The college cursor

Gauri Chhabra

Zeroing in on a good college is the major task for parents as well as students as soon as the Class XII exams get over. Choosing a college is a lengthy process. It is imperative to dig a little deeper during the college search. Do your research about each college, and have the courage to allow your perceptions to change — keeping an open mind and expecting the unexpected.

Keep the following factors in mind before making the final choice of a college:

Curriculum 

The fulcrum of all activity

Clichéd as it may sound college is about education and curriculum. Make sure to find out about the curriculum and faculty in your course of study. Find out if the academic programme offered by the college provides hands-on experience or internships in your field prior to graduation. At times you may choose a major because you think it will lead you into a certain professional field. That is not always the case. You need to understand the field that they’re going into, and what path they have to follow in order to be successful. You need to understand that not all colleges offer the same major or degrees, and that not all universities have law, dental, and medical schools. After earning a bachelor’s degree, some students will have to apply to graduate school, medical school or law school to continue their career path.

Another academic factor worth looking at is student-to-faculty ratio. The more students there are per faculty member the less personalised attention you’re likely to receive.

Research 

An eye opener

It is the faculty that makes a college, not the bricks and mortar. Colleges that offer research opportunities to their faculty would encourage research to the students also. When looking for a college, look for the faculty — how many PhDs are there? Take a good hard look at the quality of the faculty members employed at the college. Deep research enhances the educational experience and the resume of students in some contexts. The institute’s focus on research project and subsequent senior thesis reflect a quality that would leave you starry eyed.

Rankings 

Take these with a grain of salt

Another thing that you may want to consider is college rankings. My experience is that most students and parents don’t pay detailed attention or simply are ignorant to the methodologies of these rankings. I don’t blame them, given time constraints and the complexity of ranking methodologies. Some don’t even realise that these rankings are almost a part of commercial, for-profit publications. Moreover, the criteria used to generate rankings differs from one reporting organisation to another, and more importantly, may differ from your own. 

Most ranking organisations employ factors including endowments, alumni support, and reputation in their computation of rankings whereby favouring large, private colleges and universities. In contrast, some other organisations may employ perceived reputations as judged by peers that are high-level officials in various universities as one of its major factors for rankings. The assessments are highly subjective and may be disproportionally influenced by social factors that do not measure institutional quality. Also, adjusting a few parameters and weighting factors here and there can swing rankings significantly. Who comes out on top, in any ranking system, is really about who is doing the ranking.

Therefore, evaluate colleges on their own terms. Ultimately, it is about the right fit.

Support services 

Frills matter

Let’s face it. Many of you would salivate at the thought of attending a college with great infrastructure and support system. And there is nothing wrong with it. After all the college is going to be your home for the next three years. And you do not want to be running from pillar to post for your daily needs. Most larger colleges and universities are their own worlds, with on-campus housing, libraries, health centers, entertainment centers, cafeterias, food courts, shopping facilities, stores, computer labs, readily accessible. So, look for a college that provides minimum health services or health insurance policies.

Alumni

The connect

One subtle measure of a college’s effectiveness is the alumni satisfaction rate which is an indirect measure of student satisfaction. Sure, it’d be nice to say you walked the same halls as stalwarts of your field. But it’s also important to choose a college that will help you build a network and gain access to job and internship opportunities. Check with both the university’s career center and the department you’ll be studying in and see what opportunities they offer to connect with alumni. Events like networking luncheons and alumni get-togethers can go a long way toward nailing down the perfect career opportunities. The industry exchange — overcoming the academic inflation

The importance of employability skills is now greater than ever in the current economic climate. We live in a climate of academic inflation with too many degrees chasing too few jobs. On the other hand recruiters say that there is a talent crunch. All this occurs as there is a gnawing gap between the industry and the academia. While selecting a college look for an industry exchange platform. Look at the quality of internships it has been providing to its students. How many students have been given a PPO (Pre Placement Offer?

Immersion programs and work experience internships go a long way in building employability skills. Look for colleges that provide that.

Placements 

Window dress to ground reality

While looking for a college, also keep in mind the placement record and whether the college has a full- fledged Placement cell. While going through the placement statistics, it is imperative to read between the lines. The package that the cell claims to have provided can just be a random figure and the average package might be considerably low. Also look for the recruiters coming to the college. If a college had repeat recruiters, it means it has been providing a genuine pool of talent. Pool campuses are also an eye wash. 

Zero-in on a college that has been organising campus drives and has close tie ups and footprint in the industry.

Visit 

See it to believe it

All that glitters is not gold- becomes evident when you look at the college website. The website is prepared by some marketing or PR expert so do not get carried away by it. Fit is a real thing, and there are many ways to tell if the college you're looking at could be the right one for you. Of course, a campus visit is a great way to get a good feeling for the personality of a place, but there are lots of ways to engage with and learn more about a school. 

Summing up

The choice of college plays a critical role in determining the future earnings of college graduates. Keep in mind that while choosing one college over the other, you are trading off the opportunity cost of one over the other.

So, make the right choice- right from the beginning…

— The writer is a Punjab-based career consultant

Accreditation — both national & regional

The first and foremost factor to keep in mind before making a final decision about a college is accreditation. If you believe that almost all colleges will have accreditation, let me tell you most of them might not have one. You’ll also want to find out if a college is regionally or nationally accredited. While both accreditations are valid, you’ll probably want to make sure that the college or university that you attend is regionally accredited. You can find out if a college is accredited by looking on a college’s recruiting website, by reviewing their academic catalogs.