February 18, 2026 • 43 mins
So many mysterious terms and acronyms to understand when your student heads off to college! You’ll understand how college works better when you understand the strange terms they use. In our fifth installment of our College Lingo series, Vicki and Lynn define and discuss more of the insider terms that colleges use that may not always be clear to parents. In this episode we cover Accessibility Offices, Add/Drop, Sophomore Slump, Credit Hour, Resident Assistants, Post-Grad Year, Placement Exams, and Liberal Arts. If you missed Parts 1-4, with 24 additional terms, check out episodes #047, #057, #098 and #121.
If you’ve ever wished for a pocket translator for campus speak, this conversation is your map. Hit play, share it with another parent who could use the clarity, and then tell us what term still trips you up. Subscribe, leave a review, and send us the next term you want decoded.
Thank you for listening!
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (01:02):
Welcome to the College Parent Central Podcast.
Whether your child is justbeginning the college admission
process or is already incollege, this podcast is for
you.
You'll find food for thought andinformation about college and
about navigating that delicatebalance of guidance,
involvement, and knowing when toget out of the way.
(01:24):
Join your hosts, Vicki Nelsonand Lynn Abrahams, as they share
support and a celebration of theamazing experience of having a
child in college.
SPEAKER_02 (01:39):
Welcome to the College Parent Central podcast.
This is the place where we talkabout just about anything that
we can think of that has to dowith being a student in college,
being the parent of a student incollege, being the parent of a
student in high school who'sthinking about heading to
(02:00):
college, and being the parent ofsomeone maybe who is about to
finish college and moving on tothe next step, because all of it
is sometimes a really mysteriousand exciting and interesting
time in the life of a parent.
(02:21):
So anything that we can do tohelp you figure out what it's
all about, we're happy to dothat.
My name is Vicky Nelson, and Iam here with my friend and my
co-host, uh Lynn Abrahams.
I am a professor ofcommunication at a small liberal
(02:42):
arts college, and I work withcollege students every single
day, both in the classroom andas an academic advisor.
And perhaps more importantly, Iam the mother of three daughters
who have all gone to college, soI have lived the whole
experience.
And I'm gonna let Lynn tell youwho she is.
SPEAKER_01 (03:03):
Hi, everybody.
Um, I am a learning disabilityspecialist.
I have been working with collegestudents for my whole career,
and I don't even want to say howmany years that that has been.
It's been a while.
Um I work with students um intheir families.
So um I also am the mom of twosons who have been in and out
(03:28):
and through and around college.
So I come at this from twoangles, um, both a professional
and a parent.
SPEAKER_02 (03:38):
And we have some things we want to talk about
today.
Um, but before we start doingthat, um we want to just pat
ourselves on the back a littlebit.
Um we actually just realized asas we sat down to work that this
is our 150th College ParentCentral podcast.
(04:00):
Wow.
So, yeah, wow.
SPEAKER_01 (04:03):
I still remember that day seven years ago when
you said, Lynn, would you liketo think about doing a podcast
with me?
And I wasn't sure about it.
SPEAKER_02 (04:13):
I know, I I had to do a little bit of arm twisting
there, and it came out of aphone conversation because I was
on a walk and we were on thephone while I was walking, and I
something came up and I askedyou a question about some
student you were working with,or the parents of some student
you were working with, and umand we talked about it for half
(04:36):
of my walk, and it was reallyinteresting.
And I thought at the time, Iwish I could record this
conversation.
Aha, there went the light bulb.
And so we started, and we havetalked about so many different
things uh in the last 149episodes.
Uh, and since we started, we'vebrought in Sarah Shane, who is a
(04:59):
director of academic advising,and Elizabeth Hamblett, who is
an expert and an author in thefield of learning disabilities,
uh, to be co-hosts with us.
We can we kind of rotateourselves around so that we have
all these differentperspectives.
But we're in our seventh season.
This is our 150th episode.
(05:21):
Um, and so happy birthday to us.
We didn't plan a special episodebecause it just sort of snuck up
on us.
But um, you know, I I'll list inthe show notes.
We we actually did do somethingkind of special for our 50th.
Gee, we thought that was a bignumber at that point, uh, where
we gave 50 quick tips and andhints for parents and students.
(05:44):
That was kind of fun.
I remember Lynn, you didn'tthink we could come up with 50.
And we certainly did.
We more than did.
Um, and then for our hundredth,we did some reflecting on you
know what what are some trends,what are things we've talked
about, what are our favoriteepisodes, what are the most
important episodes.
Um, so they're kind ofinteresting retrospectives.
(06:05):
Um, but this time we're justgonna move ahead and not look
backwards.
And we want to talk aboutlanguage, we want to talk about
some of the lingo and the terms.
This is our fifth lingo episode.
Can you talk the talk?
Um, because we know howimportant it is.
(06:25):
Your student comes home fromcollege and starts throwing
these terms around.
Or as you're looking for acollege and you're on those
college visits, some of theseterms get thrown around.
So it helps when you understandwhat people are talking about.
So we have a few we want to talkabout.
Lynn, get a little bit more.
I want to start.
SPEAKER_01 (06:46):
So the first term, and and I have and I want to say
that our terms are notconnected.
They're just we're just gonnathrow them out to you.
We've got eight different termsthat we're going to talk about.
Um, but these are terms that wethink are important to know, to
understand as you walk into thecollege world.
Um they might be a littledifferent for each college.
(07:09):
So if you have many kids, theymight have a little bit of a
different take on some of theseterms.
But the first one I'm going totalk about is in my field, which
is the name of the Office forDisabilities.
That name has been changing.
So in many schools, it's notcalled that anymore.
(07:29):
It's called the Office ofAccessibility Services.
Um they really um it it has beena shift for a few reasons.
One is um that people want to umsort of lean away from the
medical model of looking atdisabilities because the word
(07:51):
disability makes you feel likesomething's broken and it needs
to be fixed and and that doesn'tfeel good for a lot of folks.
Um and it also leans moretowards um the laws that support
students in high school and incollege.
(08:12):
In in high school, the law umthe law supports students in
having a successful experience.
In college, the law that studentthat covers students um is a law
of accessibility.
It's the law that says thateverybody gets access to the
(08:33):
academic material or thephysical environment.
So there's a shift in sort ofum, you know, it it's a shift in
in what is happening betweenhigh school and college.
Um the other thing is that Iwant to mention that calling it
accessibility um often alsoopens the door to um looking at
(08:58):
the entire campus.
This isn't just about learningdisabilities, this is about
accessibility, meaning you it'sfor people who kids who break
their legs.
It's for kids who, you know,have a medical or a psychiatric
issue.
You know, they it it covers somany more students than thinking
(09:19):
of, you know, just uh, you know,learning disabilities.
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (09:23):
You know, I'm gonna interrupt you because as you're
mentioning that and you'retalking about that, I'm thinking
about a couple of students we'vehad at school um who were blind
and um you know needed to havepermission to have a guide dog
with them or um just neededdifferent different things
because of um and and thenthere's that that sort of hidden
(09:48):
disability of of hearing.
Because if it and and we talkedabout this in one of my classes,
you know, if you if a student isblind, you people are sort of
aware of that more often.
But uh hearing is a hiddendisability, and what can
campuses do to make to make iteasier for for them.
SPEAKER_01 (10:12):
And that also explains um the term difference
instead of disability, too.
That what you're talking aboutare any student who has some
kind of learning difference ordiff difference that makes um
you know negotiating theenvironment a little bit
difficult.
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (10:30):
So Or who needs special special permission for
things in class.
Um uh we were talking earlier, Ihave a student in class who is
allowed to eat and have herphone with her in class because
I have a phone policy, strictphone policy, which may be good
or bad.
But anyway, um, and so she'sallowed because she needs to um
(10:54):
watch sugar levels and and allof that.
