Sally Rubenstone and I were discussing the CC forum yesterday. While we spend quite a bit of time perusing new posts and occasionally entering the fun, we both noted some personal frustration about coming up with meaningful NEW areas for discussion.
This forum began in the late summer of 2001, just before the September 11 terrorist attacks. Since then, an endlessly growing stream of wonderfully informed and motivated posters have built the forum into a monument of free, insightful knowledge about all things college (and beyond).
Sally and I agreed that 99.9% of college-related issues have been posted and parsed down to the atomic level and we’re somewhat reluctant to post what we feel are new topics, since it’s highly likely that those topics have already been discussed into oblivion. (Granted, we could do an exhaustive thread search first, but there’s no fun in that!)
So, fellow forumites, can you possibly think of any new area(s) of the college process that need discussing? Perhaps Sally and/or I can add some of our insights. We’ve seen many things in our experience, so maybe along with you, we can add to the CC cache of knowledge.
One thing that I did notice that (IMO) was missing was a section about athletics. With all the other forums you guys offer I just figured there would be one about athletics and recruiting/scholorships for different sports and how that can effect your admission chances to colleges ranging form Big sports schools to Ivy leauge and less atheletic schools. I was also looking for more information myself of how to go about contacting possible colleges for recruiting.
For instence.
In my case it is swimming. I’m not extremely fast but I’m not slow either. I’m looking at potentially some Ivy leave and other less athletic schools. I am by no means a superstar but I was wondering if I could get any help in admissions. It would be good to learn how to go about talk to coaches and what not for people that aren’t the best.
Just information such as that, I thought would be helpful
One thing that’s interested me is, once international students arrive on their US campus, do they feel integrated into the culture of the college or do they feel marginalized.
Another thought is whether international students – years after graduation and their return home – feel that their experience in the US was worth it.
Yes I second the athletics thing, third reply! I wasn’t a recruited athlete but I know it would help the occasional poster who doesn’t really know where to voice his/her question about college sports and often get ignored…
I also agree with the suggestion from MichiganWarrior. Lots of people have asked for a forum for athletic recruiting issues, and I think it’s a great idea.
I believe I speak for the entire IB community when I say that CC needs an IB Tests Preparation division underneath “SAT and ACT Tests & Test Preparation”. Just my $0.02.
Well maybe a forum on college academics subdivided into different popular subjects such as Chemistry, History, Physics, Economics, Math and so on.
Of course no homework or assignment help can be allowed. The forum should be more of a study group based forum like how the SAT forum is getting on splendidly
I bet if this forum is established, the Math discussion group will on 24/7.
Maybe a “key links” site, either under a particular college or under a particular topic area, where someone could post something they think shouldn’t keep scrolling off the main list of threads.
Let me give a few examples:
On the USC transfer thread (now over 7500 posts and counting), people keep wanting to know the website to go to in order to check status of their applications, their financial aid situation, the requirements for transfer admittance to different schools, and even the commitment deposit weblink. I’m guessing these items have been posted at least 10 times each on the one thread–but they keep getting posted since people keep asking–and it’s a bit unhelpful to say “please go back through the first 470 pages of this thread and find it yourself”
On the Indiana University site, finding key data like the common data statistics for the university, or the link to the academic bulletins for the different schools, or where data on the investment banking workshop contacts are or the number of students enrolled in each courses are put up at least once every three to six months or so, since new students roll in and they don’t know where to find this stuff–so people who have been around repost it for the new people coming in–and so they don’t have to search the last year’s worth of threads to find it themselves.
Granted, this tough make it tougher to “police” the site, since some people might post stuff that shouldn’t stay in the “permanent” section. But CC people are usually pretty good at reporting such items and making suggestions that they be removed or moved to the “temporary” section (the one that scrolls down) if they are asked to.
One idea I have is to gather all the posts about how to apply to college and set that as one sub-forum, and gather all the posts about early decision and set that as one sub-forum in an “Index” or “Table of Contents” so that before people post a question, they can easily check to see if it’s been covered. For example, one person here recently asked about on-campus interviews. If there had been a section in the Table of Contents called “Interviews,” which had many old but helpful threads about interviews, the person would probably have found what he/she was looking for.
