How to pick a college without USNews College Rankings - Student Research Foundation

What Tools Can Help Students Pick Colleges if the USNews College Rankings Go Away?

As we publish this blog, we have learned that the law schools of both Harvard and Yale have decided to stop submitting data that USNews will use to rank them alongside other law schools. We think other law schools will follow suit. Will colleges also stop submitting their data to USNews for the college rankings issue? We have no way of knowing.

We do know, however, that USNews will not stop ranking law schools. That magazine will continue to rank law schools by considering data that schools do not provide – like job placements that students get after graduation, acceptance rates, and other factors that can be gathered from other sources.  Read more

Manipulating Grades Puts Students at a Disadvantage

Why Manipulating Grades Puts Students at a Disadvantage

A recent story reported in The New York Times, in The New York Post, and on network news programs reports that Prof. Maitland Jones of New York University was recently fired after a group of students filed a petition complaining that it was too hard to earn a high grade in his Organic Chemistry class. 

It seems that the course Prof. Jones taught was just too difficult and that Prof. Jones, a respected professor who had been teaching for many years and who even wrote the most often-used textbook on Organic Chemistry, was not helpful enough to students who were earning low grades. According to reports on the news, the underlying problem was that those low grades would hinder the ability of his students, who were mostly pre-med, to gain admission to med schools.  Read more

Student Carrying Books - Is America’s Love Affair with College Fading Away

Is America’s Love Affair with College Fading Away?

Updated enrollment figures from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center show that college enrollment levels are continuing to fall

Data just released by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center shows that enrollment in American colleges and universities is continuing to fall:

  • Undergraduate enrollment in American colleges fell by 3.1 percent in the year preceding fall 2021, a loss of 465,300 students.
  • Enrollment losses show a two-year decline of 5.1 percent or a loss of 938,000 students since fall 2019.
  • The largest numerical drops occurred at public four-year institutions, where 251,400 students (or 3.8% of total enrollment) were lost. But the steepest percentage decline occurred at private for-profit four-year colleges, which lost 65,600 students (or 11.1% of enrollment.)

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A student who is combatting college burnout

How to Recognize and Combat College Burnout

Do you know a college student who is struggling emotionally now? If so, the cause could be more than simple stress. It could be college burnout, according to “What Is College Burnout?”, a new article written by Tyler Epps for the Best Colleges Blog.

According to Dr. Lee Keyes, a psychologist and experienced student counselor Mr. Epps interviewed for this article, college burnout is often difficult to recognize. Why? It’s because college students are chronically living in a state of high stress anyway, which makes it difficult to know when their mental state has become just a little bit worse. Read more

Should You Take SAT and ACT Prep Classes Online - Student Research Foundation

Will Standardized Testing Be Another Casualty of COVID?

If you are a high school teacher or guidance counselor, you know that a growing number of American colleges and universities have temporarily or permanently ended the requirement for applicants to take the SAT or ACT exam.

Will the test requirement for applicants go away permanently? No one knows for certain, but it could. In addition to the growing list of colleges that do not require the tests, the organizations that administer them are losing money. Read more

High School Counselor Brooke Kupcho Discuss Career Planning for Her Students and the Student Research Foundation

High School Counselor Brooke Kupcho Discusses How Her Students Build an Identity of Success

Brooke Kupcho is a student counselor in Helena Montana. In a recent video with the Student Research Foundation, she shared her insights on the process of helping students develop the self-efficacy that leads to better career choices.

You will want to watch the entire video. Here are some edited portions of what Brooke had to say.

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Physics, the Great Equalizer Subject that Is Loved by Nearly Every Kind of Student

Physics, the Great Equalizer Subject that Is Loved by Nearly Every Kind of Student

Do you teach physics? If so, you will want to know about research from the Student Research Foundation that found that nearly every kind of student likes the subject you teach. That might come as a surprise – what is physics, after all but the study of energy and matter? How exciting is that?  But somehow students have discovered that physics is not only interesting, but it will also prepare them for a variety of college majors and STEM careers. Read more

Student holding money

Study Finds that Most Students Are Too Optimistic about Their Majors’ Earning Potential

How much money can you expect to earn after you complete the coursework for your major and graduate college? Do you really know what your earning potential will be?

According to “Labor Market Expectations and Major Choice for Low-Income, First-Generation College Students: Evidence from an Information Experiment,” a study conducted in 2017 by Alexander I. Ruder (University of South Carolina and Rutgers) and Michelle Van Noy (Rutgers), many students, especially those who come from lower income backgrounds, are overly optimistic about how much they will earn. Ruder and Van Noy polled 2,965 students and determined that students who grew up in financially disadvantaged circumstances were especially prone to overestimate the potential earnings that their major and college degree would enable them to earn. Read more

Now Is a Great Time to Take Online Career Aptitude Tests - Student Research Foundation

Now Is a Great Time to Take Online Career Aptitude Tests

Attention Students!

Are you spending a lot of time around the house this summer? Or have you just learned that your high school or college will be delivering courses remotely this fall?

If that is your current situation, we have a suggestion for you. Why not spend some time now taking online career tests to reevaluate your possible college major and your long-term career plans?

Read more

Which College Majors and Careers Should You Consider if Most of Your Classes Will Be Taken Online - Student Research Foundation

Which College Majors and Careers Should You Consider if Most of Your Classes Will Be Taken Online?

A growing list of colleges have announced that they will offer most or even all of their classes online during the coming academic year.

That prompted one student we know to ask, “So, should I forget about declaring myself pre-med next year? I mean, how am I going to get those lab classes completed in an online format?” Read more