As has been discussed in this blog and elsewhere, many public schools are dealing with the problem of overenrollment this year. That is, more students will be attending than in years past. These schools claim it is an accident, but it is a very fortuitous accident for them. These overenrolled students will be paying just as much as other students, but they will be living in overcrowded dorms, and be taught by TAs. Couple this with the fact that many schools are accepting more foreign students to drive up tuition revenue, many of whom need help with their English, this can only deteriorate the quality of education.
There is an interesting article from a couple weeks ago in the New York Times about just this situation happening at Iowa. As always, the comments are quite interesting. It turns out this is becoming an increasingly common practice.
While this makes sense from the school's perspective, because it gets more money, it is detrimental to students' education. A school might see it as a good way to pick up more money, but it also hurts the "brand" of a school, because class sizes become bigger, and people have little desire to go someplace that is overcrowded, and where fellow students are hoping they flunk out so everyone can have enough space and teaching resources. It is a huge turnoff for high-paying out of state students, because they feel they are not getting what they pay for, and for that money could go to a similarly priced private school, which is much smaller. Also, most public schools have limited resources, so spreading them out among many more students only exacerbates this problem.
What do you think? Is this happening at your school? How are they dealing with it? We want to know about it.
21 August 2010
20 August 2010
5 things to not do as freshman at U of M
1: Live on North Campus- of course, you will probably end up doing this, because that is where they exile students that overflow the college living facilities. Living in a place like Bates, you can enjoy all the charm of a Soviet blockhouse and trod 10 minutes through below 0 weather to get dinner! But don't worry! You don't even need to go outside to enjoy the wonderful-tundra like climate that Michigan experiences in the winter months. You can watch drinks left on your study desk freeze before your eyes after the boiler breaks down (it inevitably will).
2: Make friends- Everyone Freshman year is a douche bag. They are all busy "asserting" themselves and trying to "find their identities". Whether it is the rich kid from Grosse Pointe who has to tell you about all the "gangs" at his school trying to get issued a hood card, or the socially awkward honors student who knows more than you but still describes himself as a "a pretty cool guy" (and who has to constantly tell everyone about all the parties he has been to to show how down to Earth he really is), Freshman are no fun to hang around. You included.
3: Have a single dorm: You never know what crippling, soul-crushing loneliness is until you to come home every night to an empty, prison-cell sized human storage unit. Prepare to spend the rest of the year eating raman noodles and re-watching episodes of South Park on your laptop in the evenings.
4: Share a dorm- Your roommates will inevitably annoy you every hour of everyday when you share the room with them, regardless of if you like them or not. You could live with Salma Hayek for a year and still want to beat her face in the next time she bites down on her chips too loud at the climax of a House episode (Finally, I get to use "Salma Hayek and "climax" in a sentence!)
5: Go to the Football Games- Going to a U of M football game nowadays is like looking at the Coliseum: No matter how much lip service people pay to its history, it's still a ruined and crumbling, condemnable shamble. Nothing wrenches your soul more than going to the school with the winningest football program in history, then as soon as you become a student there, you witness losses to MSU, Appalachian State and the entire Big Ten. Seriously, go to a Hockey game instead.
2: Make friends- Everyone Freshman year is a douche bag. They are all busy "asserting" themselves and trying to "find their identities". Whether it is the rich kid from Grosse Pointe who has to tell you about all the "gangs" at his school trying to get issued a hood card, or the socially awkward honors student who knows more than you but still describes himself as a "a pretty cool guy" (and who has to constantly tell everyone about all the parties he has been to to show how down to Earth he really is), Freshman are no fun to hang around. You included.
3: Have a single dorm: You never know what crippling, soul-crushing loneliness is until you to come home every night to an empty, prison-cell sized human storage unit. Prepare to spend the rest of the year eating raman noodles and re-watching episodes of South Park on your laptop in the evenings.
