Research Opportunities
Ralph Becker
The Importance of High School Research

Many applicants to the most selective university programs share high grades, high test scores, solid recommendations and generous doses of community service and volunteer activities. Yet, if they want to set themselves apart from the pool of exceptional students, a significant research experience in STEM or the social sciences helps.

The Importance of High School Research

College Retention Rates

Retention Rates: A Critical Measure of a College Program

Retention Rates: A Critical Measure of a College Program

If there were but one factor I could review to determine the effectiveness of a college or university’s program it would certainly not be the US News and World Report Rankings, or the 25 and 75 percentile SAT scores of the incoming class, or even the number of Rhode scholars, or Fulbright scholars it has graduated over the last 10 years. Instead, I’d rather see the school’s retention rate: the number of freshmen students who return for their sophomore year at the same school. Experience tells us that freshman year in college is a massive adjustment. Those schools who can guide their students successfully through freshman year are gems, because a lot of students fail to successfully make the transition in college.

How Effective is a College You’re Planning to Attend at Educating its Students?

How Effective is a College You’re Planning to Attend at Educating its Students?

Trying to figure out where you might get the best postsecondary value for your educational dollar just became easier. On October 7th, 2010, the website CollegeMeasure.org went live. It’s a free, publicly available, not-for-profit site that has no advertising clutter or strange distractions: just cold hard numbers to compare which colleges do a good job at delivering value for the educational dollar, and which don’t. The organizations behind the site are the Matrix Knowledge Group (an international consulting company) and the American Institute of Research (which specializes in educational research) who both share grave concerns about the American college system which, currently, graduates less than 60% of its students in 6-years, who are attempting to gain degrees from 4-year colleges.