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Quality of Education and Its Effect on Graduation Rates

leslie — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 17:00:53 +0000

Researchers at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government have recently completed a study that tested the connection between institutional quality of a school and the completion rate of students who attend.

By analyzing the educational outcomes of students in Massachusetts public colleges, researchers found that there is a huge correlation between the two factors. Test subjects were students who were enrolled in a scholarship program that waives tuition fees for students with test scores above a specified level, and students in the program whose scores were below the specified level.

The scholarship program has been very successful in keeping smarter students in Massachusetts rather than attending another public or private university school out-of-state, but has not been very beneficial to those students who may be better suited for a higher-quality university. Many of them did not graduate in the standard four-year period.

“Choosing a lower-quality college significantly lowers on-time completion rates, a result driven by high-skilled students who would otherwise have attended higher-quality colleges,” the researchers explained. “For the marginal student, enrolling at an in-state public college lowered the probability of graduating on time by more than 40 percent.”

This study is important in the field of educational research because it is the first time that the evidence of the importance of university quality has been shown. Many high-achieving students are driven to attend universities they may be over-qualified for because of other considerations like tuition costs and distance away from home. In the college decision process, many families feel that quality is not the most important factor in picking a school.

Another important finding that the study noted was that students are extremely willing to not accept a spot at high-quality university if they are offered even a little bit of money from a lower-quality school.

It is definitely possible to get a good education anywhere in the United States, but for students just beginning the college search, it is important to set your sights on the best schools you can get into. If you love where you study and feel both mentally stimulated and happy with the social scene, you are likely to be that much more dedicated and driven to succeed. You only get to go to college once—make it count, and get the best education that you’re capable of!

15 Most Beautiful College Campuses

editor — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:56:01 +0000

While college is a haven for education and learning, college campuses often offer the most exquisite environments to be studious in. Lush surroundings combined with beautiful architecture can make living and studying on campus a treat.

Here are, according to the Princeton Review’s 2012 college rankings, the 15 most beautiful college campuses:

1. Florida Southern College
Quick fact: Florida Southern is located in Lakeland, Fla. and the campus is the home of the largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world.

2. Lewis & Clark College
Quick fact: Located in Portland, Oregon, Lewis & Clark’s forested campus shares a border with the Tryon Creek State Natural Area.

3. University of California – Santa Cruz
Quick fact: Located 80 miles south of San Francisco at the edge of the coastal community of Santa Cruz, the college whose mascot is the banana slug, lies on the rolling, forested hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Monterey Bay.

4. Mount Holyoke College
Quick fact: Mount Holyoke, an all-women’s college part of the Seven Sisters, has a Donald Ross-designed 18-hole golf course, The Orchards, which served as host to the U.S. Women’s Open in 2004.

5. Princeton University
Quick fact: Andrew Carnegie literally built a lake near Princeton so the rowing team could have open water to practice.

6. Sweet Briar College
Quick fact: Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the all-women’s college’s architecture is dominated by the Collegiate Gothic work of Ralph Adams Cram.

7. Vassar College
Quick fact: With more than 100 buildings, Vassar’s campus includes four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International, designed over the course of the college’s history by a range of prominent architects, includingJames Renwick Jr., Eero Saarinen, Marcel Breuer, and Cesar Pelli.

8. Colgate University
Quick fact: Colgate’s first building, West Hall, was built by students and faculty from stones from Colgate’s own rock quarry. Nearly all the buildings on campus are built of stone, and newer buildings are built with materials that fit the style.

9. Sewanee – The University of the South
Quick fact: The Sewanee campus includes many buildings constructed of various materials faced with local stone, most done in the Gothic style.

10. University of San Diego
Quick fact: The philosophy of USD’s founder was that studying in beautiful surroundings could improve the educational experience of students. So, the university’s buildings were designed in a 16th-century Spanish Renaissance architectural style, paying homage to both San Diego’s Catholic heritage and the Universidad de Alcalá in Spain.

11. Ohio University – Athens
Quick fact: Ohio University is designed around College Green, the central campus quadrangle lawn which saw the first college buildings built in the former Northwest Territory.

