Category : Science and Education
Archive   : COLEGE92.ZIP
Filename : PRINT.ME
USER'S GUIDE TO SELECT-A-COLLEGE
P. O. Box 6489
Stanford, CA 94309
(415) 949-2544
YOU DO NOT NEED TO READ THIS USER'S GUIDE because you will
receive clear and easy to follow instructions while using
SELECT-A-COLLEGE.
Copyright 1992 Von O. Leirer
USER'S GUIDE TO SELECT-A-COLLEGE
Why should you use SELECT-A-COLLEGE? There are currently
more than 3,000 trade/tech schools, colleges, and universities in the
United States. One of the most important life decisions you make is
selecting one of these schools for your higher education. This
decision affects many outcomes. It has a lot to do with whether you
complete your degree or drop-out. Your personal happiness,
motivation, and level of interest are affected by your choice of
schools. Finally, it determines which career paths are available after
you complete your education. While no fool-proof method exists,
SELECT-A-COLLEGE provides a systematic and thorough method of
identifying trade/tech schools, colleges, and universities that meet
your individual requirements.
It is an unreasonable task to systematically study each of the
more than 3,000 institutions on your own. Even 15 minutes of study
per school would require over 750 hours of your time. There is also
the problem of remembering what you read and somehow
evaluating each of the schools so that important features are
weighted more heavily in your final decision. Finally, if you changed
your mind about what you desire in a school, you must repeat the
process.
SELECT-A-COLLEGE makes it easy to compare schools on many
different features and to repeat the selection process as often as you
wish. SELECT-A-COLLEGE offers you a means of systematically
studying and evaluating United States accredited four year colleges
and universities and trade/tech schools that offer formal awards or
degrees.
This booklet is divided into three sections. Section One
describes the steps involved in using SELECT-A-COLLEGE. You need
little or no knowledge of microcomputers to use SELECT-A-COLLEGE.
Section Two provides an overview of the contents of SELECT-A-
COLLEGE. Section Three provides some useful strategies for using
SELECT-A-COLLEGE.
PRELIMINARIES: FINDING A COMPUTER
The first thing you must do is locate a microcomputer. You do
not need to own a microcomputer; you can use someone else's.
Notice that the label on the SELECT-A-COLLEGE PROGRAM
DISKETTE indicates which microcomputer(s) your copy will run on. For
example, your copy may say, "runs on IBM-PC or any other MS-DOS
microcomputer." This means that your copy will run on
microcomputers that use the MS-DOS and DR-DOS operating systems.
This includes the IBM-PC and more than 60 other microcomputers.
You can order SELECT-A-COLLEGE in MS-DOS and Apple II plus,
IIc & e. The following is a partial list of the different machines you
can use with SELECT-A-COLLEGE.
IBM PC IBM XT
IBM XT/370 IBM 3270-PC
IBM PCjr w/disk drive IBM Portable PC
Gavilan Mobile North Star DIMENSION
Tandy TI Professional
TI Professional Portable ACT Apricot
Radio Shack Model 1000 Radio Shack Model 1200
Radio Shack Model 2000 Canon AS-100
Colby PC HeadStart 512
Colby PC 3.2 Columbia MPC
Columbia VP COMPAQ
COMPAQ-Plus Corona PC
Corona Portable Digigraphic EXTRA Model 70
Jonos 2150i Leading Edge PC
Logical LX-T Stearns Desktop
Tava PC Toshiba T-300
Wyse WY-1000 Micro Craft Dimension
Pied Piper PC Traveler
Visual Computer Xerox 1810/1850
Eagle PC-2 Eagle PC Plus
Olivetti PC OmegaMite
NEC PC-8801A GRiD Compass
GRiD Tempest Chameleon
People Sharp PC-5000
Hyperion Synco PC 1600
Panasonic Sr. Partner OSM-PC
Otrona Attache 8:16 Pronto Series 16
Sperry PC TeleVideo TPC-II
Gazelle II Poppy
Once you have a microcomputer that is compatible with your
copy of SELECT-A-COLLEGE, your next step is to "load" the operating
system for the computer you are using. You are now ready to use
SELECT-A-COLLEGE.
