In choosing a college to attend everyone knows about such things as size and location of the college. But there are many other, more subtle issues that might be considered. For instance, as a student you might be concerned with how the administration of the college addresses student concerns.
Inside Higher Ed recently had an interesting article about a college in Michigan where the senior administrators of the college had their offices locked off to the rest of the college. Now you might not think this is not a big deal as a student but you would be wrong. Sometimes as a student you may a concern about something occurring at your college and if you can’t approach senior administrators about the problem, there may not be a solution. Furthermore, by locking themselves away from the rest of campus the administrators effectively lose touch with what is going on with the campus.
The explanation at the Michigan college was that the administrators were protecting themselves to make sure they were safe. But this concern did not appear to extend to the safety of the students or faculty. Rather than address perceived problems with safety on campus the administrators simply locked themselves away. And safety on a campus is very much a student concern.
When considering which colleges you wish to apply to, talk to current students and ask them about students relationship with the administration. The answer might be helpful in deciding whether to apply.
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