Posts Tagged ‘higher ed’
Ranking Colleges the Moneyball Way
Inside Higher Ed‘s Ryan Craig recently penned an article about implementing the same principles the Oakland A’s general manager, Billy Beane, used to form a better baseball team on, ahem, valuing colleges. It’s called Moneyball, or in this case, Moneycollege.
The concept of ”moneyball” was that Beane hired and fired his players based on statistics that, although reliable, were generally being ignored by the Old Boys’ Club in favor of less reliable facts and mere opinions.
So how does this relate to college?
Well, Craig argues that just like baseball in the recent past, higher educations focuses on “what’s easy to measure.” In baseball, values of players were assigned based on many superficial “numbers”–height, physique, age, speed of pitches, you know, all the pretty things in life. In higher education, Craig says we’re basically focusing on the equivalent to what they were wrongly concentrating on in baseball: research, rankings and real estate. These are all countable measurements and easily comparable. But unfortunately, those don’t even come close to the measurements that should be taken into account like, uh, student learning and student outcomes. Duh. Aren’t you curious to know how your college ranks in getting its students hired and happy and healthy following college graduation?
While so many schools are pouring energy into these antiquated measurements, like how many big buildings they have or how much research their faculty can produce in the smallest about of time, they are ignoring what is actually occurring in the academic landscape. States are cutting their budgets, people are afraid to go into debt for an education they’re afraid isn’t worth the reward, and more and more people are taking their education online.
Just like Billy Beane was struggling with a paltry budget to create a World Series-winning team, colleges with small budgets are in the same boat. How can they compete in this game of rankings if they don’t have the research, rankings and real state of colleges with bigger budgets? Well, maybe in the future they’ll be able to beat the system by playing moneycollege. If they can gather the data showing the right stats–students on-base percentage, or in academic terms, student success rate, who knows how the higher ed game can change.
Which college statistics are most important to you?
14 Colleges Most Likely to Lead to Our Future Politicians
Sure, we’ve all had that childhood dream of being President of the United States, but after that stint as secretary of [fill in your high school's name]‘s student council, you’ve realized the reality of public office is far too big a burden to continue after this year’s prom streamers are up.
So who in their right minds actually want to take on the crazy responsibility and bear the weight of so much public scrutiny? The Daily Beast recently published a list of the colleges and universities with the most significant precedence for turning their students into great (or at least assist in further instilling the delusions of greatness) leaders of state and country.
Here are the top 14 colleges and universities most likely to “create” our future politicians:
Can you guess which U.S. presidents came from each university?
1. Harvard University
Presidents: 8
State Senators: 12
State Representatives: 21
2. Yale University
Presidents: 5
State Senators: 9
State Representatives: 9
3. Georgetown University
Presidents: 2
State Senators: 6
State Representatives: 11
4. Stanford University
Presidents: 3
State Senators: 6
State Representatives: 7
5. UCLA
Presidents: 0
State Senators: 1
State Representatives: 12
6. University of Texas at Austin
Presidents: 0
State Senators: 1
State Representatives: 11
7. University of Michigan
Presidents: 1
State Senators: 1
State Representatives: 9
8. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Presidents: 1
State Senators: 0
State Representatives: 10
9. George Washington University
Presidents: 0
State Senators: 5
State Representatives: 5
10. Columbia University
Presidents: 3
State Senators: 1
State Representatives: 5
11. United State Military Academy
Presidents: 2
State Senators: 2
State Representatives: 5
12. University of Georgia
Presidents: 0
State Senators: 2
State Representatives: 7
13. Princeton University
Presidents: 2
State Senators: 1
State Representatives: 5
14. Duke University
Presidents: 1
State Senators: 1
State Representatives: 6
Can you name a president, state senator, state representative from one of these schools? Leave a comment below!
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The 10 Most Expensive Private Colleges
Last week we gave you the list of the ten least expensive private schools. Today, from US News, we bring you the 10 most expensive private colleges.
Before you take a looksy and get all choked up because your dream school costs $40,000 a year, remember that doesn’t mean you can’t apply for merit aid and scholarships to lower that price by whole lot.
Without any further delay, here are the top 10 most expensive private colleges:
1. Connecticut College
Tuition and fees 2010-2011: $43,990
Cool fact: Chartered in 1911, the founding of the college was a response to Wesleyan University’s decision to stop admitting women.
2. Columbia University
Tuition and fees 2010-2011: $43,304
Cool fact: Columbia is the oldest university of higher learning in the state of New York.
3. Vassar College
Tuition and fees: $43,190
Cool fact: Vassar has a student organization called The Barefoot Monkeys, which is aCircus Arts, Firespinning, and Juggling Club. You will not only be paying for a multidisciplinary education, but also some old school entertainment.
