Postsecondary Education: Admissions

I, PRELISTENING____________________________________________

B. Vocabulary and Key Concepts

1. Postsecondarv education in the United States includes community as well as four-year colleges, most of which are coeducational.

2. To be accredited, a college must meet certain standards set by institutional and professional associations.

3. The more prestigious private schools are more competitive—that is, they have stiffer admissions requirements.

4. All college applicants must submit a transcript of high school grades and often standardized test results.

5. A student’s extracurricular activities and possibly ethnic back­ground are often factors in his or her admission.

6. Among the 2.8 million high school graduates in 2002, 65.2 percent were enrolled in college the following October.

7. If we break down the statistics racially, we find that white stu­dents enrolled in college in greater proportions than black or His­panic students.

8. They may be people who attend part-time to upgrade their skills, people who are changing careers, or retired people who still have a desire to learn.

9. Because most young American students have not traveled in other countries, they are not very well versed in international matters, and foreign students often find them friendly but not very well informed about their countries or cultures.

10. Some students begin college at a community college with more lenient admissions requirements and later transfer to a four-year college.

D. Notetaking Preparation

1. Structuring: Listening <script>

An interesting feature of education in the United States is the commu­nity college. Community colleges that are publicly supported offer somewhat different educational opportunities than those offered

by a senior college or a university. First, admissions requirements at public community colleges are usually much more lenient than those at a four-year college or university. It’s usually enough to have gradu­ated from an American high school to be admitted. Second, it is also cheaper to attend a community college. The tuition and fees are usu­ally quite a bit lower. Students often live at home because this type of school does not have dormitories. For these two reasons, many people who are unable to go to a four-year college or university can have an opportunity to take classes for college credit. Finally, community col­leges offer two-year programs that can lead to an Associate of Arts de­gree. Many of these programs, but not all of them, are vocational in na­ture. In conclusion, people attend community colleges for many different purposes. Some people may be taking only a course or two in some field that particularly interests them and may not be planning on getting a degree. Other people may be going to community college full­time and planning to transfer to a four-year college or university upon successful completion of two years at a community college.

SHAPE * MERGEFORMAT

LECTURE: Postsecondary Education: Admissions

In this lecture, I’m going to talk to you about postsecondary education in the United States. Today I’ll give you some facts and figures about colleges and universities in the United States and some general infor­mation about admissions policies. I will also make a few remarks about community colleges and finish up by giving you an idea of what kinds of students make up the student body on a typical U. S. campus.

Let’s begin with some facts and figures. The most recent figures I have reveal there are 4,182 public and private four-year and two-year col­leges in the United States. These range from full universities with diverse programs to smaller four-year colleges to two-year community colleges. Most of them are accredited, which means the schools meet certain standards set by institutional and private evaluators. When applying to a school, you would probably want to make sure it was accredited. Even though there are more private colleges than public ones, over three-quarters of students, precisely 78 percent, are enrolled at public colleges and universities. Some of the small private schools may have fewer than 100 students, whereas some of the large state university systems may have 50,000 or more students. Most of these schools are coeducational although some of them are primarily for women and others are primarily for men. Some schools may offer only one program of study and others have a great variety of programs. The total cost for attending one of these schools may be less than $5,000 a year or as much as 30 or 40 thousand dollars a year for one of the prestigious private schools. These schools are located all over—in industrial areas, agricultural areas, large cities, and small towns in a wide variety of climates.

With such a wide variety of sizes, kinds, and locations of schools, it probably won’t surprise you to find out that admissions requirements at these colleges and universities vary greatly also. Some are relatively easy to be admitted to whereas others are highly competitive. How­ever, most schools will ask undergraduate applicants to submit their high school transcripts with a record of their grades and test results from one of the standardized tests regularly offered to high school stu­dents. The most common of these standardized exams is the Scholas­tic Aptitude Test, commonly known as the SAT. Students who are applying to graduate school are usually asked to take other, more spe­cific standardized exams depending on which college they are applying to. For example, some students are required to take the Graduate Record Exam, or the GRE. Students applying to a business college will probably have to take the GMAT, and students applying to law college will have to take the LSAT. You probably know about the TOEFL exam, which most foreign students have to take before being admitted to American colleges or universities. These exams, including the TOEFL, are all prepared by a company that is independent of the school system. These exams have come under a lot of criticism lately, but they are still widely used as one way to determine who will be ad­mitted to various schools. However, most schools try to look at the whole student and consider factors other than simply grades and test scores. Some of these factors may be extracurricular activities in school, ethnic background, work experience, and so on. Some schools will have personal interviews with students they are considering for admission. Many schools, private as well as public, try very hard to have a student population with a wide variety of backgrounds and ages. Even the most prestigious and most highly competitive colleges and universities will not take only those students with the highest grades and standardized test scores but will consider these other fac­tors. Nevertheless, schools of this type, such as Stanford and Harvard, have so many more people applying than they can possibly accept that students who want to get into such schools take grades and SAT ex­ams very seriously. In general, medical and law colleges, both private and public, are very difficult to get into, and, once again, test scores on standardized exams can be extremely important to those applying to these schools.

