Oregon State University Top Questions

First of all I would tell parents to support their children in any endeavor they wish to pursue. Even if you cannot support them financially, support them mentally because it can make all the difference. Homemade cookies and help with laundry is often worth more then a tuition hand out. I am the first of my family to go to college, and my family is not rich. Their encouragement has made me want to achieve and because of that, I have found ways to pay for my education. Students, dream big! Set your sights on what you want and go for it. If you work hard, your struggles will work hard for you. You cannot give up! Don't be afraid to ask for help, often angels are disguised as strangers and you will never know unless you ask. The best way to make the most out of a college experience is to take chances and make friends. Friends can be your family away from home. College will be a whole new world and you must explore every corner in it!

When choosing a school keep in mind that while finding a qualified program that suits your interests is important, don't be afraid to look outside of that and notice the diversity of the school. I believe understanding and experiencing different cultures will durasticly open one's mind in positive ways. Sometimes taking a step outside one's comfort zone can be highly rewarding as it has for me. One may experience different interests,majors, etc. that have never crossed his/her mind before. Last of all, you are the creator of your own reality, so follow your bliss and trust it. Happiness will follow.

It can be difficult to gauge how a given school fits a student's interests, so the best thing you could do is to read reviews from students past and present. At school you'll need to organize your time so that your social life doesn't keep you from completing schoolwork - a task that is wuite difficult given the amount of extracurricular activities available.

For students, picking the right college may be a difficult task. First off you need to think about what are your top priorities. The different parts that go into finding the right colllege for you are; location, size, price, and surrounding area. Location is a big part of the decision. Whether you want to move far away from your family or if you want to still be close enough to go home on some weekends. The size of a campus should influence your decision because you want to be comfortable at the school. The price shouldn't be as much of a factor because there is always financial aid, but for most people it is a huge factor because most people dont want to end up with debt after finishing college. The surrounding area is a factor because if you don't like anything around the campus then you better make sure there is enough to do on campus. For parents,helping your son/daughter find the right college is a little easier. They should it show the differences wbetween colleges to the students. It is helpful if the parents are involved in the process of finding the right school.

I would advise the parents to prepare and plan how they would pay for college tuition. To make sure that they meet deadlines for scholarships, grants and federal aid. I would advise students to work deligently in their studies because it will get tuff but time will go by so fast. Enjoy new friends and people who will strengthen you in times of struggle. Be active in your community and in the class room, you learn so much from others. Ultimately live and learn everyday of your life and adjust to changes that will affect you for good.

With exception to those students who had excellent academic achievements and attained scholarships to a certain university, there is little benefit in attending a public university for the first two years. Amidst the 40,000 or more students, the educational advancement of a particular student bares no significance to the university system. Rather, it is more prudent to attend a community college. Community colleges offer the same classes for half the tuition with class sizes that rarely exceed 35. The instructors are more concerned about the advancement of students than they are the advancement of their career. For the most part, a student who enters a public university as a Freshman is on their own. Academic advisors, professors, and the university system are not going to invest their time in helping that student. Student success is determined by personal motivation, which at age 18, is the desire to socialize and have fun. At the community college level, instructors assess their students and talk to them individually. At a university, the first two years are classes of 200 to 400 students, and the professors simply don?t have time to analyze each scantron test for academic success.

I believe that college is a time for growth, the time to experience life outside of "home-life" and learn to take care of yourself individually. Having a community of friends is important to the college experience, but ofcourse slacking off with these friends, partying, hanging out, idleing, could all be bad if it is done too much. The right amount of fun and a focused mind to also concentrate in school is crucial to college. Graduating on time seems to be a hard thing to do for most college students these days because they value "partying" far too much than studying and keeping a high standard academically. If you feel like you don't want to move too far from you parents, which was my case, i decided to go to a state college that was far enough from home for me to learn how to live on my own and be my own individual, and at the same time close enough that i can visit whenever i missed my family. Any college can be good, it's only good as how you want to make it to be.

The advice I would give to both parents and students that are trying to choose the right college would be to visit all of the schools that you believe you are interested in. You may think that you really want to go to a certain school just based on its credentials, the sports teams they have, or the look of the campus, but you will never truly know unless you go and experience it for yourself. It will make a huge difference in the selection process. To make the most of your college experience I do not believe that you must join a fraternity or sorority, although they may promise life long friends, and amazing social events. I think what is most important in making your college experience the best it can be is to live on campus your freshman year, meet as many people in your dorms as you can, go to school sporting events, talk to people in your classes, join clubs, and participate in school sponsored activities. If you do even just a few of these things I just listed your college experience will be more than you could have ever imagined!

Parents and students should visit each school before applying. Some campuses don't look as advertised in the pictures on their web sites. Make sure to visit on a week day so you get the feel of an average day as a student. If possbile, sit in on a couple of classes and take a guided tour to get the historical background of the campus. It is common not to know which major to choose directly out of high school. If it takes two years at a community college before you can decide on a university, so be it. Although it may take longer to graduate, it will be money well spent because you are able to try and experience a variety of subjects before you find your niche. Get a degree in something you are passionate about. Make no mistake, college is a place of learning, however the experience extends beyond academics. This is a place to think for yourself and diversify. College is a a journey and every opportunity should be taken to support your sports teams, hear live music, join a club, watch a play, make new friends, network, and discover new things about yourself.

In finding the right college you need to find a place that you can see yourself living in pretty much full time in for the next four years. This place needs to be somewhere where you can have fun when it is needed but also where you can get work done most of the time. Another thing you should look for in a school is somewhere that isn't to far away from home because you will get homesick a few times over the years, and there are always things that pop up and it is nice to be able to go home if you need to.