<p>I’m a big proponent of getting out the catalogue and actually looking up the classes she will be taking. Can she place out of some of the gen ed requirements at one school vs. another? Do the requirements for her major fill her with dread? (For example, for a non-science person, the school that requires 6 lab science courses vs. the school that requires only one might fade in comparison.) If religion classes are required, are all the offerings Christian/New Testament, or are a wide range of multi-cultural options given?</p>
<p>Frankly, flipping a coin would be just as good as any criteria you might try to develop, if overall they seem like comparable institutions and the money seems comparable. So going with the gut is actually the best, though that too may not be better than flipping a coin.</p>
<p>Great advice here. I think checking out the financial health of school is particularly relevant these days. I know a family whose D is at Antioch and the upheaval there has not been a good thing.</p>
<p>Maybe this is a slight improvement over the coin flip. Yesterday, a student posed an either/or choice on a CC forum so I read her/his other posts and responded “I think school X is your true love and you’re hoping to have some of us on CC validate that for you. Consider yourself validated.” S/he wrote back “Thank you … I think you did indeed give me what I wanted to hear.”</p>
<p>So I thought “Well, that was easy enough. Was that school really her/his favorite or was it the power of suggestion?” So, you can try it out. Pick the school YOU’D like to see your student attend and say “I perceive that school X is your true love and you just need to hear someone else validate that for you.” If your student considers that and it feels right to them, the case is closed. If not, then it may be an indication that school Y is the better choice.</p>
<p>I agree with reading the campus newspaper. We read one from a college we visited with S during their open house. I liked the campus (he was indifferent) and thought it had promise. Granted, none of us liked his chosen department’s presentation as it was boring, uninspired and lacked any enthusiasm. Then reading the student newspaper gave us insight into the level of students there and what their biggest concerns were. He did not even apply to the school after that.</p>
<p>It’s not even financial health in terms of being so dire as going out of business, like Antioch.</p>
<p>It’s also a question of cutting existing programs and/or not being able to implement new ones. For example, I know of one perfectly wealthy college that just cut half of its peer mentoring (writing review, science study groups) programs. These are the kinds of cuts that are coming over the next few years. </p>
<p>Or, on the flip side, new programs. The hottest new field since 9/11 is Arabic. It’s in everybody’s strategic plan and students are flocking to study Arabic (it’s now the second most popular language behind Chinese at my D’s alma mater). Some schools got multiple full time professors hired and programs up and running. Some schools got a minimal effort underway with post-doc teachers. Some schools got bupkis started. This is a glaring example of how financial underpinnings drive everything that happens at a college in some way.</p>
<p>The next four years are going to be a period of intense cost cutting at every campus in the United States. It’s not a peripheral issue for next year’s freshmen.</p>
<p>That’s a good point. We were visiting an LAC recently, and I asked an administrative person what changes had been instituted recently in response to the economic crisis. His respons: “The swimming pool isn’t open as many hours each day as it used to be.”</p>
<p>“Any suggestions on how to proceed other than with ‘gut’ feeling?”</p>
<p>After considering all objective and subjective factors, there probably will be a resulting gut feeling. The problem with not going with it is that if she ends up unhappy, she’ll wonder why she didn’t trust her gut. If she does trust it and ends up unhappy, she knows she gave it her best shot. Just some two-cent thoughts. ;)</p>
<p>The swimming pool is the least of the cuts that will be coming. That was a very disingenous answer or given by someone out of the loop at that college.</p>
<p>But be sure to ignore that kind of answer when it comes from, e.g., a tour guide. Look for a policy statement on the school’s web site, or write to the school president. A random admin person may not know, or be too harried to give the real answers.</p>
<p>School newspapers we’ve looked at have had more information about reactions to the economic crisis. To Brandeis’ credit they said pretty much the same things their student paper said.</p>