However, for students who want to attend a state college or university in their own state, it may be enough to graduate from high school in the upper third or even upper half of their high school class. This may surprise those of you who come from an educational system that is highly competitive, a system in which only a small percentage of stu­dents who pass a very difficult nationwide standardized high school examination can enter a university. You may be even more surprised by what I have to tell you about community colleges.

An interesting feature of education in the United States is the two – year community college. Community colleges that are publicly sup­ported offer somewhat different educational opportunities than those offered by a senior college or a university. First, admissions require­ments at public community colleges are usually much more lenient than those at a four-year college or university. It’s usually enough to have graduated from an American high school to be admitted. Second, it is also cheaper to attend a community college. The tuition and fees are usually quite a bit lower. Students often live at home because this type of school does not have dormitories. For these two reasons, many people who are unable to go to a four-year college or university can have an opportunity to take classes for college credit. Finally, commu­nity colleges offer two-year programs that can lead to an Associate of Arts degree. Many of these programs, but not all of them, are voca­tional in nature. People attend community colleges for many different purposes. Some people may be taking only a course or two in some field that particularly interests them and may not be planning on getting a degree. Other people may be going to community college full-time and planning to transfer to a four-year college or university upon successful completion of two years at a community college.

Well, so much for community colleges.

I promised to tell you a little about the actual student body on a typi­cal U. S. campus. Let’s start with some statistics, and then we’ll dis­cuss two items that surprise many foreign students. Among the 2.8 million high school graduates in 2002, 65.2 percent were enrolled in college the following October. More than 90 percent of those attended full time. Young men represented half of the high school graduates, but more women than men went on to college. The exact statistics are: 68.4 percent of female high school graduates and 62.1 percent of male high school graduates. If we break down the statistics racially, we find that white students enrolled in college in greater proportions than black or Hispanic students. The figures are 66.7 percent of white graduates, 58.7 percent of black graduates, and 53.5 percent of His­panic students. My next statistic may be surprising. 42.6 percent of full-time students in 2002 were either employed or looking for work. That number jumps to 75.7 percent for part-time students. That last statistic makes more sense when we consider that besides the students who are from eighteen to twenty-two years old that one expects to find on a college campus, there are also many older married students. They may be people who attend part-time to upgrade their skills, people who are changing careers, or retired people who still have a desire to learn. Also, foreign students are often surprised at how poorly prepared American students are when they enter a univer­sity. Actually, at very select schools the students are usually very well prepared, but at less selective schools, they may not be as well pre­pared as students in your country are. If you will remember the educa­tional philosophy we discussed in the last lecture, you will understand why. Schools in the States simply admit a lot more students than is usual in most other countries. Also, most young American university students have not traveled in other countries and are not very well

versed in international matters and do not know a lot about people from other countries. Foreign students usually find them friendly but not very well informed about their countries or cultures.

In brief, you can see that educational opportunities and admissions standards vary greatly in the United States. While it may be quite dif­ficult to gain admission to some colleges and universities because of the very large number of applicants, probably any student graduating from high school with reasonable grades can find some accredited uni­versity or college to attend. Those students hoping to enter graduate school will often face very stiff competition, whether at private or public schools. Many students who start at a college or university will not finish in four years. Some will drop out to work or travel and may never finish. Others will return to school a few months or a few years later. Some will go to school full-time and others part-time. Some will not work while going to school, but most will work at some time or other during their school years.

We’re out of time, I see. In my next lecture, I’ll talk to you about a rel­atively new development in education, distance learning. It should be of interest to those of you who want to attend college but can’t be­cause of living far from a college, busy schedules, or for other reasons.

