When it comes to researching colleges, the plethora of numbers are enough to send one back to Instagram. College profiles, guidebooks and websites drown the researcher in statistics. What’s a student to do?
College profiles obviously contain lots of useful information. However, they’re also cluttered with numbers that are largely irrelevant and distracting. Do you really care how many volumes are contained in the library, what percent of the campus is accessible (students with physical limitations may find this stat interesting but not particularly informative), or how many clubs are registered on campus? Hopefully not. All that should matter is whether the resources you’ll need will be available, whether you’ll be able to access campus resources, and whether the clubs you might be interested in will be available. Look for information that applies to you and try to ignore the rest.
Other profile numbers can be misleading. When considering statistics, a healthy dose of skepticism is helpful. Think critically about the source of the information you’re analyzing. Who is providing the information, what is the source’s agenda, and is that agenda the same as yours?
Many people think that the percent of applicants admitted to a college is indicative of the institution’s quality and/or one’s chance of admission. Think again. That statistic is actually a statement about popularity, not quality. Further, without knowing the qualifications of the applicant pool, the statistic offers little insight into the likelihood of your being accepted.
Understanding the classroom environment is crucial to understanding a college. Student/faculty ratios seem relevant, but actually communicate little about what you’ll encounter academically. At many schools, there are faculty members who don’t teach classes or interact much with students. Counting them in the ratio is misleading, though not inaccurate. If you turn to average class sizes instead, you won’t do much better.
If you really want to try to get a handle on what you’ll encounter on campus, the stats to consider are the breakdown of class sizes, especially first-year/100 level lectures and the percent of entry level classes that are taught by graduate assistants. Considering the ratio of full-time/tenure track faculty to part-time/adjunct faculty can give you some idea of how accessible to you your teachers may be. Part-time instructors often teach on more than one campus and may be less available for consultation. Although these numbers may be more challenging to come by, they’ll give you a better idea of what you’ll actually find in the classroom.
Financial aid statistics can also be misleading. Average indebtedness at graduation is simply a mathematical mean that, by taking into account widely disparate figures, can distort actual reality. If you’re “average”, then your debt at graduation might be similar, but without quite a bit more information, the average itself is less-than-helpful. Likewise, college profiles may include the percent of financial need met by financial aid. A college can honestly state that it meets 100% of need, but unless you know how much of the financial aid award is gift aid (grants and scholarships) and how much is self-help aid (work study and loans), you actually know very little.
What hidden gems are contained in college profiles? You’re looking for numbers/stats that will help you understand what colleges are actually like and what your experience as a student might resemble. Take notice of such entries as:
- The retention rate of students who continue beyond their first year. If this number seems low, it should raise red flags and prompt you to ask serious questions of admission personnel.
- The ratio of undergraduate to graduate students. This, along with the institutional mission/philosophy, can give you some sense of the value the institution places on teaching undergrads. Is the institution primarily in the business of educating undergrads, or is it heavily invested in research and producing PhDs?
- The percent of students (both lower and upper division) who live on campus and how many of those remain on campus during the weekends. Even if you think you’d eventually like to live off-campus, this is a stat to consider. Generally, the more residential a college is, the more invested the institution is in providing resources to enrich their students’ non-academic experience. If huge numbers of students move off-campus once they’ve met their housing requirement, ask why. Is the housing substandard or too expensive? Are regulations highly restrictive?
- The percent of students who graduate with research, internships or other work experience in their chosen field. Few college profiles include this information, but you’d be wise to inquire. Ask what resources the college has to assist students in gaining the background and skills they need to become employable at graduation.
When carefully considered, each of these statistics can help you understand colleges more thoroughly, and more importantly, can help you develop meaningful questions to ask both admissions professionals and current students.
