Are these the posts you mentioned:
[College</a> Confidential Discussion](<a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?5/30029]College”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?5/30029)
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/197801-parents-were-any-your-kids-bwrks.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/197801-parents-were-any-your-kids-bwrks.html</a>
what about a college wiki instead of (or in addition to) an faq thread?
Add some more schools to the alphabetic list of schools, and maybe take some off. I think some would get some decent activity, and are not on the list and some get no attention. Some that are even ranked tier 1 are left off.
As for the BWRK’s thread… sure would be nice to see those posts in the last three years. I wonder if they would hold true. Since my son is one, I certainly hope so!
After we had done visits, I was amazed to find that Son could not write a report on most of the visits because the schools were not on the official “list.” I requested that they be added, but they weren’t.
The FAQ board(s) are called forum “libraries,” and there is a general library for the whole site
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/featuredthreads.php?forumid=[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/featuredthreads.php?forumid=</a>
and also specific libraries for each forum, as for example for this one:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/featuredthreads.php?forumid=4[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/featuredthreads.php?forumid=4</a>
(You drill down to these by following the link to “more featured discussions” on any forum that has any featured discussions at all.)
As mentioned in a reply above, the “report problem post” link on each post can also be used to recommend GOOD posts to the moderation team, and one or another moderator is likely to feature threads that have good content like that.
I have not read all the posts, but recall an article in last week’s NYT’s by Stanley Fish titled “The Last Professor.” It was an opinion piece about what should be taught at universities. . . .practical vs. stuff with no measurable effects in the world. What is a good education? Especially in these economic times.
How about a general “Life in college” forum? I think it would be helpful for students and parents to have a specific place to post “now that I’m accepted-now what?” type of questions, as well as a place to search for valuable information and answers regarding moving in, how often should you expect your D to call, roommate questions, etc etc - all the issues that seem to come up every year. I envision it being located above the Parents forum but below all the threads relating to choosing/applying to/ getting into college. I think this should be in addition to the college cafe forum, which is primarily used by college students.
If my college had a milkshake, and I had a milkshake, and I had a straw, look, here it is. And my straw comes acroooooosssss the room. and I DRINK THEIR MILKSHAKE!!! SLUUUURRRRRPPPP!!! I DRINK IT UP!!!
Would they get mad and reject me?
That forum does exist, it’s the “College Life” forum. =)
maybe info about careers/what to do after college?
I would love a subforum specifically for young women considering all-women schools, so that there is an easier way to compare these colleges.
I like the idea of having more information here on Canadian colleges.
I like the idea of a method of CC rehab. I told myself that after I got accepted to college that I wouldn’t visit again …
Sligh…re: Post #34…I think CC needs a 12-step program…it is very addictive. 
“The FAQ board(s) are called forum “libraries,” and there is a general library for the whole site”
Well, I haven’t been on CC for that long (Nov 04) so this is the first time I have ever heard of “libraries”. Why are these not more apparent? (or at least directions about how to find and search them). Or did I miss that somewhere in the fine print too? Every time I type a term into the FAQ I get “sorry, no matches”.
Not everyone looks for “featured threads,” but that is a start for finding a lot of FAQ information. I finally noticed that certain questions are so recurrent that I put links to threads that answer those questions into my user signature (which I think may be something that only moderators can set–I’m not sure), the better to remind onlookers about those threads.
Yep, the College Life Forum
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/</a>
has been around for a long time.
In general, the more forums there are, the harder it is for any one forum to be at the top of your computer screen.
University of South Florida is one of the largest universities in the nation…It should have its own forum…
My Unturned Stone
Is CC too neutral?
Is it enough for CC’s purpose to be, as stated on its home page, “to demystify many aspects of the college admissions process, and to help even “first timer” students and parents understand the process like “old pros.”
Should CC be more proactive in <em>guiding</em> college bound high school students and their parents in how to think about the process of selecting colleges?
Should CC take a more active role in shaping what the process should be?
If so, what should that guidance, that role, be?
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In today’s world there’s a not so subtle pressure to achieve; to climb the ladder; to be the “best;” to have the “best.” And in order to know that we’re the “best” we have to analyze, measure, rate, and rank…everything… including our kids, and the colleges they go to…
Is that the right way to be thinking of college admissions? Is achievement really the best goal? Does our desire to measure, rate, and rank take our thoughts about our kids and their education in the wrong direction? If so, are we doing them a disservice?
If we are going in the wrong direction, then what is the right direction? How far off track are we? How do we get back on track?
My opinion is that we indeed are too focused on measurement and achievement; that that focus dominates the college admissions thought process as we currently know it. I believe that the focus on measurement and achievement caters mostly to one type of student, but that there are many more types of students than that one.
I mean, not everyone can be, or even wants to be, the president of the student council, the captain of the football team, or the class valedictorian. Likewise, not everyone can be, or even wants to be, the president of a company, the quarterback of a professional football team, or win the Nobel Prize in some new area of research.
