Posts Tagged ‘unique academic experience’

Need a Challenge? Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College at Florida Atlantic University

Thursday, January 20th, 2011

What do you want to get out of your college education? If you said you want to learn differently and challenge yourself to reach your full potential: you might want to check out an Honors College like the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors  College at Florida Atlantic University! My College Guide got in touch with Kerry Rosen, Admissions Counselor at the Honors College, for answers!

The Honors College at Florida Atlantic University

Courtesy of Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College

Isn’t college hard enough already? Why consider a Liberal Arts Honors College like the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College at Florida Atlantic University ?
Honors colleges and programs aren’t necessarily harder – but they do require a different kind of academic work, academic work that stresses critical thinking skills rather than mere memorizing.  The Wilkes Honors College at FAU is a place for students who are interested in becoming better readers, writers and thinkers, so that they will be better prepared for graduate and professional programs and a life-time of learning.

The Harriet L Wilkes Honors College at Florida Atlantic University calls itself an all-honors education at an all-honors college. What does that mean?
At Wilkes, students take all four years of courses at the honors level – something unique for honors programs that are part of larger universities.

What are some of the unique features of the Honors College ?
The curriculum at the Wilkes Honors College stresses learning that crosses the lines of traditional disciplines and requires that students take a certain number of team-taught courses.  Some examples of this would include:  The Aging Process (Psychology/Biology), Ethno-mathematics (Math/Anthropology), and Punishment (Philosophy/Political Science).

And on the non-academic side, our students live in modern residence halls that offer single bedrooms in four-person suites!

Are there any special annual events or programs that Honors College students particularly look forward to? Every spring we have a Research Symposium, where students present their research and creative projects.  We also have student art exhibits at our campus museum and a whole raft of social activities and traditions such as the Homecoming Carnival and the annual Student-Faculty Softball Game.  We have a wonderful 18-hole disc golf course that is heavily used and because we’re located in sunny South Florida , students can play year-round.  Ultimate Frisbee and soccer are other popular activities on campus.

Did we see something about a Senior Year thesis paper?
Every student completes a senior thesis before graduation.  This is a major project in their area of academic concentration and is the culmination of their four years of study.  Upon completion, the theses are published and placed in the library; they are also available electronically on our college website for other scholars to use.  Many of these theses actually are published in professional journals. We also require all students to complete an experiential learning component, which can be either a study-abroad experience or an internship or both.

Students at the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College at Florida Atlantic University

Courtesy of Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College

Do you have any advice for a college bound high school student who thinks they might be interested in an Honors College like Florida Atlantic University’s?
They should come and visit – meet current students and faculty, see how they think they will fit in, and see if this kind of education is what they are seeking for themselves.

Is there anything they can do to prepare themselves and to gain a better chance of acceptance?
We are looking for students who have demonstrated that they have a good chance of being successful here, those who are interested in learning and being active participants in their own learning.  We consider the student’s transcript, test scores, resume as well as a sample of their academic writing.

What about college scholarships?
We offer an amazingly wonderful education at a great value – public school tuition AND generous academic scholarships, the latter including a limited number of out-of-state scholarships for non-Florida students.

Anything else that My College Guide college bound readers should know?
It is important that students and their families understand that liberal arts actually include sciences!  The Wilkes Honors College and other liberal arts colleges not only offer programs in the humanities and social sciences, they also offer strong programs in the natural and physical sciences and prepare students exceedingly well for medical school and graduate programs.

Who We Are: Information you can trust. For 20 years My College Guide has produced an annual magazine chock full of free college info for high-achieving high school sophomores. Check out our participating colleges. If you’re a student, enter for a chance to win an Apple iPad or iPhone or cash!

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Posted in Choosing a College, College Admissions, College Applications, College Campus, College Classes, College Life, Fun Stuff, Housing, Study Abroad | No Comments »

Lawrence University’s Crown Jewel: Bjorklunden

Thursday, November 11th, 2010

Some colleges can point to a strong liberal arts background. Others can mention inclusion on the Colleges that Change Lives list. Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin can do both — and they’ve got one more unusual feature: Bjorklunden. Referred to as the Northern Campus, Bjorklunden is part of what makes Lawrence University so unique. What is Bjorklunden? For starters, it’s an amazing student resource.

Bjorklundlen Image Courtesy of Lawrence University

Courtesy of Lawrence University

Special thanks to Ken Anselment, the director of admissions at Lawrence University, for taking time out a busy season to share Bjorklunden with us!

Okay, so, what is Bjorklunden?
A beautiful lodge nestled in 425 wooded Door County, Wisconsin, acres with more than a mile of Lake Michigan shoreline. A resort community? Almost.

