Research Blog #2

1. As for my original topic idea, I have decided to make it more specific. I agree that the pathway theme is too narrow and there is limited resources available for it. I have thought about it and decided to stem from that idea and focus on how the choices you make during college effect success after graduation. I plan on focusing primarily on choice of major, the social aspect of school, class/status, and debt. I will include pathways in this research, but not focus solely on them. I think that would be good support for some of the new points I have come up with.

2. When looking online, I decided to Google my four points of interest. First, I searched broadly and typed in "choices during college affect success". A few web pages came up that had to do with choices in college and how they effect success.  One was about scores, another financial decisions, one about sports, and others more generally speaking. Next, I Googled "College Debt Crisis" and a lot of pages came up. The CNBC page with a lot of resources was one of the top sites. There were many other pages that dealt with college debt crisis, and many of them being reliable News sources.  Next, I typed in " how choice of major affects success" and pages came up that could potentially aid in my research. I found one page that read "Oh the Places You Will Go! How Your College Choice Affects Your Career". I plan on looking through this page because it has a lot of statistics and percentages that could aid in supporting evidence. Next, I searched "how class and status affect success" and a few pages regarding this topic came up. I noticed the first one which read "Does A Student's Social Class Affect Their Success?" and a few other pages regarding this topic. I thought it would be harder to find information on this, but was surprised that there were several pages dedicated to this information. Finally, I searched "social lives in college/affecting success" and found that there were not many if no pages regarding this topic. I might have to look into our readings to find evidence, because my initial web search did not produce results.

3. I searched "college debt" in Google Scholar and the first article that came up is entitled "College on Credit" How Borrowers perceive their education debt.  I think this could be useful to look into how students feel about their debt and how it could effect their success. I decided to then search "Choices in College" on Google Scholar, and found a few articles regarding choices students make in college. One is about choice of major, women's choices of college majors, and occupational choices of college students. It seems to be mostly major related, and not so much social related. I think I may have the hardest time researching how the the social choices a student makes can affect success. I might be able to use the pathways here, and talk about the party pathway and how that effects success.

4. The issue of choices seem to be closely related to major choice. It seems that women are more likely to choose one major over another, which could be more male related. I have found a few articles regarding this, and did not know this was an issue. It seems that major choice seems to be the more prevalent and important choice a student makes in college that directly impacts success, but I also think that social class/status and debt is included in this.

5. I found that http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/nerdscholar/college-and-career-study/ is very helpful in looking at certain majors and comparing them. It talks about salaries, has many numbers and charts, and examines post grad success. It looks into employment, and how choice of school and major affects post grad success. I also found that http://www.inpathways.net/ipcnlibrary/ViewBiblio.aspx?aid=363 was a useful source because it examines how students financial decisions affect their academic success. I think this is important in my research because I would like to talk about class/ status/ and debt and how they affect schooling and eventual success.

6.I do not think my topic has any controversy, but possibly the subtopics may have arguments. One could argue that if a student is in a lower class than elite, their choices are very important. However, if a student is part of the elite class, their choices may not be as influential on their success.

Research Blog #1

I am considering the topic of pathways in college, and how greatly they can affect you're future outcome. I was inspired by the story of Emma and Taylor in the Armstrong/Hamilton piece that we had read. I was surprised at how differently the two girls ended up, with both of them starting at the same place. Many factors went in as to why they either succeeded or failed. I am interested in looking into the reasons why a student will succeed or fail, and what pathway they chose and why. There were three pathways mentioned, the party pathway, the professional pathway, and mobility pathway. Other aspects go into this as well, such as parental involvement, class, status, and background. These can greatly influence the pathways. I am especially interested in the party pathway, and why some fail when choosing this, and why others can still succeed even with partying on a regular basis. I would tend to think that drinking and a involved social life would distract a student from their studies, but there were cases in the reading that proved opposite. Ultimately, I would like to explore the pathways, especially the party pathway, and how the choices made affect the outcome after graduation.