In the world of admissions, we have reached the point of the year when students are slowly, yet surely, beginning to announce their destinations for college.  As financial aid packages start to roll in and additional campus visits are taken, seniors are coming to realize the respective locations they will call home for the next four years.

This is an exciting time for students and parents alike.  However, before students are able to make any definite decisions, they must first themselves some personal value questions.  These are the sort of questions to which no right or wrong answers exist, yet are extraordinarily important in the overall scheme of college selection.  Questions along these lines include, “Would I prefer to attend school in a small town or big city? “Would I like to attend school close to or far away from home?”  And perhaps most significantly, “Do I prefer to attend a small school or a big school?”

As a society, we’re constantly taught that bigger is always better.  A person is supposed to want the bigger house, bigger car, bigger meal, bigger TV, and so on.  I would posit that the premise is not always true in undergraduate education.  Here is the reality: large, state research universities do a lot of things really well.  Small, liberal arts colleges also do lots of things really well.  The two types of schools offer radically different experiences and tend to excel in strikingly contrasting areas.

Large research universities will always have the most expansive, most up to date libraries.
They will, in many cases, have the advantage in terms of sheer number of faculty members, academic facilities, and major programs.  They will have more places to eat on campus.

Small, liberal arts college can offer a much more personalized academic experience, in which faculty actually interact with undergraduate students.  People in various offices across the campus (e.g. student activities, career development, and academic services), while unquestionably having fewer total resources at their disposal than their large school counterparts, have the ability to invest quality time in each and every student.  Ultimately, students at these small universities matter more.

As I look back on my own college search, I can plainly recall originally being torn about which experience I wanted to invest in.  At some point, in almost imperceptible manner, I came to realize that people at schools like Gardner-Webb were much more personally invested in my success.  As I came for prospective student visits, I noticed that I actually met with university faculty while visiting GWU.  It resonated with me that I, even as a prospective student, could have access to such brilliant minds while students at larger schools often never develop any sort of personal rapport with their professors, even throughout their college years.

Along these lines, I also think it is important to note that the teaching at small, liberal arts colleges is done by PhD-holding faculty members.  These professors are teaching at places like Gardner-Webb, not because they weren’t sought after by larger schools, but because they have acknowledged the refreshingly human reality that they actually enjoy working with undergraduate students.  Professors which matriculate to larger schools often do so in order to focus on their research.  This is why the bulk of the teaching load at such schools is delegated to teaching assistants in their 20’s, who are working their respective ways through graduate study.  The question I encourage students to ask themselves is this: would I rather be taught by someone all of seven years older than me, or would I prefer to be taught someone who has already arrived in the world of academia?  For me, the answer was obvious.

Additionally, small schools encourage the development of personal relationships in ways that are often lost in the shuffle at generic state school X.  This is why Greek life has become such a paramount piece of socializing at large schools- if a student is not part of an athletic team or part of a fraternity/sorority, it becomes painfully easy to become lost in a sea of disinterested individuals.

I feel completely comfortable promising prospective students at Gardner-Webb that if they will come to GWU, buy into what we’re doing and get involved on campus, they will make friends for life.  Lots of colleges talk about the quality of their flashy buildings (although we have our fair share of these as well).  Gardner-Webb faculty and staff like to spend
time bragging on our best commodity: the uncanny collection of quality people that gravitate to our campus year after year.  This reality is why I chose to become part of the Gardner-Webb family in 2007 and why I have been proud to continue to be a part of this family ever since.

Please take these candid thoughts to heart as you consider our original question: “Would I prefer a big school or a small school?”

Merry Christmas from Boiling Springs, NC!  I hope this update finds each one of you
enjoying preparations for a fun-filled Christmas season.  Gardner-Webb kicked off the season of celebration yesterday by issuing over 300 degrees at Fall commencement.  Congratulations to fellow blogger, Jessica Marie Greer, on being named THE most outstanding female graduate.

While very few of you will be spending part of your Christmas break thinking about your plans for college, it may well be an opportune time to consider something broader: the picture of your future.