So um, you know, or or therehave been some other students
who have physical things that uhneed different accommodations.
So I get an accommodation lettersaying you've got to allow this
student to do that.
SPEAKER_01 (11:12):
So it's good to have your kids find that office,
whatever it's called, and justknow that it's there.
SPEAKER_02 (11:18):
And and if if it if there's a possibility that your
student might need anaccommodation, having them find
that office early and registerwith that office and receive the
accommodation doesn't mean theyhave to use it, but then they
have it if they do need it andthey aren't starting that
(11:40):
process too late.
Right.
unknown (11:43):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (11:44):
So that's my first term.
Okay, it's an important one.
They're all important.
Um, all right, so I want to goahead then with something called
ad drop.
Um, you know, we we throw itaround like it's one word, it's
ad slash drop, uh, which is atthe beginning of the semester.
Um and it's sometimes it'ssometimes called different
(12:05):
things in different places.
Uh a lot of schools call it addrop.
Um, some call it a courseshopping period or an enrollment
change period.
So uh it it might have adifferent name, but basically
it's it's usually the first weekor two, occasionally three, but
(12:26):
more often one or two, at thebeginning of the semester when
students can make changes totheir schedule fairly easily
without there being anythingthat goes on their transcript or
any record or anything.
They, you know, they attend aclass, and maybe after the first
class they say, Oh, I've I Ididn't realize that was that's
(12:47):
what this was about.
I'm I'm going to drop this classand add a different class.
So they can make these thesechanges.
Uh some schools, uh, and this iswhat we do, the first week is
fairly straightforward.
Easy students can just go onlineand make a change.
Um, and so as an instructor, Ihave to keep looking at my class
(13:10):
list because I get new ones andsome leave.
Um, and then the second weekit's a little more complicated.
They have to get permission ofan advisor and permission of the
instructor.
Um, because it's a little harderfor students to add a class in
the second or third week.
No problem dropping a class, butif they're going to stay at the
(13:32):
same number of credits, if theydrop a class, they need to often
need to add a class.
And students need to keep inmind that if they add a class in
the second or third week, um,they've missed a week or two of
class.
And and usually are still heldresponsible for whatever they've
missed.
So um so they think, you know,they have to think about it.
(13:55):
Um, it's important that studentsunderstand what the policy of
the school is.
How long do you have after afterad drop is over, students can
usually still withdraw from aclass, but that's a different
thing.
And I think we've talked aboutthat on one of other Lingo
episodes.
Um, but there usually a W goeson your transcript to show that
(14:20):
you have withdrawn.
Uh, if students don't watch thedeadlines or understand what the
policy is or know how theprocess works, then you know
they they lose out.
Um and they also during that addrop period need to watch for
open seats of classes.
Because often what happens isgee, I really want to take this
(14:44):
communication class, but it'sfull.
But if they keep watching thelist, somebody else who's in
that class may drop it and aseat may open up that wasn't
open before.
So it's it's very fluid.
Uh, it allows students to remedya schedule problem if they have
it, to make sure they're in theright classes, change their mind
(15:06):
about a course or a series ofcourses, and just correct
anything if they're in a classwhere they don't belong.
SPEAKER_01 (15:14):
And you know, I just want to add that different
colleges are so different, alsoabout this.
It's so important to find outthe way the college works.
One of my sons went to a um acollege that was very, very
small, and the way they droppedan ad was they had to go to the
professor, you know, and theyhad to plead their case.
(15:35):
And that can be sometimes reallychallenging, yeah, you know, for
a first-year student.
Um, but it's it's reallyimportant to find out how the
college works.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (15:44):
And some schools real they call it course
shopping, and they extend to besitting in on all kinds of
things and deciding what theylike best.
And you know, it's just uh I Ialmost want to say chaos for the
professors.
It is, because you don't know,and then and then you, you know,
(16:04):
gee, do how much do I want tocover because students are
coming and going.
Um whereas other schools reallyencourage students to do some
real serious thinking when theycreate their schedule and then
um you know go from there.
Right.
So ad drop.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (16:20):
My next one is the sophomore slump.
Oh, the slump.
Um so some some students don'tgo through a sophomore slump, I
just want to say.
Some students sail rightthrough.
Um, but for others, um thesophomore year can be a bit of a
I don't know, like a lull.
(16:41):
Um and you know, when you lookat it, uh first year students
get a lot of attention becausethey're just transferring into a
new school.
Um and in fact, many collegesare give lots of attention to
first-year students, but thenthat kind of you know decreases
by the second year.
Um The other thing is that youknow um some of this excitement
(17:05):
is gone, you know, that special,special feeling.
Um students are in moredifficult classes in their
sophomore year.
SPEAKER_02 (17:15):
Those freshman classes often are transitional
and intro, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (17:21):
Right.
So um they there might be somemore challenges academically.
Students often feel pressured tostart, you know, declaring a
major.
And that can be challenging aswell.
SPEAKER_02 (17:34):
Um or they have declared a major and they want
to change it.
And now they find out that's notwhat they want to do.
SPEAKER_01 (17:40):
Right.
Um and another thing I thinkabout is that students are um
they're less connected to homesometimes.
You know, they're not not asconnected to their friends at
home because they're now intheir second year of college.
You know, they're they're sortof moving on.
So it can be a little stressfulin that way.
(18:02):
And I think for parents, youknow, our job as parents is
really to be patient and tolisten to our kids.
Um they might have to talk a lotand about what's going on for
them, and we might need to askquestions.
I know I have found in many ofthe students that I've worked
with, sophomore year seems to bethe time that they start
(18:26):
thinking about transferring.
SPEAKER_02 (18:28):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (18:28):
And and what I've realized over the years is that
that process is sometimes reallyimportant.
It's important for students tosay, to think about, to identify
what is it that's going on thatthey want to transfer, um, what
is it they'll they think they'llfind somewhere else.
Sometimes after going throughthe process of investigation,
(18:51):
excuse me, they come back tofeeling like this is my college,
and they kind of recommit towhere they are.
Um, but this is a very common umthing to happen during the
sophomore year.
And so as parents, we we need tojust be aware that that's part
of the process.
It's part of settling in to anew home.
SPEAKER_02 (19:11):
And I think talking to your student about the fact
that this might happen andanticipating it a little bit so
that I I think a lot of thefeelings that you've just talked
about that students can feel inthat sophomore year, they think
they're the only ones feelingthat.
And so if if you can get out alittle bit ahead of it and say,
(19:34):
you know, sophomore year, maybe,and you might be thinking and
you might be feeling, and that'sthat's common.
And okay, I understand this.
This is this is part of theprocess.
Right.
Right.
Um so you know, we had anearlier episode, it occurs to
me, um, where we talked aboutthe middle years of college, uh
(19:57):
which are sophomore and junioryear, because so much emphasis
is on that freshman year, as youjust said, and also senior year,
because they're busy steppingout.
And then the middle years of thework, so the the years you know,
when when a lot of the work getsdone.
So I think that was episode 49.
We'll list that in the shownotes.
(20:18):
And it might be good to go backand I think we talked even more
about sophomores and juniors andand all of that.
All right, I'm gonna move ahead.
Um, the next one I wanted totalk about is a credit hour.
Um, it again, it's this one ofthose terms that we throw around
all the time.
You know, we we talk about howmany credits do you have, or you
(20:38):
you need to be registered for 12credit hours or something like
that.
Um, so it's how how classes aremeasured in college.
Um, and a credit hour is theequivalent of A one hour of
class time per week.
Literally.
One hour.
Literally.
Well not actually exactlyliterally.
(21:01):
Okay.
Almost literally.
Because for the purposes of acredit hour, 50 minutes can
count as a credit hour.
Okay.
Which allows for time formovement between classes.