12. College of the Holy Cross
Quick fact: Holy Cross’ campus, a registered arboretum, has won national awards for its landscaping.

13. University of Mississippi
Quick fact: Unrelated to campus beauty, but an interesting fact, with the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, classes were interrupted when the entire student body and many faculty from Ole Miss enlisted in the Confederate army.

14. University of Richmond
Quick fact: The university has, with few exceptions, remained true to the original architectural plans for the campus — red brick buildings in a collegiate gothic style set around shared open lawns.

15. Rhodes College
Quick fact: Rhodes College campus’s design is notable for its stone Gothic architecture buildings, thirteen of which are currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Have you visited any campuses that you thought were noteworthy in architecture or natural beauty?

10 Best Undergrad Colleges for Budding Writers

admin — Tue, 01 May 2012 18:01:44 +0000

Do you write a weekly column for your school newspaper? Do you look forward to a little time alone so you can just put pen to paper and get your ideas out? Do you find yourself jotting down real life moments or things people say so that you can use it in a future story? Well, then you might just be an aspiring writer. And if you are, the only way to become a better writer is to write. And write. And write. And write. And write–especially in an environment where you’re encouraged to do your best work and get the feedback you need from your peers and mentors.

Such places do exist. It’s just about finding them. And whether you’re in college now or heading there in the fall, your college may just have a great creative writing undergraduate program. While some colleges have separate creative writing majors, others may have creative writing concentrations within their English major. Finding the ~~write~~ right undergraduate creative writing program for you is all about researching the professors and instructors who teach the classes, being familiar with their work or teaching style, and understanding what kind of work you’ll be doing. Will you be able to concentrate on what you want to spend the most time on, whether that be poetry, fiction, non-fiction, playwriting, etc.?

Whatever it is you want to pursue, here are 10 colleges, that, according to CollegeDegree.com are the 10 best colleges for creative undergraduate writers:

1. Emory University
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Notable alum: Pulitzer Prize winning writer C. Vann Woodward, author of The Strange Career of Jim Crow.

2. Hamilton College
Location: Clinton, New York
Notable alumni: Poet Ezra Pound; novelists Terry Brooks, Kamila Shamsie, and Peter Cameron; playwright Richard Nelson; actor and writer for The Office Paul Lieberstein; and Academy Award-winning screenwriter of The Descendants, Nat Faxon.

3. Johns Hopkins University
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Notable alumni: Feminist author Gertrude Stein, novelist Porochista Khakpour, poet Michael Dumanis, and film director Wes Craven.

4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Notable alumni: Author of Dr. Dolittle series Hugh Lofting and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman.

5. New York University
Location: New York, New York
Notable alumni: Founder of MAD magazine William Gaines, Danielle Steel,Joseph Heller, and J.D. Salinger.

6. Washington University in St. Louis
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Notable alumni: Harold Ramis, and playwrights Edward Shepherd Mead and Tennessee Williams.

7. University of Iowa
Location: Iowa City, Iowa
Notable alumni: David Morrell, author, famous for creating the character of John Rambo and Robie Macauley, novelist and editor of Playboy.

8. Columbia
Location: New York, New York
Notable alumni: Upton Sinclair and Hunter S. Thompson.

9. University of Michigan
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Notable alumni: Famous playwright Arthur Miller, author Susan Orlean, Cathy Guisewite author, creator of Cathy comic strip.

10. Colorado College
Location: Colorado Spring, Colorado
Notable alum: Timothy J. Sexton and executive producer and writer for the TV shows ER and Law & Order SVU Neal Baer.

Make your profile today at Cappex.com to find your college matches and scholarships to pay for them!

20 Biggest Party Colleges

admin — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:46:32 +0000

Why do students go to college? Well, to learn, of course! To study! To become masters of a field! To pontificate on the arts and sciences! To envelop themselves in the canon of the brilliant men and women who came before them! Oh. And to party.

