Welcome to Students Incorporated. I'm your host, Mr. Jason. Join me weekly as my team and I produce content that's informative, positive, fun, and uplifting.
This podcast is created and produced with the help of students from the International Community School of Bangkok.
Hello and welcome back. I'm joined by co-host Mia and Frank.
In today's episode, and our first episode of 2025, we have the privilege of talking with several guests from Taylor University.
And according to the U.S. News and World Report's annual College and University ranking for 2025,
Taylor University ranks in the top three of regional colleges in the Midwest of the United States.
The Midwest includes 11 states, which are North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.
Then in our second segment, we'll be having an internal discussion apart from our guest about the main theme of this episode, which is what makes a college or university great.
But before we get into our first segment, let's hear our quote of the day and get some headline news.
Our quote of the day comes from none other than The Rock or Dwayne Johnson.
He's quoted to have said,
Success isn't always about greatness. It's about consistency.
Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.
This quote emphasizes the importance of pursuing consistency.
It suggests that success is not achieved by chasing perfection or extraordinary results right away, but rather through steady, determined efforts over time.
By focusing on consistent hard work, even small incremental progress can lead to meaningful achievements.
It's a reminder that success is often built on persistence and dedication to daily actions rather than sudden grand outcomes.
The quote also highlights that greatness seems to be a byproduct of sustained effort over time.
The accumulation of consistent effort will naturally lead to exceptional results, allowing greatness to emerge as a reward for hard work and discipline.
And that's our quote of the day. Now onto some headline news with Mia.
Thank you for our quote of the day, Frank.
Our first headline comes from Washington, D.C., where the new elected president, Donald Trump, has been sworn in and vows to enact many new executive orders throughout his first 100 days in office.
Also, on his way out of office, President Joe Biden again grants student loan forgiveness to over 150,000 borrowers in his final days of office.
This brings the total number of people who have received student loan relief under Biden's administration to five million, with over one hundred and eighty two million dollars granted.
Our next headline is about the fires in Los Angeles.
Among burning thousands of structures, the fires also destroyed schools and educational sanctuaries.
As you may have heard, the fires in L.A. spread to schools, including the Etienne Canyon Nature Center, Odyssey Charter School and Elliott Arts Magnet Middle School,
disrupting education for countless students.
Poor air quality has further limited access to unaffected areas like Griffith Park, and over 300 schools across Southern California had to close.
Experts are doing their best to restore normalcy to Los Angeles as quickly as possible.
And finally, our final headline. A school in London is implementing a four day week, and students love it.
Liberty Woodland School, for students age 4 to 16, is experimenting with ideas that might break the concept of a stereotypical school.
Their facilities are yurt style tents, and they are now experimenting with a four day week due to the shortage of teachers.
As of now, most if not all of the students feedback is positive.
And that's our headline news for this episode.
All right. Thank you for the quote and the headline news.
We'll jump into our first segment with our special guest from Taylor University.
Mia will get us started with our guest on the broad topic of what makes a college or university great.
So go ahead and get us started, Mia.
Hi guys, and welcome to the podcast.
Thank you both for joining us today.
And to get started, could you please introduce yourself?
Tell us a little bit about what you do and where you are from.
Yeah, thanks so much, Mia.
My name is Andy Gammons.
I'm the executive director of admissions at Taylor University.
I've been at Taylor for four years in this position, but I'm also a 1999 Taylor grad.
So it's been really great to be back.
I have six kids.
Three of them have been at Taylor so far.
I met my wife at Taylor back in the day and we're excited to be back at the university.
We live about a mile from campus and it's a great place to be.
We're thankful to be a part of it.
Yeah, my name is Tyler Smith.
I serve as Andy's intern this year.
So I have the privilege of traveling to Bangkok and in Chiang Mai as well.
But I get to travel and network with you guys and tell you about the school that I so dearly love.
And yeah, it's great.
I'm a marketing major and a sport management minor.
