CollegeReflections.com

In a previous article I talked about some of the advantages of schools that are not considered top-tier. One of the major advantages I cited was the ability to graduate debt free or very close to it. After a few recent emails, I now stand corrected.

Stanford has recently announced that for families with an income of under $100,000 students would not pay tuition. For families with an income of under $60,000 students would not be required to pay either tuition or room and board. This is only the latest in a number of Ivy League and top-tier universities sweetening their financial aid packages for lower and middle class kids who might otherwise apply to and choose quality state universities. Many major papers and magazines have been covering this trend as you can read here in the New York Times and Newsweek.

I am a huge proponent of the Greek system. Let me state that right away. I am a member of the largest, most respected fraternity on my campus and I’ve never once regretted my choice to join. But in this article I will try to be a little more objective about what considerations a new freshman to college needs to make when considering rushing and then pledging a fraternity.

1. Go To Class.
This is by far the most crucial key to college and the one most often neglected by those that don’t make it. If you will simply go to class I believe that in most majors you will find it difficult not to pass. Many freshmen have this sudden newfound freedom and are not sure how to deal with it. They go out to much, sleep to late and forget how to go to class without someone waking them up each morning. Erratic schedules and start times increase this problem. Going to class makes the amount of studying you need to do drastically less. I find if I just show up to class and avoid the crossword puzzle and sleeping, then my study time drops by half. Going to class is also the easiest way to earn teacher goodwill. Sometimes you need a hint on your homework, some information before the test, or the extra five points to pull out you’re A on the final. Teacher goodwill can be the difference between letter grades.

I thought many college students would appreciate this YouTube video I came across. It’s called a vision of students today.

When is it to late to change your major? This question or a variation of it is something I hear frequently. And of course, the answer is never that simple. So let’s walk through some of the considerations in when to change your major.

In my opinion, there are 2 major issues to consider when changing your major:
1. What can you do with your current one?
2. Do you know what you want to do instead?

If you are pre-med (biology, chemistry, etc…) and you decide you hate everything about medicine, then you have little choice but to change your major, regardless of whether it is year 1 or year 4.

Today I thought I would address a few of the issues that come to mind when choosing a college major. While your major does not necessarily determine exactly what you will do with your life, it certainly is a distinct indicator. While this article may not be helpful for the freshman that has wanted to be a vet since she was 5 or has a life-long passion for teaching, I believe that this may help the bulk of college freshman put some framework on their thoughts on choosing a major.
First I would like to note that there are 2 areas to choose between at your typical college: liberal arts and everything else. If you choose liberal arts then you are going to have a lot more time to find your exact major because there will be tons of prerequisites within the liberal arts college before you have to specialize. The second option of “everything else” includes all the fields that require a more distinct choice immediately. These would include engineering, pre-med, architecture or business. Also note that there is a lot of room to maneuver within these areas such as business (marketing, finance, accounting) or engineering (civil, electrical, bio-medical). I know when I began college I had an image in my head that you had two years of basics before you even had to begin figuring out what you want to do. While this may be true of the exact major (finance or electrical engineering) it is not true of the general area of study (business or engineering). Every semester I wasn’t taking classes in the business college put me behind.

After thinking about all the reasons to choose a college, I decided I should also mention some of the factors that are important NOT to use in choosing a college. These factors are things that I thought about when I tried to decide where to go to school. Luckily I had people around me who helped me put things in perspective and I avoided choosing my college based upon number #2 (best decision of my life). I have many friends who did use these factors to choose their college and every single one of them regrets it. Here are my 4 reasons NOT to choose a college or university.

One of the most life changing decisions you will ever make is choosing where you will attend college. The university you attend will help mold your mind over your time there. It is the place you will hopefully find what you want to do with the rest of your life. In college you will probably make many of your life-long friendships and many will find their spouses at college. Below I try to go through some of the factors that I considered before making my final choice of colleges.