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Student diversity and education
College essays on college diversity
College essays on college diversity
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The college population is different now than it was a decade ago. The demographics are changing in universities around the U.S with more diversity in the students that enroll. (Choy, 2002) Today’s college students are divided into two groups, the traditional and the nontraditional undergraduate students. In the years between 1999-2000, there were 27% of traditional undergraduate students and 73% of nontraditional undergraduate students. There has been an increase of adult (25-35 years old) nontraditional students returning to college and less of the traditional young (18-23 years old) students. Traditional undergraduates are those students who attend college as soon as they finish high school. (Choy, 2002) Traditional undergraduate students …show more content…
Nontraditional undergraduate students have full-time jobs and may be enrolled part-time in a college or in a two-year institution. (Choy, 2002) These students are financially independent. Nontraditional undergraduate students do not have the same luxuries as traditional students. They cannot dedicate a great amount of time nor can they give full concentration to their studies. (Choy, 2002) Many of these students are single parents, are married, have families, and work responsibilities that take up most of their time. They are family heads, parents, husbands/wives, employees, etc. before they are students. Many of these students work hard and obtain a degree at a slow pace. However, many nontraditional undergraduate students will stop their studies and not continue because of the many other obligations they have outside the classroom. (Choy, …show more content…
(Miller, 2013) Students expect to receive good grades for minimal effort. These students often believe that they may be rewarded unfairly and may be dissatisfied with the outcome of their classes final grade. (Miller, 2013) These students do not focus on the quality of the work performed. Students associate the outcome of their grades to the effort that they have inputted to determine if they have been rewarded fairly. (Miller, 2013) This generation is often called the “ME” generation. (Choy, 2002) A generation of youth that believes that they should be rewarded highly regardless of the effort or amount of work they have contributed. (Choy, 2002) These students often feel cheated or treated unfairly by their teachers. (Miller, 2013) Students tend to have an egocentric nature which is characterized by a general indifference towards authority and traditional faculty relationship boundaries. (Choy, 2002) These students exhibit a combination of entitled attitudes and outlooks. They tend to have an entitled orientation towards their work and others (teachers and classmates). (Choy,
The article starts with information on the purpose of the study given to nontraditional college students who have outside stressors that conflict with college. Giancola and her colleagues talk about the importance of the study, and that colleges need to understand that stress affects nontraditional college students different from traditional-age college students. In this study, Giancola and her colleagues discuss three components of stress to understand how stress affects the nontraditional student. These three components include personal, work, and school. The article also talks about the comparisons between traditional and nontraditional students. Giancola and her colleagues also talk about coping skills that nontraditional students practice dealing with and how each student has his or her own way of coping with stress. The article ends explaining that ...
Most students, like Alyssa, study and try their ultimate best to get the highest grade. However, once in awhile, students’ efforts fall short of their goal, and punishment leads to health problems and deteriorating relationships. Punishing their efforts send a negative signal, saying, “Your efforts are getting you nowhere.” Consequently, students feel as if their absolute best is worthless and believe in the pressure from their parents. Responses to this notion vary,
Coming to college as an adult, we have many expectations and preconceptions of what college will or will not be. The expectations we have can influence our college life for the better or the worse. My experience since starting college has been an interesting one. People have misconceptions about college because they do not know what to expect. After doing some research, I have concluded that there are three major factors that are often misunderstood about college life. The first is the financial aspect of college. Second, is the relationship between the professors and students. Third is time management. These three factors play an important role in why people are afraid to go down the path to college.
Students entering college for the first time become concerned with their college life. The students are on their own once they enter college. There are no parents or guardians telling them when to do homework, when to go to bed, or how to eat healthy. These students are now responsible for how they are going to succeed in school and meet their own needs. From the beginning, these students wonder what their experience is going to be like and are they going to handle the demands of college?
