Sometimes a stern warning is just what you need in order to push you to take a step back and evaluate your next move, especially when it could be a life changing one. In “Alumnus Welcomes New UC Berkeley Students with Stern Warning,” Shouak Bagchi, an alumnus of UC Berkeley, addresses the Berkeley freshmen class of 2017 with appraisal and advice for the future. Bagchi writes to the new students about what attending one of the most prestigious public universities entails. This article is rhetorically persuasive due to the fact that Bagchi is an alumnus of UC Berkeley. He references topics that the students can relate to and he mentions many of the successful alumni of the university.…
There can be no denying the importance of a college education for countless individuals. However, that is not to say that decisions regarding where to apply, which major to choose and how the de...…
The problem I want to address in the speech is that whether colleges put too much stock in standardized test scores. It’s an actual exgience because colleges are currently relying a lot on standardized test scores as a base for their applications.…
There comes a time in students’ lives where they have to make one of the biggest decisions of their lives. This may be to follow in the footsteps of some of the greatest African American figures at an HBCU, or to obtain a general education from one of the wide range predominantly white universities. Although attending college is the primary goal for most students, choosing the right institution to attend can be the hardest decision to make. The choice of finding the best university to accommodate their needs is definitely a tough decision. However, by analyzing the polarizing differences in the institutions, students can clearly understand the dissimilarities of attending an HBCU rather than a PWI.…
At many colleges across the country, the ingredients for academic success now include a steady flow of…
To approach this, I looked at the collection of student data that includes : sex (SEX), high school percentile (HSP), cumulative GPA (GPA), age (AGE), total credits earned (CREDITS), classification (CLASS), school/college (COLLEGE), primary major (MAJOR), residency (RESIDENCY), admission type (TYPE), ACT English score (ENGLISH), ACT math score (MATH), and ACT composition score (COMP). By looking at all this data and making several scatter plots, histograms and box plots, I was able to figure out the most important factor in determining which students are the most successful.…
In today’s extremely competitive, job-scarce economy, having a college degree is now a steadfast requirement when applying to even entry-level professional jobs. Choosing a college has always been a challenging task for high school seniors, but it is now fraught with stress and anxiety for nearly every adult who seeks to further their education. Questions abound: what school offers the exact program I desire? What school is in the best location, or has the best campus? What school feels ‘right’?…
Students should not choose to apply to schools solely based on average GPA and MCAT scores! It is important that you also look at curriculum, opportunities outside of the classroom, geographical considerations, match to the school's mission, etc.…
For many High School graduates, applying to college is a daunting adventure where new opportunities, relationships, and knowledge are ready to be explored. As a new freshman, I was not ready to succumb to the possibility of becoming a poltroon in this new and exciting world. I was ready to thrust myself into college with the adherence and prowess that most students lacked when they finished high school.…
Nelson Mandela once said: “An education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” This quote profoundly reflected the attitude displayed by myself in my college selection search. I eventually narrowed my selection down to Indiana University Bloomington and Wabash College as a result of these two stellar college’s history of high scholastic achievement. While these two academic institutions share some characteristics in common, their differences in composition, academic programs, price, and credit transfer services were enough for me to chose one over the other.…
Among the 850 plus schools that have dropped the SAT, many report a significant change in their student body. The students on the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum are more encouraged to apply to the schools they otherwise would have written off because of their SAT scores. The NACAC study also shows that non-SAT submitting students are more likely to be women, first-generation-to-college, minorities, and students from low-income families and that going test-optional had increased a school’s appeal to long distance applicants by up to 49%(Hiss, Franks 15). Since going test-optional, Wesleyan University saw a significant jump in socioeconomic and racial diversity on campus, as well as a record number of student applications in 2015.…
The American College Test and Scholastic Assessment Test, commonly known as the ACT and SAT, are both standardized tests used to determine a student's academic knowledge and skills in order to identify which level of colleges and universities they can handle. The ACT Inc. calls their test an indicator of "college and career readiness" and college boards trust their numbers to reflect just that. Although it is known that college admission boards take into consideration many other factors, such as grade point average, extracurricular involvement and class rank when accepting and rejecting applicants, it in inevitable that students are still turned down because their standardized tests reflect that they are not "ready." As a result, high schools all over the nation put great emphasis on these college admissions tests that are administered nationwide to each high school junior. It is true that standardized testing is a method for colleges to rank and then select students by expressing each student's capability as a number. This number is useful because otherwise it would be very difficult to rank such a diverse group of people, each with his or her own strengths and achievements in different fields. Although this solves the problem of having to weigh the significance and precedence of each individual's past…
SAT testing is not an appropriate method of measuring a student’s overall intelligence. This popular standardized test is offered in over 176 countries, including the United States. The SATs can be the deciding factor of college acceptance, making the exam itself too influential on a student’s future. Additionally, the test has been taken advantage of numerous times for higher scores. The legitimacy of the SATs is also questioned with the issue of income inequality. Most students in the 21st century are striving to achieve acceptance into elite colleges; henceforth, a single exam having the power to change one’s future is irrational. Despite these inconsistencies, some argue the SATs provide a cornerstone for the strengths and weaknesses of a student that can be compared to…
College is advertised as a place where you learn to grow up and become an independent adult. A place with a variety of freedom. All the perks seem to be there except the one that has followed us since elementary school, the freedom of class selection. It may seem that we get freedom of class selection but there is always that catch, General Education. The monster that has haunted us since the beginning of our education journey. If society wants to use college to treat us like adults by giving us freedom then they should start with giving us full freedom not partial.…
There has been immense amounts of debate recently on whether or not the college admission process is a fair. Many people have offered solutions on trying to reduce the amount of stress high school students are feeling with the admission process. Dr. Michelle Hernandez has a possible solution that focuses more on educating students and not gaming admissions. This solution comprises different ways to apply to college, eliminating non-binding admissions, and eliminating major tests like ACT and SAT. Although these would mark big changes it could be an answer to high school burnout, slanted admissions, and bringing the attention back on educating the students.…