WELCOME TO THE SHELL GAME
I am standing next to a first year student in the bookstore
who is about to spend a fortune on books.
Her friend, a sophomore, told her to make sure she had the right books
for the right class sections. I looked
over her shoulder at her schedule and told her she had everything. And then, as is my weakness, I asked her what
she was studying. She told me she wanted
to go to medical school and that she was a biology major. Then I asked why she chose biology. “Because, I want to go to medical school.” Out of curiosity I asked her if her advisor
had talked to her about the changes in the MCAT? She just looked at me and said no. But she was completely confident that she was
in the right major and on the right path.
I looked at her schedule, at her, and wished her a good semester. She was just one more of the many who, fed
with mixed messages we send students, was matriculating into the shell game we
call “going to college. And she
personified all the problems.
This first year was on track to cram her 4 years of
education into 6 – now becoming the standard time for graduation. For those of you who do not know, according
to The Chronicle of Higher Education,
a stirring 31.3% of undergrads nationally graduate in 4 years. But that goes up to a whopping 56% in six
years (52.5% and 65.5% for privates – but then there are the costs). And this student – well, she captures it
all! If she understands the rigor it
will take to make admissions standards for medical school, then she should know
that she will need 3 semesters to get to the math course she needs. And without the appropriate math, she should
not jump into the biology, chemistry and the collateral physics she needs to
begin her “major”. You do the “math” on
time to completion for this student. But
advising registered her for a biology course which she did not have the
appropriate math course for. She is
programmed to “fail” because she bought into the “myth of the academic
major”. In her case – planning for med.
school. Choose biology. Why? ‘Cause
that is what they told me? Is there any
logic in this? No! But she would be fodder for the “full time
enrollment” game that departments use to argue for their budgets. Whether it is what is best for the
student….well, that’s not important. And
this fits fine with too many colleges that put the pre-med advising in biology
departments because after all, biology is a life science and doesn’t that fit
with preparation for medical school? Not
according to AMCAS or AACOM. But then
what do they know?
This is a common ploy – we call it a “pre-med program”, no
different than “pre-law programs’ being housed in political science. We use these to pull parents and students
into the “college show room” so our salespeople (admissions) can make the
sale. Then the shell game begins. Parents and students are looking for the
“security blanket” of the “major”, hoping that if they find the right major,
that will lead to a great job and that will lead to Master Card
International. And colleges keep sending
the same mixed messages, referring students to advising systems good at pulling
out check sheets to process students through requirements and career service
that can only translate a undergraduate experience into other sheets of paper
that misguide students with “what can you do with a major in….”. Students are on their own to figure out how
to craft the 4 major components of their education into an experience that will
work for them. And it you don’t know
what those 4 component are, well, like Jerry Graff says, you are clueless in
academe.
So what happens?
Here’s an interesting exercise.
Why is the natural science track in psychology one of the largest majors
on so many campuses? Because
introductory biology and chemistry and organic count as collateral requirements. Oh. I
forgot. Those are the pre-med sciences,
and just about all the pre-med sciences you will need for the MCAT, with the
exception of physics. But the new
MCAT….that’s a teaser. What some
students interested in med schools are realizing is that being a biology major
is something you should do if you genuinely love biology or, of course, if you
want to be a biologist. But if you want
to prepare for medical school…let’s just say if you are beginning pre-med and
do not what is happening in the new holistic review process then you perhaps
you might want to take a few minutes to find out. And if your advisors – faculty or those in
the advising office – do not know, well then cross your fingers and hope you
can find the pea under the right shell.
If you have read to here, you are getting a brief sense of
the mess students (perhaps you) are
facing. For the student standing next to
me … she is so sure she has a handle on it.
The system advised her into a first semester that a betting person would
put money down on that she will not make grades she must have. And she has the privilege of building her
student debt in the process. And this is
all played out against the question whether anyone had actually taken the time
to talk with her about her genuine interests or whether she was just given her
required 30 minutes to schedule courses.
And it is played out against the context of whether or not students are willing
to sift through the “merde” they have been fed about “getting a college education”.
So welcome to How to Make College Work. This is not going to be about study skills,
time management, how to get along with your roommate, or the “first year fifteens”. This is an insider’s guide on how to navigate
through the mixed messages, the poor advising, the incongruity of academic
programs that make no sense, and the doubt that comes up when you cannot figure
out how to put together an academic program that makes sense to you. It is about how to learn to build an
undergraduate experience that works for you.
We are going to sift through the “merde” so you can beat the shell
game. And this is coming from insiders
who know the racquet very well and will provide you a perspective you will not
be able to find in books on college success at Books-a-Million.
So buckle up – we are going for a ride