For better or worse, college has most definitely become an invitation to a four-year fiesta. From bars to house parties and Greek shindigs to crazy dorms, there are always things to do on campus–not that that’s an excuse to overdo it–but you’d be surprised by how many students have the ability to rationalize going out 7 nights a week. Let us state here, spending your entire college career in a haze between parties isn’t the best way to spend your tuition. So if you’re less of a party animal, and more of study creature, you might want to avoid the list of colleges below, because according to the Princeton Review, these are 2012′s top twenty party colleges:

1. Ohio University Athens
Location: Athens, Ohio

2. University of Georgia
Location: Athens, Georgia

3. University of Mississippi
Location: University, Mississippi

4 . University of Iowa
Location: Iowa City, Iowa

5. University of California – Santa Barbara
Location: Santa Barbara, California

6. West Virginia University
Location: Morgantown, West Virginia

7. Pennsylvania State University
Location: University Park, Pennsylvania

8. Florida State University
Location: Tallahassee, Florida

9. University of Florida
Location: Gainesville, Florida

10. University of Texas – Austin
Location: Austin, Texas

11. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Location: Champaign, Illinois

12. Syracuse University
Location: Syracuse, New York

13. Louisiana State University
Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana

14. University of Wisconsin
Location: Madison, Wisconsin

15. DePauw University
Location: Greencastle, Indiana

16. Indiana University
Location: Bloomington, Indiana

17. Arizona State University
Location: Tempe, Arizona

18. University of Maryland
Location: College Park, Maryland

19. University of Vermont
Location: Burlington, Vermont

20. University of South Carolina
Location: Columbia, South Carolina

Want to search for scholarships or find your perfect college fit? Make your profile today on Cappex!

20 Colleges with Great Relationships with Surrounding Town

admin — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 20:55:12 +0000

Depending on where you end up going to college, your experience can wind up having a lot do with where your college campus is located. If you attend NYU, for example, your campus is the “concrete jungle where dreams are made of” in the heart of the busy bumble that is the ultimate–and largest–city in America. If you take your talents to Berea College, the surrounding city is fun and thriving, but in a different kind of way. In fact, the biggest institution in Berea is the college itself–where NYU is just one of many big things going on in the Big Apple.

There are countless ways to compare the cities and towns that have colleges within them, but one of the most compelling ways is how well the two macro organisms get along…or don’t…

Not all cities and the colleges within them get along perfectly, but according to the Princeton Review, here are 20 colleges with superb college and town relationships:

1.Clemson University
Location: Clemson, South Carolina
Quick fact: Clemson University has two student-run newspapers. Founded in 1907, The Tiger News is the oldest student-run newspaper in South Carolina. The second newspaper is the Tiger Town Observer.

2. Kansas State University
Location: Manhattan, Kansas
Quick fact: Kansas State, which often simply goes by K-State, is the oldest public university in the state of Kansas.

3. College of the Ozarks
Location: Point Lookout, Missouri
Quick fact: The College charges no tuition for full-time students, mostly due to its student work program. The program requires students to work 15 hours a week at an on-campus work station and two 40-hour work weeks during breaks–no wonder its town loves the students!

4. Virginia Tech
Location: Blacksburg, Virginia
Quick fact: Virginia Tech is one of the few public universities in the United States that maintains a corps of cadets.

5. Rice University
Location: Houston, Texas
Quick fact: Five streets demarcate the campus: Greenbriar Street, Rice Boulevard, Sunset Boulevard, Main Street, and University Boulevard.

6. Saint Michael’s College
Location: Colchester, Vermont
Quick fact: In the 1950s, Freshmen were required to wear a dress shirt, coat and tie to every class and for the evening meal.

7. University of Alabama at Birmingham
Location: Birmingham, Alabama
Quick fact: There are over 150+ student organizations on the UAB campus.

8. Macalester College
Location: St. Paul, Minnesota
Quick fact: Notable alumni include Kofi Annan, Walter Mondale, Marlene Johnson, DeWitt Wallace, Alexander Wendt, Ari Emanuel, Peter Berg, Tim O’Brien, Bob Mould, and Charles Baxter.