I believe that the college admissions thought process needs to be more accommodating to the many different types of students and the many and varied reasons they go to college.
I believe there is a need among college bound kids and their parents for guidance beyond just demystifying the process. I believe that that guidance includes topics like: How to figure out what type of student you are; How to figure out your true reason, or goal, is for going to college, and; How to find the college that best fits the type of student you are and the goals you have.
I believe that CC can provide that guidance.
This is, or course, all just my opinion. But I offer below my thoughts on how I came to the above conclusions, as well as some suggestions on how CC might be of even more value to its members.
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It seems to be human nature to rank things. As evidence I refer to the consumer product evaluation magazines. Those magazines analyze the things we buy and use in our everyday lives. Based on that analysis the magazines come up with criteria that they then use to measure and rate the things we buy. Then based on those measurements they give us a ranking of the “Best” products available to us. They rank large expensive things like cars, televisions, and washing machines; and they rank small relatively inexpensive things like toothpaste, mouthwash, and shampoo. Money Magazine even ranks the towns we live in (Re: the magazine’s “Best Places to Live in America.” articles).
Then, when it comes time for us to use our hard earned cash, of which there is a very limited supply, on a new TV, washing machine, or tube of toothpaste, we want to have some kind of assurance that we’re getting our money’s worth. So we buy the things that the magazines rate as “best,” and we feel good about our purchases.
We also rank the things we do. The books we read, the movies we go to, the restaurants we eat in, and yes, the colleges we attend, are all analyzed, rated, ranked, and “approved” for our consumption.
And from that, it seems to me, a herd mentality develops. We all sort of flock toward those “best” things, and we all end up buying and doing largely the same stuff. A conventional wisdom develops. It becomes “known” or accepted what are the best movies, books, cars, towns, and colleges. Which puts that stuff on the “Best Selling” or “Most Popular” lists, which in turn “proves” that that stuff really is the “best” stuff, which adds a sort of a self fulfilling element to the whole process.
And of course, none of us wants to be left out, or left behind, from what everyone else is doing, so there’s a not insignificant amount of pressure on all of us to just sort of accept the conventional wisdom and “go with the flow.”
To the point that sometimes, I think, having, doing, or being “the best” becomes an end to itself, and we forget why we’re doing them in the first place.
We even get caught up in, and go with the flow, with some of the ideas and concepts we have about what our lives could or should be like.
One of those ideas is achievement. There’s a not so subtle pressure for us to achieve; to move up the ladder; to get promoted; to make more money.
For many, that idea is exactly right. There a lots of natural achievers, natural leaders in the world; kids with SAT scores that are close to perfect. It makes sense for them to go to the “Best” college they can get into. Those kids may thrive at Princeton, or Stanford, or MIT.
But there are lots more students who aren’t those things. There are tons of good, studious, kids who don’t happen to score 2300 or more on their SATs, or even 1500. And it is sometimes those kids who end up doing great things in the “real” world after college. But with the overall tone of achievement seeming to dominate the college admissions process even really bright kids can sometimes feel left out; as if there isn’t a place for them.
Likewise, I think there are lots of different reasons for going to college, and more importantly, there are lots of different impressions about what a student can get out of college. These ideas are stated best in a recent post by bjdzyak, entitled “Practical Realities: Jobs on every Hollywood Set.” I think the ideas expressed in that posting apply to almost every possible career.
This is where I think College Confidential can play a greater role. Maybe, for example, there’s a place on the CC web site where relevant editorials or links to editorials in other publications or web sites can be placed. Or maybe, in addition to the “CC’s Hot Topics” section on the home page, there should also be sort of a “CC’s Greatest Hits” section where permanent links to some of the best thoughts offered by CC’ers over the years can always be readily available. Or maybe, there can be a list of “Golden Nuggets” (for lack of a better phrase) of timeless ideas about college, in the style of web sites that list famous quotes, possibly with links to the article or book or posting in which the nuggets are used.
I realize there’s a fine line to be walked if College Confidential were to do something like this. I’m not in any way suggesting that the site adopt any sort of agenda. But clearly, if one reads the various discussion threads over a period of time that spans months or even years, a “Collected Wisdom” begins to emerge. (And maybe even a great book, if the owners of the site were inclined to create one). What I’m suggesting is that there be a specific place on the site in which that wisdom can be preserved and advocated; a “Lessons Learned" place where newcomers and old hands alike can go to review not only the “what to do and how to do it” of college admissions, but also review the best thoughts that have been offered about how to think about the process from the perspective of what’s most important to the students and their families in the greater scheme of life, happiness, and fulfillment. I think that by being more of an advocate in this way CC can become even more valuable to its members. I think it can help students and parents recognize that there are more ways to approach the process than the “achievement” based one that seems to predominate. I think CC can help students and parents set better expectations about the whole process and what they can and should get out of it (again, I refer to bjdzyak for a shining example), and as a result find the approach, and thus the school, that best fits them.