Two kids stroll through what could only be a campus quad. They smile, deliriously happy to be facing this gorgeous fall—doesn’t it always seem to be the fall in these images?—day. They cradle books beneath their arm but the titles are not visible. The content could contain anything. Like your future.
Or so an advertisement would have you believe. College marketing rarely focuses on granular results. Instead, you get little dioramas that describe situations that, while perhaps enjoyable, have nothing to do with why you are considering $50K in loans.
How can you cut through the marketing and figure out what a college program is really like? Let’s get into it.
Disregard the Ads
Talk is cheap. The purpose of an advertisement is to get you into the university’s funnel. That’s an actual marketing term that basically describes the way businesses position themselves to complement the consumer’s discretionary process.
The marketing materials get your attention and then you go from there. However, you can’t assume that marketing materials mean anything other than, “We would your money please.”
To figure out if a university is right for you, it’s important to understand:
- What kind of programs they offer.
- How good their instructors are.
- What price you will pay per credit hour.
- Their job placement stats.
All of this information is out there. You just need to know where to find it.
What Kind of Classes They Offer
This is easily the most accessible data you can get. Most universities will post their course catalogs online for easy viewing. To get more specific insights, it’s always a good idea to contact the admissions office. They will be able to put you into contact with either a guidance counselor or department head who can answer your specific questions or concerns.
At the undergraduate level, most course offerings are the same but once you get into advanced degrees, the options tend to get very specific, which puts a bigger emphasis on understanding the catalog.
For example, if you want to become a nurse practitioner, you’ll find that there are many different focus areas that significantly influence your career trajectory.
It’s important to make sure that the program you are interested in can take you where you want to go.
Quality of Instruction
Harder to quantify in that there is no objective metric for measuring the quality of instruction. While it’s easy enough to tell a very good teacher from a very bad one, most instructors will occupy a vague sort of middle territory.
You can get good insights into what sort of instruction a professor offers by taking a look at review sites like RateMyProfessor.com.
There, you’ll get Yelp-style reviews on the teachers at a given school. While these insights ultimately only document subjective experiences, they can be a good way to learn more about a program.
Price Per Credit Hour
While the price of your degree says nothing about its quality it can provide insights into its value. In other words: How much bang are you getting for your buck? The more you borrow, the more you will need to earn from your advanced degree to make it worthwhile.
Someone going out for an MBA can invest more in their master’s degree because it could result in a significant raise. Someone getting an advanced degree in education, on the other hand, would do better to be price-conscious. Their degree will not dramatically raise their salary.
Job Placement Stats
This is something that most universities will have on hand. They don’t always advertise the information, but it exists. How many people find jobs in a career path related to their degree after graduation?
If your career path requires some sort of standardized test for licensure (nursing and social work are both good examples) then you will also want data on pass rates.
Speak with the admissions office. They should be able to connect you with all the information you want.
Other Factors to Consider:
The factors described above are helpful in vetting well-established programs. You know the school is reputable. What you don’t know is how it competes with the six other reputable schools you are also interested in.
With the rise of virtual learning, however, it’s not always as easy to compare schools. Is this online-only option going to take you where you want to go? Here’s how to find out:
- Accreditation: Accreditation is basically the school’s legal standing. It indicates that the degree you earn from this institution is legitimate. There are two types. National—which means that it meets federal standards—and regional. The program meets state standards. You want to make sure that the program you choose is recognized both nationally and locally to ensure that you will be able to use your new qualifications to get a job where you live.
- Format: Online programs provide a wide variety of different instructional options. While the finer points will vary considerably from school to school, you’ll find two basic options. Live lectures—you meet online at pre-determined times—or pre-recorded content. All of the learning materials are available on day one. You complete them in whatever timeline makes the most sense to you. Both formats are legitimate but they will appeal to different types of people.
You can always use online reviews as a way to get a better understanding of what an online-only university is like. These programs might seem unnatural for people who are used to traditional brick-and-mortar learning, but for many, they offer an affordable way to get a master’s degree while holding down a job or raising a family.
Conclusion
As you can imagine, the process described above takes time. To really learn the ins and outs of a program, and make an informed decision, you’ll need to give yourself a few months. Keep in mind that the admissions process can also take a few months.
If you’re deciding today to make graduate school a part of your future, it may be a while before you wind up with a pen in your hand. That’s ok. Don’t worry about the timeframe. Focus on finding the right program for you. It’s certainly out there.