9.Wheaton College
Location: Wheaton, Illinois
Quick fact: Wheaton College ranked 15th in “Best Undergraduate Teaching” by US News and World Report for national liberal arts colleges.

10. Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
Location: Needham, Massachusetts
Quick fact: Olin College is noted in the engineering community for its youth, small size, project-based curriculum, and large endowment funded primarily by the F. W. Olin Foundation.

11. St. Olaf College
Location: Northfield, Minnesota
Quick fact: St. Olaf ranks as one of the top 20 small colleges for liberal arts education (those with 5,000 or fewer students) for the number of students who go on to serve in the Peace Corps.

12. Agnes Scott College
Location: Decatur, Georgia
Quick fact: Agnes Scott has committed to becoming a carbon-neutral institute by the college’s 150th anniversary in 2039.

13. Westminster College
Location: New Wilmington , Pennsylvania
Quick fact: The student population is nearly 1,480 undergraduate and graduate students.

14. Nazareth College
Location: Rochester, New York
Quick fact: Nazareth was founded in 1924 by the Sisters of St. Joseph. The first class, comprising 25 young women, began their studies in a large mansion on Lake Avenue in Rochester, New York.

15. Catawba College
Location: Salisbury, North Carolina
Quick fact: The school’s theatre program is consistently rated as one of the top 10 in the nation.

16. The University of North Carolina at Asheville
Location: Asheville, North Carolina
Quick fact: UNCA is the only designated^[3] liberal arts institution in the University of North Carolina system.

17. Bellarmine University
Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Quick fact: Bellarmine offers study abroad options on six continents in over 50 countries around the globe, ranging from departmental programs to summer enclave programs and semester or academic year exchanges at over 150 partner universities.

18. William Jewell College
Location: Liberty, Missouri
Quick fact: It was founded in 1849 by members of the Missouri Baptist Convention and other civic leaders.

19. Millsaps College
Location: Jackson, Mississippi
Quick fact: Founded in 1890, the college is recognized as one of the country’s best private colleges dedicated to undergraduate teaching and educating the whole individual.

20. University of New Orleans
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
Quick fact: There are more than 120 registered clubs and organizations active at UNO, including 15 fraternities and sororities.

What is your dream college town? Leave a comment below!

23 Up-and-Coming Colleges

editor — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 20:09:58 +0000

There will always be the Harvards, Princetons, and Yales–the colleges whose names pervade in the world of higher education. Still, with every year that goes by, new schools make names for themselves, and schools with long histories reinvent themselves, both striving to better higher education and the students that will matriculate.

Of course, U.S. News, has a list of the schools it deems as “Up and Comers” in the 2012 Best Colleges rankings. These are colleges and universities that, according to nominations from top college officials, are undertaking exciting and innovative changes in academics, faculty, and student life.

Here are 23 of those up-and-coming colleges:

University of Maryland–Baltimore County

George Mason University

Indiana University-Purdue University–Indianapolis

Clemson University

University of Central Florida

Drexel University

Tulane University

Arizona State University

Ball State University

Northeastern University

Ohio State University–Columbus

Purdue University

University of Maryland

University of Southern California

University of South Florida

Azusa Pacific University

Biola University

Hendrix College

Ursinus College

University of Richmond

Allegheny College

Beloit College

Abilene Christian University

The 7 Preppiest Colleges

editor — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:45:32 +0000

Every college has its own personality. Visit one school and you’ll get the sense that the student body is kind of book-wormy. Take a trip to another campus and maybe the students seem more laid-back. Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide where you fit in. But one of the more pandemic rages on college campuses across America is preppiness

Thank goodness for all of the modern Zach Morrises of America, The Huffington Post just published its list of the 7 preppiest colleges.

1. Georgetown University
With Georgetown University just blooming with America’s future leaders on the Hill, you’re bound to find abundant polos, Brooks Brothers, and pastel Sperrys.

