[nabs-l] Your experience with college search

[Phil]

Hi Michael,
FYI, one of my best friends just finished his masters at Oxford this
year, albeit he has no disability, if you ever need to get basic info
about terrain, layout, and logistics. He studied philosophy for
undergrad but for grad he did something else.
For the domestic schools there are probably people on this list who
can give you info if you ever need it.
However, I agree with Arielle that for Ph.D. first and foremost it's
department and professor fit. The search process for undergrad college
is very different from grad school.
And if the #1 university in the world accepts you, yeah I doubt
accessibility would be the #1 thing on your mind at that time. smile
Good luck!!
Phil


On 12/16/14, Michael D Ausbun via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Kaiti and Arielle,
> 	Thank you for your advice and suggestions. All of them have been duely
> noted, and I likely will act upon them, because they are extremely useful
> suggestions. At the current moment, I am looking at:
> 1)	Oxford
> 2)	Michigan An Arber
> 3)	Stanford
> 4)	NYU
> 5)	Princeton
> I haven’t done much research into the accessability, because I figured in
> the end it wouldn’t dissuade me from going there if I get in; however, I was
> conserned about the professor/mentor relationships, because those
> Universities are rather far away. Over the previous summer, when I was
> attempting to figure out how Symbolic Logic might be taught to the blind, I
> had email corispondence with tones of professors, 2-3 from each of the
> schools I listed (my favorite contact was with a Philosopher by the name of
> Saul Kripke…but I’ll not digress into a fanboy moment here).
> 	Just a little side note, if anyone is interested, there is a blind
> professor of Logic at aucklend university, by the name of Jonothon
> mckien-Green. He is absolutely wonderful, both as an insteructer, friend and
> person.
> Anyways, sorry…finals make me tired and rambley; thank you for the wonderful
> suggestions!
> Respectfully,
> Michael
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: nabs-l [nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of Kaiti Shelton via
> nabs-l [nabs-l at nfbnet.org]
> Sent: Monday, December 15, 2014 8:42 PM
> To: Arielle Silverman; National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Your experience with college search
>
> 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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>>
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>
>
> --
> Kaiti
>
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