Ш. POSTLISTENING

A. Accuracy Check

1. How many public and private four-year and two-year colleges are there in the United States?

2. How many students do these individual colleges and universities have?

3. What is the range of tuition at one of these colleges?

4. What two kinds of academic records will most undergraduate col­leges or universities ask applicants to submit?

5. What are two examples of the names of standardized tests that graduate students may have to take before being admitted to a graduate program?

6. What are two examples of nonacademic factors that a U. S. college or university might consider before admitting a student?

7. What are three ways that community colleges are generally differ­ent from senior colleges and universities?

8. What kind of a degree can a student get from a community college?

9. What percentage of high school graduates in 2002 were enrolled in college the following October?

10. What percentage of full-time college students were employed in 2002?

I. PRELISTENING

B. Vocabulary and Key Concepts

1. Can you imagine getting a college, or university, degree without ever once setting foot on a college campus?

2. "Distance education is instruction that occurs when the instruc­tor and student are separated by distance or time, or both."

3. As early as 1840, it was possible to take a correspondence course in shorthand.

4. Peterson’s 1994 Guide to Distance Learning listed ninety-three accredited distance education programs available at community colleges and universities across the United States and Canada.

5. First, rapidly changing economic conditions require many profes­sional people to upgrade their knowledge or skills on an almost continuous basis.

6. At the same time that the demand for postsecondary education is growing, many U. S. colleges and universities are facing budget crunches.

7. Millions of people have access to audio, video, and computer tech­nology.

8. The modes of instruction can vary greatly.

9. CD-ROMs may come to the student via mail or the student may download materials from the Internet.

10. Many distance education programs have a residency requirement.

11. The dropout rate from distance education courses and programs is higher than for traditional courses and programs.

12. There are many unscrupulous and disreputable universities adver­tising on the Internet with very alluring Web sites.

13. It is important for anyone wishing to take a course or to pursue a degree to check out the credentials of the school they are consider­ing very carefully.

II. LISTENING

LECTURE: Distance Education

One of the most exciting changes in education in the United States today is the incredible growth of distance education at the post­secondary level. Let me begin the lecture by asking you a couple of

questions. First, can you imagine getting a college, or university, de­gree, without ever once setting foot on a college campus? Second, would you believe me if I told you there are a few higher education institutions that grant degrees that don’t even have a campus? Some of these schools even grant graduate degrees, that is, a master’s degree or even a Ph. D.

What is distance education? A publication called Distance Education: A Consumer’s Guide defines distance education this way: "Distance education is instruction that occurs when the instructor and student are separated by distance or time, or both." That sounds a little strange, but it’s not really new.

As early as 1840, it was possible to take a correspondence course in shorthand; that is, a student could learn shorthand by mail. And the University of Wisconsin offered the first correspondence catalog in 1892. This meant that a student could take university courses by mail over 100 years ago. So distance education is not really new; however, modern technology, such as audio, video, and computer technology, has changed distance education a great deal. Today almost all distance education programs are online or have an online learning component to take advantage of the technology.

As I mentioned, distance education is now growing at an incredible rate. Peterson’s 1994 Guide to Distance Learning listed 93 accredited distance education programs available at community colleges and universities across the United States and Canada, whereas its 1997 guide listed more than 700 programs. In 2003, almost 1,100 programs were listed. According to the U. S. Department of State, more than 90 percent of all accredited U. S. colleges and universities with 10,000 students or more offer distance education programs with new ones coming online continuously.

Distance education is quite a complex subject with many aspects to look at. Today let’s look at the reasons why distance education is growing so rapidly, how distance education works, that is, what the modes of delivery are, and some things people considering distance education need to be aware of.

To start with, why is distance education growing at such an incredible rate?

First, rapidly changing economic conditions require many professional people to upgrade their knowledge or skills on an almost continuous basis. For example, a person who graduates with a degree in engineer­ing or computer science may find it necessary to take courses to up­grade his or her skills every few years. Or a person who begins his or her career with a B. A. or B. S. degree may find it desirable to pursue an M. A. after some time, or even a Ph. D. Busy working people often find it difficult or even impossible to take the courses they need or to pur­sue degrees on campus. Thus, there are a lot of people wanting post­secondary education who don’t find it convenient to study in the traditional on-campus setting.

