Research Blog #7

My "case" or most important area to explore is the overarching theme of how choice affects success in college. There are many choices a student will make throughout their career as a student, but some important ones include choices in debt, socializing, and choice of major. Being aware of debt can ease the lives of students, choice of friends that have similar interests affect success, and choice of major directly impacts the job one will obtain after graduation.These can all directly affect success or failure, and each student is different, therefore some choices may be easier for some or have less of an impact than others. It speaks to the debate in my proposal because these specific examples will help me to argue my overarching theme of choice in college. These three examples have been studied and written about, and I have found a theme among all. There is an overwhelming amount of information regarding choice of major, awareness of debt, but not much on socialization. However, form the sources such as Armstrong and Hamilton, it is clear that socialization has an impact on success.

Research Blog #6

This chart describes the life of a college student and what contributes to success. Included in the chart is personal factors, such as social choices and choices regarding debt, ability factors, such as the ability to achieve good grades, and circumstance factors, such as social class and debt. It is significant in that all the choices a college student makes are vital to their success. Included in these choices are ways of paying back loans, choice of friends and amount of drinking and it's affect on academics, and how social class and status can affect all of these choices. This chart demonstrates the top three major aspects of life choices that a student faces upon entering college and how much impact it will ultimately have on their success or failure.

Literature Review #4

2. Holland, Eisenhart, Dorothy C., Margaret A. Educated in Romance. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1990. Print.

3. The chapter I read had to do with how students, when surrounded by peers in which their work was important to them, were more likely to succeed than if they were friends with those who did not care. Students often complain about school to peers often, about too much homework, unfair teachers, and tests, and this can predict future career paths and success. Some friends do not care if you are failing or are having trouble in school, because they see it as a purely individualistic life choice. Friends do not get together to talk about school work and college majors. This can lead to failure for some who are involved in their studies. Students who want to succeed should surround themselves with people like them and who want to succeed.

4. The authors are Dorothy C. Holland and Margaret A. Eisenhart. Holland is a professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Eisenhart is associate professor of anthropology and education at the University of Colorado at Boulder. 

5. Socialization: a term (commonly used by anthropologists) to describe the process of inheriting norms, customs, and ideologies to participate in society. It is common in college culture and can ultimately define the amount of success one achieves after graduation. Friends are influential in choices and socialization, which can in turn affect academics. 

Peer culture: A social group of people who commonly share the same beliefs, customs, and ideologies. They can be greatly influential in choices regarding socialization and college pathways. 

6. "When Paula was asked directly whether she and her friends from high school ever talked about why they chose their majors, she said "No....It's just that we all picked things that we did well in high school". (164).

"In general, schoolwork and career decisions seemed to be conceived by the peer culture as matters of individual choice, not for group discussion or debate". (164)

"For most, schoolwork and peer activities were viewed as competing domains: time spent studying was time spent away from peers, and time with peers accomplished little schoolwork". (165)

7. This material helps me to explore my question because it discusses why students choose to be with friends, or why they choose to do school work and how they relate. I found it interesting that many people thought time spent studying was time away from peers. Students go to school to learn, as well as being peers. But they are paying to be there for academics, not socializing with friends. Students seem to place a lot of importance on socialization, which is why I am exploring how this socialization can affect success.

Literature Review Blog #3

2. Goldrick-Rab, Sara. "Following Their Every Move: An Investigation of Social-Class Differences in College Pathways." Sociology of Education. (2006): n. page. Print. <http://search.proquest.com/sociology/docview/216499114/141238DBA9A136AFD1A/4?accountid=13626>.

3. This article assesses the different college pathways and how students achieve success, and if ethnicity /background/social class is involved in these decisions. Many students attend college and all outcomes seem to turn out different, and this could be based off of how a student was raised and how they achieved success in high school. This study looks at advantaged and disadvantaged students to determine if their social class had anything to do with the choices they made in college and if it affected their success.

4. The author of this article is Sara Goldrick-Rab. From her personal biography on the University of Wisconsin's School of Education's website, it states "Sara Goldrick-Rab is associate professor of educational policy studies and sociology at UW-Madison. She is also the Founding Director of the Wisconsin HOPE Lab, opening in EPS in 2014. Dr. Goldrick-Rab is Senior Scholar at the Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education, and an affiliate of the Institute for Research on Poverty, Center for Financial Security, LaFollette School of Public Affairs, and Wisconsin Center for Educational Research. She is also the Project Director for the What Works Clearinghouse's expansion into postsecondary education. As a scholar-activist and sociologist with a deep commitment to bringing research into policy and practice, Dr. Goldrick-Rab's research explores policies aimed at reducing socioeconomic and racial inequalities. She was named a 2010 William T. Grant Scholar for her project "Rethinking College Choice in America." She was also a 2006 National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation postdoctoral fellow. She is the co-author of Putting Poor People to Work: How the Work-First Idea Eroded College Access the Poor (Russell Sage, 2006), which was a finalist for the C. Wright Mills award. Her research has been published in journals such as Sociology of Education and Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis and been financially supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Spencer Foundation, American Educational Research Association, William T. Grant Foundation, and many others." She is a professor at the school, has published other scholarly works, and received numerous academic awards. 