I mean, sometimes kids havethree hours between classes, but
but a 50-minute block counts asa credit hour according to
(21:22):
federal guidelines.
And that's important.
And it's important becausestudents need a certain number
of credit hours per semester tobe eligible for financial
federal financial aid.
And usually that's 12.
So you have to be in 12 credithours.
(21:46):
And most, most, most depends oncolleges, but most classes are
three credit hours, which meansthey meet for three hours a
week.
Maybe it's Monday, Wednesday,Friday for 50 minutes or an
hour, or Tuesday and Thursdayfor an hour and 15 minutes, adds
(22:06):
up to the same amount of timespent in the class.
And the other thing that I thinkit's important that parents and
especially students, I just justtalked about this in my class
yesterday, understand is thatalso federal guidelines is for
every credit hour, so that's forevery hour you spend in class,
(22:29):
the expectation is that youspend two hours doing work
outside of class.
And when I say that, the colordrains from the face.
Because they start to do themath and they say, okay, this is
a three credit class.
I'm in class for three hours.
(22:50):
I'm supposed to spend six hours,that's nine hours a week, but
I'm I'm in 15 credits, and soI'm that's 45 hours a week.
You know, give or take.
But um that's when I say, yes,and that's why you're a
full-time student.
It is considered a full-timejob.
(23:10):
And I find that most students,including most of the students
who struggle, who are not doingas well as they hoped, it's
because they're not putting inthe time.
And it's important that theyunderstand that, and parents can
help them understand this,because that's the expectation
(23:31):
that most of us work with whenwe design our classes.
I'm spending this hour doingthis with you, and now I want
you to do this before nextclass, and that might take you a
couple of hours rather than the20 minutes you think you're
going to spend doing that.
So credit hours is it's in it'ssort of a national thing.
(23:54):
Most colleges measure classes incredit hours.
Um, it comes from federalrequirements by the Department
of Education, and and it'simportant for financial aid.
Uh it's both on the part of thestudent and the institution.
The institution needs toguarantee that students have a
certain amount of seat time, andthen students need to think
(24:16):
about how much work they'rethey're doing in between.
SPEAKER_01 (24:19):
This is a new language.
I as I hear you talk, I think,you know, each one of these
terms is uh is truly somethingthat's that can be really brand
new if if you haven't gone tocollege yourself or if you know
it is something that you need toknow.
SPEAKER_02 (24:38):
And if you don't understand the terms, you don't
understand what's happening andwhat's expected of you.
Uh and for parents, when yourstudents come home and start
brandishing these terms andthrowing them around, and you
you you want to kind of knowwhat they're talking about.
SPEAKER_01 (24:53):
Right.
So my next term um is out of theclassroom, and it is um resident
assistants RAs.
RAs are really important folks.
And in fact, they might be thefirst folks your student meets
when they get on campus, whenthey move in.
So a resident assistant is justthat.
(25:15):
They are assistants in theresidence halls.
They um are usually sophomoresor up, so it's uh uh um old, you
know, students who are moreexperienced.
Um these are students who haveusually had a lot of good
training.
Um, and they're they're trainedto help students fit in.
(25:38):
Um they're trained aroundcommunity building in the dorms,
um, how to have a you know awelcoming environment, a safe
environment.
They're trained about you knowmental health issues, um, and
they also are the folks who knowthe rules and the policies
inside and out.
(25:58):
So it's a great person for yourstudent to go to with all their
questions.
Um they're used to they're usedto working with first-year, you
know, first experienced studentsand and answering anything.
Um so sometimes these studentsare paid, sometimes it's a job.
(26:19):
Um, and sometimes I know at ourschool it they got uh reduced um
room and board room and board.
SPEAKER_03 (26:27):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (26:27):
So um I have worked with students who uh it's
interesting, I remember astudent who who wanted to be an
RA because of that, because ofthe cost of room and board, but
then once he got involved inbeing an RA, it was an
incredible experience.
He felt like he fit in thecollege, he became um part of
(26:50):
the workings of the college.
Um and you know, they'rementors.
These are students who arementors to other students.
And I know for me, many of mystudents will listen to an RA
before they'll listen to me, youknow, or a professor in one of
their classes.
So these are important folks foryour students to to reach out to
(27:12):
to get to know.
SPEAKER_02 (27:13):
Yeah, yeah.
And they they they really are asupport because they've they've
been there.
Yep and they, you know, it'sfirst hand experience.
Uh and most most colleges reallyum really do train them.
Yep.
Train them well.
Yeah, yeah.
All right, good.
Um, so I wanted to talk a littlebit about a post-grad year,
(27:35):
postgraduate year, um, which isa year after high school before
college, but it's different fromjust a gap year.
We've talked a lot about gap gapyears, and we've had a couple of
um a couple of podcast episodesand and at least one interview
taught with uh Jay Goslin, whohas a Discovery Year as his
(27:58):
program.
It's a wonderful program.
Um, and so we'll link to that.
But though those are gap years.
A postgrad year is a veryspecialized thing for students
who who may be on a differenttimeline, students who think uh,
you know, another year might begood.
Um it's a fifth year of highschool, but not where you went
(28:19):
to high school.
You you finish high school, yougraduate, you get your diploma,
and then a post grad year isoften at a private or an
independent high school.
Uh, and there are something, I Idon't know, something like 150
schools in the country that havethem.
Um it started more in NewEngland, and so there tend to be
(28:41):
more in New England, but they'reall over the country.
Um, so it's it's uh um anindependent school who has a
special program for postgradyears, and students can take
different classes than they'vetaken because they've met all of
their high school requirements.
They've graduated.
(29:02):
Um so sometimes it's studentswho want to bolster their GPA.
They want to take some classesand have a s have a stronger
grade average so they can applyto a higher level or more
selective college.
Um, often it will be athleteswho need another year of
(29:23):
maturity physically and moreexperience, more playing time
perhaps.
And so they'll do this fifthyear.
Um, or some students who justneed an extra year of maturity.
Um but they're usually boardingprograms.
So not all, but a lot of themare boarding programs, which
(29:44):
also give the students anopportunity to perhaps to live
on their own and be a little bitmore independent, but still a
little more sheltered because itis high school to help them
prepare for that independence incollege.
Um also maybe to go to adifferent part of the country.
Perhaps they're thinking youknow, perhaps they're from the
(30:06):
Midwest or the West Coast andthey're thinking of, they're
looking at a college in NewEngland, but they're not sure.
So maybe they'll do a postgradyear at a high school in uh New
England and see whether that'spart of the country where they
want to spend more time.
Um, so it's really atransitional program, but often
(30:28):
for very motivated, strongacademic students, not students
who just um aren't ready forcollege, but maybe maybe need
something.
The programs can be um can bepretty competitive sometimes.
Uh so it's if you if you'rethinking about it, looking at it
(30:49):
early would make sense.
Um it gives students a chance totake small smaller classes,
perhaps, if they went to a bighigh school, um, to build
relationships with faculty,which is good practice for
college, um to live away fromhome, to live in a different
part of the country, to gainconfidence, and and sometimes to
(31:09):
follow up on something theyreally love but didn't have an
opportunity to do.
So sometimes students will applyto college and then defer and do
the postgrad year.
Often students do that for a gapyear.
But they might not in this case.
They might go on to a postgradyear and then they'll be in an
(31:33):
independent high school, so theywould do their college
applications along with all ofthe seniors in that school and
perhaps get more support thanthey might have gotten in a
great big high school somewhereas they apply to colleges.
So it's it's a great idea.
Um, it's not for everybody, butit's just the right thing for
(31:54):
some students.
SPEAKER_01 (31:56):
You know, there are so many ways of doing college,
and we need to let our kids knowthat it's not, it doesn't have
to follow the sort of thatexpected, you know, four years
right after high school.