And then I call home to Huntington.
It's about 35 minutes north of Taylor.
And I am so Andy has six kids.
I am one of six kids.
I am the second oldest of six kids.
So, yep, it's a little bit about me.
All right.
Thank you so much.
So our broad theme for this episode is sort about the question.
What makes a college or a university great?
And so based on this theme, how do colleges and universities measure success in a way that
positively shapes a student's future?
Yeah, it's a great question.
And I think a really great theme.
And I think one of the challenges is how do you compare universities?
How do you compare colleges?
Because they all are really, really different.
And I think that's one of the things yesterday when we were working with some students here at ICS.
I asked them the question, tell me about your perfect college experience.
And I think it's such a wonderful question to start that conversation for students because
that's really going to shape the type of university or the type of college that you want to pursue.
For instance, if you say, man, I want great research opportunities or I want the most prestigious
place that I can go in order to launch me into a career that's going to be world shaping.
That's going to be a particular type of university.
But somebody might say, man, I really want a university where I can build deep relationships
with my faculty and staff and with students.
Oh, that's going to be a very different university than probably that research university.
So I think that's a really great question to start with.
And I encourage the students that we talked with yesterday to have that conversation with their parents
because that's going to be a great university for you, Mia, might not be a great university for Tyler,
and might not be a great university for Frank.
Now, that being said, I do think there are some metrics that go across the board.
There are outside college rankings.
One of the things that we're talking about right now, Forbes just put out a list of colleges
and their financial health.
And that's a really, really important list to look at.
So we talked to a dad yesterday whose daughter was at a school that closed.
That is that's not a good outcome.
Right. So I think looking at the health of an institution, some of their stats about career outcomes,
you know, do students get a job afterwards?
For instance, at Taylor University, 99% of our students are in jobs or in graduate school
within six months of graduation.
That's important, right?
We call that our success rate.
That compares to about 85% nationally.
But we're even more excited about our excellence rate, which is 93%.
That means students are in full-time jobs in their desired field within six months of graduation.
And that compares to only about 56% nationally.
So those are good stats to look at, right?
If you're at a school where only 56% of their students are in full-time jobs at the end,
within six months of graduation, that should give you some pause, right?
Now, again, I read an article in The Wall Street Journal a couple years ago that said
it's way more about the student than it is about the institution.
So it was talking about Ivy League institutions and said there are students that graduate
from Ivy League institutions and go and work at Starbucks.
And then there are students that graduate from a significantly less prestigious university
and go on to change the world.
So it's way more about the student.
But nevertheless, I think it's a really good question that we're going to have some time
to talk about today.
Thank you so much on that.
And along the same idea of student-centered approach, our next question is related to
networking and connections.
So how important is networking and alumni engagement to our college and universities?
Yeah, I think it's really important, especially for those career outcomes, right?
So especially when you're 22 years old, you have very few skills.
Even if you've really nailed it and you've gotten really good, it really is about who
you know and the types of experiences you've gained during college.
So Tyler, talk a little bit about the internships that you've had and maybe even how you got
those internships.
Yeah, so I'll touch on this internship a little bit.
So last year, I worked on our admissions crew staff that we have at Taylor.
Crew stands for campus representatives for encouragement and welcoming.
So that's how I served.
I gave campus tours.
I helped with a lot of the special events that we do into the evenings.
And then I hosted people overnight in our room or in my room.
And then I once hosted people too, so when visitors would come and visit our campus,
I would just eat lunch with them and ask them about their day and what they're doing.
So that's what I did.
And then I had known Andy previously.
Andy was my boss last year too.
So I had known him previously.
And this time last year, he reached out to me and said, hey, I would love to have an
intern this year.
And I see what you've been doing in our office and that sort of thing.
And so I was praying to be a resident assistant.
I turned that down to take this job.
And that has been, I mean, such a blessing.
And so that was one of the internships I've done.
And then over the summer, I got to work in sports insurance.
