College Decision Time

With entrance letters arriving in the mail, this is the time of year when high school seniors quit biting their fingernails and commit.
So, how do you know which school is right for you?
Here are some of the questions we asked as we visited colleges when it came time for our daughters to choose their school:
How does this college help students establish themselves in the professional world?
What kind of internships do you offer? Do they pay money? Courtesy internships are okay, but the better internships are when the business sees the college student as a valuable asset and a potential future employee. Those pay money, usually minimum wage.
What international experience do you offer? How well do US students interface with international students on this campus? Experiencing other cultures allows the young person the opportunity to appreciate the foresight our founding fathers demonstrated and to recognize the vast cultural nuances that exist.
Which departments in your school get the most attention (usually translated biggest budget or most students)? Sometimes, however, the most overlooked program offers the most flexibility and personal fit because they are recruiting, for example some of the liberal arts programs at A&M.
What Master’s Degrees do you offer? Can I overlap my senior year with the first year of my Master’s?
Can you tell me the names of who to contact in the administration about financial aid or housing? Always get information, particularly names.
Your school has great resources on campus, for example television stations, newspapers, and stage productions, but do students have to be at the postgraduate level before they really get to participate? This is a huge issue when you get to big state schools like UT Austin, who dazzle incoming freshmen with their resources, but fail to mention that undergraduates rarely get responsibilities.
If you really want hands-on education and the biggest bang for your buck, it is hard to beat the junior colleges in our area.
Sending your child to junior college for two years slices the cost almost exactly in half, if your child lives at home. There are other advantages.
I understand that the junior college option is not for everyone.
However, I have noticed that some folks tend to overlook junior college in the planning and deciding process, at least until their kid goes off to college and then returns home because something didn’t work out. Coming home to figure it out, is just another reason to be thankful for all the good options we have in our area.
Whatever you decide about college, best wishes on your continued success. If you feel like passing along any helpful hints to next year’s class, I’d love to hear from you.

Cathy Primer Krafve, aka Checklist Charlie, was educated in Longhorn territory, but finds herself outnumbered now by Apaches and Eagles. Comments are welcome at CaeKrafve2@aol.com.