[nabs-l] Your experience with college search

[Kaiti Shelton]

Hi Phil and all,

First, a note to Michael; you mentioned that you cannot easily judge
whether or not professors in PH.D programs will accept you by using
email alone, and visiting with them in person is out of the question.
Have you considered calling them on the phone or Skype?  Meetings like
that would bridge the distance and voice gaps quite nicely, I think;
you could even video conference if you wanted to use Skype.  Hope that
suggestion helps.

I also knew really early on what I wanted to do for college, and where
I wanted to go.  It helped that my major is only offered at a
relatively small handful of colleges in the country (just 72 to be
exact), and at the time 3 were in my home state.  I did look into
other schools in Indiana and Kentucky as well, and prepped for a
second audition at Eastern Michigan University, but I didn't end up
going to it.

I first visited UD where I'm a junior now after my sophomore year of
high school.  One thing that impressed me immediately was how friendly
the students were.  My mom and I got lost in some construction, and a
student volunteered to walk us to the building we needed to find.
People held doors for us, told me I should come to UD when they
noticed I was a bit younger, and did other nice things.  In that
visit, I had a meeting with the DS office and took a campus tour.  My
DS counselor, who is actually my main contact now, was very good about
explaining everything to me and my mom.  The campus seemed perfect.  I
told my mom in the parking lot that I wanted to go here, and although
she did urge me to see other campuses before I made my decision and I
did do that, UD ended up being the right fit after all.  Another thing
that really impressed me was that they got all my materials that I
would need for my music department audition in accessible formats, and
were willing to make modifications on the spot.  My sight reading
excerpt was in braille music notation, I was allowed to have a scribe
for the aural skills test, and although I did bring my own laptop
because the university's copy of Goodfeel was not purchased until I
was accepted and passed my audition, I had a scribe to copy down what
I wrote on the computer into the test form for the theory test as
well.  The only problem came when they didn't realize I would be at a
disadvantage in sightreading, because they handed me a 2 page piece of
braille music and didn't realize that I would not be able to memorize
it in 15 minutes.  They gave me extra scales and asked me to pull some
songs out of thin air instead.  I was very impressed after the
audition as well, when the DS office and the music department
purchased additional equipment they would need to produce materials
in-house.

My college experience has not been perfect; I had a terrible year last
year with some academic accommodations gone awry, some issues with a
roommate and a fellow who didn't want to handle the situation, and one
of my best friends transferring to another school halfway through the
year.  However, the bulk of my college experience has been great, and
even when things were rough, I felt like I fit here.  Especially after
this semester which has redeemed some of the bad from last year, I
wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

I think there is a fairly logical sequence to figuring out the right
fit: 1, figure out your major if at all possible.  2, research what
colleges have it, and take distance from home into consideration if
you wish to stay somewhat close.  3, visit the campus and meet with
DS, professors in your department, and sit in on a class or two if you
can.  4, Narrow down your applications and pick the school you like
best.

I wouldn't recommend doing what I did; I only applied to UD because it
was the only school I loved, and the other two schools were on rolling
admission.  I only prepped for the second school's audition just in
case I didn't make it in to UD.  Although I love where I am, I wish I
had looked at more places so I would have been able to make more
useful observations.  Also, meet in person if at all possible, and by
phone or Skype if not.  Emails ore fine, but phone calls are better.

I hope these things help.  Sorry if I'm a little unorganized in this
email; it's finals week and I'm writing this pretty quickly.