SECTION ONE: STEPS TO USING SELECT-A-COLLEGE
STEP 1. Once you load the computer's operating system,
remove the operating system diskette and insert the SELECT-A-
COLLEGE PROGRAM DISKETTE. After you have done this, type the
word "BEGIN" and press the "enter key". SELECT-A-COLLEGE will then
ask you a set of questions beginning with the type of school you
want to search for. You can select from schools offering educational
programs requiring less than four years to complete (e.g., community
colleges and trade/tech programs) and colleges and universities that
offer four year degrees (e.g., BA and BS degrees)
STEP 2. Next, SELECT-A-COLLEGE asks if you want to join the
High School Student database. If you say yes, SELECT-A-COLLEGE will
ask you to enter some information about yourself and it will then
automatically print a letter for you that you in turn mail to us.
STEP 3. Finally, SELECT-A-COLLEGE will ask you to select from
the following four options:
a) SEARCH FOR SCHOOLS MEETING YOUR NEEDS. This option
is exactly what you think it is and will be described in detail below.
If you choose this option, you will first enter your name, address,
year you will graduate, and the current date. This information
is used later by SELECT-A-COLLEGE to write letters for you.
b) LIST COMPLETE INFORMATION ABOUT A SET OF SCHOOLS.
This option is used when you are interested in looking at a specific set
of schools whose names you already know. If you choose this option,
the first thing you will do is enter your name, address, and the current
date. This information is used later by SELECT-A-COLLEGE to write
letters for you. The next thing SELECT-A-COLLEGE will ask you to do
is print out a listing of all its schools and their "ID" numbers.
You will need these ID numbers to select schools. Next,
SELECT-A-COLLEGE will ask you to enter the ID numbers of all the
schools for which you want information. After entering the numbers,
SELECT-A-COLLEGE will print the schools' information.
c) WRITE LETTERS FOR CAREER GUIDANCE COUNSELORS. This
option allows Counselors to quickly and easily correspond with many
schools and request school catalogues for their Career Center
Library. By using the feature, Guidance Centers can maintain
extensive, up-to-date libraries of school catalogues.
d) QUIT USING SELECT-A-COLLEGE. This option simply exits you
from the SELECT-A-COLLEGE program.
SEARCHING FOR SCHOOLS THAT MEET YOUR NEEDS
YOU DO NOT NEED TO MEMORIZE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION
because you will receive clear and easy to follow instructions
while you use SELECT-A-COLLEGE.
If in STEP ONE you indicated that you wanted to search for
FOUR YEAR SCHOOLS, you will be presented 36 different categories
of features of colleges and universities. (A description of these
categories is presented in Section Two.) These categories are:
STUDENT BODY COMPOSITION (e.g., male, female, coed)
SURROUNDING CITY SIZE
ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS
CAMPUS SIZE
TUITION COSTS
BOARD COSTS
ROOM COSTS
SCHOOL LOCATION
SOURCE OF SCHOOL SUPPORT (e.g., public, private)
INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ACTIVITIES
INTRAMURAL ATHLETIC ACTIVITIES
FIRST PROFESSIONAL DEGREES (Doctor, Lawyer, etc.)
DEGREES OFFERED IN AGRICULTURE & NATURAL RESOURCES
DEGREES OFFERED IN ARCHITECTURE
DEGREES OFFERED IN AREA AND ETHNIC STUDIES
DEGREES OFFERED IN ARTS
DEGREES OFFERED IN BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
DEGREES OFFERED IN BUSINESS/MANAGEMENT
DEGREES OFFERED IN COMMUNICATION
DEGREES OFFERED IN COMPUTER SCIENCE/DATA PROCESS
DEGREES OFFERED IN EDUCATION
DEGREES OFFERED IN ENGINEERING
DEGREES OFFERED IN HEALTH
DEGREES OFFERED IN HOME ECONOMICS
DEGREES OFFERED IN HUMANITIES
DEGREES OFFERED IN LANGUAGES
DEGREES OFFERED IN LAW
DEGREES OFFERED IN LIBRARY SCIENCES
DEGREES OFFERED IN MATHEMATICS
DEGREES OFFERED IN MILITARY SCIENCES
DEGREES OFFERED IN PHYSICAL SCIENCES
DEGREES OFFERED IN PSYCHOLOGY
DEGREES OFFERED IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS
DEGREES OFFERED IN RELIGION AND THEOLOGY
DEGREES OFFERED IN SOCIAL SCIENCES/SOCIAL SERVICES
DEGREES OFFERED IN INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES
If you selected COMMUNITY COLLEGES AND TRADE/TECH
SCHOOLS in STEP ONE, you will be presented with 29 different
categories of features of community colleges and trade/tech
schools. (A description of these categories is presented in Section
Two.) These categories are:
SURROUNDING CITY SIZE
STUDENT BODY COMPOSITION (eg., male, female, coed)
STUDENT BODY SIZE
ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS
SCHOOL'S CALENDAR SYSTEM (Semester, Quarter, etc.)
