What college catalogs don't reveal

TownHall.com ^ | Tuesday, April 1, 2003 | by Phyllis Schlafly

[steve-b]

Going over the resume and ... Hmmm, Degree in Women Studies[.] Oh, so you're a lesbian?
Mrs. Schlafly is a Christian and a conservative.

sar·casm särkzm n. 1. A cutting, often ironic remark intended to wound. 2. A form of wit that is marked by the use of sarcastic language and is intended to make its victim the butt of contempt or ridicule. 3. The use of sarcasm.

[B Knotts]

BTW, I took five years, but I also worked almost full-time. I think if I didn't have to work, I could have done it in four.

But, things might have changed in the last few years. I got in just before they started requiring all the diversity crap.

[LWalk18]

I agree about looking at a school's catalog, not only the courses but the required (core) courses for graduation. One caution about college catalogs: about 20% of the courses listed are rarely taught or have not been taught in years. I kept looking for one particular course at registration only to find out it had not been taught in five years.

[Protagoras]

I knew a guy in high school who ended up majoring in womens studies. Go figure.

All of the guys I knew in college studied women, some intimately.

[LWalk18]

When I saw my state university's four year graduation rate was 18%, I balked and went to a private, out of state school. Now I am halfway through grad school and I have friends from my high school class who still have not graduated six years later.

[FreedomPoster]

I managed it in 12 academic quarters (I did take one course once during a co-op quarter), but I'd say that no more than 50% or 60% did it that way.

Pretty cool about your roomie being a Wreck driver. That's a sought-after position.

I did pretty well on both grades and partying, but I had a roommate that was second to none. Literally a 4.0 in Physics (a *really* tough major at Tech), and could drink you under the table, crush beer cans Belushi-like into his head, that sort of thing. LOL! Ah, the memories of a mis-spent youth. ;-)

[Centurion2000]

I knew a guy in high school who ended up majoring in womens studies. Go figure.

Every guy that gets married starts this curriculum when they put on the ring ...

[LWalk18]

Also high school students should take as many Advanced Placement class and the related exams as possible. You can come in a semester or even an entire year ahead, giving you a little breathing room.

[Tribune7]

I have a sophmore in high school.

Consider community colleges. If planned right, most credits taken in a local, inexpensive two-year school will transfer to just about any four-year school including the Ivies.

And the professors work a lot harder.

[July 4th]

I thought this was required of all UW students! The campus was so big, you couldn't make your next class in four years nevermind graduate!

Good one! Not too far from the truth though. Class times in undergrad were 15 minutes apart, but some lecture halls on campus were definitely spaced far enough apart that they couldn't be walked to in that amount of time.

My apartment was near the far east edge of the campus - the last lecture hall on the west end was probably a half-hour's walk away. You definitely had to check the rooms on the timetable to make sure you could make class.

[carton253]

I did the same thing. When I applied, I sat down with the counselor. I had all my classes picked out. He reviewed them... said great... and sent me on my way.

I hope to graduate in three years... the tough part is getting the classes. Two have been cancelled on me due to lack of interest. And, most classes I need are all on Tuesday at the same time.

[applemac_g4]

V's wife,

I'll give you a little background on myself, and then share the conclusions I've reached. I was admitted to Notre Dame and went there straight out of high school turning down a full ride at an in-state university figuring that the name of a well known school on the resume would be worth something. I did graduate in four years with a double major in the early 90's, but I had to finish some credits in the summer to pull it off. After working for a while, I'm back at school (this time at a small local private college with around 2000 students) a few miles down the road from where I live to pick up some credits before applying to grad school. If I had to do it all over again, I would have come here to earn my bachelors and skipped Notre Dame altogether.

Speaking as someone who has done it, I would strongly advise against turning down a full ride at one school to go to another school where I had to pay tuition. Four-year degrees are simply too numerous these days to have much value without going to grad school, and while brand name universities make a lot of grandiose claims, they are awfully hard to quantify. I suppose that if I was interested in a career in politics, law, or finance in the northeast corridor, I'd try and go to Harvard or Yale...but that would be more for the contacts that I could develop while there. There's nothing about the educational experience at those schools that makes them worth choosing. Also, grade inflation in the nonsciences is known to be widespread at the undergraduate level and so GPA has become a sort of absolute measure of performance that exists apart from the name on your sheepskin.

My advice would be to pick a smaller, rural university at the division II or III level. For the most part, high profile and very large universities should be avoided for undergraduate work. Classes at smaller schools are taught by real professors speaking English, not foreign grad assistants who don't have a handle on the language. If you need questions answered outside of class, finding the professor during office hours isn't a problem. The administrations of most small schools are much better at customer service than those at large universities, and classes aren't difficult to get into.

When it comes to evaluating the political leanings of schools, there's a college guide out that helps quite a bit. I don't recall it's name, but I believe that Bill Bennett is the author. I'd find it and read it. When I refer to small vs. large schools here, consider an arbitrary cutoff of around 5,000 students as the number i use to differntiate the two.

Finally, there are other things to consider: which school is going to have better housing facilities? Since your son is going to be in NROTC, which program's officers does he seem to get along with better? Which school is closer to home? Since it's likely that he is going to meet the woman he ends up marrying during his college years, what is the male/female ratio at the school? What sorts of kids go there (working class, spoiled brats, etc)? How big a role do fraternities and sororities play in campus life (for instance, at Duke, they dominate campus social life...one of my reasons for turning down that school...)?

Good luck as you make your decision.

[kidd]

Consider community colleges

Not a bad idea at all really.

[newgeezer]

If I neglected to jump to an irrational conclusion based on nonexistent evidence -- no emoticon or other indication was presented (e.g. I always end mine with "</sarcasm>") -- I forgive myself.

[G L Tirebiter]

I wonder if the 8 womyn's studies grads that reported no personal income were, heaven forbid, married stay-at-home wives?

[PBRSTREETGANG]

So at the University of Wisconsin you don't really have to interact with black students? You just photoshop them into your pictures once you graduate?

[LibertarianLiz]

A tough choice is when kids are serious about music and an academic major, e.g. BM Music Performance/BA Mathematics or even English or History. It's almost impossible to do that in four years.

My daughter is at IU Bloomington studying Music Performance (oboe), and it is tough to do almost anything else when you are majoring in Music Performance.

She is expected to be doing 3 hours of practice per day, and that is the minimum. This is done outside your regular class time. Then there are the rehearsals for the orchestra/band you are playing with, additional rehearsals for ensembles, time needed for reed making, the Master Classes (which are also at night). Then, you get to do your regular classes. I never realized how much time and effort goes into training as a classical musician; but, it is your life with little time left for anything else.

She had thought about a double major, but nixed that idea when she learned about all the other time-consuming activities were involved in this course of study. She is getting a French minor. Something that helped a lot, though, was taking AP and college credit courses in H.S.

[ventana]

Well, since you're mac based, I am going to have to seriously consider your suggestions!:) You make good points about the housing and kind of kids. I am unclear about what you mean about the ROTC officers? V's wife.

[Incorrigible]

 

Bucky's a racist badger!

[PeterPrinciple]

College publications brag about their women's studies departments, but they fail to warn students that there are few job opportunities for those with a degree or a concentration in women's studies, except at the declining feminist organizations and their nonprofit bureaucracies.

Don't you just love capitalism..........the market place at work.