Colleges That Change Lives

I’d like to take a quick second to comment on Loren Pope’s Colleges That Change Lives. It’s an interesting read, and the opposite viewpoint from the Daniel Golden book. Pope discusses 40 colleges from across the US — all small, liberal-arts based programs with admit rates over 50 percent — with educational styles that fly in the face of the traditional big university.

The thing I take from this book is that it’s crucial, no matter where you go, to be an active consumer of your education. You’ll likely wind up running into a lecture class somewhere in your academic life… but there’s no reason that you have to be passive about it. Go meet the faculty; use your TAs to your advantage; sit in the front of the room, not the back.

Be active in extracurricular activities. Take advantage of study abroad programs, and take courses outside your major to stretch yourself. “Thinking outside the box” isn’t just corporatespeak; it’s also an important part of life, and doing it in college will only make it easier when you’re in the “real world.”