4: Share a dorm- Your roommates will inevitably annoy you every hour of everyday when you share the room with them, regardless of if you like them or not. You could live with Salma Hayek for a year and still want to beat her face in the next time she bites down on her chips too loud at the climax of a House episode (Finally, I get to use "Salma Hayek and "climax" in a sentence!)
5: Go to the Football Games- Going to a U of M football game nowadays is like looking at the Coliseum: No matter how much lip service people pay to its history, it's still a ruined and crumbling, condemnable shamble. Nothing wrenches your soul more than going to the school with the winningest football program in history, then as soon as you become a student there, you witness losses to MSU, Appalachian State and the entire Big Ten. Seriously, go to a Hockey game instead.
Michigan Study Shows That Incentives Encourage Students to do Homework
A new study released by the University of Michigan and reported in Time Magazine found that children who were shown information about how education improves job prospects in later life were more likely to do an extra credit assignment given to them than children who were not shown the same information.
This study was done on low-income children, for whom an experience of not having enough money would probably encourage them to try and make more money in later life
This study was done on low-income children, for whom an experience of not having enough money would probably encourage them to try and make more money in later life
Wasps with More Spots More Aggresive
A study done by the University of Michigan and reported in the Telegraph says that wasps with more spots are more likely to be aggressive than wasps without as many spots.
Traffic Restrictions in Ann Arbor
Annarbor.com is reporting that due to move-ins, there will be traffic restrictions on several major Ann Arbor streets starting September 1.
19 August 2010
Reaching Out to Our Readers
The Big Ten Plus Two wants to know what you think. Want to see more coverage of something? Do you find our current content to be annoying? We want to hear from you!
Steps to Restore Ranking Greatness
Alright, we've heard the arguments on both sides about why rankings are or aren't important, but let's just pretend for a second they are. The fact of the matter is that most public schools, and therefore most schools in the Big Ten, have been declining in national rankings in the last few years. Here is my point by point plan on how to fix it.
1. Go more out of state. The school I attend, Michigan, is roughly 1/3 out of state. This is very high for a public school, but consider this: Wisconsin, another highly regarded school in the Big Ten, is roughly 35% out of state and growing, Penn State is roughly 30% out of state, and Illinois is roughly 20% out of state and growing rapidly every year. At my school, the state contributes about 20% of the operating cost every year, and 1/3 of the applicants come from within the state, but 2/3 of the eventual students do. Actual enrollments should more accurately reflect where applications come from. This will also provide more revenue to the school in terms of tuition, and encouraging more out-of-state students to apply will increase competitiveness in admissions.
2. Look overseas. There is a rapidly growing middle class in many third-world countries that would be extremely eager to send their children to an American university. These students often pay more than out-of-state students, and do a lot to increase the diversity of schools. This is also a good way to get students for schools that don't quite have the cachet to increase out-of-state students. Many Big Ten schools offer programs in which foreign students are extremely interested, such as engineering and business. Schools should be proactive in recruiting these students, because many countries are putting a lot of money into their own education system in order to keep their best students.
3. Less is more. Many public schools are either being forced to offer less educational opportunities or hold steady, but overall student enrollment is increasing. This is generally not a good thing. This probably means that universities should try to reduce the number of people enrolling by reducing the number of people they accept. For example, Michigan over accepted by 1,000 kids this year, and Iowa over accepted by roughly 400. This creates housing issues, as well as teaching issues. The main plan to deal with this is to hope that enough kids drop out that space is cleared for everyone else. This is generally bad news, because it is generally a bad idea to hope for someone's failure so everyone else can have enough. By reducing the number of kids a school accepts, acceptance rates, a key measure of institutional quality, will go down.
4. Offer better financial aid. By accepting fewer kids, a university will have the same amount of financial aid to spread out over fewer people, meaning everyone can get more, and the school will have more full-rides to give out to the most coveted students.