It’s Bjorklunden Vid Sjon (Norwegian for the “birch forest by the water.”) The lodge sleeps about 100, and is decked out with a mudroom and wet lab, seminar rooms, observation decks (for telescopic views of the crystal clear skies of Door County), and music rooms, including a performance hall.

Bjorklunden doesn’t just sit there and look pretty? Students can actually have classes here?
About three-quarters of our students head up here at least once a year for French immersion programs, music recitals, cross-country practices, field research—or sometimes just to get away from it all.

Bjorklundlen Image Courtesy of Lawrence University

Courtesy of Lawrence University

What happens in the summer when students leave campus? Are there other ways that students use Bjorklunden?
Students also use Bjorklunden as a place for summer employment. Living and working in Door County, Wisconsin’s premiere summer vacation destination, is a pretty good gig.

We also use the facility throughout the summer to offer seminars to the community on topics as varied as you can imagine: “Beauty Will Save the World: Dostoevsky’s The Idiot;” “The Comic Genius of Aristophanes;” “Basic Crossword Construction;” “Angels, Bird Droppings, and Fish Liver: The Book of Tobit.”

How do you believe a Lawrence University student’s education is enriched by this unique northern campus?
Lawrence is a community of micro-communities, and a great way to see that in action is to spend a weekend at Bjorklunden, where you’ll have students from diverse backgrounds but with a common affinity—they all play bass, or they’re all biology majors, just to cite a couple of examples—have a shared residential, dining and social experience beyond the reason they’re gathering. It’s a great way to forge more connections for when they return to campus.

Bjorklundlen Image Courtesy of Lawrence University

Courtesy of Lawrence University

Anything else you would like to add that our college bound readers need to know?
Few (if any) colleges are so fortunate as to have this kind of asset available for student, faculty, staff and community use. It really is one of the crown jewels of Lawrence University.

My College Guide thinks it sounds pretty incredible, too – and what better way to get a feel for a college like Lawrence University than with the college campus visit?

Who We Are: Information you can trust. For 20 years My College Guide has produced an annual magazine chock full of free college info for high-achieving high school sophomores. Check out our participating colleges. If you’re a student, enter for a chance to win an Apple iPad or iPhone or cash!

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Posted in Choosing a College, College Campus, College Classes, College Life, Fun Stuff | 1 Comment »

Why Should I Go to College or Why You Should Consider Going to School

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

If your high school graduation is looming ever so close (as are college application regular admission cut-offs), you might be asking yourself, “Why should I go to college?” If you’ve been questioning the logic of tackling four more years of schooling, we’ve got six big reasons why you might want to spend less time thinking about why you should go to to college and more time filling out college applications! And, yes, college is a big expense – but it’s an expense that will pay off many times over the course of your lifetime!

Going to college really pays off -- especially regarding your future paychecks!

Mukumbura

Less Demands – Oh, college is demanding on your time, but at no other point in your life will you have the flexibility that you have now. Without a career, spouse, kids, and all that other possible future stuff requiring your attention, the period right after high school is the easiest time to fit it in!

Networking – It’s not just what you know: it’s who you know! Combine your college degree with all the people you will meet throughout your four years of higher education and you’ve got a huge network of people to rely on to help you open doors. The people you meet in college might be the same people who have an “in” at a company you are interested in working at.

Personal Growth – Okay so we admit this sounds slightly cheesy – but it’s true! Interacting with so many new people and ideas, different cultures and religions and mantras rubs off on you. Learning is actually fun, a fact that you may have forgotten about the past few years. Let college remind you of that little nugget of wisdom once again because there is a difference between high school and college!!

Employers – There’s a reason why many employers require a college degree: it shows that you know how to start something, work at it, and see it through to the end. In this competitive job market, it’s one more thing that sets you apart from other, non-degree holding applications, which can give you a big step up – and hopefully net you the job! Not only that, but if you’ve got one of the most employable majors, well, that can definitely help, too.

Unfortunately, life doesn't come with instructions for growth -- but college is a great first step!

MissNatalie / Miss Natalie D.

Money – Sure, college costs money. Sometimes, college costs a lot of money: but have heart. You’ll make more money over your lifetime if you have a college diploma than those who don’t. The simple fact is that degree-holders start out at a higher pay rate – which can really pay off over time!

Fun – From the people you meet to the extracurricular activities you can become involved in, college is just plain fun! The addition of unusual college classes doesn’t hurt anything, either.

If we’ve left you saying, “I want to go college,” but now you’re wondering, “Where should I go to college?” Well, we can help you figure out the answer to that one, too. You’ll have to keep on the lookout – we wouldn’t want to keep you hanging! My College Guide is here to help you find the college that fits!

