Questions to Ask
Like any important decision, selecting a college starts with research. Make a list of issues you'd like to investigate.
Here's a start...
- Is the first year viewed as a special experience? What type of orientation is provided to introduce a newcomer to campus life?
- Does the faculty engage in student advising or is this function relegated to staff? Are the members of the faculty available to talk to first-year students about their academic disciplines and provide career guidance?
- What is the student retention rate? Does the college have a program to identify students having trouble and programs in place to help struggling students?
- Given the centrality of effective reading and writing skills to the workplace, how does the institution develop oral and written communication?
- Does the college have a coherent general education sequence -- often referred to as a core curriculum -- that students take in addition to study in a major subject?
- Is good teaching valued at this institution and used as an important criterion for tenure and promotion? Is superior teaching rewarded in some way? Even if not all professors are publishing researchers, are all professors encouraged to be scholars, remaining at the top of their disciplines?
- Does the college support faculty renewal and professional growth? Does the college offer a program to improve teaching?
- How extensively does the college rely on part-time or adjunct faculty? On graduate teaching assistants? How much exposure to the most gifted and respected faculty members will students have in the first two years (lower division) of their college education?
- Are faculty members available to students at times other than office hours? For example, do faculty members participate in campus cultural and athletic events or make themselves available for social occasions, such as an informal cup of coffee or a department reception?
- How are students encouraged to be active rather than passive learners? Are students encouraged to work together, to discuss topics in class, to do self-directed, independent projects? Does teaching include more than lecturing?
- Is the library more than a study hall? Are students taught the skills and encouraged to spend time with library resources? Is the library well financed?
- How does technology assist in the teaching and learning enterprise? Does the college have a comprehensive plan for computer use? How does the college provide access to technology for students without the financial means to purchase their own personal computer?
- Are there well-supported campus-wide activities that stimulate social and intellectual interaction, such as lectures, debates, concerts, etc.? Are these events well attended by faculty and students? Does the college actively promote a broad intramural sports program for all students?
- What is the character of residential life? Are students able to study as well as socialize in the residence halls? Are students encouraged to behave with decency and respect for others?
- What is the nature of and participation rate in campus volunteer opportunities? Is this a place where college and community service is affirmed through such organizations as the student government, the faculty senate, college committees?
- Does the president offer the college an inspired vision?
- Does the campus offer students the opportunity to study in foreign countries? What percentage of the student body studies abroad each year?
- Does the college try to measure outcomes in any way? For instance, are students expected to participate in a senior seminar or design a senior project by which they demonstrate the ability to think deeply about their major field of study and communicate something about it to others?
- Does the college have a career development office where students can find career advice and placement opportunities?
- Does the college demonstrate a commitment to educational opportunity for historically under-represented students?
