The US is considered the crown jewel of modern higher education as evidenced by global market share. More than a million foreign students study at American undergraduate and graduate schools each year – far surpassing any other country. While 4,000+ options provide ample selection and capacity, other countries allocate slots to individuals with demonstrated promise in a specific discipline – a situation with roots in the pragmatics of allocating scarce national resources.
As the breadth of the US higher education landscape is unparalleled, this broader scope necessitates a close examination of the features and benefits that each school can provide. The first questions admissions folks entertain from traditional undergraduate students have to do with the types of majors that are available, housing & location, campus culture, and sports teams. Others ask about costs and financial aid. While these form a nice shopping list, they don’t go far enough into the key factors that provide the experience and outcomes that students find most rewarding at graduation.
We can segment the playing field into three major sectors: the elites, the major public and private colleges and universities, and the small, technical, and community colleges. The elites have been increasingly successful in increasing their selectivity each year. Over the past twenty years selectivity figures have gone from an average of 20-30% acceptance to less than 10%, and some high profile institutions, now hover near five percent. They have established a niche that delivers the experience, networking, and education that are unique and highly transformative. For example, some will focus on mission and a holistic transformation of students (intellectual, physical, spiritual) by insisting they live on campus and dedicate many service hours to worthy causes as mechanisms to demonstrate how the combination of values, knowledge, and discipline lead to successful life outcomes for both the individual and society. Students who attend these schools are immersed in the transformative experience with close structural guidance. This type of experience necessitates robust resources and these institutions rely on tuition and endowments that can rival the per capita resources of the pentagon. Gaining entrance to these schools is a challenge. Small ’boutique’ admissions consulting firms charge families upwards of US$640/hour for guidance on these matters with packages starting at US$15,000.
The major pubic and private universities offer broad numbers of programs for undergraduate and graduate students, which attempt to follow the demands of the market, prevailing social values, and the resources they have available to them. With declining government subsidies, public schools have engaged in more pragmatic programming in attempts to optimize their operations. Students can expect much larger class sizes, clustering of social connections (by major or demographic, as examples), and educational programming aimed at the ‘average’ student. While most schools still require competitive applications, these schools admit the vast majority of applicants; as such, the intellectual capacity varies significantly in each incoming class, so educators have to focus their instruction on the ‘average’ student in their classes. Personal attention like tutoring and counseling services are commonly available on an appointment basis to help keep students on track. Students will have to seek out faculty more than faculty will be doting on them in these larger institutions. Students in these environments will also have to navigate their way through their programs mostly on their own, which can provide an education on decision-making and resourcefulness all by itself.
Small private schools are a special case and sport extended advantages and disadvantages representative of their size. Resources are extremely scarce, so faculty and staff typically focus on thoughts versus things. There will be few labs, gyms, recreation centers or bars on campus; rather, these schools focus on the individual students, the nature of the collective cohort, and their mission in ways that can offer “focused” transformation. Focused transformation is where the school takes its natural endowments, whether they be faith, location/demographic, or a unique faculty, and builds competitive programs based on those few, yet potentially valuable assets. Students can expect to be called upon to contribute to the learning environment via participation, leadership, and rolling up their sleeves as they progress through their degree programs. They will not be able to get lost in the crowd, they will have earned more transformative leadership qualities as a result of the problem-solving they will be drawn to do. Under the guidance of faculty, presentations or performances will be student-led, experts will be considered and invited by the students themselves in many cases. They will earn their degrees in a small school just as much as they do in a large school, yet on different terms.
Finally, technical and community colleges provide a niche educational experience unique to their own charter or mission. These schools tend to prepare students to move on to four-year schools by providing introductory academic preparation or they deliver skills-based programs leading to a technical career for those that favor things versus thoughts. Examples are firefighters, medical technologists, IT specialists, etc. You can earn an associate degree or a career-oriented technical certificate from many of these schools and colleges. This option is ideal for an individual who may need to remain close to home, work to support a family, or is simply not ready to commit to a formal degree program, yet does not want to suspend their intellectual progress. Schools in this sector are divided into for profit and public community colleges most often. Costs are lowest at public community college institutions and much pricier at private technical schools. Students in these environments generally have a multitude of outside factors influencing their academic progress and may not experience the transformation that other academic options offer.
I advise students to carefully look at these aspects of the college selection decision, knowing that not all colleges are created or structured equally, and that each has its own mission or charter. When you know the circumstances of the institution, you can better find an institution that will provide the best return on your own investments of time and money. Knowing them better will result in a win-win, which provides you with the best possible outcome.
For more unique niches, such as adult students, athletes, or international students, refer to the links provided for additional insight.