STANDARD TIME TO COMPLETE PROGRAM
CORRESPONDENCE PROGRAMS
SOURCE OF SCHOOL SUPPORT (e.g., public, private)
TUITION COSTS
BOARD COSTS
ROOM COSTS
SCHOOL LOCATION
CERTIFICATES AND DEGREES AWARDED TO STUDENTS
ACCREDIT STATUS (e.g., national, regional)
ACCREDITATION HELD BY INSTITUTION
ELIGIBILITY FOR FEDERAL SPONSORSHIP
NON-DEGREED TRADE/TECH
AGRICULTURE
DISTRIBUTIVE EDUCATION
HEALTH PROGRAMS
HOME ECONOMICS PROGRAMS
OFFICE OCCUPATIONS PROGRAMS
TECHNICAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
ASSOCIATED ARTS DEGREE
DATA PROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES
HEALTH SERVICES AND PARAMEDICAL PROGRAMS
MECHANICAL AND ENGINEERING PROGRAMS
NATURAL SCIENCES PROGRAMS
BUSINESS AND COMMERCE PROGRAMS
PUBLIC SERVICES PROGRAMS
In Step One you are asked to rate the importance of these
categories in terms of your personal needs and interests. You rate
each category on a scale from 0 to 9. The higher the rating, the
more important the category is for you. For example, if DEGREES
OFFERED IN LEGAL SERVICES has lesser importance to you, give it a
1 or a 2 score. If TUITION COSTS has a great deal of importance, give
it an 8 or 9 score. Categories having no importance to you should
be skipped over; the rating for these categories will remain zero. The
computer will use your ratings to determine the relative importance
you place on each of the categories of features of schools. Once
you have rated these categories, SELECT-A-COLLEGE will
automatically advance you to STEP TWO.
*******************************************************************
* We suggest that the first time you use SELECT-A- *
* COLLEGE that you select and rate only three or four of the *
* categories that are most important to you and then go on to *
* STEP TWO.) *
*******************************************************************
STEP TWO. In STEP TWO you rate the features within each of
the categories that you gave a score of 1 or greater in STEP ONE.
SELECT-A-COLLEGE automatically presents these categories you.
In STEP TWO, you will rate features of a category by giving each
feature either a 0 or 1 rating.
For example, suppose that you gave INTERCOLLEGIATE
ATHLETICS some rating between 1 and 9 in Step 1. In STEP TWO you
will be presented a list of 29 types of athletics. These include
everything from archery to wrestling. Your task is to give each of
these types of athletics either a 0 or 1 rating.
A zero means that the feature is UNIMPORTANT. A 1 rating
means that the feature is IMPORTANT to your needs. Features not
important to you may be skipped over; their rating will remain zero.
SELECT-A-COLLEGE will include in its calculations the
importance you place on each of the categories of features and the
ratings of each of the features within the categories. Once you have
rated the features of the categories, you have completed Step 2.
SELECT-A-COLLEGE automatically advances you to Step Three.
STEP THREE. In Step 3, SELECT-A-COLLEGE will search and
evaluate each of the schools in its database and then present you
with a list of up to 25 schools that most closely match your needs.
These schools are presented on the screen for your inspection. You
are given the following information about each of the 50 schools:
1. Evaluation Score
2. Name of School
3. Location
4. List of the important features you
requested and that the school has.
The Evaluation Score is calculated by SELECT-A-COLLEGE using
your ratings of the categories and the features of the categories.
Through your ratings of Categories and Features, you tell SELECT-A-
COLLEGE how to score the schools. The computer then goes through
all of the schools in SELECT-A-COLLEGE'S database and calculates
how closely each school fits your needs. This procedure of having
you rate the importance of categories and features and having the
computer calculate Evaluation Scores is called BOOTSTRAPPING and
it is an excellent way of making important decisions that require
combining large amounts of information.
The Evaluation Score produced by SELECT-A-COLLEGE can
range from a low of 1 to a high of 100. For example, an Evaluation
Score of 100 indicates that the school meets all of your needs, and
Evaluation Score of 70 indicates that the school meets 70% of you
needs and an Evaluation Score of 10 indicates that the school has
and extremely poor fit to your needs. The schools are listed
according to their Evaluation Score. The school with the highest
Evaluation Score is listed first, the school with the lowest score
is listed last.