4. St. John’s College (MD)
Tuition and fees: $42,592
Cool fact: Founded originally in 1696 as a preparatory school, it received a collegiate charter in 1784, making it one of the oldest colleges in the United States.
5. Trinity College
Tuition and fees: $42,420
Cool fact: Trinity has a student to faculty ratio of 10:1.
6. Bucknell University
Tuition and fees: $42,342
Cool fact: The sixth president of the university, David Jayne Hill, had an epic mustache.
7. St. John’s College (NM)
Tuition and fees: $42,192
Cool fact: Both St. John’s College campuses are known for their Great Books Program where student-led discussion is the basis for most classes and teachers take a non-directive role.
8. Wesleyan University
Tuition and fees: $42,084
Cool fact: Wesleyan offers a BA/MA Program in the sciences leading to a Bachelor’s degree in the fourth year and a Master’s degree in the fifth year. Tuition for the fifth year of the Master’s degree is waived.
9. Bard College at Simon’s Rock
Tuition and fees: $41,990
Cool fact: Simon’s Rock is an “early college”, designed for students to enroll immediately after completing the tenth or eleventh grade, rather than after graduating from high school.
10. Carnegie Mellon University
Tuition and fees: $41,940
Cool fact: John Forbes Nash, the subject of A Beautiful Mind and winner of the 1994 Noble Prize in Economics, was a 1948 graduate.
How much does tuition price affect your college decision? Leave a comment!
Comments: 4 Comments »
10 Cheapest Private Colleges and Universities
Often times, students nix the private colleges on their college search lists because they figure they’re going to be more expensive than public schools. But, that’s not always the case! A lot of times private colleges and universities have huge endowments and can offer many more, and often larger, grants to admitted students.
US News recently published a list of the 10 least expensive private colleges and universities for 2010-2011. As you go through the list, compare the numbers with the average cost of tuition and required fees for the 2010-11 school year which was $26,079.
Here are the 10 least expensive private schools:
1. Berea College
Tuition and fees 2010-2011-$910
Cool fact: Berea College charges no tuition; every student is provided the equivalent of four-year, full-tuition scholarships and has to take part in a work-study.
2. Brigham Young University-Hawaii
Tuition and fees 2010-2011-$4,330
Cool fact: The university owns the Polynesian Cultural Center, the largest living museum in the state of Hawaii, which employs roughly one third of the student body.
3. Brigham Young University-Provo
Tuition and fees 2010-2011-$4,420
Cool fact: Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight series, is an alum.
4. Lane College
Tuition and fees 2010-2011-$8,000
Cool fact: Planning for the school had begun in 1878, but the school’s establishment was delayed by a yellow fever epidemic in the region in 1878.
5. Life University
Tuition and fees 2010-2011-$8,622
Cool fact: Life University remains the largest school in the chiropractic profession.
6. Blue Mountain College
Tuition and fees 2010-2011-$8,870
Cool fact: The college officially became co-educational in 2005.
7. Park University
Tuition and fees 2010-2011-$8,898
Cool fact: The original concept called for students to get free tuition and board in exchange for working up to half day in the college’s farm, electrical shop or printing plant.
8. Mountain State University
Tuition and fees 2010-2011-$9,000
Cool fact: The university has gone through 3 name changes: Beckley College, The College of West Virginia and now, Mountain State University.
9. Philander Smith College
Tuition and fees 2010-2011-$9,450
Cool fact: Philander Smith College was a pioneer during the civil rights movement as many of its students engaged in nonviolent resistance against segregation laws
10. Alice Lloyd College
Tuition and fees 2010-2011-$9,500
Cool fact: The college is one of two colleges in Kentucky–the other is Berea!–and one of eight in the nation–that have mandatory work-study programs.
Want to share your thoughts on this? Leave a comment!
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How Much Sleep Should a College Student Get?
How many hours do college students need?
Raise your hand if you think 8 hours.
Raise your hand if you think 7 hours.
Raise your hand if you think 6 hours.
Using our advanced hand-raising-censor-technology, we calculated that most of you think we need between 6 and 8 hours.
The truth of it is, however, that it varies with the individual. And since you know yourself better than anybody else, it’s a fairly simple thing to gage. Can you function on less than 8 hours? No? Then you need 8 hours of sleep. Do you feel mighty fine and dandy after only 4 hours of sleep? Well, then you’re a superhuman.
As long as you can reach those deep phases of REM and NREM sleep, you’re good. According to CampusGrotto, researchers have shown evidence that brain waves during the latter part of the sleep period promote the capacity to store fact-based memories. This could mean we not only need sleep to remember what we’ve learned, but we need it to learn in the first place.