5. Social Class: Groups of individuals who occupy a similar position in the economic system of production This includes: Upper Class/Elite, Upper Middle Class, Lower Middle Class, Working Class,  and Poor. ((http://udel.edu/~cmarks/What%20is%20social%20class.htm) )

College Pathways: This is a term that describes the "path" that a student will take throughout college. This can include party oriented or career oriented, or various other ways of attaining success/failure in college. The pathway chosen usually directly impacts success because of the choices made within that pathway. 

6.As an article in the New York Times (Leonhardt 2005) observed, there are enormous social-class differences in college completion. Among 1992 high school seniors who began college at four-year institutions, 84 percent of those in the top fifth of the socioeconomic distribution finished their bachelor's degrees by age 26, compared to barely 39 percent of the students from families in the bottom fifth (author's calculations using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study, NELS). Variation in facets of postsecondary pathways may contribute to some of these differences. Research has demonstrated that engaging in nontraditional pathways has a negative effect on students' chances for completing bachelor's degrees. 

Family background may shape how a student attends college by introducing both opportunities and constraints into the attendance process. A large body of research has demonstrated that family background is associated with the social, cultural, and economic resources (or capital) that are needed to further educational attainment (Bourdieu and Passeron 1977; Coleman 1974, 1988; DiMaggio 1982). In the case of higher education, students from families with higher incomes and those whose parents attended college are more likely to have access to critical information and financial resources that enable them to follow more "traditional" college pathways. The quantity and quality of information that students have at their disposal when entering and proceeding through college is essential to their decision-making processes. To make effective decisions in an environment with a plethora of choices, actors need both more and better information (Rosenbaum 2001).

These findings imply that students with greater access to financial resources are better able to take advantage of the new higher education marketplace. Given the significant link between social class and interrupted schooling, it seems reasonable to conjecture that low-SES students who change schools interrupt their schooling not because they are shopping, partying, or choosing to take time off to "find themselves," but because they have suffered academically or financially in school.21 Thus, while some analysts have suggested that competition among institutions will benefit disadvantaged students, who theoretically should enjoy greater opportunities to assess and compare their multiple options (Levine 2001; Newman and Couturier 2001), these results indicate otherwise.

7. This material will aid in my research because I will be able to read and find out how and why different social classes are affected when attending college. Privileged students seem to graduate more easily and their decisions are less impacted by the issue of money. Students who are in a lower social class may find it harder to maintain their path in school, and their choices are very much affected by their socioeconomic standing. I think this will help me support my argument that social class affects college choices and ultimately success by providing statistical evidence of such cases.

Literature Review Blog #2

2. 

"Paving the Way: How Financial Aid Awareness Affects College Access and Success." (October 2008): n. page. Print. <http://projectonstudentdebt.org/fckfiles/Paving_the_Way.pdf>.

3. This reading is about how financial aid awareness affects college choice and success. It assesses what parents and students know and do not know about financial aid and how it works. It states how students can learn about financial aid and become aware of the amount of money that they will owe and how they can be funded. Therefore, they may make different choices if they are

fully aware. College decisions can be based off of awareness of debt and financial aid that can be awarded to a student, such as choosing a school and major.

4. The article is written by "The Institute for College Access & Success", which is "An independent, nonprofit organization, the Institute for College Access & Success works to make higher education more available and affordable for people of all backgrounds. By conducting and supporting nonpartisan research, analysis, and advocacy, the Institute aims to improve the processes and public policies that can pave the way to successful educational outcomes for students and for society" (As quoted from the article).

5. Financial aid awareness: Not all students and parents are aware of financial aid and the process that is required to attain it.  Students can learn about it from counselors, other students, the internet, and various other sources. Students, especially of various ethnicities and low income are the less knowledgable of students who want to attend college. They may not be eligible for some aid because they did not apply in time or did not know that they were eligible, thus affecting choices they make regarding school and major. 

Affects on college going behavior- 24% of students in Texas did not fill out a FAFSA form because they did not know about it, but knew vaguely about financial aid. With more information, students found that their decisions were less hard to make and less affected by the financial aspect of college. If knowledgable, students were more likely to attend a four year college than those who did not know about financial aid.

6. 

c)  A lack of timely financial aid knowledge affects a student’s likelihood of going to college. (6) 

d)  A student’s expectations concerning financial aid eligibility influence whether they will apply to and attend college. (6)

d) The availability of financial aid, or lack thereof, can affect college enrollment and completion. (9)


7. This material will be able to help me in my research because this aspect of my research tends to be narrow due to the fact that I am looking at the fact that debt and money can affect college choices. This article directly touches upon how money and debt can affect the choice a student makes in college. I think that this article will be able to show me how various students of different ethnicities and backgrounds become knowledgeable of financial aid and how it affects their choices in entering and staying in school.

 

Research Blog #5

(Working) Bibliography

Scholarly Resources:

1.

Blow, Charles M. "A Dangerous 'New Normal' in College Debt.." New York Times. (2013): n. page. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. <http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=2&sid=ee645982-7dd4-46cd-affa-03111fa8142e@sessionmgr113&hid=107&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ==

2.