For the past three summers, I'm hoping to do my fourth.
And so they just ensure things from a small mini golf place to a giant arena where a national
team would play.
And so it's very interesting.
It's very niche.
And I think one of the big things of how I got those internships is I think my loyalty
and dedication to those things.
I love Taylor so much.
And I love what I do.
And I just kind of put all of myself into my work.
Colossians 323 is one of my favorite verses.
And so I live by that verse.
And that's just how I live.
And so I don't know if you want to.
Your dad worked for that insurance company.
And so that was helpful in that networking opportunity.
So I think it really is who do you know and who are the people in your network?
And alumni can really be helpful with that.
So for instance, there are institutions that have really positive, really exciting alumni
responses.
So 97% of Taylor parents would say they do it all over again.
That's part of that network.
So it's going to be I'm going to call Drew Smith, Tyler's dad, if I want to do an internship
in insurance.
Because I know Tyler's dad works in insurance.
Those are those types of things.
And I know that Drew loves Taylor.
So those networking opportunities, especially in that first job, very few 22-year-olds get
hired because of their resume.
Right?
Very, very few.
And so because their resume is just so thin.
And so therefore, it's well, I have this connection.
And alumni can really be a great part of that.
Yeah.
All right.
Thank you.
And this is just a follow-up question for me.
But like when you did those internships, were you paid?
Or was it?
Yes, both of them were.
Nice.
OK.
All right.
Good to know because I actually did an internship as well at a law firm here.
I didn't get paid.
But it was more like I'm still a high school student.
And so nice that you got paid.
Yeah.
Well, and those internship opportunities really are key.
So I was working at another institution.
And this young woman came back from the summer.
And I said, how was your time?
She had worked as an intern in a senator's office in Washington, D.C.
And she said, well, it wasn't that great.
I definitely know I don't want to do politics.
And I said, that sounds like a successful internship to me.
Part of those experiences in high school and college are to kind of hone and push into,
well, I thought I liked this.
And so she said, I really actually like the research side of politics more.
So successful internship, in my opinion.
So whether you're paid or not, paid is better, of course.
But whether you're paid or not, that's still a good resume builder.
And yeah, for sure.
Continuing to shape and hone that network.
Yeah, for sure.
All right.
Thank you.
Now, our next question.
So this question is sort of like the idea of educational trends, future growth and importance.
And so what factors do you think beyond rankings and prestige should students and families
consider when evaluating a college or a university?
Yeah, so let me talk.
I'll talk about a couple of things.
First of all, I think that one of the questions to ask is who does this institution want me
to become?
And that is a great question for the admissions office.
It's a great question for professors when you go to visit.
Who do you want me to become?
And if the answer fits with what you're looking for, great.
For me, I want to be at a place that wants me to become more like Jesus Christ.
And wants me to make an impact on his world.
So that's the institution that I chose.
Now, there would be other people that might say, if an institution says, we want you to
be a world changer, okay, maybe that's good enough.
Or we want you to be a better welder.
Okay, maybe that's good enough.
Maybe that's what you're looking for.
So that for me is a great question.
And there are definitely institutions that don't have an answer for that.
Oh, we haven't really thought that through.
We just are pushing out diplomas and we're, oh, so that should be, if they don't have
an answer for that, I think that's a scary thing, right?
But at a place like Taylor University, at a place that's a Christian liberal arts institution,
our answer is that we exist to have people who have a passion for Jesus Christ to go
out and change the world.
And so we have that answer down pat, right?
And I think there are examples of that, of people who are doing that on a daily basis
through a real deep commitment to servant leadership.
So that has nothing to do with rankings.
That has nothing to do with how good somebody might say.
But I really do think it goes to the mission of the institution and does that mission align
with who you want to be for the next 40, 50, 60 years of your life?
Yeah, definitely.
I think that's a good point because if you were to choose a college, say Harvard, but
then that doesn't necessarily align with your mindset, it could actually not be as good
as some community college.