You know, both of my kids didsome unusual things while they
were in college where they tooksome time off in the middle.
SPEAKER_03 (32:19):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (32:19):
Um or um, I remember for me when I went to college, I
I made up a major, so I had tostay an extra semester in order
to get everything in.
So, you know, there are many,many ways to do it, and it
depends on who your who yourkids are.
SPEAKER_02 (32:37):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (32:38):
Um so my last term is placement exams.
And it kind of fits with whatyou were talking about about
taking that extra year.
Um so when students start at aat college, many colleges will
require placement exams.
(33:00):
Not all, but I would say mostcolleges.
I did a little looking around.
Um, and usually in the subjectsof math and writing, those are
the two.
And the purpose of theseplacement exams are truly to
place the student into thecorrect class.
SPEAKER_02 (33:18):
They're not connected to admissions.
No.
They're already admitted to thecollege.
SPEAKER_01 (33:23):
It happens after they're admitted and before they
register.
So it's in that spot in between.
Um, it's incredibly importantthat your student takes these
exams alone.
I have had students who have hadsiblings help them out when they
do it at home.
Only siblings?
(33:44):
Maybe parents too.
Um but when you think about it,you're s setting up kids for a
real problem because if they'renot put into the classes that
they really fit into, then theywon't be successful.
And it's not a good way tostart.
Um a lot of colleges do offer umsort of prep classes if students
(34:06):
are not quite ready for thecollege level, um, often in
writing, that's one.
Um so um so it's wonderful thatthey offer these classes.
And if your kids need them, thenthey need them.
And um, it'll help them be moresuccessful in the whole long
run.
SPEAKER_02 (34:26):
And it's really important, I think, that
students take them seriously,that they understand that these
are important because theythey've probably taken SATs or
ACTs and all of that, and all ofthat admission stuff that they
have to do, and then they gotaccepted.
And now they're asked to do thisplacement exam, and they may
(34:49):
sort of blow it off.
And if they do, they I mean, youtalk about the problem of
somebody getting help and beingplaced in a level that's too
high, and then they struggle,but it can work the other way
too.
If they blow off the exam andthey just don't take it
seriously, they're gonna beplaced in a lower level, which
(35:09):
has a double problem.
One is they're gonna be boredstiff in a class.
And secondly, they may have totake that extra class that may
say, okay, you're not ready forcollege-level math.
You have to take a developmentallevel, and then you'll take
college-level math.
And so now you've got to taketwo instead of one.
SPEAKER_01 (35:27):
Right, never mind.
SPEAKER_02 (35:27):
Which is paying for it's absolutely appropriate if
that's the level you are, but ifyou don't need that, you don't
want to waste that.
So helping your studentunderstand that it's important
that you do these and that youtake them seriously.
Yep.
Yeah.
All right.
All right, I want one more.
Um, and it's it's going to be alittle shorter because um we
(35:51):
have an episode coming up justabout this.
But I wanted to talk a littlebit about the liberal arts.
And um, we are going to be doingan episode coming up shortly to
unpack it a little bit more.
Um, but again, it's a term wethrow around a lot.
Liberal arts college.
This is a liberal arts college,or you have to take liberal arts
(36:14):
or your your all collegerequirements in the liberal
arts.
Um, and and what do we mean?
And we're definitely not talkingabout politics.
It doesn't have to do with that.
But but again, that term liberalis thrown around so much with
politics.
You know, that this came longbefore that.
(36:35):
Um and and basically when we'retalking about when we're talking
about the liberal arts, we'retalking about generally a broad,
well-rounded education thathelps students focus on learning
how to think, um, rather thanjust training for a specific
job.
It's it's a more generalcritical thinking, understanding
(36:59):
the world and how it works.
It actually, uh this is thenerdy part, it actually comes
from the Latin, uh, which I'mnot even going to attempt to
say, but um, which means theskills for a free person.
These were, these were, youknow, for for somebody who was a
free person back in Roman times,um these were the things that
(37:26):
you you the to help you know howto think and and work on that.
So so when we talk about aliberal education uh or an
education in the liberal arts,um it's it's it's an approach to
learning that that that empowerit really empowers students and
prepares them to thinkcritically, to deal with
(37:50):
complexity, to understanddiversity, to be able to adapt
to change.
Um it gives them knowledge ofthe wider world beyond the
narrow path they may be treadingin their major.
Um and so generally when we'retalking about the liberal arts,
we're talking about humanities,which is things like literature,
(38:14):
history, philosophy, languages,those sorts of things.
Talking about social sciences,psychology, sociology,
economics, political science.
We're talking about the naturalsciences and math, biology,
chemistry, physics, statistics,algebra, all of those things.
(38:35):
Arts, things like visual arts,performing arts, music, theater,
film, everything we know asarts, and then writing and
critical thinking, which kind oftouches on all of those things.
Those are what we call liberalarts.
And at a lot of schools, we're aliberal arts college, where I
teach is a liberal arts college,and so students are asked to
(38:56):
take at least one class in eachof those areas just to try it,
just to and students discoversometimes a new thing they never
knew they would be interestedin.
It might become a major or not,but just wow, I never knew that.
So so that's kind of cool.
And the idea is to to buildthose communication, critical
thinking, problem solving,adaptability, all of those kinds
(39:20):
of uh uh skills.
So it's it's kind of a contrastto education that is strictly
professional or technical orvocational.
It's it's this broader thing.
SPEAKER_01 (39:37):
And you know, I just want to add that um every
college is different.
Yeah, so it is so important tofind out um what the
requirements are for whereveryour kids go to school.
Um some schools have a have areally complicated system of
what kind of classes they needto take in addition to their
(39:58):
major.
Some schools are a little bitsimpler, so you need to find
out.
SPEAKER_02 (40:03):
And and understanding a little bit about
why you're asked to do.
I mean, I I think so oftenstudents see general education
requirements or liberal artsrequirements, or you know, it's
called different things in a lotof different places.
And even large universitiesmight have a liberal arts school
or a liberal arts component toit.
(40:23):
Um, they see it as a checklist,right?
I have to do this and this andthis and this.
But if they understand why andwhat it's adding for them, I
think it's helpful.
So there's a little more wecould talk about, but I think
we'll unpack that a little morein its very own episode coming
up.
So that's eight more to add toour list.
(40:45):
Um there's a lot, a lot to know.
And the more you understand, Iknow when I'm teaching, um And
students are reading a chapter,I often say to them, um, start
with the vocabulary.
Make sure you underna understandthe terms, and then build the
ideas from there.
(41:06):
And so I think it's it's alittle bit the same.
You know, learn the language,learn the terms, and you'll be
surprised at how much youunderstand about how college
works.
SPEAKER_01 (41:16):
And I think that if you don't know the terms, it can
lead to some misunderstandings.
When I think about thedifference between high school
and college, you know, um youyou need to know the lingo.
Yeah.
It helps smooth the way.
SPEAKER_02 (41:30):
So this is our fifth can you talk the talk episode.
That's pretty amazing.
Uh in the show notes, we willlist one, two, three, and four
so you can find those and acouple of other ideas.
We also have a glossary on theum on the website uh under
resources.
There's a glossary, and I thinkwe're coming up on 50 terms in
(41:53):
that.
So um, you know, big ones andlittle ones, uh, that could be
helpful too.
Wow.
Yeah, lots to talk about.
So thanks for sticking throughto the end and joining us for
our 150th episode.
And uh we hope this is helpful.
And uh please, if you you know,if it is helpful, uh share it
(42:17):
with a friend.
Uh somebody else may need someof the same information.
And don't hesitate to go backand listen to any of the other
149 episodes that you may havemissed.
SPEAKER_01 (42:29):
And let us know if we've missed something.