So, what about those other factors?
Naps
Who doesn’t love naps? And guess what? They’re actually pretty good for you to help recharge and improve overall alertness, mood and productivity. So if you’re tired and you have a lot more to finish studying for your final exam, take a 20 minute nap if you have time to recharge.
Oversleeping
For the lucky few who have this problem, oversleeping can actually make you more sleepy throughout the entire day. If you tend to fall asleep at 11pm and walk up at noon, an alarm clock might be your best friend.
Environment
A frat house isn’t the best place to get some quality, Zzzz’s. Even just white noise throughout the night can keep you from REM sleep. In cases like this, try ear buds!
Nighttime Computer Use
Surfing the web before going to bed is not the best idea. Research has shown that bright screens before bed make it more difficult to fall asleep. Plus, we all know we’re our own worst enemy when it comes to going online for what you plan is 5 minutes and staying on for 2 hours.
How much sleep to do you get? Comment and share!
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4 Ways College and High School Students Can Avoid Procrastinating During Finals
Finals week on campus means students start doing really strange things–sleeping in library cubicles, drinking copious amounts of terrible tasting energy drinks, and procrastinating with things they would’ve never thought twice about before final season hit, like say, generously offering up 3 hours of your time to organize a friend of a friend’s Star Wars action figure collection.
Look, it happens to the best of us. And we know from experience that procrastination is your worst enemy when it comes to finals. So here are some tips to help keep you from procrastinating so you can stay on top of your studying:
1. Make a list and create a schedule
Finals is the most annoying time of the school year because everybody and their mom is citing off all the insane workloads they have to do in a rapidly approaching deadline. It’s like a campus-wide game of one-upping:
“I’ve got three 7-pagers and 14 short stories I have to write in the next hour.”
“Oh that’s funny, because I have to somehow get in an interview with the leader of the free world, edit the footage, and produce the greatest social commentary of our generation in the next 5 minutes.”
Instead of just blabbing your list of to-do’s off to anybody who’ll listen, actually write it down. Taking the time to write out your list will help you visualize the amount of work you have. Estimating how much time each task will take will help you distribute your time more effectively.
2. Start with the thing you fear the most
We know you’re not looking forward to the 25 page research paper on how disease is portrayed in 20th century opera–or maybe you are–either way, whatever the assignment is that you have the most anxiety about, that’s the one you should get done first. It’s kinda like a nightmare–you get it over with by the time you wake up, and then you’re off to conquer the day! If you avoid the work you fear the most until the end, chances are you won’t have the time or the energy to fully complete it….let alone get the grade you were hoping for.
3. Get off Facebook
Do it. Deactivate your account. We all know the real culprit behind this nationwide college procrastination! Why would you want to spend 4 hours studying biochem when you could spend 2 of those hours learning about your ex-boyfriend’s camping trip and the other 2 about his new girlfriend. We love our social networking addiction as much as the next guy, but it’s definitely a roadblock when it comes to studying. Plus, you can always reactivate your account as soon as the last final is over.
4. Treat yourself
At the end of the day, we’re all just a bunch of Pavlov’s dogs who can be conditioned to do just about anything as long as there’s a yummy treat waiting at the end. Motivate yourself with something you know you’ll forward to, like ice cream, 30 minutes of your favorite television show, or a nail polish change. Little pick-me-ups through your long study days will give you the breaks you need and keep you from procrastinating.
Do you have any other tips? Comment and share!
Comments: 2 Comments »
10 Most Economically Diverse Colleges
The Chronicle of Higher Education reported on whether colleges and universities are living up to their economically diverse stance for their student body.During the past decade, the country’s wealthiest and most elite colleges have faced heightened pressure to serve more low-income students. So are they doing it?
The Chronicle looked at which schools the students receiving Pell Grants–federal aid for students who generally come from families with annual incomes of less than $40,000–are attending, and the news is that Pell Grant students are still significantly less represented at the wealthiest colleges than they are at public and nonprofit four-year colleges nationwide
Here are the 10 most economically diverse colleges and the percentage of Pell Grant recipients attending each one according to the Chronicle:
1. University of California Los Angeles – 30.7%
2. Smith College – 23.6%
3. The University of Texas at Austin – 21.4%
4. Michigan State University – 18.8%
5. Ohio State University – 17.8%
6. University of Washington – 17.4%
7. Case Western Reserve University – 17.3%
8. Texas A&M University – 16.2%
9. Amherst College – 15.9%
10. University of Southern California – 15.6%
Need help paying for college? Find tons of scholarships here!
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7 Easy College Scholarships for High School Seniors
For all you college-bound seniors on the brink of graduation, get ready, because we’ve found 7 great college scholarships that you should apply to today!