Totally.
So we talk a lot about fit.
So you might get into a very prestigious institution, but it might not be a good fit for you.
And so that's a really, really important piece.
What kind of fit are you looking for?
So I always talk to students and say, this is a place that I love.
It's a place that Tyler loves.
It's a place that the students that come here, I think overall love, but it may not be the
best fit for you.
And so your job, students and families, is to find the place that's the best fit.
And I think that's going to help you accomplish your goals too.
And that's really where some of those more empirical data pieces come into play.
I've been talking a lot about this book that came out this past year called Christian Higher
Education and Empirical Guide.
It's by a guy at Baylor named Perry Glanzer, Dr. Perry Glanzer.
And Glanzer in this book goes through all of the different Christian colleges, Christian
and Catholic institutions in the United States and Canada, and rates them on a scale from
zero to 28 on how they've operationalized the Christian mission.
So again, from an empirical standpoint, he said, and really he's saying, how Christian
is this place?
So he said, he's talked to students all the time who say, well, I'm going to go to this
Christian institution called Texas Christian University, TCU.
Well that is not a Christian university and maybe hasn't been for a long, long time.
And they might not even claim to be, but it says it right in their name.
And so he said he wrote this book and did this research in order to really help students
and families see, make those choices.
And so it's a really positive piece.
I think it's super helpful.
Of course he's not doing interviews.
There's not a heart check for how Christian an institution is, but he's asking questions
like when you go on the website, do they talk about Jesus?
Is it in the mission statement?
Who has to be a Christian to work there, to attend there?
Do they have chapel?
Who has to go to chapel?
Lots and lots of very empirical data-driven points.
And I think it's, I bought 50 copies of the book and I'm kind of handing them out like
candy because it's so important for students and families to be able to ask those questions
and get some real data on how to compare.
And that's what, you know, places like US News and Princeton Review have, are trying
to do is help in a, from a data-driven standpoint, help people compare because it is, there are
4,000 higher education institutions in the United States alone.
And so to come up against that kind of a, you know, imagine that if you went into a
store and there were 4,000 different chocolate candy bars, how would you make that choice?
Right?
There would be no way that you would be able to even over your lifetime, try all 4,000
of those, so you just kind of, it's almost like a dart board, right?
And so it's really hard.
So then, you know, the person with the best marketing rises to the top, the person with
the most name recognition or the longest, those are the places that I think tend to
rise to the top.
And that, again, doesn't always serve students and families very well.
Yeah.
Thank you so much.
That is definitely a very good point.
And now moving along with the same idea of kind of educational trends and future growth,
our next question is, how do colleges and universities effectively balance offering
a broad liberal arts education with specialized programs so that students are well equipped
for the workforce?
Yeah, this was one of my favorite questions as I looked at the questions ahead of time.
You know, I think that I just heard somebody say this a while back.
They said 80% of the jobs that will be available when you graduate are not invented yet.
Now think about that, right?
So even this thing that we're doing right now, a podcaster, this was not invented 15
years ago.
If you had said podcast to someone 15 years ago, they would have said, what?
And now it's ubiquitous.
Yeah.
Right?
And so how do we train students to be able to adapt to new trends, to new things?
I believe, and most people that are doing the kinds of, are at the kind of places that
I'm at, is that's through a liberal arts mindset.
So at a liberal arts institution, you're being taught to think, you're being taught to learn.
So if all you want to do is fix a car, then you can take a course in auto mechanics and
learn how to do that.
But I'll tell you, the car that comes out 10 years from now will be different from the
car that is out today.
And so you better be a lifelong learner.
You better be somebody, unless you're going to get stuck in, well, I don't know how to
fix that car anymore.
The auto mechanic is always going to new trainings.
You're understanding what that's all about.
So I think that that is really, that is a liberal arts standpoint, right?
It's not just so I can have good conversations at a dinner party, which I think is the kind
of cliche about a liberal arts education.