**International Baccalaureate section FOR THE WIN!!!
IB tests, especially HL, was such a *****. Since there
weren’t that many threads on CC about it, I had to resort
to using a British forum for help hahha
Also, college athletics is also a very good idea.**
Something mentioned on the Parent forum a couple of weeks ago is about the need for more information about lesser-known schools. The mantra on here is to have a safety you love, but there’s no place to learn about local/regional safeties. I know not every school can have its own forum, but is it possible to have regional forums – Northeast, Southwest, etc? Or even state-by-state?
If you use our idea, do we get a T-shirt? Or free ride at university of our choice???
New areas of discussion are often short lived. For example, many posts were made all over CC regarding study abroad. A study abroad forum was established and did get some action but posts are still being made elsewhere where people tend to look more often. It is not unusual to see posts in the parent forum starting “I have posted elsewhere but was advised to post here as well…”. Some forums have lots of threads but little discussion (fewer than two dozen followups - often just 2 or 3). I think an athletic discussion would add in the beginning but then become like the study abroad forum (quickly exhausted except for detail questions). As far as the immediate future, the current oil situation might make for a lively discussion (and how is your kid getting to school now?). Personally I would love to see more information on careers (but not I banking) that a college bound student might consider. I also love the idea of focusing on some of the lesser known schools (especially ones not in CTCL)
In the SAT Prep Forum, I think it would be useful to have a subforum just for the SAT Essay. That way the SAT Prep forum itself wouldn’t be all “Will you grade my essay plz??” threads.
I agree with Youdon’tsay- do we get a t-shirt or a free ride at the school of our choice? Or better yet- acceptance @ the school of our choice!
I’m a new member and I think CC has a great wealth of information, but I realize that what is brand new for me is usually old news for the veterans. Sometimes I am reluctant to ask a question for fear of the “oh that’s already been discussed SO much” response. Im sure I could find certain answers by searching old threads, but thats hard to do efficiently the way the site is set up. Maybe there could be a special section for new members with links to FAQs.
Also, I agree with Youdontsay about the lesser-known schools. My kids arent destined for the Ivy League, but theyre just as excited about college as the A++ students. However, when I went looking for discussions on some of the colleges they visited (Ripon, for example), I found virtually nothing.
My perception of CC is that it has a too narrow perspective on a sliver of historically prestigious colleges, but I think that we all know that there are many, many great colleges across the USA and perhaps more can be done to highlight this broad geographic strength. Some of the most illuminating exchanges that I have seen on this site have involved educating others on colleges that are not often in the limelight, but which deserve much more consideration.
Another way to greater numbers joining and participating on CC is to expand the numbers of colleges that can be easily accessed. Certainly go beyond the current alphabetical system which basically relegates scores of colleges to the hinterlands, but also expand the Top Universities section by adding USC, Tufts, and Wake Forest and perhaps many more.
Finally, I agree with the athletics suggestions as questions about scholarships and admission benefits are an important topic, especially for women who have not traditionally had these opportunities.
Dave, what I would love to see is something that gives holistic descriptions of thousands of colleges in this country that do not make Princeton Review or a lot of the other descriptive guides. Loren Pope’s books made a great splash for some of such colleges, but the vast majority of colleges in this country do not have much info out there about them other than in statistics and dry data.
One of the things I have stressed on this forum is for kids to look for schools that are truly safeties for them and can still fit their wants and needs. Such schools are the difficult ones to find in the college search, as anyone can cherry pick off a top schools list. How nice HPYSM roll off the tongue, and how wonderful to daydream among them. Schools with top sports teams are also well known to many. But the local schools, many of them commuter schools, some of them gems are the ones for which finding good info is difficult. Since we have posters from all over the country, many can share their local knowledge of such schools.
Also MomfromTexas came up with what I think is an ingenious method of coming up with schools that are good bets for full rides or very generous financial aid in a time when college costs are a big issue. Those schools, are mainly in the category of unknown schools with little info about the available. It would great to expand the horizons of what is available out there.
I am not an IB student either (blasted school got certified the year I became ineligible for the program), however I think that a forum devoted to the IB tests or just the program is a wonderful idea. It seems that much information about the program is mixed in among other forums and even though I can’t participate in it, I still would like to understand more about it.
Also, a forum dedicated undergraduate research or research in general would be lovely. I have always heard that in order to go to a good grad school you need to do good research, however, I don’t quite understand what research I need to be doing and where! My interest in this has come as a result of my discover of UGA’s CURO program.
hahha