SPEAKER_02 (42:32):
Yes, it's make it a dialogue.
If there's something that wehaven't talked about, um send us
an email and let us know.
I wish I wish we could uh wecould hear more about this.
There are a couple of episodescoming up that are um really
answers to requests we've gottenfrom people.
So we would love to be to getsome guidance.
(42:54):
So thanks for joining us, andwe'll see you next time.
SPEAKER_01 (42:57):
Bye bye.
Welcome to the College Parent Central Podcast.
Whether your child is justbeginning the college admission
process or is already incollege, this podcast is for
you.
You'll find food for thought andinformation about college and
about navigating that delicatebalance of guidance,
involvement, and knowing when toget out of the way.
(01:24):
Join your hosts, Vicki Nelsonand Lynn Abrahams, as they share
support and a celebration of theamazing experience of having a
child in college.
SPEAKER_02 (01:39):
Welcome to the College Parent Central podcast.
This is the place where we talkabout just about anything that
we can think of that has to dowith being a student in college,
being the parent of a student incollege, being the parent of a
student in high school who'sthinking about heading to
(02:00):
college, and being the parent ofsomeone maybe who is about to
finish college and moving on tothe next step, because all of it
is sometimes a really mysteriousand exciting and interesting
time in the life of a parent.
(02:21):
So anything that we can do tohelp you figure out what it's
all about, we're happy to dothat.
My name is Vicky Nelson, and Iam here with my friend and my
co-host, uh Lynn Abrahams.
I am a professor ofcommunication at a small liberal
(02:42):
arts college, and I work withcollege students every single
day, both in the classroom andas an academic advisor.
And perhaps more importantly, Iam the mother of three daughters
who have all gone to college, soI have lived the whole
experience.
And I'm gonna let Lynn tell youwho she is.
SPEAKER_01 (03:03):
Hi, everybody.
Um, I am a learning disabilityspecialist.
I have been working with collegestudents for my whole career,
and I don't even want to say howmany years that that has been.
It's been a while.
Um I work with students um intheir families.
So um I also am the mom of twosons who have been in and out
(03:28):
and through and around college.
So I come at this from twoangles, um, both a professional
and a parent.
SPEAKER_02 (03:38):
And we have some things we want to talk about
today.
Um, but before we start doingthat, um we want to just pat
ourselves on the back a littlebit.
Um we actually just realized asas we sat down to work that this
is our 150th College ParentCentral podcast.
(04:00):
Wow.
So, yeah, wow.
SPEAKER_01 (04:03):
I still remember that day seven years ago when
you said, Lynn, would you liketo think about doing a podcast
with me?
And I wasn't sure about it.
SPEAKER_02 (04:13):
I know, I I had to do a little bit of arm twisting
there, and it came out of aphone conversation because I was
on a walk and we were on thephone while I was walking, and I
something came up and I askedyou a question about some
student you were working with,or the parents of some student
you were working with, and umand we talked about it for half
(04:36):
of my walk, and it was reallyinteresting.
And I thought at the time, Iwish I could record this
conversation.
Aha, there went the light bulb.
And so we started, and we havetalked about so many different
things uh in the last 149episodes.
Uh, and since we started, we'vebrought in Sarah Shane, who is a
(04:59):
director of academic advising,and Elizabeth Hamblett, who is
an expert and an author in thefield of learning disabilities,
uh, to be co-hosts with us.
We can we kind of rotateourselves around so that we have
all these differentperspectives.
But we're in our seventh season.
This is our 150th episode.
(05:21):
Um, and so happy birthday to us.
We didn't plan a special episodebecause it just sort of snuck up
on us.
But um, you know, I I'll list inthe show notes.
We we actually did do somethingkind of special for our 50th.
Gee, we thought that was a bignumber at that point, uh, where
we gave 50 quick tips and andhints for parents and students.
(05:44):
That was kind of fun.
I remember Lynn, you didn'tthink we could come up with 50.
And we certainly did.
We more than did.
Um, and then for our hundredth,we did some reflecting on you
know what what are some trends,what are things we've talked
about, what are our favoriteepisodes, what are the most
important episodes.
Um, so they're kind ofinteresting retrospectives.
(06:05):
Um, but this time we're justgonna move ahead and not look
backwards.
And we want to talk aboutlanguage, we want to talk about
some of the lingo and the terms.
This is our fifth lingo episode.
Can you talk the talk?
Um, because we know howimportant it is.
(06:25):
Your student comes home fromcollege and starts throwing
these terms around.
Or as you're looking for acollege and you're on those
college visits, some of theseterms get thrown around.
So it helps when you understandwhat people are talking about.
So we have a few we want to talkabout.
Lynn, get a little bit more.
I want to start.
SPEAKER_01 (06:46):
So the first term, and and I have and I want to say
that our terms are notconnected.
They're just we're just gonnathrow them out to you.
We've got eight different termsthat we're going to talk about.
Um, but these are terms that wethink are important to know, to
understand as you walk into thecollege world.
Um they might be a littledifferent for each college.
(07:09):
So if you have many kids, theymight have a little bit of a
different take on some of theseterms.
But the first one I'm going totalk about is in my field, which
is the name of the Office forDisabilities.
That name has been changing.
So in many schools, it's notcalled that anymore.
(07:29):
It's called the Office ofAccessibility Services.
Um they really um it it has beena shift for a few reasons.
One is um that people want to umsort of lean away from the
medical model of looking atdisabilities because the word
(07:51):
disability makes you feel likesomething's broken and it needs
to be fixed and and that doesn'tfeel good for a lot of folks.
Um and it also leans moretowards um the laws that support
students in high school and incollege.
(08:12):
In in high school, the law umthe law supports students in
having a successful experience.
In college, the law that studentthat covers students um is a law
of accessibility.
It's the law that says thateverybody gets access to the
(08:33):
academic material or thephysical environment.
So there's a shift in sort ofum, you know, it it's a shift in
in what is happening betweenhigh school and college.
Um the other thing is that Iwant to mention that calling it
accessibility um often alsoopens the door to um looking at
(08:58):
the entire campus.
This isn't just about learningdisabilities, this is about
accessibility, meaning you it'sfor people who kids who break
their legs.
It's for kids who, you know,have a medical or a psychiatric
issue.
You know, they it it covers somany more students than thinking
(09:19):
of, you know, just uh, you know,learning disabilities.
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (09:23):
You know, I'm gonna interrupt you because as you're
mentioning that and you'retalking about that, I'm thinking
about a couple of students we'vehad at school um who were blind
and um you know needed to havepermission to have a guide dog
with them or um just neededdifferent different things
because of um and and thenthere's that that sort of hidden
(09:48):
disability of of hearing.
Because if it and and we talkedabout this in one of my classes,
you know, if you if a student isblind, you people are sort of
aware of that more often.
But uh hearing is a hiddendisability, and what can
campuses do to make to make iteasier for for them.
SPEAKER_01 (10:12):
And that also explains um the term difference
instead of disability, too.
That what you're talking aboutare any student who has some
kind of learning difference ordiff difference that makes um
you know negotiating theenvironment a little bit
difficult.
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (10:30):
So Or who needs special special permission for
things in class.
Um uh we were talking earlier, Ihave a student in class who is
allowed to eat and have herphone with her in class because
I have a phone policy, strictphone policy, which may be good
or bad.
But anyway, um, and so she'sallowed because she needs to um
(10:54):
watch sugar levels and and allof that.
So um, you know, or or therehave been some other students
who have physical things that uhneed different accommodations.
So I get an accommodation lettersaying you've got to allow this
student to do that.
SPEAKER_01 (11:12):
So it's good to have your kids find that office,
whatever it's called, and justknow that it's there.
