Monday Morning Quarter-Buck
Amy’s Blog
“There is no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.” ― Jill Churchill
Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful women receiving this blog!
We had an incredible turnout of donations for our first week of fundraising for the Corning Community Food Pantry - we will continue to receive donations throughout the month of May on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday’s.
We thank you for your support of the business and the community!
In Part two of College Education month, we will explore questions that you might want to ask when you visit a college, talk with a college recruiter, or meet with a college admissions counselor.
If you Google “college interview,” you will find tons of websites on how to prepare for your college visit, but it’s from the angle of the college, not the student “hiring” the college. Here’s the thing, you are hiring the college, they are NOT hiring you or your child. So I propose a different approach on selecting a college to attend. We think we are privileged when accepted at the college of our choice, but in reality, the college is the one benefiting from attendance and payment of such!
What questions do you ask when you are interviewing a person that you want to add to staff? Why wouldn’t the questions be the same? I suggest that you approach it that way by asking a series of interview questions that include, but are not limited to:
- Prior to even doing the campus visit, sit down with your child and determine why they want to attend that college, what are the pro’s and con’s of that college based on the college curriculum they think they want to pursue. Also, how easy will it be to change if they decide they want to switch gears?
- How many people will they be working with? In other words, what is the staff to student ratio? Will they be mentored as well as educated?
- What is the social culture of the campus? Will the school allow you to interview some other colleagues (i.e. students)?
- What are the growth opportunities? Meaning, how many students are offered internships and what is the placement rate at graduation? Be careful with the placement rate response and dig a little deeper - ask them not to include students that transfer to other colleges, you want to know how many students get into their career field at graduation.
- Also, ask them the average number of years it takes to graduate. This information is also available online, but it’s good to check with them to determine if they are an honest culture.
- Teenlife.com recommends that you also ask about the safety of the campus and information about the campus disaster plan - ask for a copy of this document.
- Ask the college to describe the ideal student. Over the years, I’ve often asked this question to potential employers. Once they answer that question, determine if you fit that bill (pun intended).
- Ask the people you meet with at the college what brought them to college and what keeps them there. Again, this gives you some idea of the culture your child will be entering and will allow you both to determine if you should hire them (attend).
- On the financial side, ask them how they will help you afford this college. They are competing for your business - what will they do to help you pay for it? If they suggest talking to their financial aid office, ask to speak with them while you are on campus. It’s much easier to blow someone off over the phone then it is to sit face-to-face.
In addition to these suggested questions, I would recommend you investigate CollegeLab: http://www.collegelab.net/1117784.html. This website is full of unbiased information regarding your college hunt.
Next up: Once the colleges of choice are narrowed down, packages are offered, let’s pre-plan for what financials will look like after college. That’s right - let’s look at what the end results will be financially before it even begins. We call this the pre-qualifying process, similar to pre-qualifying for a house; let’s make sure your child will not graduate with so much debt that they can’t afford to build their adult life.