On 12/15/14, Arielle Silverman via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hi Michael and all,
> One nice thing about being in a Ph.D. program is that you will
> probably have all your activities in just one or two buildings, so you
> won't need to learn the entire campus. I was at University of Colorado
> for six years and only used one building for all my classes and
> research, plus two for teaching assignments. As for Braille signage, I
> am unaware of a place where classrooms are consistently labeled. I
> wouldn't let a large or sprawled-out campus intimidate you from
> attending school there, especially since you will only be using a
> small part of that campus.
> I've never considered any disability-related factors when choosing a
> school, instead focusing on the quality of the academic programs. I
> honestly don't think there's much difference between schools as far as
> accessibility goes. When choosing a Ph.D. program the single most
> important factor is choosing a mentor who is very interested in
> working with you and who you want to be spending a lot of time with. A
> good fit between Ph.D. student and mentor is genrally more important
> than te school itself.
> Arielle
>
> On 12/15/14, Michael D Ausbun via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> Hello Phil:
>> 	I would certainly assert that claim; however, it is important to keep in
>> mind that my claim is a hasty generalization. I may be completely wrong,
>> as
>> it pertains to other visually impaired learners. I truly believe that I
>> have
>> it right though, because if we do not have access to the school, how can
>> we
>> make judgments regarding it? Of course, over a period of time (as long as
>> you're curious), a student will adapt to any situation.
>> 	In regards to whether contacting others with disabilities would be
>> useful,
>> I'll boldly state yes and no. The reason yes, is because by doing so, you
>> can determine the ablest tendencies of the professor, that is, and how he
>> or
>> she views people with disabilities. The reason I would argue no, is
>> because
>> unless the individual you are contacting is blind and or has a similar
>> mentality as yourself, the results may be varied. I've found that several
>> of
>> my fellow students here at the University of Nevada, have far different
>> opinions of professors than I do. I so far, have loved every one of my
>> professors; however, several have had a bad rap sheet in the past, as it
>> pertains to disabilities or students in general. It's the luck of the
>> draw,
>> in some cases.
>> Best regards,
>> Michael
>>
>> ________________________________________
>> From: Phil [philso1003 at gmail.com]
>> Sent: Monday, December 15, 2014 1:02 PM
>> To: Michael D Ausbun
>> Cc: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Your experience with college search
>>
>> Hi Michael,
>> Would you say it's fair to say that for us blind and visually impaired
>> students, choosing a school nearby we can gather the informatoin we
>> need. It's when the schools we are considering are farther away,
>> that's harder to use deduction skills as you put it.
>> For your situation now, do you think it would be helpful if you could
>> get in touch with students with disabilities from the schools that you
>> are considering for your Ph.D. and ask for their opinions?
>> Regards,
>> Phil
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 12/15/14, Michael D Ausbun <mausbun at unr.edu> wrote:
>>> Hello Phil:
>>>       I was fortunate, in that I was able to take college courses at my
>>> University when I was still in high school; because of this, I was able
>>> to
>>> grasp the necessary information, in order to determine that this is the
>>> right University for me. By necessary information, I mean the inner
>>> workings
>>> of the Disability center, the mindset of a majority of professors on
>>> campus
>>> (I spoke to as many as I could find, just because I was interested), the
>>> layout of the campus and the difficulties in terrain/inaccessibility of
>>> the
>>> campus ahead of time, which allowed me to adapt.
>>>       I am finding though, as I look for Ph.D. programs which will fit my
>>> specific needs, I am at a slight disadvantage. Many of the schools which
>>> I
>>> am looking at are no ware near where I currently live, making my previous
>>> deduction skills useless. Moreover, I could email professors, but it
>>> isn't
>>> the same as talking to them. I can't interpret their voices, the
>>> positioning
>>> of their body in relation to mine, etc. which would help me make the
>>> choice
>>> of whether they accept me or not, etc.
>>>       Furthermore, when I have traveled to other Universities for Speech
>>> and
>>> Debate, I have encountered some difficulties in terrain. This made me
>>> realize, the layout of the campus is a key component to how I may
>>> consider
>>> going there. I know for sure, I will not ever choose to go to the
>>> University
>>> of the Pacific in Stockton, for example, because buildings are separated
>>> by
>>> great distance and stairs are labeled; moreover, almost no room has
>>> braille
>>> signage.
>>>       Stuff like that would impact my decision, I think.
>>> Respectfully,
>>> Michael Ausbun
>>>
>>> ________________________________________
>>> From: nabs-l [nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of Phil via nabs-l
>>> [nabs-l at nfbnet.org]
>>> Sent: Monday, December 15, 2014 9:47 AM
>>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>>> Subject: [nabs-l] Your experience with college search
>>>
>>> Hey all,
>>> Hope everyone is enjoying your holiday season!
>>> I wanted to ask members in this list who are college students, alumni,
>>> or current high school students looking into college.
>>> When you do college search, do you feel you have enough information
>>> especially as a blind or visually impaired student, to make the right
>>> choice about which college you should attend?
>>> What frustrates you most about the college search process?
>>> What kind of information do you wish you had that would help you make
>>> the right choice?
>>> And for college students and alumni, do you feel you chos the right
>>> college and if not, what do you now know about this college that you
>>> wish you had known about when you were doing your search?
>>> Please feel free to tell as much as you feel like it. I really want to
>>> learn about your college search experience.
>>> Thank you so much for sharing. This can really help everyone.
>>> Best,
>>> Phil
>>>
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>>
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-- 
Kaiti