2. University of Virginia
UVA’s idyllic Charlottesville campus is the Mecca for preppies across the world. The rolling hills and sprawling lawn on central campus afford the perfect weather for students to wear polos with a light knit dangling over their shoulders. Thomas Jefferson would be so proud.

3. Boston College
This private Jesuit university located in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts has 9,200 full-time undergraduates. Once an actual preparatory school, BC is totally living up to its preppy history.

4. Wheaton College
This small college between Massachusetts and Rhode Island only became a coed school in 1988. But considering Wheaton is one of the oldest institutions for women in the U.S., its “Wheaties” have had a long time to perfect their prep.

5. Cornell University
Perhaps Cornell’s most well-known preppy alumna is The Office’s Andy Bernard. Always dressed like he’s about to go on a sailboat, Andy Bernard is Cornell University’s Everyman.

6. Ohio State University
Not even close to the coast and OSU is taking the preppy world by storm. From wearing argyle while cheering for their football team to Brooks Brothers making a line of Ohio State clothing, OSU is pretttttty preppy.

7. University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, Alabama is home to some true southern prep. Just like OSU, Brooks Brothers also has a line of clothes just for the University of Alabama.

What kind of college vibe are you looking for in your college search? Leave a comment in the section below.

40 Colleges with Highest SAT Scores

editor — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:15:53 +0000

The SAT is a ginormous exam that colleges utilize to assess your academic readiness for college. Generally speaking, most four-year universities require you submit your scores from either the SAT or ACT. The SAT, specifically, tests your knowledge of reading, writing and math — subjects that you’ve hopefully caught a bit of while spending most of your teenage life in the classroom.

The SAT is just one factor among many that colleges use while reviewing and sifting through applications. So your score is considered with other factors like teacher recommendations and your leadership and volunteering history. While most colleges accept and require either the SAT or ACT, each college and university uses a different combination of criteria for admission. To understand what your college choices look at, just contact them.

Here are the top 40 colleges with the highest SAT scores. The scores given are actually the top 25th percentile, meaning that of the of the 100 students admitted to The School of Hard Knocks, 25% scored above the stated number.

California Institute of Technology
Top 25th percentile: 2180

Harvard University
Top 25th percentile: 2100

Princeton University
Top 25th percentile: 2100

Yale University
Top 25th percentile: 2100

University of Chicago
Top 25th percentile: 2090

Harvey Mudd College
Top 25th percentile: 2080

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Top 25th percentile: 2080

Pomona College
Top 25th percentile: 2070

Columbia University in the City of New York
Top 25th percentile: 2050

Stanford University
Top 25th percentile: 2040

Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
Top 25th percentile: 2030

Northwestern University
Top 25th percentile: 2030

University of Pennsylvania
Top 25th percentile: 2030

Tufts University
Top 25th percentile: 2030

Vanderbilt University
Top 25th percentile: 2020

Amherst College
Top 25th percentile: 2020

Dartmouth College
Top 25th percentile: 2020

Swarthmore College
Top 25th percentile: 2020

Rice University
Top 25th percentile: 2000

Duke University
Top 25th percentile: 2000

Brown University
Top 25th percentile: 2000

Reed College
Top 25th percentile: 1970

Bowdoin College
Top 25th percentile: 1970

Haverford College
Top 25th percentile: 1960

Vassar College
Top 25th percentile: 1960

Carleton College
Top 25th percentile: 1950

Washington and Lee University
Top 25th percentile: 1950

Hamilton College
Top 25th percentile: 1950

Emory University
Top 25th percentile: 1950

Middlebury College
Top 25th percentile: 1940

Johns Hopkins University
Top 25th percentile: 1930

Carnegie Mellon University
Top 25th percentile: 1930

Wesleyan University
Top 25th percentile: 1930

Oberlin College
Top 25th percentile: 1930

Wellesley College
Top 25th percentile: 1920

University of Southern California
Top 25th percentile: 1920

Scripps College
Top 25th percentile: 1910

Jewish Theological Seminary of America
Top 25th percentile: 1900

Barnard College
Top 25th percentile: 1900

Macalester College
Top 25th percentile: 1890

This information is from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) database.
Have you taken the SAT? Share your story in the comment section below!

