Why College? Part 5 – Challenging Yourself

When I made the jump from high school to college, it was not a smooth transition. At first, I feared the life change that I was about to make. While my fellow classmates were eager to receive their admissions responses, I was unexcited about them. I didn’t think that I wanted to go to college because of the challenge that it posed. I had lived in my hometown since birth, and had never been away for my family for an extended period before. The first few weeks at college were an emotional challenge. After some time at college, I grew acclimated to the new situation and embraced my newfound freedom. During the rest of my freshman year I learned even more about people, especially myself. When you live and study with a new group of people, you learn an incredible amount. While this knowledge occasionally comes from a stress-laden screaming [...]

For What it’s Worth: The Value of College

As Elizabeth mentioned, February is a month filled with opportunities for budding relationships (college acceptance letters) and heartbreak. (sigh…rejection letters). In some cases, these same letters may force some soon-to-be graduating high schools seniors to revisit a question they once confidently answered months before penning rough draft personal statements. What’s more, the answer to this question may not arrive after one discussion. The question is simple: “What’s the value of a college degree?” Using qualitative and quantitative analysis, Wall Street Journal columnist Sue Shellenbarger attempted to answer that question. Below you will find excerpts from her December 2009 article as well as some great BetterGrads-inspired commentary. Finding work you love. College degrees can guide students’ career choices in subtler ways. Jason Wotman, 24, loves his work as a co-founder of Tailwaiters, a Great Neck, N.Y., startup that runs tailgate parties for clients at sporting events and concerts. “It’s mine, it’s [...]

Making the Grade

Once upon time, Pell Grants, federal loans from the government, were a great asset to help students pay for their college education. However, Kevin Carey, a policy director at Education Sector, a D.C.-based think tank argues that this is no longer the case. In a recent article, he claims Pell Grants are not as beneficial today, given the rising costs of tuition and the lack of any objective, universal statistics to evaluate how well colleges educate students.

Love/Hate Relationships…with college

I caught this “13 Things Students Love to Hate About College” article on the excellent Professors’ Guide page on USNews.com. They pick up on several common complaints that students have in college and I thought I’d offer my two cents on a few that resonated the most with me. 3. My professor is unbelievably boring. What you can do: Drop the course and find another one with a better professor. Every college has its duds, but there’s no reason why you have to get stuck with one. Even if the professor is the only person teaching a required course, there are always possibilities of getting the adviser or the department chair to authorize a substitution for a requirement. Or just wait until the course is next offered, ideally with an instructor who at least makes a minimal effort to keep you awake. Okay, now this is a bit extreme…I didn’t [...]

Thanksgiving Thoughts

As this is my first post-college Thanksgiving, I thought I’d take a quick gander at what I’m most thankful for regarding the past four years. Today, I’m thankful… …for rigorous coursework (most of the time). It wasn’t until I got to graduate school that I realized how hard my professors pushed me—they set high standards for the depth of our critical thinking and the quality of our writing. This may have resulted in some frustrating grades and more than a few lonely late nights in the library, but it made me a better student in the long run. It’s tempting to scope out the “easy” classes or professors, and I definitely did my share of that as well, but I don’t regret taking introductory economics with hardest professor in the department. I may wish I could change that C on my transcript, but I don’t regret the class because I [...]