It's so that I can understand what the world is really all about and be a learner who is
not afraid to dig into a new topic.
And truth told, I was not that learner at age 18.
I have become that, right?
I've been somebody that says, okay, I like to read.
I like to dig into new topics.
And I think that's part of the growth process of a college student as well, just from a
developmental standpoint.
All right.
Thank you.
And now our next question sort of fits under admissions, but also culture.
So the question is, how important is the admissions process and what role does that process play
in reflecting a college or a university's core values, would you say?
Yeah, that's a great question.
I'll turn that over to Tyler.
Tyler, maybe just talk about what your admissions experience was like and how important was
the admissions office.
And tell it true, because I think your brother was probably the most important piece.
But yeah, for sure.
So I had an older brother that graduated from Taylor.
That's a nice, yeah.
And I have a current freshman or a current brother who's a freshman there too.
Got it.
There's been three kids that have gone through Taylor so far.
So I do remember my campus tour being really like influential.
I remember like looking at Taylor and being like, wow, this chapel is insane.
And then seeing the culture that they have and seeing this wanted spiritual community
and the intentionality of the tour guides.
And yeah, it was great.
And so yeah, my brother did a lot of that.
I saw what he was experiencing.
And in me being in high school and just wanting that, that was like an easy sell for me kind
of.
So from the admissions side, yes, definitely really important, especially for someone that
hasn't visited campus before.
So I wasn't in that boat.
But yeah, it's super important because it's like maybe the first step in someone seeing
a college for the first time.
And for me, that was my brother.
But also, I do remember my tour guide being really intentional.
And I do remember the people that I was with, the students that I was interacting with in
the classes that I visited and the lunch hosts I had.
And these little things that all make a big difference.
But you talk about your overnight stay and what that was like too.
Yeah.
The overnight stay that I had.
So Taylor does the 24 at Taylor, which is you stay overnight in someone's residence
hall.
Oh, we should do it.
Yeah, it's awesome.
So you stay overnight in someone's residence hall and sleep in the room and just be a Taylor
student for a day.
And so that's what I did in my junior year of high school.
And so as a junior and staying in my brother's room and just talking to the guys on the wing
who had just met me that night, and I felt like I was a part of their wing for the night.
And so I did that overnight visit and I came back to school and I instantly got this feeling
of junioritis.
So you might have senioritis, but I had junioritis when I came back to high school.
That next day of high school was so tough because it's like, why do I have to be back
here?
Why can't I be a Taylor?
So that's what I had.
And that was just the clicking point that I wanted to be a Taylor.
And so those special events that we do, the events that other colleges might not do is
something that sets us apart.
And that's something that's sought after by students.
I want to experience that and be that student for that day.
And what I would say is our job is facilitation.
So I've said over and over and over again, nobody comes to a university because of the
admissions office.
They come to the university because of the students that they see.
They come to the university because of the faculty and staff.
And our job is to facilitate and to showcase.
So I always do say, if the admissions office isn't any good, it's not going to get any
better.
So if the admissions office won't return your phone calls, if the admissions office won't
return an email, then no one will at the institution.
So I think it is a gauge.
We always talk about the service fall off.
So we work really hard not to have a service fall off.
So our level of service is extra mile.
My team, we will go the extra mile to provide great customer service.
So we want to make really sure that there's not a service fall off once a student comes
to campus.
That on day one of Welcome Weekend, there's still as high of a level of customer service.
It's going to look different, of course, because now that you're living there and you're doing
an everyday thing, but there still needs to be a super high level of customer service.
So I think that's the most important thing.
And we are ambassadors, right?
So last night we had a great event with a bunch of ICS students and their families to
talk about Taylor University.
And they may never get to Taylor University.
So we may be their only conduit, their only picture of what Taylor University is.
Or we may be the one that gets them to visit, right?
So we take that very seriously.
That we want to, and for me, my goal is to give as accurate a picture as possible towards
that fit conversation, right?