Definitions of a first-generation student are so diverse that each definition encompasses a different population of students. Longitudinal research conducted on 7,300 students in 2002 by University of Georgia’s Institute of Higher Education found that, “The number of students defined as ‘first generation’ could vary from as small as 22 percent to as large as 77 percent,” (Smith). Defining what a first-generation student looks like constricts the discourse
Adult students' participation and persistence in educational activities ranging from adult literacy to doctoral programs is a complex phenomenon involving an array of factors. Adults are often affected by situational factors beyond their control—job, health problems, financial problems, legal problems, personal or family problems (Belzer 1998). Likewise, dispositional factors such as expectations, self-esteem, level of family support, and past educational experience, can be barriers to participation (Hubble 2000). Institutional factors such as red tape, program fees, scheduling, and procedures can either help or hinder participation (Quigley 1998). In fact, adult students who drop out are often actually "stopping out"—that is, interrupting their studies but planning to return (Frank and Gaye 1997)—or attending other institutions (Hoffman and Elias 1999).
Critics contend that the influx of nontraditionals into the college student market has accelerated a trend toward the “massification” of collegiate education – that is, that it has led to a watered down pedagogy that is far below the goals and expectation of the elite colleges. Nonetheless, the improvements in education oriented toward accommodation of the nontraditional student have had the practical effect of making college more affordable and accessible to all classes of people.
"US College Student Demographics in 2012." MarketingCharts. N.p., 12 Sept. 2013. Web. 21 Jan. 2014. .
Across universities throughout the United States, the presence of first-generation college students is on the rise (Stephens 1). Students whose parents do not have a degree of higher education, are being given the opportunity to shape their future for the better as they embark on a journey to receiving a four year degree unlike their parents who were not given such an opportunity. With the number of first-generation college students on the rise from the past, I became interested in seeing how the views, relationships, and ideas of these students was unique, and how they differed from the average student attending a university; an average student coming from at least a middle class background who has at least one parent with a degree of higher education.
The boomer students are yet another example of a “non-traditional” student. Jan Abushakrah, a sociology professor in Oregon, says that a student out of high school taking four years to complete a bachelor’s degree- “just doesn’t exist anymore. Many colleges still assume that that’s the typical student and all other people are exceptions. But the exceptions are becoming the rule.” (Sander 643).
It seems as though the majority of college students these days aren’t looking to further their education because it’s what they really want, they do it to please their parents, to be accepted by society, or because there’s nothing else for them to do (Bird, 372). These expectations have led to students being unhappy and stressed, and have pushed them into a school or a job that they don’t particularly care for.
As an adult student, it is not easy to manage the demands of work; spouse and children; and the need to set aside time to read, research, write, and complete specified assignments. The biggest complaint conveyed by adult students is that they simply don’t have enough time. The fact is time management is crucial so you don’t lose sight of your goals. Students’ time is a limited resource. Like other limited resources, time can be more or less effectively managed (Britton, 1991, p.405). It is hard to address my perspective of my own procrastination and my ability to learn. Now that I’m older and looking at the facts of where I am now in life, I should be a lot further in my college goals. Many young adults wish someone sat them down early in life and guided them in a wiser direction. A college degree is essential in the career world.
You have just graduated from high school and passed the Standard Academic Test. Your application to college has been accepted and it’s your first day at class. It is most likely you will encounter three types of college students on your campus. The three types of college students are usually called the jocks, the nerds, and the normal people. The reason for this essay is to clear up some concepts regarding the three types of college students.
Schedules are a difficult thing to balance. A person must find the time to complete a number of tasks in a day. A normal adult may have time to get everything done and still have time to spare. The normal college student on the other hand is constantly on the go. College students have busy schedules that include working, studying, and socializing.
One of the most essential ingredients to an effective instructional environment is the initiative of the student. For the traditional undergraduate college student, this is one of the areas in which most problems exist [2]. The ‘traditional’ undergraduate college student should be construed as an average male and female between the ages of 18 and 22 who is at a transitional phase in life and learning to deal with independence.