SPEAKER_02 (11:18):
And and if if it if there's a possibility that your
student might need anaccommodation, having them find
that office early and registerwith that office and receive the
accommodation doesn't mean theyhave to use it, but then they
have it if they do need it andthey aren't starting that
(11:40):
process too late.
Right.
unknown (11:43):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (11:44):
So that's my first term.
Okay, it's an important one.
They're all important.
Um, all right, so I want to goahead then with something called
ad drop.
Um, you know, we we throw itaround like it's one word, it's
ad slash drop, uh, which is atthe beginning of the semester.
Um and it's sometimes it'ssometimes called different
(12:05):
things in different places.
Uh a lot of schools call it addrop.
Um, some call it a courseshopping period or an enrollment
change period.
So uh it it might have adifferent name, but basically
it's it's usually the first weekor two, occasionally three, but
(12:26):
more often one or two, at thebeginning of the semester when
students can make changes totheir schedule fairly easily
without there being anythingthat goes on their transcript or
any record or anything.
They, you know, they attend aclass, and maybe after the first
class they say, Oh, I've I Ididn't realize that was that's
(12:47):
what this was about.
I'm I'm going to drop this classand add a different class.
So they can make these thesechanges.
Uh some schools, uh, and this iswhat we do, the first week is
fairly straightforward.
Easy students can just go onlineand make a change.
Um, and so as an instructor, Ihave to keep looking at my class
(13:10):
list because I get new ones andsome leave.
Um, and then the second weekit's a little more complicated.
They have to get permission ofan advisor and permission of the
instructor.
Um, because it's a little harderfor students to add a class in
the second or third week.
No problem dropping a class, butif they're going to stay at the
(13:32):
same number of credits, if theydrop a class, they need to often
need to add a class.
And students need to keep inmind that if they add a class in
the second or third week, um,they've missed a week or two of
class.
And and usually are still heldresponsible for whatever they've
missed.
So um so they think, you know,they have to think about it.
(13:55):
Um, it's important that studentsunderstand what the policy of
the school is.
How long do you have after afterad drop is over, students can
usually still withdraw from aclass, but that's a different
thing.
And I think we've talked aboutthat on one of other Lingo
episodes.
Um, but there usually a W goeson your transcript to show that
(14:20):
you have withdrawn.
Uh, if students don't watch thedeadlines or understand what the
policy is or know how theprocess works, then you know
they they lose out.
Um and they also during that addrop period need to watch for
open seats of classes.
Because often what happens isgee, I really want to take this
(14:44):
communication class, but it'sfull.
But if they keep watching thelist, somebody else who's in
that class may drop it and aseat may open up that wasn't
open before.
So it's it's very fluid.
Uh, it allows students to remedya schedule problem if they have
it, to make sure they're in theright classes, change their mind
(15:06):
about a course or a series ofcourses, and just correct
anything if they're in a classwhere they don't belong.
SPEAKER_01 (15:14):
And you know, I just want to add that different
colleges are so different, alsoabout this.
It's so important to find outthe way the college works.
One of my sons went to a um acollege that was very, very
small, and the way they droppedan ad was they had to go to the
professor, you know, and theyhad to plead their case.
(15:35):
And that can be sometimes reallychallenging, yeah, you know, for
a first-year student.
Um, but it's it's reallyimportant to find out how the
college works.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (15:44):
And some schools real they call it course
shopping, and they extend to besitting in on all kinds of
things and deciding what theylike best.
And you know, it's just uh I Ialmost want to say chaos for the
professors.
It is, because you don't know,and then and then you, you know,
(16:04):
gee, do how much do I want tocover because students are
coming and going.
Um whereas other schools reallyencourage students to do some
real serious thinking when theycreate their schedule and then
um you know go from there.
Right.
So ad drop.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (16:20):
My next one is the sophomore slump.
Oh, the slump.
Um so some some students don'tgo through a sophomore slump, I
just want to say.
Some students sail rightthrough.
Um, but for others, um thesophomore year can be a bit of a
I don't know, like a lull.
(16:41):
Um and you know, when you lookat it, uh first year students
get a lot of attention becausethey're just transferring into a
new school.
Um and in fact, many collegesare give lots of attention to
first-year students, but thenthat kind of you know decreases
by the second year.
Um The other thing is that youknow um some of this excitement
(17:05):
is gone, you know, that special,special feeling.
Um students are in moredifficult classes in their
sophomore year.
SPEAKER_02 (17:15):
Those freshman classes often are transitional
and intro, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (17:21):
Right.
So um they there might be somemore challenges academically.
Students often feel pressured tostart, you know, declaring a
major.
And that can be challenging aswell.
SPEAKER_02 (17:34):
Um or they have declared a major and they want
to change it.
And now they find out that's notwhat they want to do.
SPEAKER_01 (17:40):
Right.
Um and another thing I thinkabout is that students are um
they're less connected to homesometimes.
You know, they're not not asconnected to their friends at
home because they're now intheir second year of college.
You know, they're they're sortof moving on.
So it can be a little stressfulin that way.
(18:02):
And I think for parents, youknow, our job as parents is
really to be patient and tolisten to our kids.
Um they might have to talk a lotand about what's going on for
them, and we might need to askquestions.
I know I have found in many ofthe students that I've worked
with, sophomore year seems to bethe time that they start
(18:26):
thinking about transferring.
SPEAKER_02 (18:28):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (18:28):
And and what I've realized over the years is that
that process is sometimes reallyimportant.
It's important for students tosay, to think about, to identify
what is it that's going on thatthey want to transfer, um, what
is it they'll they think they'llfind somewhere else.
Sometimes after going throughthe process of investigation,
(18:51):
excuse me, they come back tofeeling like this is my college,
and they kind of recommit towhere they are.
Um, but this is a very common umthing to happen during the
sophomore year.
And so as parents, we we need tojust be aware that that's part
of the process.
It's part of settling in to anew home.
SPEAKER_02 (19:11):
And I think talking to your student about the fact
that this might happen andanticipating it a little bit so
that I I think a lot of thefeelings that you've just talked
about that students can feel inthat sophomore year, they think
they're the only ones feelingthat.
And so if if you can get out alittle bit ahead of it and say,
(19:34):
you know, sophomore year, maybe,and you might be thinking and
you might be feeling, and that'sthat's common.
And okay, I understand this.
This is this is part of theprocess.
Right.
Right.
Um so you know, we had anearlier episode, it occurs to
me, um, where we talked aboutthe middle years of college, uh
(19:57):
which are sophomore and junioryear, because so much emphasis
is on that freshman year, as youjust said, and also senior year,
because they're busy steppingout.
And then the middle years of thework, so the the years you know,
when when a lot of the work getsdone.
So I think that was episode 49.
We'll list that in the shownotes.
(20:18):
And it might be good to go backand I think we talked even more
about sophomores and juniors andand all of that.
All right, I'm gonna move ahead.
Um, the next one I wanted totalk about is a credit hour.
Um, it again, it's this one ofthose terms that we throw around
all the time.
You know, we we talk about howmany credits do you have, or you
(20:38):
you need to be registered for 12credit hours or something like
that.
Um, so it's how how classes aremeasured in college.
Um, and a credit hour is theequivalent of A one hour of
class time per week.
Literally.
One hour.
Literally.
Well not actually exactlyliterally.
(21:01):
Okay.
Almost literally.
Because for the purposes of acredit hour, 50 minutes can
count as a credit hour.
Okay.
Which allows for time formovement between classes.
I mean, sometimes kids havethree hours between classes, but
but a 50-minute block counts asa credit hour according to
(21:22):
federal guidelines.
And that's important.
And it's important becausestudents need a certain number
of credit hours per semester tobe eligible for financial
federal financial aid.
And usually that's 12.
So you have to be in 12 credithours.
(21:46):
And most, most, most depends oncolleges, but most classes are
three credit hours, which meansthey meet for three hours a
week.