Colleges with the Highest Average ACT Scores

editor — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:00:23 +0000

The ACT is a four-subject test in math, reading, English, and science with a supplemental 30-minute writing test that is accepted by all 4-year colleges and universities in the United States as a measure of college entry.

With over 200 multiple-choice questions, the ACT takes about 3 and a half hours to complete, including the writing section and a quick break. To prepare for the test, students enroll in prep classes, hire private tutors, and purchase monstrous test-prep tomes so that they can earn a good score and hopefully be accepted into the college of their choice. That said, some students go into the test without much prep at all. But, it’s probably wise to at least familiarize yourself with how the test will look before you get there and spend 3 hours freaking out at what’s in front of you.

Why do students waste a perfectly good Saturday afternoon on a never-ending test? Well, the test is often a heavily weighted factor in whether you’ll be accepted to a school or not. Most 4-year universities and colleges require either the ACT and SAT. And some of those schools what to see super high scores.

Here are the colleges and universities whose students have the highest average ACT score:

California Institute of Technology
Average ACT score: 34

Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
Average ACT score: 33

Harvey Mudd College
Average ACT score: 33

Washington University in St Louis
Average ACT score: 32

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Average ACT score: 32

Northwestern University
Average ACT score: 31

University of Notre Dame
Average ACT score: 31

Pomona College
Average ACT score: 31

Stanford University
Average ACT score: 31

Harvard University
Average ACT score: 31

Princeton University
Average ACT score: 31

Columbia University in the City of New York
Average ACT score: 31

Vanderbilt University
Average ACT score: 30

University of Chicago
Average ACT score: 30

Rice University
Average ACT score: 30

Duke University
Average ACT score: 30

Middlebury College
Average ACT score: 30

Reed College
Average ACT score: 30

University of Pennsylvania
Average ACT score: 30

Amherst College
Average ACT score: 30

Bowdoin College
Average ACT score: 30

Yale University
Average ACT score: 30

Williams College
Average ACT score: 30

Tufts University
Average ACT score: 30

Dartmouth College
Average ACT score: 30

Haverford College
Average ACT score: 30

Carleton College
Average ACT score: 29

Tulane University of Louisiana
Average ACT score: 29

United States Air Force Academy
Average ACT score: 29

What’s your experience with the ACT or SAT? Tell us your story in the comment section below!

Most Expensive Private College and Universities

editor — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:02:41 +0000

You know when you’re shopping in a clothing store, and you pick out a cute sweater from the rack because it just looks so comfy and you love the embroidered beagles on the sleeves? So you casually flip over the price tag to see how much it it will set you back and suddenly your eyes pop out from her head cartoon-style because there is absolutely no way you are going to drop $498 on a stupid comfy sweater with some dogs on it???!!!

Well, that’s kinda the same effect you’ll get when you’re looking at college price tags–the eyes popping out of the head cartoon-style. However! Be warned that these are price tags that don’t include grants, scholarships, work studies, you name it. Plus, you’re getting more than a comfy sweater; you’re paying for a college education, which, no matter how cute a sweater is, cannot get you your dream job. Unless your dream job is wearing that sweater. How you’d make a career out of sweater-wearing, it’s not quite clear.

So yeah, these colleges are all super expensive, but before you refuse to apply to your dream school because of its published tuition, see what types of financial aid you can get to help you out. That definitely goes for private colleges as well, who often have more flexibility with their funds.

Coleman University
Annual tuition: $45,892

Sarah Lawrence College
Annual tuition: $42,600

Vassar College
Annual tuition: $42,560

Bucknell University
Annual tuition: $42,112

Wesleyan University
Annual tuition: $41,814

St. John’s College – Annapolis & Santa Fe
Annual tuition: $41,792

University of Richmond
Annual tuition: $41,610

Colgate University
Annual tuition: $41,585

Carnegie Mellon University
Annual tuition: $41,500

Oberlin College
Annual tuition: $41,234

How are you trying to cut college costs?