I had a great supervisor that said in sales, which is what the admissions office is, it's
sales, that the worst thing that can happen is a surprise.
So if a student gets to campus and they say, wow, this was better than I thought it was
going to be.
We've undersold.
We didn't do a very good job.
But on the flip side of that, if they get to campus and they say, well, this isn't what
I thought it was going to be, then we've oversold.
So my goal is always in our events, in our visits, in our conversations with students,
in our marketing material, is to give as accurate a picture of who we are as an institution
as possible.
So that when a student gets there, they know exactly what they've purchased and they're
excited about that purchase.
And I think that that's one of the reasons we've had the high level of success that we
have over the last few years.
Thank you so much.
That's very insightful.
And I've got another culture of focus question as well.
It is, in what ways can a college or university foster a welcoming and engaging campus culture
for both students and faculty?
Yeah, it's a great question.
And I think it has to start from the very top.
So who are the people that are demonstrating that welcoming environment?
Who are the people that are engaging in that?
And it can't just be the admissions office.
One of the things I love about Taylor University is when people come up to me and say, do you
have people stationed, planted around campus to say hello?
And I always say no, and that would be really weird if we did, right?
But our students at Taylor University are excited to share this place with each other,
with new and incoming people.
And so we were just rated the number three happiest students in the country by the Princeton
Review.
And some of that is the self-selection of who we are and where we are.
So a student who is not interested in Taylor University has no reason to come to Taylor
University, right?
So there are places where it's close, it's affordable, it works.
We're not any of those things.
We are the kind of place that the only people that come there is people who are super excited
about digging deep into relationships with each other and with the Lord and want that
to be their college experience.
I talk every day about Christ-centered, rigorous academics in an ultra-engaged community.
And so if that's what you want, you come to Taylor University, we do that better than
any place else in the world.
And so you come for that and then we make that and people are super excited about what
that looks like going forward.
Providing a welcoming environment, I don't think it's something where you can just say,
hey, we encourage people to say hello to each other on.
No, no, no.
Some of that is just Jesus stuff, right?
As we become more like Jesus, we become more welcoming.
Well, if you're a large state institution where Jesus isn't a part of the picture at
all, I think that you have to go towards altruism and things that really are not central to
the mission.
Hey, Tyler, talk just a little bit more about welcoming, what it felt like for you to be
on campus, either as a visitor or as somebody who was new and what that welcome felt like.
It was awesome.
The way that the tour guides...
So the tour guides knew my name.
That was something that stuck out to me.
Hey, what do you like to do?
And it wasn't just about, here's the facts and here's, Taylor, here's what you need to
know.
Here's maybe the selling points or something like that.
It was more of, it's a catered tour, right?
Got it.
Getting to know you and it's caring about you, you're not just another notch in our
goal or whatever.
It's not just another notch on your tour belt.
It's just, what do you like to do?
It's praying for you at the end of the tour as well.
That was something that stuck out to me and something kind of practical that I noticed.
Yeah, that was something that made me feel welcomed and gave me a sense of belonging
before I was even there.
And so that's what Taylor is.
We want to welcome you before you're officially a student on campus.
They made a point of asking about what I was involved in.
And if I said I played baseball, they're like, oh, if the tour guide was a sports person,
oh, I played baseball or softball too in high school.
What position did you play?
And then you talk about that.
And then all of a sudden you're talking about coaches and your team and how good you are
or how bad you are.
And then you're going along the lines and going deeper into a topic that is not about
Taylor.
That's not why you're there.
You signed up for a Taylor at Grandpa's visit, but you're talking about something else other
than that.
Yeah, just a follow up question for me.
Did you go to any other university tours?
Yes, I did.
So I went to only one other one.
Oh, okay.
Was there like a big significance in how you felt going into that universe?
Yeah, it's difficult because I was at Taylor a couple more times other than this other
institution.
Okay, okay.
Yeah, so it was different.