1. Go more out of state. The school I attend, Michigan, is roughly 1/3 out of state. This is very high for a public school, but consider this: Wisconsin, another highly regarded school in the Big Ten, is roughly 35% out of state and growing, Penn State is roughly 30% out of state, and Illinois is roughly 20% out of state and growing rapidly every year. At my school, the state contributes about 20% of the operating cost every year, and 1/3 of the applicants come from within the state, but 2/3 of the eventual students do. Actual enrollments should more accurately reflect where applications come from. This will also provide more revenue to the school in terms of tuition, and encouraging more out-of-state students to apply will increase competitiveness in admissions.
2. Look overseas. There is a rapidly growing middle class in many third-world countries that would be extremely eager to send their children to an American university. These students often pay more than out-of-state students, and do a lot to increase the diversity of schools. This is also a good way to get students for schools that don't quite have the cachet to increase out-of-state students. Many Big Ten schools offer programs in which foreign students are extremely interested, such as engineering and business. Schools should be proactive in recruiting these students, because many countries are putting a lot of money into their own education system in order to keep their best students.
3. Less is more. Many public schools are either being forced to offer less educational opportunities or hold steady, but overall student enrollment is increasing. This is generally not a good thing. This probably means that universities should try to reduce the number of people enrolling by reducing the number of people they accept. For example, Michigan over accepted by 1,000 kids this year, and Iowa over accepted by roughly 400. This creates housing issues, as well as teaching issues. The main plan to deal with this is to hope that enough kids drop out that space is cleared for everyone else. This is generally bad news, because it is generally a bad idea to hope for someone's failure so everyone else can have enough. By reducing the number of kids a school accepts, acceptance rates, a key measure of institutional quality, will go down.
4. Offer better financial aid. By accepting fewer kids, a university will have the same amount of financial aid to spread out over fewer people, meaning everyone can get more, and the school will have more full-rides to give out to the most coveted students.
Rankings: Meaningless but Important
While I usually find myself agreeing with most of what Andy and Matthew have to say, and this time is no exception, there are also points on which I disagree with them, so I will offer my own viewpoint. First, I will state where I agree with them.
For the most part, these rankings can be considered meaningless, with the person at school number 30 not receiving any different of an education than the person at school 29 or 31. Also, there are many arbitrary factors that these rankings consider that don't seem like they would really affect the quality of education, and schools also have intangible factors that make them right for some people and not others.
However, just because these rankings may be meaningless, does not mean they are not important. This might seem like splitting hairs, but, as I'm sure most of you are aware, whether something is meaningful, and whether it is considered to be so are often two very different things.
First, I think we can all agree that these rankings are all about image. However, in this case, image is very important. How a school is perceived by prospective students plays a large part in recruiting students. For example, Wash U in St. Louis was not considered a very good school even 15 years ago. However, it has come up a lot in the rankings, which has attracted more students, which has allowed them to be more selective, which has pushed up their rankings even further, etc., etc., etc. This also gives their students more prestige, and more ability to get jobs in later life.
Second, as many people have pointed out, rankings turn into something that is used any way that anyone wants. For example, if a school does well in the rankings, the administration will say, "Oh, look how well we've done in the rankings," but if a school does poorly, they'll say, "Oh, well, rankings don't matter anyway." A school has to decide if their rankings matter or not, and stick to their decision. It can't be important to the school in the good times, and unimportant in the bad ones.
I think many people will agree that we have become an increasingly winner take all society, and while rankings don't really say much about the actual quality of an institution, they do affect the perception of whether you are a "winner" or not, which could have a very important effect on your later life.
For the most part, these rankings can be considered meaningless, with the person at school number 30 not receiving any different of an education than the person at school 29 or 31. Also, there are many arbitrary factors that these rankings consider that don't seem like they would really affect the quality of education, and schools also have intangible factors that make them right for some people and not others.
However, just because these rankings may be meaningless, does not mean they are not important. This might seem like splitting hairs, but, as I'm sure most of you are aware, whether something is meaningful, and whether it is considered to be so are often two very different things.