Each year, our admissions office distributes a significant number (or, “beaucoups” as my colleague John Blalock would say) of bookmarks at college fairs and high school visits.
These bookmarks list the “Top 20 Keys to Successful University Selection.”  The bookmark is our way of encouraging students and parents to create a game plan for picking the right
college.

Number four on the list encourages a student to clearly design the picture of his or her future. This piece of advice is not meant to place undue pressure on 17 year olds to figure out every idiosyncratic detail of what their lives will be like 25 years in the future.  However, it is meant to cause students to give some basic thought to the sort of life they would like to lead in the future.

When presenting this bookmark to students, I ask them to take a minute and visualize some general aspects of their respective futures.  Essentially, I want to ask themselves questions along the lines of: “In general, what sort of career do I want to have?” “What kind of family life would make me happy?” “What sorts of community involvements/activities are important to me?” “What geographic area would I like to live in?”

Invariably, these sorts of ambitions and desires can and will change.  As one media personality once said, “What you’re going to like at 20 is probably not what you’re going
to like at 30.  And what you’re going to like at 30 is probably not what you’re going to like at 40.”  With that said, it is beneficial for graduating seniors to give some consideration to these concepts.   I encourage every prospective student that I meet to be “the captain” of his or her own happiness- to conceptualize some sort of broad picture of what they want out of life and to then have the discipline, character, and drive necessary to arrive at that end.

Christmas vacation is an ideal time for every high school senior reading this to take some time to themselves and consider these questions.  The college experience and
its ripple effects will play a central role in future career, family, and community activities.  Keep this in mind as you weigh various acceptance letters from different colleges and universities.

As a peripheral thought: number six on our list encourages students to find some models of success and to then give credence to what those models have to say.  It is always a prudent notion to draw on the experience of those who have already achieved success and
ask them for advice on how to follow in their footsteps.  For high school seniors, this means taking the time to ask parents, teachers, guidance counselors, pastors, and so on, for advice on how to make a successful university selection.  Asking for advice on what to do once college begins is never a bad idea either.

Again, I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  We here in the admissions office look forward to seeing many more future GWU students on our campus in 2013.

For those of you that have been following this blog for any length of time (as anyone who cares to remain squarely on the “right path” is certain to do), you know that I prefer to tackle some of the big, broad issues that face students in higher education today. This blog is designed to communicate concrete information concerning the ever-mysterious college application process, financial aid, scholarships, SAT preparation, college selection, and the like.

However, in the spirit of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, I thought it would be somewhat appropriate to step back and reflect upon the very simple theme of “Why I Love Gardner-Webb University.”

Allow me to begin by stating clearly that the “perfect” university does not exist any more so than the “perfect” restaurant, movie, or football team does.  I have stated before that I do not subscribe to the notion that one school can be compatible with all of the diverse, idiosyncratic needs of today’s high school population.  In this same vein, I suspect that for each individual student, a myriad of universities exist that would provide a mostly pleasant and productive experience for that student.

With these assertions out of the way, I would now like to affirm with all of the sincerity and conviction that I can possibly employ how much I unequivocally love my alma mater, Gardner-Webb University.  Perhaps this blog is self-serving in some capacity, but I imagine that this sentiment is shared by numerous fellow GWU graduates.

Everybody in life has a tendency to think that they are unique, special, and different.  The bitter reality is, of course, that by definition, not everybody can be unique, special, and different.  The same is true of colleges and universities.  For the most part, just like movies and music, schools are humble members of larger genres.  Many of them are virtually indistinguishable.  Gardner-Webb is the exception that proves the rule.

I first set foot on Gardner-Webb’s campus in the spring of 2006.  And while the temptation to write off a campus so far removed from the innate allure of city life was strong, I decided to be broad minded and entertain the prospect of the happy, unassuming college in Boiling Springs, NC.  Over six years later, I still refer to Gardner-Webb University and the surrounding community as the “modern day Garden of Eden.” The line is meant to illicit laughter, but as always, many truths are said in jest.

