Okay, guys I'm looking forward to commenting on your preliminary lists. But a brief detour.
I think all of you probably wonder if you should go to the college 'down the road' a bit from your home.Of course there are advantages to going to college within, say, 300 miles of your home. Easier to get home for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other holidays.But remember I think going to a college should be like moving to a new 'hometown.' You need to be part of a community.You need to adjust to a community, a new community where you might just know 2 or3 people if that many. Part of anyones education to adapting to new surroundings and new friends.You can also make yourself over. If, for example, you were the class cut up in high school you can make yourself over about any way you please if you are in a new community.
So sure, come home at Christmas. But if you come home every weekend or on all 'holidays' then you might lose a great opportunity to have new experiences.College is a learning experience beyond just hearing lectures.
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Mr Haynes
ReplyDeleteSeveral of us have been looking at the book that has the profiles of college.You learn a lot especially if you also look at a schools site on the net.But we are a little confused about the SAT and ACT scores of the freshmen at a school. Could you help us?
Todd
Todd and friends:
ReplyDeleteBefore I explain what the numbers mean, let me make a broader comment about a key point in deciding what college to attend.
There is a common error that many students and parents make.Some students feel they should go to the most selective, prestigious school they can POSSIBLY be accepted at. Big BIG mistake.
In the last century when I graduated from highschool, Jim C.was a classmate of mine. We were not close friends, but, at least, friends.When it came time to college shop,Jim, well maybe his mother,only look at one school---Yale.Most of us knew Jim was good in academics,but not Yale's standards. But Jim and his mother fought on.His classmates didn't know how, but someway he was accepted by Yale.And when he got to Yale, he had to have tutors to survive.I don't believe he graduated from Yale.
So my point: I call it the floor and ceiling rule: Go to a school that has plenty of students 'above' you in terms of academic abilities as shown by test scores(poor criteria, to be sure, but that's the game.)These high acheivers will be a challenge you can strive for.But you need a 'floor'of students probably 'below'you in academic skills. These 'floor' students give you some security that you can do pretty well at that school.
O.K. Rule of thumb: try to select a college where you are somewhere in the middle range of the students at the school.The 'celing'and the 'floor.'
I know the above suggestions may seem crude,but I have worked with students who have been burned by going to a school that fails to challenge the student, and, on the contrary,gone to a school,Like Jim C.did where the competition almost assures you are a in a little over your head.Think about it.