You may have already fallen ill with senioritis, but paying for your college education is not an option, and here are 7 easy scholarships to help you start chipping away at that big tuition number.
1. Ayn Rand “Atlas Shrugged” Scholarships
84 scholarships between $50-$10,000 will be awarded to applicants who submit an essay on the book Atlas Shrugged. That much money is definitely worth a book report.
2. Directron.com College Scholarship
If you’re a tech geek, this scholarship should be easy as pie for you. 6 scholarships between $300-$1,000 will be awarded. Deadline’s approaching, so start this one ASAP.
3. The Big Dig Scholarship
Can you think of one item sold in stores today that will be immensely valuable in 200 years? We have a feeling you’ll be able to think of something for a $3,000 scholarship…
4. Share Your Story Scholarship
Got a story to tell? This program is giving away $1,000-$9,000 to 6 applicants.
5. Cardonors.com Scholarship
Looking for an easy, no-stress scholarship to apply to? This $500 scholarship has a super easy application you could complete by the time you finish reading this description!
6. Healthy Lifestyle Scholarship
This $5,000 scholarship is designed to award students who embrace healthy lifestyles. So put down the Funyons for this scholarship.
7. C.I.P. Scholarship
The College is Power scholarship is here to help students pay for tuition, books, room and board, computers or anything else related to your education! With a straightforward application and a deadline approaching, you should apply today!
And juniors! Don’t worry, here are some scholarships that could work for you!
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8 College Scholarships for High School Juniors
It’s spring, and that means juniors are gearing up for their college searches.
Part of the college search, that is supremely helpful if you start early, is the scholarship quest. We’ve made list of 8 great scholarships for juniors that they can apply to now!
1. The Discus Award
Every month, there’s a new $2,000 scholarship winner. The Discus Awards recognize well-rounded, versatile students following their passions.
2. National Peace Essay Contest
Over 50 scholarships will be awarded between $1,000-$10,000. What do you have to do to win? Write a killer essay.
3. The Gen and Kelly Tanabe Scholarship
This is a merit-based program that helps students fulfill their dreams of a higher education.
4. Avar Press Literary Essay Scholarship
Avar Press is seeking to recognize, encourage, and reward scholarships to high school students who read a specific book and write an essay about it.
5. Abbot & Fenner Scholarship
This $1,000 scholarship is for a student who writes a 500-1000 word response to specified question. Easy!
6. Castle Ink’s Green Scholarship
Applicants must generate awareness of recycling by writing something inspiring and posting it online, including a link to castleink.com. Not too difficult and good for the environment!
7. B. David Scholarship
College-bound juniors have the opportunity to win one of three $1,000 scholarships.
8. Win Win Plus Scholarship
Scholarships between $500 and $25,000 will be awarded to college-bound students who make a difference in at-risk kids’ lives. It’s a win-win situation.
Looking for more scholarships? Go here!
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Cappex.com’s Latest Scholarship Winners!
Once again, Cappex.com is very excited to announce our most recent scholarship winners from 2010. These students have gone above and beyond with their leadership and volunteer activities. Congratulations!
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#1 Cappex Facebook Fan Scholarship Fall: Nicole T., of Broadlands, Va. is expected to enter her freshman year of college next fall. She is an active member of her high school’s Key Club, climbing up its ranks from historian to president and lt. governor. She has given over 300 hours her time to volunteer services with the Key Club, as well as additional hours volunteering for the American Liver Foundation, Tour De Cure, Good Shepherd Alliance and the Lost Dog and Cat Foundation.
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“A GPA Isn’t Everything” Scholarship – Fall Scholarship Winner: Salome B., of Santa Fe, N.M will be attending college next fall. Currently she’s in her senior year of high school where she has been a member of the Key Club for three years, serving as Junior Representative and President. Her experience in the Key Club have given her the opportunity to gain more than thirty service hours a month in projects helping the disabled community, children around New Mexico and worldwide charities. |
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“My College Review” Scholarship Winner: Jennifer S. of Newtown, PA was awarded the $1,000 scholarship for her thoughtful and in-depth review of her school, Ursinus College. You can read her review here! |
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I Don’t Want to Pay For College – Fall II Winner: Crystal Y., from Cupertino, Calif. is in her freshman year of college. She is a trilingual student entrepreneur in the San Francisco Bay Area. She describes herself as a social entrepreneur with a focus on youth marketing and online social media strategy. Crystal has collaborated with a socially responsible start-up to start an internship program for high school and college students. She aspires to contribute to the fields of global business, foreign affairs, corporate philanthropy or international aid. |
Want to see past scholarship winners? Check them out on our Facebook page!
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