At its core, Gardner-Webb offers a quality educational experience in a welcoming environment that is neither secular nor coercive.  On a more personal level, Gardner-Webb represents one of the finest collections of genuinely decent human beings that one is ever likely to come across.  While our catchphrase is no longer, “People Who Care,” the GWU community epitomizes an air of sincerity so rare and refreshing that I think it takes many of our visitors by surprise.

While a student at GWU, more people than I ever could have possibly expected or desired took a personal interest in my success.  They saw to it that they did everything possible to help me conceptualize my hopes and dreams.   Dr. David Yelton (History Professor) could not have been a more effective advisor, mentor, and friend.  Lisa Yerrick (Student Government Association Advisor) spent an inordinate amount of time, often to the detriment of her other duties, to personally invest in both myself and countless others so that we be a positive presence on campus.  Roderick Wood (House keeper) bestowed the sort of pragmatic, invaluable life advice that does not automatically come with a bachelor’s degree.

Undoubtedly, I am sure there are other individuals that feel equally as strongly about their alma mater as I do about mine.  And in an age where the term “American Exceptionalism” is often at the core of political discourse and debates in our country, I am hesitant to argue that one school can be inherently superior to another.  I will merely advance that students who elect to join the Gardner-Webb family are in for an educational, social, and spiritual experience which will, without question, enable them to be uncommon leaders in their families, careers, communities, and churches.  Along the way, they will make friends and memories that will stand the test of time and create the sort of nostalgia that keeps Gardner-Webb graduates coming back for generations.  The buildings may change, but the principles, character, and brand endure.

I once heard a media personality quip that “anything great can be succinctly described.”  Gardner-Webb passes this litmus test of excellence.  In a succinct fashion, Gardner-Webb is a community, a home, and a family.  I am thrilled to be a member of this family and am full of enthusiasm to see the contributions that future generations of Gardner-Webb students will make to our college and to the world.

Happy fall from Boiling Springs, NC!  Travel season has been a busy one thus far, but also extremely fruitful and productive.  It has been a pleasure to meet future GWU students and their families.  I am very much looking forward to the remaining college fairs and high school visits on my itinerary.

In assessing the college fairs I have been to this fall, I am noticing the increasing tendency of students to approach a college’s table and ask the admissions representative to name his or her school’s “best majors.”  Most of my colleagues immediately respond to this question by rattling off the school’s most popular majors (note that very few of these reps clarify to the student that they are merely reciting popularity figures and not actually providing any sort of concrete assessment of a program’s strength).  To this end, I think it is critical that popularity is not necessarily an indicator of strength or merit.

All this raises the question: how does someone measure a program’s strength?
Almost as a matter of biological habit, students will approach an admissions counselor and ask “How’s your (insert any generic major here) program?” Just as invariably, I will hear my colleagues in the admissions profession respond as a matter of course, “Oh its one of our best!”  Now I am not suggesting that the admissions representative in this case is being dishonest; merely, he or she responding in an inadequate manner to an incomplete question.

If a student approaches my table at a college fair, I will be delighted to speak with him or her about any facet of the application process, financial aid procedures, campus life, and the sort of academic and social experience Gardner-Webb has to offer.  As a recent graduate and current employee, I am in a qualified position to offer insight into the basics of the 50 or so majors that we offer.  However, it would be an act of profound arrogance for me (or anyone else) to suggest that one admissions counselor possesses the sort of universal, in-depth knowledge needed to provide a detailed analysis of each major a school offers.

Therefore, here is what I suggest that students and parents consider when it comes to thinking about a school and its specific programs of study.  First, review the overall academic environment a school offers (average class size, faculty to student ratio, percentage of teaching faculty with a PhD or equivalent, classroom technology, etc.).  Then, look at the total number and sort of majors that a school offers.  From this point, evaluate specific programs of interest by reaching out to faculty members who actually teach in that area.

For example, if a student is interested in knowing more about the business school at Gardner-Webb University, we here in the admissions office would be delighted to schedule a meeting with a faculty member and arrange for this student to sit in on some classes (essentially, to take an academic test drive).  This way, the student can experience firsthand a typical class, evaluate faculty strengths and weaknesses, and inquire about what recent graduates are doing with their degrees.

