college

The Structure of College-2

Jonathan Golding College Structure , , , , ,

The next thing to keep in mind about college structure is that in addition to being part of a major, you will be part of a group of different majors. Now this can get confusing. Let me start by saying that in higher education we talk about going to a college or a university. You are all in college, but you should understand that a 4-year college typically only gives out undergraduate or Bachelor’s degrees, whereas a university also awards graduate degrees (i.e., Master’s and/or Doctoral degrees).

If you are in a 4-year-college the level up from your major will likely be called a “division” and it will include related departments that manage majors. For example, if you are a Chemistry major you may be in the Division of Natural Sciences. This division will likely also include Biology and Physics. The level one up from a division is the 4-year-college itself. Thus the ordering (from smaller to larger): Major Department, Division, and College.

Now if you are in a university, things are a bit different. In addition to the department that that manages your major, you will also be part of one of many colleges. (We know this gets confusing, but the term “college” gets used in these different ways.) These colleges may include Art & Sciences (sometimes called Liberal Arts), Engineering, Business, Education, Agriculture, Architecture, Journalism, Medicine, Law, etc). These colleges are again comprised of related departments that manage majors. To make things more complicated, colleges can sometimes be broken down into the divisions described above. For example, in a College of Arts and Sciences there is often a Division of Natural Sciences, a Division of Humanities, and a Division of Social Sciences, Here is the ordering (from smaller to larger) for a university: Major Department, Division, College, and University.

One big reason why it is important to know all of these distinctions concerning the structure of your particular college or university is that each level often has their own course requirements. However, keep two things in mind about fulfilling requirements: (1) a particular requirement can often be fulfilled by taking one of multiple courses, and (2) even with all of the different requirements you will still have enough electives (i.e., courses not tied to a requirement) to have some freedom in what courses you take.

I hope these last two posts give you a better feel for how things are organized at your particular college or university.

The Structure of College-1

Jonathan Golding College Structure , , , , , ,

How is a college set up (i.e., structured)? When you are ready to start doing something new, it only makes sense that you understand how that something is designed. For example, if you buy a new cell phone you should know (at least) something about the phone’s set up. This will not only make your life easier, but will save you a lot of time and potential heartache if something goes wrong. Believe it or not, college is no different. When you start college it is critical that you understand how things work on campus. Otherwise, you will join the ranks of many other undergraduates wondering what to do and where to go. You can always ask friends and relatives, but quite honestly these individuals often have the wrong answer. Or, what can happen is that your parents will give you an answer about something, but what was true for them 20 years ago when they went to college simply is not the way things work now.

Let’s start at the beginning. When you go to college you have multiple affiliations. That is, each student in college is connected to several units. First, you become a member of a department that manages your major. A major involves concentrated study of a specialty area. These specialty areas are referred to as “disciplines”. In this way, Psychology is a discipline. Similarly, disciplines include English, Hispanic Studies, Economics, Mechanical Engineering…I think you get the picture! I should note that it is possible to have two majors–a “double-major”.

Second, everyone declares a major, but you might also decide to minor in another discipline. The distinction between a major and a minor is pretty self-explanatory, but just to be sure you follow a major is what you are most interested in, while a minor is typically a side interest you have or another discipline that complements your major. For example, you might choose to be a Psychology major (the study of the human mind and behavior), but minor in Sociology (the study of human society, with a specific interest in the changing relationships among individuals and groups). Psychology and Sociology study different issues, but they are clearly related—both study how humans behave.

Third, your career interests may not match a specific major. For example, you may be interested in Medicine, Dentistry or Law). You should understand that there is not a major (e.g., “medical doctor” major) for any of the careers just listed. Instead, you will choose a major in another subject, often directly related to Medicine, Dentistry, Physical therapy (e.g., Biology) or Law (e.g., Political Science). After graduating with your undergraduate degree you will then apply to a specific “professional school” to get a graduate degree. We should add, however, that for all of these fields times have changed quite a bit and you do not necessarily have to major in a directly-related field. In fact, you can major in anything as long as the courses you take meet the requirements of the Medical School, Dental School, or Law School you would like to attend.

We’ll talk more about the structure of college in my next post.

Expect a Challenge

Jonathan Golding Starting College , , , , ,

Are you ready for college? For most of you who are starting college as freshman or are in college already you have probably heard this question countless times. Although you may be sick of it, this question holds a lot of weight. I would argue that no one is really 100% ready for college, especially those just starting out as freshmen. The reason for this is that college involves a lot more than going to class, studying, and taking exams. You might be ready to do the three things I just said (although we are pretty sure there is still some uncertainty), but there is so much more you need to deal with in college. In fact, it is hard to imagine that anyone knows everything about being a college student.

Part of the problem for students in college is that many students do not think about college as a challenge. Like all challenges, college requires a set of special skills in order to overcome the difficulties that college can present. Moreover, it is important to state right from the start that it is really the case that college is not “13th Grade”. There are a number of reasons high school is not the same as college, but let’s touch on two of these right now.

First, of course, part of the difference between high school and college is that not everyone from your high will be attending your college. There will likely be students from all across the state your college is located, as well as students from across the United States and from a number of foreign countries.

Second, there is the subject matter you will be dealing with in your courses. Although there may be a few exceptions, in general your college courses will be qualitatively different from those you had in high school. The exception might be a specific Advanced Placement (AP) course you had in high school. But, even with these AP courses what you will learn in college often is pretty different than your high school courses. A lot of this difference is typically related to the emphasis on research in all of your college courses compared to your high school courses. That is, in high school you typically learn a lot of content, but in college there is a premium on discussing the process of discovery.

Get yourself ready for the challenge—you’ll soon find that being prepared will lead to an amazing college experience!