the same topic, eloquently titled "What Should Colleges Teach part 2 and part 3).
http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/what-should-colleges-teach/

This was just a very interesting post which highlighted the different sides of the debate on whether or not summer reading is healthy. Bottom line: OF COURSE summer reading is healthy. What would be unhealthy about reading? Ever? There's something inherently sad about the fact that this is even up for debate. See for yourself. But I think that giving the students a summer off of reading as if we are treating it like a chore and not a pleasure, is the worst example of reinforcement I could imagine.
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/the-crush-of-summer-homework/?scp=2&sq=lack%20of%20reading%20skills&st=cse

I recently asked a good friend, who is a Professor of English, whether she has experienced these issues since she began teaching over 10 years ago. Her response was simple: She told me that she 'cannot take the time to revise papers as she used to because, although the university continues to boast higher admission standards and "more intelligent" incoming classes each year (higher SAT/ACT scores and GPA's), her students demonstrate a lower level of understanding of how to form a sentence, let alone a decent argument.' In other words, we are sending our students off to college-- they are graduating from our high schools-- without the ability to write a thesis statement and supporting ideas.

Reflect on this and think about the last time you read a student's writing and were impressed. Let us not lower our standards.

Thanks for reading. I always love hearing from my readers so please do keep your emails coming.

The Education Cycle Begins; The Calendar is Packed

At this time of each year I am usually so eager to get started with school and testing and the college application process that I begin to scare my students. Apparently not all of them are quite as enthusiastic about the beginning of a new school year as I am. Perhaps it's just the end of a summer that they mourn. Either way, big things are always happening. Although this summer has seen us away from our usual stomping ground for more days than we care to recall, the number and geographic location of campus visits has really been wonderful. From the three major New Orleans schools to University of Washington, Seattle University and University of Puget Sound all in the Seattle Metro area, to California State Universities and several private colleges elsewhere on the west coast, this summer has been a whirlwind.
If I have learned anything, it's the importance of campus visits. These universities are always changing so much and there are always such great ideas and collaborations going on around a campus community that make visiting and walking around, even if it's just for an hour, an experience that is well worth the trip. Visiting even the smallest school, one can discover big ideas. With that said, this year will have a great emphasis on college tours. Not only do so many seniors desperately need to see the campuses which they are applying to, but it's time that the juniors and sophomores start opening their eyes, too. These school years always blow by much faster than most think they will and without proper planning, most people will never remember to emphasize a college visit until it is too hectic and a bit too late. Trust me, I see families cramming campus tours during the school year, on a three-day weekend, when their senior is in the middle of the college application process and busy with school, extra-curriculars, etc . . . So, if you're interested in learning more about the trips planned for this year, just let us know. There will be some great opportunities for everyone.
Other than that, with the new year here for many, and just on the horizon for others, my advice is the same as always: stay aware and read a lot. Don't fall behind at the beginning because it's just too hard to catch yourself up. As usual, for those who are going through the college application process now, continue to be in touch with me. I have had some very interesting contacts from students both in the U.S. and as far away as Asia this summer who are looking for guidance. It makes me realize how difficult so much of this process can be and how few advocates there are out there for these kids. I am so happy and proud to be doing what I do and working with the families that I get to work with. Thanks for reading.

Road Tripping

Well, it's been a little while since I've had a chance to write a new post. But at the moment I'm sitting in a small cafe in Marianna, FL, where the big attraction is the Florida Caverns State Park. Yesterday brought us to Tallahassee, where we stopped to walk around the campus a bit and the downtown, had a bite to eat at a great little place called Andrew's 228 and was fortunate enough to have both a hostess and a waiter who were both more than happy to share their tales of undergraduate experience at FSU with us. Later today, we will be at University of West Florida in Pensacola which should be a wonderful experience, minus the fact that it could be a ghost town as summer programs are not a huge draw for most students who attend UWF. After that it's on to New Orleans to visit U New Orleans and Tulane-- and to have a little r and r. We're really looking forward to every stop on the trip as the drive through North Florida has been beautiful and if I remember correctly, it stays like that the whole way through. The website is nearing completion: www.findabetterU.com. This is exciting. I am pleased with it so far. Some of the text needs to be edited, but all-in-all, it's a big step up. All my best and thanks for reading.
Cheers,
Brady

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Existentialism Anyone?

Is this what makes small, liberal arts colleges which create a greater personal experience for their student body, worth the often-higher tuition?

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/09/16/why_are_we_here/

As the senior year celebrations are being planned, don't forget to stay focused on the purpose of those long, beautiful summers: to give our brains the chance to recover by taking part in intellectual activities that are NOT available through traditional schooling. Compile your summer movie list, grab your summer reading books, equip yourself with a journal and try your hand at poetry, prose or song-writing. Don't just get stale and sunburned.
Write to me if you're doing something exciting over the summer or have plans (or need advice) that could be interesting and unique. I'd love to hear from you.

NYTimes.com: Swimming Without a Suit

This page was sent to you by:  brady.norvall@gmail.com

Message from sender:
I think this really gives an idea, through statistics, at least, of how badly our traditional high school system has failed us. Let's hope it's not too late to reverse the damage. I stand firm on my belief that high school should be only 3 years long with shorter breaks in the summer (or mandatory summer programs), so the minds work year round! Happy reading . . .

OPINION   | April 22, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist:  Swimming Without a Suit
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
America needs to invest money and energy into schools with a sense of urgency that the economic and moral stakes demand.