While viewing the list of schools, you may:
a) Print a copy of the 25 schools and/or
b) Review the list of 25 schools
c) Print a letter to one or more schools
requesting application materials
d) Do another search by entering new ratings
e) End the session.
Occasionally, the final list of schools will include 25 schools,
all having an Evaluation Score of 100%. This occurs when you have
rated too few features as IMPORTANT. In this case you should try
being more selective.
SECTION TWO: SUMMARY OF CATEGORY FEATURES
In this section we will briefly describe the school content
categories listed above.
STUDENT BODY COMPOSITION. There are four types of student
body composition: 1) all male, 2) all female, 3) coed, and 4)
coordinate. Coordinate means that the college has separate male
and female campuses but shares some classes and social activities.
SURROUNDING CITY SIZE. There are six city sizes to choose from.
They range from suburban settings to cities having over 2 million
residents.
ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS. There are six types of entrance
requirements: 1) schools that have no requirements, 2) high school
graduation, 3) high school graduation plus college entrance
examination, 4) two year college degree, 5) four year college
degree, and 6) other specific requirement. Most two and four year
schools require that you take college entrance exams. Some
technical programs require a two year college degree and some
seminary schools require that you first complete a four year degree.
Finally, some schools have specific requirements such as religious
beliefs (e.g., seminaries) or artistic ability (e.g., selective art
schools).
However, as a general rule, if you plan to go to a trade/tech
school, you should probably give the first or second entrance
requirement a 1 or 2 rating and leave the others as zero. If you plan
to go to a four year school, you should probably give either the
second or third entrance requirement a 1 or 2 rating.
STUDENT BODY SIZE. You may choose from six student body
sizes. These range from 999 or less students to 20 thousand or more
students.
CALENDAR. You may choose from five types of school
calendars: 1) semester system, 2) quarter, 3) trimester, 4) 4-1-4
system, or 5) some other nonstandard system. The 4-1-4 system
means that there is a four month session followed by a one month
session followed by a four month session.
TUITION COSTS. There are six cost levels to choose from. The
lowest cost range is from $0 to $500 and the highest cost range is
from $0 to $20,000.
BOARD COSTS. There are six board cost levels to choose from.
The lowest cost range is from $0 to $600. The highest range is from
$0 to $2,000. The lowest cost range includes those schools that do no
offer boarding services.
ROOM COSTS. There are six room cost levels. The ranges
match those for board costs.
SCHOOL LOCATION. You may choose from all 50 states plus
U.S. protected areas.
SOURCE OF SCHOOL SUPPORT. There are three types of school
support or control to choose from: 1) public, 2) private, and 3)
combined public/private. Typically, public schools are the least
expensive to attend. Privately supported schools include private
religious schools.
CONTENT CATEGORIES SPECIFIC TO SCHOOLS OFFERING BA/BS OR
FIRST PROFESSIONAL DEGREES
INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ACTIVITIES. There are 29 different
athletic activities to choose from. While there may be other athletics
offered by specific schools, the 29 activities in this content category
represent those of most popular interest.
INTRAMURAL ATHLETIC ACTIVITIES. The same 29 athletic
activities offered in the intercollegiate category are offered here.
FIRST PROFESSIONAL DEGREES. The following 10 professional
degrees are included in this category: Dentistry, Medicine,
Optometry, Osteopathic, Pharmacy, Podiatry, Veterinary Medicine,
Chiropractic, Law, and Theological Professions. The SELECT-A-
COLLEGE dataset includes only those schools also having
undergraduate programs.
DEGREES OFFERED. In your selection of colleges, you might
think of these degrees as areas of interest. Rather than selecting one
or the other, you should select all areas that interest you.
