Two kids stroll through what could only be a campus quad. They smile, deliriously happy to be facing this gorgeous fall—doesn’t it always seem to be the fall in these images?—day. They cradle books beneath their arm but the titles are not visible. The content could contain anything. Like your future.
Or so an advertisement would have you believe. College marketing rarely focuses on granular results. Instead, you get little dioramas that describe situations that, while perhaps enjoyable, have nothing to do with why you are considering $50K in loans.
How can you cut through the marketing and figure out what a college program is really like? Let’s get into it.
Disregard the Ads
Talk is cheap. The purpose of an country email list advertisement is to get you into the university’s funnel. That’s an actual marketing term that basically describes the way businesses position themselves to complement the consumer’s discretionary process.
The marketing materials get your attention and then you go from there. However, you can’t assume that marketing materials mean anything other than, “We would your money please.”
To figure out if a university is right for you, it’s important to understand:
- What kind of programs they offer.
- How good their instructors are.
- What price you will pay per credit hour.
- Their job placement stats.
All of this information is out there. You just need to know where to find it.
What Kind of Classes They Offer
This is easily the most accessible data you can get. Most universities will post their course catalogs online for easy viewing. To get more specific insights, it’s always a good idea to contact the admissions office. They will be able to put you into contact with either a guidance counselor or department head who can answer your specific questions or concerns.
At the undergraduate level, most course offerings are the same but once you get into advanced degrees, the options tend to get very specific, which puts a bigger emphasis on understanding the catalog.
For example, if you want to become a nurse practitioner, you’ll find that there are many different focus areas that significantly influence your career trajectory.
It’s important to make sure that the program you are interested in can take you where you want to go.
Quality of Instruction
Harder to quantify in that there is no objective metric for measuring the quality of instruction. While it’s easy enough to tell a very good teacher from a very bad one, most instructors will occupy a vague sort of middle territory.
You can get good insights into what sort of thailand phone numbers instruction a professor offers by taking a look at review sites like RateMyProfessor.com.
There, you’ll get Yelp-style reviews on the teachers at a given school. While these insights ultimately only document subjective experiences, they can be a good way to learn more about a program.
Price Per Credit Hour
While the price of your degree says nothing fax lead about its quality it can provide insights into its value. In other words: How much bang are you getting for your buck? The more you borrow, the more you will need to earn from your advanced degree to make it worthwhile.
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