Gray, Vitak, Easton, Ellison, Rebecca, Jessica, Emily, Nicole. "Examining social adjustment to college in the age of social media: Factors influencing successful transitions and persistence.." Computers and Education. (2013): n. page. Print. <http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=3&sid=ee645982-7dd4-46cd-affa-03111fa8142e@sessionmgr113&hid=5&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ==

3.Dietz, Janis. "The myth that college and major choice decides Johnny’s future. ." (2010, June 1): n. page. Web. 8 Oct. 2013. <http://www.freepatentsonline.com/article/College-Student-Journal/228428412.html>.

4.

Kalil, Wightman, Ariel, Patrick. "Parental Job Loss and Children's Educational Attainment in Black and White Middle-Class Families.." Social Science Quarterly. (2011): n. page. Print. <http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=5&sid=ee645982-7dd4-46cd-affa-03111fa8142e@sessionmgr113&hid=109&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ==

5. BOOK:

Fogg, Neeta. College majors handbook : with real career paths and payoffs : the actual jobs, earnings, and trends for graduates of 50 college majors . 3rd. St. Paul, MN: Jist Works, 2012. Print.

Other Sources (Online Sources)

de Vise, Daniel. "Is college too easy? As study time falls, debate rises.." (May 21, 2012): n. page. Print. <http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-05-21/local/35456815_1_college-students-study-time-students-report>.

"Paving the Way: How Financial Aid Awareness Affects College Access and Success." (October 2008): n. page. Print. <http://projectonstudentdebt.org/fckfiles/Paving_the_Way.pdf>.

KingKade, Tyler. " Student Debt Is Making All Your Life Choices Worse ." (9/24/13): n. page. Print. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/24/student-debt-impact_n_3983321.html>.

Serrano, Ken. "Massive college debt can burden graduates for decades." (6/23/12): n. page. Web. 8 Oct. 2013. <http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/education/story/2012-06-24/college-debt-burdens-graduates/55784174/1>.

Szalavitz, Maia. "Why College Binge Drinkers Are Happier, Have High Status Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2012/08/20/why-college-binge-drinkers-are-happier-have-high-status/

Research Blog #4

Chrissy Tympanick

The topic I am choosing to explore is how the choices one makes in college affects success post graduation. I will take a look at four different aspects of important choices, which include choice of major, choices in socialization, and choices regarding debts. I will look at many variables that affect these choices, such as class, status, gender and personal interest. I will research as to why some students will experience failure, or success after graduation. Certain variables that go into choice making are whether they party a lot, whether they are part of the “elite class” and what race or gender they are. Some students cannot succeed if they are part of the “lower” class if they party too much because they cannot afford to put off debts and finish the classes they may have failed. However, students with strong parental support do not have as dire consequences from their choices because they are wealthy enough to graduate debt free, and can party and choose any major that they please. Privatization places emphasis on choice in college, and depending on certain variables, success can either be expected, or success will not happen.

The main research will involve how the choice of major, choice of socialization, debt, and class and status affect success post graduation. I believe there to be various angles that this topic is seen. Some may think that college major, socialization, debt, and class/status do not have anything to do with success post graduation. Some may argue that it is personal interest and motivation that affect success. A student may beat all odds and have tremendous success even with being part of the “lower” class and having a lot of debt. They may socialize a great deal and not have a job in their major.  I believe that exploring these four variables in college choices is a great way to understand how the choices a college student makes affects success, and what other aspects can be taken into account when exploring this.

I will explore the college major theory, and whether major or choice of school could possibly affect success. I have looked at an article that uses numerical data to explore this aspect of college choices. I can look at this data and see if major and college selection had any affect on success, specifically on CEO’s of major companies. I will also look at the socialization aspect, and I could potentially look at the article “Paying for the Party” by Armstrong and Hamilton. I can explore reasons as to why particular students flourished or failed in school because of socialization choices. Another aspect of choice I will examine is debt, and how it affects choice. I can look at “Walden on Wheels” by Ken Ilgunas. He made many particular choices regarding money during his college years, especially the fact that he lived in a van to cut costs and stay out of debt. He altered his way of life so that he could pay off his debt, and chose to live frugally so that he did not have to be under the looming money that he owed. Lastly, I would like to look at the class/status aspect of success. It is believed that if a student is part of the “elite” class, their choices do not have as much consequence as those who are in the “lower” class. Those in the elite class may be able to pay off debt, and do as they wish in college without any serious consequence.

I am going to look for numerical data regarding college major in the Major Selection article by Janis Dietz. She explores many good aspects of college major choice by gender and race. I plan on researching how socialization affects success, and an additional question would be: Does partying affect the elite class, or just the lower class? Also in the case of debt, I would like to see if debt affects those in the elite class at all and their choices, or only the lower class. Also, how do students deal with debt, do they choose to ignore it or are they conscious and make a deliberate effort to overcome it? Lastly, as for class and status, I would like to explore how the elite class can get by in college without having any consequence to their actions. Is this true for many student, or just a select few?