Post 7: The College Experience

Your last post will allow you to look into the college experience/culture that you are looking for.

Research the following topics:

• The Top Party Schools
• according to the Princeton Review (2014)
• rankings from 2013
• Division I Schools
• requirements for Division I schools
• NCAA Member schools
• Student Organizations
• For this one, visit the college you're interested in and check out their "clubs and organizations" page.
• Clubs at Baruch College

After researching this, write a reflection on what you want to get out of the "college campus experience."

• Does the thought of being on campus motivate you to attend college?
• Would you attend college for the academics, the activities, or both?
• Would you prefer to commute or live on-campus?
• What are you looking for in your college experience?

Post 6: Going the Distance

Going to college will often require traveling a distance from your home - whether you are commuting or living on campus. For this post you will first have to do two things:

• Locate the actual address of some colleges you'd like to attend.
• Use Big Future to help you.
• Go to Google Maps and find out how far it is from the college to your home.

Now create a blog post where you think about the following questions:

• How well do you think you could handle being far away from home?
• Is being far from home a priority for you?
• What are some benefits to living on-campus?

Post 5: Getting to the Third Degree

Today, you will look up the different types of degrees you can earn after college.

• Associate's Degree
• Bachelor's Degree
• Master's Degree (Graduate Degree)
• Doctorate (or Professional) Degrees

Visit Big Future and explain what each of the degrees are. Then see if you can find out the following:

• What types of professions are available to people who have these degrees?
• What percentage of people have these degrees?

Post 4: Weighing the Cost

College costs money. Today's activity will help you explore the wide differences in cost of different universities and colleges.

We are going to use the CNN Money tool to do the following:

• Look up how much one year costs at New York University, and to note what those fees include. 
• Compare this to a year at Brooklyn College.
• Now try a year at Columbia. 

• Now, create a blog entry that discusses comparisons and contrasts, as well as includes your personal reaction to the cost of college overall and a potential plan for acquiring the funds to attend.  
• What surprised you?
• What do you think you will do to help you lower the cost of your college education?

Post 3: What to study...it's a MAJOR decision

Do you know what a college major is? You will spend some time exploring college majors and finding out what it takes to complete one. For blog post three, please respond to the following questions. You can click on the links to help you get a better idea of how to answer these questions.

• What is a major?
• The College Major
• Top Ten College Majors
• What are some majors that you might be interested in?
• Peterson's Major Search
• College Board Major Search
• What is required to complete a college major?
• Different schools have different requirements. Visit a school that has your major and see what they require.
• What classes in that major are you interested in?
• For example, to be a Psychology major, one class you might take is Child Psychology. Does that sound like an interesting class? You can usually choose different classes to fulfill your major.

Post 2: What am I interested in?

For your second post, you're going to think about your personal interests.

• What are your personal interests?
• What do you like to do?
• What kinds of shows do you enjoy watching on television?
• What types of books or magazines do you enjoy?
• If you could do just three things for an entire day, what would you choose?

Don't feel any pressure to make all of your interests fall under the same category. You can like many different things and be well-rounded. 

Think about your interests and how you became interested in them. Do you have any fond memories of engaging in those interests?

Begin researching, naming and linking schools you believe may help you to explore your interests.

Post 1: Why College?

For your first post, think about the following questions:

• Who or what motivates you to attend college?
• When did you first hear about or begin thinking about college?
• What college did you first want to attend? Why?
• How do you think attending college can impact your life?

Remember, this is a blog entry, so you can be more conversational and relaxed in your tone. Pretend you are having a conversation with a trusted friend.