If It's Hard to Get In, It Must Be Good?

If It's Hard to Get In, It Must Be Good  (pdf)

What makes a college good? Rejecting lots of applicants? Using best practices in the classroom? You might think that colleges that are pickiest about the students they accept could be relied on to use the best classroom practices, but you would be wrong.

Tough Admission Won’t Guarantee a Good Education
A new study by two of higher education’s leading researchers shows no meaningful link between selective admissions and the quality of college teaching.

University of Iowa researcher Ernest T. Pascarella and University’s George D. Kuh have led a research team that has taken a hard look at what is being claimed in the college ratings game. What they have found should help high school seniors and their families make good college choices. The research, sponsored by the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts, has led to the publication of "Institutional Selectivity and Good Practices in Undergraduate Education: How Strong is the Link?"

Rankings are Just a Distraction
For high school seniors and their parents, an important lesson is that all of the college guidebooks and rankings sources get an "F" on one of the most important points about a college education. According to Pascarella and Kuh, if you want the best learning, look for the best teaching. To find the best teaching, look at what professors do in and out of class, and look at what everyone in the college does to promote learning. Most college guidebooks tell you very little about any of that. But surely it is reasonable to think that there are advantages to having a carefully selected group of other young people around you in college. The odds must be better for having deep, meaningful classroom discussions. Maybe those late-night bull sessions in the residence hall lounge will include more references to Immanuel Kant and fewer to the Simpsons. And when students peer-review each other’s papers, it stands to reason that they should have more chances to deal with meaningful content and fewer encounters with bad spelling. Yet the data gathered by Pascarella and Kuh debunk all of these standard assumptions about better learning automatically going on—in and out of class—at America’s most sought-after colleges.

"Good Practices" Are What Really Matter
According to leading researchers in the field of higher education, what really matters for getting a good liberal arts education is encountering "good practices" everywhere on campus.  The truth is that these best practices (see below) do not necessarily occur at highly selective schools, in the same way that your date with the prom king or queen may not result in a particularly fulfilling relationship. 

Good practices in college teaching include:

a) extensive high-quality student-faculty contact (does the professor know who I am and what my interests are?);

b) learning through teamwork with other students (are other students enthusiastic about learning and do they support me?);

c) teaching that fosters active learning and increases the time students spend on meaningful learning exercises (do I leave class feeling inspired, more worldly?);

d) prompt feedback;

e) high expectations;

f) teaching that is clear, well-organized, and well-prepared;

g) positive interaction with other students outside of class (are there meaningful extracurricular activities like college bowl, athletics, or various clubs that are accessible to me?); and

h) an overall environment on campus that supports learning.

Good practices frame a good college education, no matter who the other students are, no matter how hard or easy it is to be admitted.

Visit Campus, Ask Tough Questions, Expect Good Answers
The Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts recommends a campus visit that includes sitting in on classes, talking with professors and students, and staying overnight in a residence hall. For excellent advice on the questions to ask during a campus visit, the Center of Inquiry recommends the College Pocket Guide published by the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE).
It is available on the NSSE web site at www.iub.edu/~nsse/html/pocket_guide_intro.htm.