6 DEGREES OFFERED IN ARCHITECTURE.
14 DEGREES OFFERED IN AREA AND ETHNIC STUDIES.
27 DEGREES OFFERED IN BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES.
17 DEGREES OFFERED IN BUSINESS/MANAGEMENT.
5 DEGREES OFFERED IN COMMUNICATION.
5 DEGREES OFFERED IN COMPUTER SCIENCE/DATA PROCESS
43 DEGREES OFFERED IN EDUCATION.
24 DEGREES OFFERED IN ENGINEERING.
11 DEGREES OFFERED IN FINE ARTS.
21 DEGREES OFFERED IN HEALTH.
7 DEGREES OFFERED IN HOME ECONOMICS.
10 DEGREES OFFERED IN HUMANITIES.
16 DEGREES OFFERED IN LANGUAGES.
1 DEGREE OFFERED IN LEGAL SERVICES.
1 DEGREE OFFERED IN LIBRARY SCIENCES.
3 DEGREES OFFERED IN MATHEMATICS.
3 DEGREES OFFERED IN MILITARY SCIENCES.
20 DEGREES OFFERED IN PHYSICAL SCIENCES.
10 DEGREES OFFERED IN PSYCHOLOGY.
6 DEGREES OFFERED IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND SERVICES.
14 DEGREES OFFERED IN SOCIAL SCIENCES/SERVICES.
4 DEGREES OFFERED IN THEOLOGY.
4 DEGREES OFFERED IN INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES.
CONTENT CATEGORIES SPECIFIC TO PROGRAMS REQUIRING LESS THAN
FOUR YEARS
1 ASSOCIATED ARTS DEGREE PROGRAM.
5 DATA PROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES PROGRAMS.
19 HEALTH SERVICES AND PARAMEDICAL PROGRAMS.
17 MECHANICAL AND ENGINEERING PROGRAMS.
8 NATURAL SCIENCES PROGRAMS.
12 BUSINESS AND COMMERCE PROGRAMS.
8 PUBLIC SERVICES PROGRAMS.
SECTION THREE: STRATEGIES FOR USING SELECT-A-COLLEGE
This final section offers some suggestions for using SELECT-A-
COLLEGE to your best advantage. How you go about selecting a
school depends on your individual situation. For example, your
selection of schools may be limited by whether or not you have
taken college entrance exams, or by tuition costs, career choice, or
a host of other factors. We will outline three approaches to selecting
schools. You may want to employ one or more of these approaches
in your search for schools.
The first time you use SELECT-A-COLLEGE, we recommend that
you select only three or four most important categories for your
personal needs. When you rate these three or four categories, give
the least important categories a "1" or "2" rating and the most
important categories a "8" or "9" rating.
MATCHING YOUR ECONOMIC PROFILE TO SCHOOLS. The top
private schools cost around $20,000 a year to attend. (This does not
include the costs of room, board, books, clothes, and entertainment.)
Without scholarships or other financial aids, most students are
financially unable to attend such schools. Therefore, for most
students it is a good idea to give some weight to such categories as
LOCATION OF SCHOOL, and TUITION, ROOM, and BOARD COSTS. In
general, it is less expensive to go to public schools that are located
near small towns.
SELECTING ON THE BASIS OF TWO OR MORE CAREER PATHS. Most
students who go on to higher education are uncertain of their
career path. This uncertainty may last into their second or third year
of college. For example, many students begin college as pre-med
students; less than half of these students actually complete a
medical degree. Thus, selecting schools that offer three or four
career paths that you find interesting is better than schools offering
only one such career path. Providing yourself with career options is
a good strategy especially if you are thinking about entering a highly
competitive field.
SELECTING A SCHOOL ON THE BASIS OF PERSONAL PREFERENCES. Even
after selecting schools on the basis of financial
and career path features, you may find many schools remaining to
choose from. If this is the case, personal preferences and life style
can play an important role in narrowing the number of schools you
might consider as final candidates. Such categories as SCHOOL
LOCATION, STUDENT BODY COMPOSITION, ATHLETIC ACTIVITIES, and
CAMPUS SIZE should receive your attention.
Do you prefer schools located in large metropolitan areas or small rural
towns? Do you like to snow ski or to surf in the winter? Do you prefer
a school composed of men, women, or both? Do you prefer to live
on or off campus? All of these are important features of a college
or university. They significantly influence how well you adjust to
college life.
READ THE SCHOOL CATALOGS AND VISIT THE CAMPUS. Once you narrow
the number of schools to a reasonable size (somewhere between 5 and 15),
you should go to the library and read the catalogs for these schools.
This will give you more detailed information about the programs offered
and the campus atmosphere. Also double check costs, degrees offered,
and admission requirments.
Finally, you should try to visit your top one or two schools to
make a first hand evaluation. You will be spending several thousands
of dollars and years of your life on your final choice, it is worth a
quick trip to evaluate your investment first hand.
A FINAL NOTE TO THE STUDENT
We, the creators of SELECT-A-COLLEGE, wish to extend our best
wishes to you in your search for higher education. Each of us had to
face the school selection process without the help of SELECT-A-
COLLEGE. We sincerely believe that we have made the school
selection process faster, easier, less expensive, and more complete
than would otherwise be possible. If you have questions or
comments about SELECT-A-COLLEGE, please phone or write to us at:
SELECT-A-COLLEGE
P.O. Box 6489
Stanford, CA 94309
Phone: (415) 949-2544
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