A note to students: When picking a major, pick something that you are passionate about and can excel in.  Do not pick a major the way people so often pick their cars, clothing, and breakfast cereals: by first looking at what is popular.  Ultimately, a major program of study needs to be something that a student can enjoy and can help to prepare the student for a successful and fulfilling career.

I hope that these comments will help steer families in the right direction when making evaluations of colleges and the sort of academic experiences that they offer.  I look forward to blogging again in November.  As always, please remain absolutely cemented on the right path…

First of all, I would like to begin today’s blog by thanking my former classmate, colleague, and friend Ben Perdue for his dedicated to service to Gardner-Webb University.  Ben recently departed GWU in order to take on a different professional opportunity.  His talents and persona will be greatly missed by his students as well as those of us around the GWU admissions office.

Now to the business at hand: the SAT continues to be an integral part of college applications (see previous blog entry, “Why Standardized Tests Matter”).  Perhaps the best evidence of the importance of SAT and ACT performance is held in the growing test-prep industry.  From classes, personal tutoring, and self-help drill books, companies around the country have capitalized on the desire of students to be prepared as possible on the day of their exam.

While I would certainly not want to impugn the validity or effectiveness of these tools, I am prepared to suggest that there are other, more simplistic habits that can be used to significantly improve test performance over time.  One such method is to make a conscious commitment to be constantly reading.  One of the commonalities among students that perform well on the verbal portion of the SAT is their habitual practice of reading for pleasure.  I often suggest that a great place to start is by picking up a daily newspaper.  Not only will students gain a wider perspective on global and national events, they will expand their command of the English language.

In addition to reading a newspaper, high school students would be well-advised to always be working their way through a novel or other book of interest.  Reading classics of American and global literature makes a student more well-rounded and informed.  Additionally, having read a stable of literary classics is outstanding preparation for scholarship interviews and essays that take place during senior year (hopefully in abundance).

The other palpable benefit to voracious reading is that becoming a more frequent, active reader almost always makes one a better writer.  Reading high quality writing will make a student more aware of flow, sentence structure, and organized arguments.  I would go so far as to suggest it’s fairly difficult to become a proficient writer without first being a proficient reader.

Even though it is a cliché to assert that “reading is fundamental,” I hope today’s post will inspire at least one person to pick up a book and enjoy the world of written language.  Diversity among choices is a good way to keep from getting burnt out (I just finished a book about college football recruiting, Bruce Feldman’s Meat Market and am currently re-reading through Joseph Heller’s classic of American fiction, Catch-22).

Until next time, be certain to remain firmly on the right path…

Greetings from all of us here in beautiful downtown Boiling Springs, NC.  I hope and trust that each one of you had a safe and enjoyable holiday season.  We are back in the full swing of things in the undergraduate admissions office.

Today, I would like to present a few salient points about the practical value of a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution.  It is a reality that more and more individuals are going to college, thus creating a larger pool of college grads.  Some analysts have posited that the increased number of college graduates has watered down the economic value of earning a bachelor’s degree.  Certainly some element of truth exists in this basic observation, as more individuals possessing a given commodity certainly would appear to erode its value.

However, Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce has created a study that demonstrates the persisting correlation between earning a bachelor’s degree and achieving some economic stability.  The study identified current unemployment rates of four different groups: college graduates, recent college graduates, high school graduates, and high school dropouts.  Not surprisingly, the study found that college graduates (especially those that have been in the workforce for a longer period of time) have done a much better job of withstanding the economic downturn than have the other groups studied.  Only five percent of such individuals are unemployed, compared with 8.9 percent of recent college graduates, 22.9 percent of high school graduates, and 31.5 percent of high school dropouts.