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Posted in Choosing a College, College Life, Fun Stuff | 3 Comments »

Live Where You Learn: Grand Valley State University Honors College

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

Wondering about college student housing?  You should know that things have changed since mom and dad went to school.  You have a few more unusual options when it comes to where you can live while at college!  My College Guide decided to take a closer look at some of the more unique on-campus housing options available.  My College Guide would like to introduce Grand Valley State University and the Frederik Meijer Honors College.

Grand Valley State University is home to the Frederik Meyers Honors College, with its unique living/learning center.

PhotoDocGVSU / Christopher Kierkus

More than just a dorm room, the Frederik Meijer Honors College is considered a living/learning community with an interdisciplinary education — and even Freshmen can apply!  A living and learning community is one where you are housed in the same place where you take your classes – at GVSU that means roughly one thousand other students with the same academic mind-set as you.

Instead of trekking across campus to class, the Frederik Meijer Honors College students can actually take classes in the Glenn A Niemeyer Learning and Living Center. In this Grand Valley State University program, classes are always 25 students or less and filled with instructors who really want to be there – and have strong academic backgrounds.  Faculty offices are also in the building so GVSU students in the program have easy access to their professors – and can easily get whatever help or support they need.

Grand Valley Honors College students still get to have the dorm room experience, since they are on-campus and may even have a roommate, however – this is anything but an 8 by 12 foot box of a room.  These are two and four bedroom apartments and studios with a central common area complete with grand piano and fireplace – and even a kitchen (with plenty of coffee for those long study cram sessions)!  There are other study nooks, a library, gardens, and smaller lounging areas scattered throughout the center, too, so you have plenty of space to spread out in — with room to hit the books or simply socialize.

Want to learn more about this unusual (and unique!) program?  Watch the Grand Valley State University Frederik Meijer Honors College YouTube video.  Stay tuned – My College Guide will be exploring and highlighting unusual and unique housing options in the months to come!

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Posted in Choosing a College, College Campus, College Classes, College Life, Housing | 3 Comments »

Want a Unique Academic Experience? Try One of These Schools.

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
768px-EdithKinneyGaylordCornerstoneArtsBldg-TimothyHursley

Timothy Hursley

At most colleges, you need to complete two full years of general education requirements and then focus on your major requirements. You take between three and five courses at a time, and are graded on a scale from A to F. But some unique liberal arts colleges are bucking the trend, establishing innovative academic programs that help students to discover and engage with their passions. If you don’t want a run-of-the-mill academic experience, take a look at these unique schools.

Colorado College. This small school in gorgeous Colorado Springs offers the unique Block Plan, which allows students to focus on one course at a time for a three-and-a-half week period (though some intensive courses require multiple “blocks”). This innovative structure gives students the opportunity to plunge into their studies, engaging in field trips and independent projects along with several hours a day of classroom instruction and discussion. There are rarely any lectures: the average course size is just 16 students. After the intense block course is over, students have 4-and-a-half day weekends, in which they can either relax on campus or take advantage of one of the school’s many adventure excursions, such as hiking or mountain biking.

St. John’s College. This small school has two campuses: one in Anapolis, Maryland, and another in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The lecturers are folks you may have heard of: Plato, Aristotle, and Freud, to name just a few. Rather than spotlighting individual professors’ courses, the entire school follows a Great Books curriculum, in which all students spend the first two years reading, discussing, and engaging with the same books and other media, ranging from the ancient to the modern. There are no lectures; instead, students are given the chance to debate ideas and philosophies on equal ground with their instructors. And you won’t find any textbooks teaching you how to interpret the texts: here, the classic books, and your fellow students and professors, are your only guides.

Brown University. Brown is part of the Ivy League, but has vetoed the competitive academic atmosphere of its counterparts in favor of a more flexible curriculum, focused on the students’ interests. At the school, there are no general education requirements; students are allowed to enroll in any courses they choose, including classes at the nearby Rhode Island School of Design. There’s also no need to worry about grades for courses outside of your concentration: students may elect to take courses for “satisfactory” or “no credit,” which means that the fear of not performing up to par won’t stop them from trying something new.

Reed College. At Reed College, in Portland, Oregon, students work with professors in 10-to-1 ratios, typically in roundtable conference style. Though they receive grades at the end of courses, they aren’t mailed to the students, and few are aware of their GPAs—discussion and engagement with the courses are far more important than exam scores. The rigorous academic program concludes with a year-long senior thesis, which can be anything from a scientific project to a novel-length book, which students will then defend before faculty members. Reed also offers a unique program called Paideia, which allows anyone—faculty, students, and janitors alike—to create their own weeklong courses, which have included esoteric subjects like Underwater Basket Weaving and Garden Gnome Construction.

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Posted in Choosing a College, College Campus, College Life, Fun Stuff | No Comments »