Maybe it's Monday, Wednesday,Friday for 50 minutes or an
hour, or Tuesday and Thursdayfor an hour and 15 minutes, adds
(22:06):
up to the same amount of timespent in the class.
And the other thing that I thinkit's important that parents and
especially students, I just justtalked about this in my class
yesterday, understand is thatalso federal guidelines is for
every credit hour, so that's forevery hour you spend in class,
(22:29):
the expectation is that youspend two hours doing work
outside of class.
And when I say that, the colordrains from the face.
Because they start to do themath and they say, okay, this is
a three credit class.
I'm in class for three hours.
(22:50):
I'm supposed to spend six hours,that's nine hours a week, but
I'm I'm in 15 credits, and soI'm that's 45 hours a week.
You know, give or take.
But um that's when I say, yes,and that's why you're a
full-time student.
It is considered a full-timejob.
(23:10):
And I find that most students,including most of the students
who struggle, who are not doingas well as they hoped, it's
because they're not putting inthe time.
And it's important that theyunderstand that, and parents can
help them understand this,because that's the expectation
(23:31):
that most of us work with whenwe design our classes.
I'm spending this hour doingthis with you, and now I want
you to do this before nextclass, and that might take you a
couple of hours rather than the20 minutes you think you're
going to spend doing that.
So credit hours is it's in it'ssort of a national thing.
(23:54):
Most colleges measure classes incredit hours.
Um, it comes from federalrequirements by the Department
of Education, and and it'simportant for financial aid.
Uh it's both on the part of thestudent and the institution.
The institution needs toguarantee that students have a
certain amount of seat time, andthen students need to think
(24:16):
about how much work they'rethey're doing in between.
SPEAKER_01 (24:19):
This is a new language.
I as I hear you talk, I think,you know, each one of these
terms is uh is truly somethingthat's that can be really brand
new if if you haven't gone tocollege yourself or if you know
it is something that you need toknow.
SPEAKER_02 (24:38):
And if you don't understand the terms, you don't
understand what's happening andwhat's expected of you.
Uh and for parents, when yourstudents come home and start
brandishing these terms andthrowing them around, and you
you you want to kind of knowwhat they're talking about.
SPEAKER_01 (24:53):
Right.
So my next term um is out of theclassroom, and it is um resident
assistants RAs.
RAs are really important folks.
And in fact, they might be thefirst folks your student meets
when they get on campus, whenthey move in.
So a resident assistant is justthat.
(25:15):
They are assistants in theresidence halls.
They um are usually sophomoresor up, so it's uh uh um old, you
know, students who are moreexperienced.
Um these are students who haveusually had a lot of good
training.
Um, and they're they're trainedto help students fit in.
(25:38):
Um they're trained aroundcommunity building in the dorms,
um, how to have a you know awelcoming environment, a safe
environment.
They're trained about you knowmental health issues, um, and
they also are the folks who knowthe rules and the policies
inside and out.
(25:58):
So it's a great person for yourstudent to go to with all their
questions.
Um they're used to they're usedto working with first-year, you
know, first experienced studentsand and answering anything.
Um so sometimes these studentsare paid, sometimes it's a job.
(26:19):
Um, and sometimes I know at ourschool it they got uh reduced um
room and board room and board.
SPEAKER_03 (26:27):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (26:27):
So um I have worked with students who uh it's
interesting, I remember astudent who who wanted to be an
RA because of that, because ofthe cost of room and board, but
then once he got involved inbeing an RA, it was an
incredible experience.
He felt like he fit in thecollege, he became um part of
(26:50):
the workings of the college.
Um and you know, they'rementors.
These are students who arementors to other students.
And I know for me, many of mystudents will listen to an RA
before they'll listen to me, youknow, or a professor in one of
their classes.
So these are important folks foryour students to to reach out to
(27:12):
to get to know.
SPEAKER_02 (27:13):
Yeah, yeah.
And they they they really are asupport because they've they've
been there.
Yep and they, you know, it'sfirst hand experience.
Uh and most most colleges reallyum really do train them.
Yep.
Train them well.
Yeah, yeah.
All right, good.
Um, so I wanted to talk a littlebit about a post-grad year,
(27:35):
postgraduate year, um, which isa year after high school before
college, but it's different fromjust a gap year.
We've talked a lot about gap gapyears, and we've had a couple of
um a couple of podcast episodesand and at least one interview
taught with uh Jay Goslin, whohas a Discovery Year as his
(27:58):
program.
It's a wonderful program.
Um, and so we'll link to that.
But though those are gap years.
A postgrad year is a veryspecialized thing for students
who who may be on a differenttimeline, students who think uh,
you know, another year might begood.
Um it's a fifth year of highschool, but not where you went
(28:19):
to high school.
You you finish high school, yougraduate, you get your diploma,
and then a post grad year isoften at a private or an
independent high school.
Uh, and there are something, I Idon't know, something like 150
schools in the country that havethem.
Um it started more in NewEngland, and so there tend to be
(28:41):
more in New England, but they'reall over the country.
Um, so it's it's uh um anindependent school who has a
special program for postgradyears, and students can take
different classes than they'vetaken because they've met all of
their high school requirements.
They've graduated.
(29:02):
Um so sometimes it's studentswho want to bolster their GPA.
They want to take some classesand have a s have a stronger
grade average so they can applyto a higher level or more
selective college.
Um, often it will be athleteswho need another year of
(29:23):
maturity physically and moreexperience, more playing time
perhaps.
And so they'll do this fifthyear.
Um, or some students who justneed an extra year of maturity.
Um but they're usually boardingprograms.
So not all, but a lot of themare boarding programs, which
(29:44):
also give the students anopportunity to perhaps to live
on their own and be a little bitmore independent, but still a
little more sheltered because itis high school to help them
prepare for that independence incollege.
Um also maybe to go to adifferent part of the country.
Perhaps they're thinking youknow, perhaps they're from the
(30:06):
Midwest or the West Coast andthey're thinking of, they're
looking at a college in NewEngland, but they're not sure.
So maybe they'll do a postgradyear at a high school in uh New
England and see whether that'spart of the country where they
want to spend more time.
Um, so it's really atransitional program, but often
(30:28):
for very motivated, strongacademic students, not students
who just um aren't ready forcollege, but maybe maybe need
something.
The programs can be um can bepretty competitive sometimes.
Uh so it's if you if you'rethinking about it, looking at it
(30:49):
early would make sense.
Um it gives students a chance totake small smaller classes,
perhaps, if they went to a bighigh school, um, to build
relationships with faculty,which is good practice for
college, um to live away fromhome, to live in a different
part of the country, to gainconfidence, and and sometimes to
(31:09):
follow up on something theyreally love but didn't have an
opportunity to do.
So sometimes students will applyto college and then defer and do
the postgrad year.
Often students do that for a gapyear.
But they might not in this case.
They might go on to a postgradyear and then they'll be in an
(31:33):
independent high school, so theywould do their college
applications along with all ofthe seniors in that school and
perhaps get more support thanthey might have gotten in a
great big high school somewhereas they apply to colleges.
So it's it's a great idea.
Um, it's not for everybody, butit's just the right thing for
(31:54):
some students.
SPEAKER_01 (31:56):
You know, there are so many ways of doing college,
and we need to let our kids knowthat it's not, it doesn't have
to follow the sort of thatexpected, you know, four years
right after high school.
You know, both of my kids didsome unusual things while they
were in college where they tooksome time off in the middle.
SPEAKER_03 (32:19):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (32:19):
Um or um, I remember for me when I went to college, I
I made up a major, so I had tostay an extra semester in order
to get everything in.
So, you know, there are many,many ways to do it, and it
depends on who your who yourkids are.