While these figures do not reflect salary levels, they clearly demonstrate in easily decipherable fashion the necessity of pursuing a bachelor’s degree in order to be as competitive as possible.  As I have stated before on this blog (and will likely say again), a bachelor’s degree is not the Willy Wonka golden ticket to success.  A four-year degree does not guarantee a lucrative lifestyle for years to come; however, it does enable graduates to pursue opportunities that they would otherwise be passed over for.   Notably, the study also found that graduates with a master’s degree have a current unemployment rate of three percent (the most meager of any group in the study).

I will readily concede that the study is produced by a university (a prominent one at that) and that all such universities (including Gardner-Webb) have a vested interest in the proliferation of higher education.  With that said, I firmly believe the findings strongly suggest that a bachelor’s degree, perhaps more than ever before, is a solid investment in a stronger economic future.

You can read more about the referenced study by following this link: http://chronicle.com/article/Unemployment-Varies-by-College/130212/

As always, please feel welcome to send me your comments and questions.  Until next time, be certain to remain firmly on the right path…

Those of you that regularly read this blog have probably noticed that I do not especially enjoy discussing campus cafeteria food, apartment complexes, or intramural sports.  I am not suggesting these things are not meaningful aspects of a student’s day to day college experience, but this blog has sought to be informative on some of the broader issues that go into college decisions.

Without question, one of the most crucial factors in a student’s college choice is money.  In meetings with parents, I often joke that “money makes the world go ‘round.”  Additionally, I have been known to suggest that, while parents are the parties most concerned with higher education financing, they are trailed closely by people that work in admissions.

Let’s start with a few basic observations: higher education is expensive, costs will continue to rise, and the global economic situation is not where everyone would like for it to be.  This hodgepodge of conditions has created increased trepidation among American families to enter into the significant investment that is a Bachelor’s degree.

The best piece of advice that I was ever given by a college professor came from my mentor, advisor, and friend, Dr. David Yelton, professor of history at GWU.  He once told a group of us that a four year degree, while certainly a critical step toward professional success, in no way guaranteed success.  He described undergraduate education as a “ticket to the herd.”   By this, he meant that individuals without a four-year degree will have many avenues of opportunity absolutely shut off, but simply graduating with a Bachelor’s degree did not carry with it the implicit promise of a lucrative lifestyle for years to come.

This sobering advice is something that I try to pass on to students on a daily basis.  Merely earning a college degree is not enough; rather, students need to make the most of every opportunity during their college careers to achieve separation from the competition.  Measures along these lines include maintaining a high GPA, securing internships, developing critical skills, and building a network of connections.  These steps, cemented by earning a Bachelor’s degree, allow young graduates to be competitive in both the job market and in graduate school admissions.

For many families, student loans are a part of financing the higher education experience.  In my dealings with families, I often am troubled by the existence of two extremes in the student loan conversation.  The first extreme can be found in families who have absolutely no qualms with racking up immense levels of debt to the point that the numbers would make any objective analyst tremble.  The second extreme is the polar opposite: families who will absolutely not entertain the possibility of student loans in any form or fashion.  While the second extreme is preferable to the first, neither is necessarily the best approach to the student loan debate.

Fundamentally, a student loan is a gamble on the student.  Candidly speaking, some students are better risks than others.  A student loan is a perfectly legitimate, responsible ingredient of a financial aid package so long as the student understands his or her rights and responsibilities as a borrower, takes out a manageable level of debt, and puts him or herself in a position to be able to pay off the debt in years to come.  For these students, a student loan can be an outstanding investment in the future.

Much has been made about the troubling amount of student debt in this country.  The fears associated with this level of debt are commendable and legitimate.  However, families would be well advised to not “over correct” this national error by shutting out viable student loans.  Many of today’s students benefit from the Department of Education’s Stafford Loan program, which carries with it a six month grace period (allowing the student to be free of payment obligation during the course of his or her studies), and in some cases, subsidized interest (meaning that interest does not accumulate while the student is in school).  For many students, a college degree could well be unattainable without the existence of these programs.

I hope that the preceding thoughts were both helpful and stimulating to today’s dialogue about student loans.  As always, my colleagues and I stand ready to help families navigate the financing of college education.