At the same time that the demand for postsecondary education is growing, many U. S. colleges and universities are facing budget crunches; that is, they just don’t have as much money as they had in the past, but at the same time they have more students. They have to find ways to deliver instruction in the most economical way possible.

The final reason is modern technology, which is the key to making the desired postsecondary education available to the millions of peo­ple who have access to audio, video, and computer technology.

Many institutions offer distance education courses, certificate pro­grams, and degree programs. How does distance education work at the postsecondary level? What are the usual modes of delivery?

The modes of instruction can vary greatly and different courses in a program may use different modes. And any given course may use several different modes. Some of the modes include video, audio, CD – ROM, Internet, bulletin boards, chat rooms, and e-mail. Let’s consider some of the possibilities among these technologies. Video, for exam­ple, can be as simple as videotape the student plays on his or her VCR. Or it could involve video conferencing where the student is able to see and interact with the instructor and other students. Audio works simi­larly. A student may have a set of audiotapes to play on a cassette player or may be connected to an audio conference where he or she in­teracts with other students and the instructor. When students study on their own, at a time convenient to them, from a video- or audio – tape, it is asynchronous learning, asynchronous meaning not at the same time. Video and audio conferencing, on the other hand, are called synchronous learning; that is, the instructor and the students are engaged in the teaching and learning process at the same time.

Let’s look at two other popular modes used in distance learning: bulletin boards and chat rooms. Both provide a place for discussion among students taking the same course. A student can log on to a bulletin board anytime of the day and night, read what other students have written, and respond, by either adding his or her ideas or asking a question. Chat rooms, on the other hand, offer a discussion forum where students can interact in real time, that is, synchronously. CD – ROMs may come to the student via mail or the student may download materials from the Internet. E-mail provides a very convenient way for students to submit assignments or to ask the instructor questions. There are many more modes of instruction, but this should give you an idea of the possibilities.

Students interested in pursuing distance education degrees need to consider the following six points:

Number 1. Many distance education programs have a residency re­quirement. The students may be required to take two courses on campus, that is, six hours of credit, or students may be required to spend several days on campus several times during the program.

Number 2. Distance education courses generally have time limits. Courses and programs must be completed within a certain time limit. Assignments must be submitted on time.

Number 3. Admissions requirements are the same as those of an on-campus education.

Number 4. Distance education can save students money in terms of not having to travel to campus for classes, and the like, but the aca­demic fees are about the same as for traditional education. Fulfilling the residency requirements may be quite costly in terms of travel and lodging for students who live far from the campus.

Number 5. Online study requires students to have access to a computer that meets minimum requirements such as the latest version of Win­dows, a microphone, sound card and speakers, adequate hard drive and RAM, a modem, browser (Internet Explorer or Netscape), and Internet connection. Connection speed is very important and many schools rec­ommend having high-speed Internet access like a cable modem or DSL.

And finally Number 6. Distance learning requires that students be disciplined and independent learners. Distance education is not easier than traditional education. Not everyone is temperamentally suited for distance education. The dropout rate from distance education courses and programs is higher than for traditional courses and programs.

Before I close today, let me just say that many people are still suspi­cious of distance education believing that it cannot possibly be equiva­lent to a traditional classroom education, although there are studies that indicate that distance education can be as effective as traditional education and sometimes even more effective. However, some suspi­cions are well founded. There are many unscrupulous and disreputable universities advertising on the Internet with very alluring Web sites. Therefore, it is important for anyone wishing to take a course or to pursue a degree to check out the credentials of the school they are considering very carefully.

We have an expression: Let the buyer beware. That means that anyone who wishes to buy something should be very careful! And that in­cludes online or distance education.

III. POSTLISTENING

A. Accuracy Check

1. In what two ways can the instructor and student be separated in distance education?

2. How could students learn shorthand in 1840 without having to at­tend classes?

3. In what year was the first university correspondence catalog offered in the United States?

4. According to the U. S. Department of State, what percentage of accredited U. S. colleges and universities with 10,000 or more students offer distance education programs?

5. What does the term synchronous mean?

6. Name three modes of delivery of instruction used in distance education.

7. Can students take all the time they want or need to complete distance education courses or programs?

8. Are the fees for distance education programs generally cheaper than those for traditional on-campus programs?

9. What are two ways many schools recommend that students get high-speed Internet access?

10. Do students complete distance education courses and programs at the same rate as traditional courses and programs?