SPEAKER_02 (32:37):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (32:38):
Um so my last term is placement exams.
And it kind of fits with whatyou were talking about about
taking that extra year.
Um so when students start at aat college, many colleges will
require placement exams.
(33:00):
Not all, but I would say mostcolleges.
I did a little looking around.
Um, and usually in the subjectsof math and writing, those are
the two.
And the purpose of theseplacement exams are truly to
place the student into thecorrect class.
SPEAKER_02 (33:18):
They're not connected to admissions.
No.
They're already admitted to thecollege.
SPEAKER_01 (33:23):
It happens after they're admitted and before they
register.
So it's in that spot in between.
Um, it's incredibly importantthat your student takes these
exams alone.
I have had students who have hadsiblings help them out when they
do it at home.
Only siblings?
(33:44):
Maybe parents too.
Um but when you think about it,you're s setting up kids for a
real problem because if they'renot put into the classes that
they really fit into, then theywon't be successful.
And it's not a good way tostart.
Um a lot of colleges do offer umsort of prep classes if students
(34:06):
are not quite ready for thecollege level, um, often in
writing, that's one.
Um so um so it's wonderful thatthey offer these classes.
And if your kids need them, thenthey need them.
And um, it'll help them be moresuccessful in the whole long
run.
SPEAKER_02 (34:26):
And it's really important, I think, that
students take them seriously,that they understand that these
are important because theythey've probably taken SATs or
ACTs and all of that, and all ofthat admission stuff that they
have to do, and then they gotaccepted.
And now they're asked to do thisplacement exam, and they may
(34:49):
sort of blow it off.
And if they do, they I mean, youtalk about the problem of
somebody getting help and beingplaced in a level that's too
high, and then they struggle,but it can work the other way
too.
If they blow off the exam andthey just don't take it
seriously, they're gonna beplaced in a lower level, which
(35:09):
has a double problem.
One is they're gonna be boredstiff in a class.
And secondly, they may have totake that extra class that may
say, okay, you're not ready forcollege-level math.
You have to take a developmentallevel, and then you'll take
college-level math.
And so now you've got to taketwo instead of one.
SPEAKER_01 (35:27):
Right, never mind.
SPEAKER_02 (35:27):
Which is paying for it's absolutely appropriate if
that's the level you are, but ifyou don't need that, you don't
want to waste that.
So helping your studentunderstand that it's important
that you do these and that youtake them seriously.
Yep.
Yeah.
All right.
All right, I want one more.
Um, and it's it's going to be alittle shorter because um we
(35:51):
have an episode coming up justabout this.
But I wanted to talk a littlebit about the liberal arts.
And um, we are going to be doingan episode coming up shortly to
unpack it a little bit more.
Um, but again, it's a term wethrow around a lot.
Liberal arts college.
This is a liberal arts college,or you have to take liberal arts
(36:14):
or your your all collegerequirements in the liberal
arts.
Um, and and what do we mean?
And we're definitely not talkingabout politics.
It doesn't have to do with that.
But but again, that term liberalis thrown around so much with
politics.
You know, that this came longbefore that.
(36:35):
Um and and basically when we'retalking about when we're talking
about the liberal arts, we'retalking about generally a broad,
well-rounded education thathelps students focus on learning
how to think, um, rather thanjust training for a specific
job.
It's it's a more generalcritical thinking, understanding
(36:59):
the world and how it works.
It actually, uh this is thenerdy part, it actually comes
from the Latin, uh, which I'mnot even going to attempt to
say, but um, which means theskills for a free person.
These were, these were, youknow, for for somebody who was a
free person back in Roman times,um these were the things that
(37:26):
you you the to help you know howto think and and work on that.
So so when we talk about aliberal education uh or an
education in the liberal arts,um it's it's it's an approach to
learning that that that empowerit really empowers students and
prepares them to thinkcritically, to deal with
(37:50):
complexity, to understanddiversity, to be able to adapt
to change.
Um it gives them knowledge ofthe wider world beyond the
narrow path they may be treadingin their major.
Um and so generally when we'retalking about the liberal arts,
we're talking about humanities,which is things like literature,
(38:14):
history, philosophy, languages,those sorts of things.
Talking about social sciences,psychology, sociology,
economics, political science.
We're talking about the naturalsciences and math, biology,
chemistry, physics, statistics,algebra, all of those things.
(38:35):
Arts, things like visual arts,performing arts, music, theater,
film, everything we know asarts, and then writing and
critical thinking, which kind oftouches on all of those things.
Those are what we call liberalarts.
And at a lot of schools, we're aliberal arts college, where I
teach is a liberal arts college,and so students are asked to
(38:56):
take at least one class in eachof those areas just to try it,
just to and students discoversometimes a new thing they never
knew they would be interestedin.
It might become a major or not,but just wow, I never knew that.
So so that's kind of cool.
And the idea is to to buildthose communication, critical
thinking, problem solving,adaptability, all of those kinds
(39:20):
of uh uh skills.
So it's it's kind of a contrastto education that is strictly
professional or technical orvocational.
It's it's this broader thing.
SPEAKER_01 (39:37):
And you know, I just want to add that um every
college is different.
Yeah, so it is so important tofind out um what the
requirements are for whereveryour kids go to school.
Um some schools have a have areally complicated system of
what kind of classes they needto take in addition to their
(39:58):
major.
Some schools are a little bitsimpler, so you need to find
out.
SPEAKER_02 (40:03):
And and understanding a little bit about
why you're asked to do.
I mean, I I think so oftenstudents see general education
requirements or liberal artsrequirements, or you know, it's
called different things in a lotof different places.
And even large universitiesmight have a liberal arts school
or a liberal arts component toit.
(40:23):
Um, they see it as a checklist,right?
I have to do this and this andthis and this.
But if they understand why andwhat it's adding for them, I
think it's helpful.
So there's a little more wecould talk about, but I think
we'll unpack that a little morein its very own episode coming
up.
So that's eight more to add toour list.
(40:45):
Um there's a lot, a lot to know.
And the more you understand, Iknow when I'm teaching, um And
students are reading a chapter,I often say to them, um, start
with the vocabulary.
Make sure you underna understandthe terms, and then build the
ideas from there.
(41:06):
And so I think it's it's alittle bit the same.
You know, learn the language,learn the terms, and you'll be
surprised at how much youunderstand about how college
works.
SPEAKER_01 (41:16):
And I think that if you don't know the terms, it can
lead to some misunderstandings.
When I think about thedifference between high school
and college, you know, um youyou need to know the lingo.
Yeah.
It helps smooth the way.
SPEAKER_02 (41:30):
So this is our fifth can you talk the talk episode.
That's pretty amazing.
Uh in the show notes, we willlist one, two, three, and four
so you can find those and acouple of other ideas.
We also have a glossary on theum on the website uh under
resources.
There's a glossary, and I thinkwe're coming up on 50 terms in
(41:53):
that.
So um, you know, big ones andlittle ones, uh, that could be
helpful too.
Wow.
Yeah, lots to talk about.
So thanks for sticking throughto the end and joining us for
our 150th episode.
And uh we hope this is helpful.
And uh please, if you you know,if it is helpful, uh share it
(42:17):
with a friend.
Uh somebody else may need someof the same information.
And don't hesitate to go backand listen to any of the other
149 episodes that you may havemissed.
SPEAKER_01 (42:29):
And let us know if we've missed something.
SPEAKER_02 (42:32):
Yes, it's make it a dialogue.
If there's something that wehaven't talked about, um send us
an email and let us know.
I wish I wish we could uh wecould hear more about this.
There are a couple of episodescoming up that are um really
answers to requests we've gottenfrom people.
So we would love to be to getsome guidance.
(42:54):
So thanks for joining us, andwe'll see you next time.
SPEAKER_01 (42:57):
Bye bye.
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