This is your 2nd RIGHT choice…

A Bachelor’s degree is 4 years, but not everyone goes just four years. Its takes some time. You change your minds, find a newer and more interesting career while in college. Many times things change in your four years of college, so it’s necessary to understand that not everyone follows the exact time line of higher education. That’s okay, but here’s the catch: many young people enter college for the wrong reasons. Or you HAVE to make this the SECOND right choice. Finding the school that is the best fit for you possibly. It won’t be a perfect fit. Nothing ever is. It’s called Life Security. But making the right choice for the college you plan to attend starts with having several options.

So, I’ve added the definitions of 4 types of higher education institutions that officially make up the different types of schools you can consider when choosing different colleges.

Not all of you are made for the university/campus setting. Think about your own personality and how it measures up with the type and size of school that you would consider attending.  These following definitions can help you!

I was talking with my brother about his son and daughter attending college in the future. My nephew Matt is a vocational type of student. Someone who likes hands-on work and it is primarily because he likes to do-by-learning, or learn-by-doing. He’s a hands-on visual person. Matt enjoys technical stuff and I can see him in a field of web design, technical operations, or even some sort of science. There are certain institutions that cover this. Although a terrific person and very friendly to people, I believe Matt can survive and be extremely successful by attending a vocational or liberal arts college to attain his degree.

On the other hand, my niece Katie is the involved type of person where she would prefer the larger institution. There she would have more opportunities to be involved as a student in extra-curricular organizations and offices. I can see her as student body president, chairing up events or committees, being a student leader. The classroom setting might not specifically what she likes (but who really does nowadays), but the large university/campus setting is definitely what feeds her personality.

It is important to understand these first, then to make a choice based on your interests and personality.

VOCATIONAL UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES:

A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education. The word university is derived from the Latin universitas magistrorum et scholarium, roughly meaning “community of teachers and scholars”

A vocational university (professional university, or college of higher vocational studies) is an institution of higher education and sometimes research, which provides both tertiary and sometimes quaternary education and grants academic degrees at all levels (bachelor, master, and sometimes doctorate) in a variety of subjects. In some countries, a vocational university more precisely grants Professional degrees like Professional Bachelor’s degree, Professional Master’s degree and Professional doctorates). The term is not officially used in many countries and an assignment to a certain type of university in a certain country’s educational system is therefore difficult.

College (Latin: collegium) is a term most often used today in the United States to denote a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution and in other English-speaking countries to refer to an academically oriented secondary school.

THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE:

In the United States, community colleges, sometimes called junior colleges, technical colleges, or city colleges, are primarily two-year public institutions providing higher education and lower-level tertiary education, granting certificates, diplomas, and associate’s degrees.

After graduating from a community college, some students transfer to a four-year liberal arts college or university for two to three years to complete a bachelor’s degree.

LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGES:

A liberal arts college is one with a primary emphasis on undergraduate study in the liberal arts.

A “liberal arts” institution can be defined as a “college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general intellectual capacities, in contrast to a professional, vocational, or technical curriculum”  Although what is known today as the liberal arts college began in Europe, the term is commonly associated with the United States. Prominent examples in the US include the so-called Little Three and Little Ivy colleges in New England and the surviving, predominantly female Seven Sisters colleges along the northeastern seaboard, but similar institutions are found all over the country.

(1) smaller size than universities, which usually means more individual attention is given to each student;
(2) residential, which means students live and learn away from home, often for the first time, and learn to live well with others additionally, the residential experience of living on campus brings a wide variety of cultural, political, and intellectual events to students who might not otherwise seek them out in a non-residential setting; and
(3) a typically two-year exploration of the liberal arts or general knowledge before declaring a major.

TECHNICAL INSTITUTIONS:

Institute of technology, and polytechnic, are designations employed in a wide range of learning institutions awarding different types of degrees and operating often at variable levels of the educational system. It may be any institution of higher education and advanced research or vocational education, specializing in science, engineering and technology or different sorts of technical subjects. It may also refer to a secondary education school focused in vocational training.

Making the right career choice is important as well. It is not a requirement to know what you want to do before attending college. However, it makes it easy, and you have a better handle on your own destination.

I recently posted a 3 part series of blogs that will assist you to very simply and effectively choose the right career for you.

Part 1 consists of examining your likes and interests: http://wp.me/pAKTs-1M.

Part 2 consists of examining your own talents and skills, and why they play a large role in your likes and interests:  http://wp.me/pAKTs-2I.

Part 3 then gives you an opportunity to understand your own personality and to categorize them based on your personalities traits:  http://wp.me/pAKTs-28

Money is important too. 🙂 College costs a lot. But just because it is a private institution, does not mean that it is expensive. There are many private schools that are affordable and offer many various ways to paying for education. By searching websites like www.collegebound.com, www.petersons.com, and even doing a GOOGLE, BING or YAHOO search on the different types of colleges, no matter where you search, it is pretty much the same.

Check these definitions out and let me know your thoughts.

Your Success is My Success

Keith Lipke