First, I think we can all agree that these rankings are all about image. However, in this case, image is very important. How a school is perceived by prospective students plays a large part in recruiting students. For example, Wash U in St. Louis was not considered a very good school even 15 years ago. However, it has come up a lot in the rankings, which has attracted more students, which has allowed them to be more selective, which has pushed up their rankings even further, etc., etc., etc. This also gives their students more prestige, and more ability to get jobs in later life.
Second, as many people have pointed out, rankings turn into something that is used any way that anyone wants. For example, if a school does well in the rankings, the administration will say, "Oh, look how well we've done in the rankings," but if a school does poorly, they'll say, "Oh, well, rankings don't matter anyway." A school has to decide if their rankings matter or not, and stick to their decision. It can't be important to the school in the good times, and unimportant in the bad ones.
I think many people will agree that we have become an increasingly winner take all society, and while rankings don't really say much about the actual quality of an institution, they do affect the perception of whether you are a "winner" or not, which could have a very important effect on your later life.
Designer Rankings
Even liberal arts majors (such as yours truly) can discern the flaws in USNWR's ranking methodology and in the very practice of aggregating discrete data points into conclusive places on a statistical pedestal. However, these flaws do not mean that ranking in and of itself is invalid, but rather that no single methodology can or should claim to hold the ultimate algorithm.
Every entity that hopes to use rankings (prospective students, grad schools, firms, etc.) should decide beforehand what markers of quality they find relevant and seek out a methodology that tailors itself to those elements. In fact, the most useful ranking tool I can imagine would be a database of collegiate statistics that allows the user to create his or her own formula, e.g., 30% peer assessment scores from university presidents, 30% freshman retention rates, 30% top law school placement rates, and 10% selectivity.
The biggest complaint levied against college rankings is that each individual student desires something slightly different from their undergraduate experience (meaning each ranking system inevitably weights some statistic too heavily for one group, and not heavily enough for another). Such a user-customizable algorithm would alleviate that complaint: users could save their algorithms and results for other users, who could vote on how useful they found them. Eventually, the best methodologies for diverse entities could arise from the muck.
Of course, this is all a pipe dream more suited for someone with databasing skills. Until someone manifests my dream site, I personally like to stick with USNWR International Rankings (a preference which derives from my desire to know where those sneaky Grand Ecoles are at any given time): http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/worlds-best-universities/2010/02/25/worlds-best-universities-top-400.html
I like this system for three reasons:
1) It details the internal hypocrisy of USNWR.
2) U of M is 19th internationally and 13th nationally. (Who knew?)
And most importantly of all...
3) Notre Dame is 199th. Ouch.
18 August 2010
The Problem With Ratings
Alex asked me to write something controversial a few days ago and I hope this will spark a bit of discussion on the subject. I would like to say that I believe college rankings to be mostly meaningless. And while this is only a brief summary into why I believe this, my hope is that we can use this summary as a diving board into the issues that each of these points represent. Now without further discussion, let us begin with methodology.
Methodology plays a big role into these ratings systems but which one is the best way to rank the quality of a school? Why do so many organizations use different ratings systems? Why do organizations even change their ratings systems from year to year? I think it is obvious to state that every student at the 32nd ranked school is not going to be less capable in ability than the students at the 25th ranked school. I also think a better measure of each of these colleges is to explore the whole college experience and the immeasurable like how each of these schools have affected the lives of their students. These are factors that looking at a school’s selectiveness and ACT scores are incapable of.
Next I am going to ask what the numbers mean in relation to each other. For example Michigan often places somewhere within the top 10% of top rated schools. What about all the schools that are not rated? If we were to consider the number of schools not even making it onto this list, we can basically reduce these top college lists to a bickering war among the top 1% of colleges.
Finally I want to say that the most important factor in any of these college lists is you. No matter how many doors the name of your college opens up, it is still up to you to make something of these opportunities. It is also up to you to make your own opportunities. People are going to care less and less which college you went to as time goes on. They are going to care more about what you have done since then.
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