I was kind of set on there wasn't a point where I was ever like, I don't think I'm going
to Taylor.
Oh, like I was set on Taylor and then I gave this other school like a shot.
Like, okay, I just want to visit just to not, you know, block out anything.
Okay, so to finish off this segment, we have two questions, one about the present and one
about the future.
So my question is about the present and what would you say are some challenges that colleges
and universities face today?
And how are they sort of innovating and changing to face these challenges?
Yeah, yeah, it's a great question.
And the number one answer that you'll hear from most everybody is the enrollment cliff.
So the enrollment cliff is 2008 was the Great Recession.
2008 plus 18 gives you 2026.
And that is so the thought is in 2008, the Great Recession, people stopped have not stopped
entirely but had fewer kids.
And so the number of students in high school has shrunk period.
So for Christian liberal arts institutions, not only has the number of high school students
shrunk the number of high school students that claim the name of Jesus as shrunk.
And so the number of high school students that claim the name of Jesus as shrunk plus
the number of high school students that claim the name of Jesus that are interested in a
Christian liberal arts institution has shrunk, plus the number of students that are in that
boat that also are able to pay for that kind of an institution has shrunk.
So the customer base is really...
shrinking. So different institutions have taken different approaches to
this and mostly I'm talking about Christian higher education institutions.
If you want I can try and broaden it a little bit to higher education in
general. But so what's happened in Christian higher education is
institutions have done one of two things. They've either said we're gonna be all
things to all people and tried to bring in more people from different areas and
that has not worked very well. So especially around issues of culture and
politics. Oh that's who you are? Okay we can be that. Oh you're this? Oh we can be
that. And that has not that has not done very well for most people. Those
institutions that have done well are institutions that have said this is who
we are and we are honing in on the brand and honing in on our mission and taking
a stand wherever that is culturally or politically but that's who we are and
this we are very clear and delivering that clear message about mission, vision
and values to to the customer base. I always say nobody wants to buy vanilla.
Vanilla is a very hard flavor to sell. You like vanilla? Most people don't like
vanilla. Taylor University is not a vanilla institution. It's very specific
right? And so I think that that's really important is to put out a very specific
very nuanced version of who you are as an institution and then if students are
attracted to that great. If they're not well they can find someplace else but to
try and be again all things to all people I think is not a good thing in
this particular time. But you know generally speaking in higher education
folks are looking at different delivery modes online and I think really at the
end of the day for a place like Taylor University it is back to what we've been
doing for 178 years. This deep relational place, incarnational education where we're
face to face digging into what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ in
this world whatever the discipline is and going hard after those things. Yeah so
Miss Jen was talking about the four P's of college choice yesterday. She talked
about people, place, program and price and so all of those things are things
that I think institutions especially institutions that are struggling are
trying to trying to get better at. So you're talking about program. Yes by all
means so for instance at Taylor we just launched a nursing program. We are in the
process of launching a physician assistant program. So those are things
that health care is everything is about health care right now. So we are moving
harder into those places really pushing. So our top programs over the years have
been education, business and psychology and those are still really strong
programs for us but we're bringing on these other programs as well and you
have to be careful with that too because are those really strong programs or are
those things that an institution is just saying well maybe we'll try this and
throwing spaghetti against the wall and see what's seeing what sticks right. So
there are some of those institutions that are maybe in their last gasp that
are you know trying some different programs but I think yes for sure always
working on the product side the program side to make sure that it's what the
customer wants. I mean that's that's just business right. So whatever whatever it
is if Netflix is still sending out DVDs in the mail they're in trouble right. So
institutions, businesses have to change and morph or your blockbuster video.
You'll have to look those up on the internet because I'm sure you don't have
any idea what I'm talking about. Alright now that we were talking about the
present let's talk about the future and so what are some ways colleges and
universities are preparing students to be lifelong learners to be able to adapt
in a rapidly changing world for the future. So I think this goes back to the
liberal arts curriculum right. I think that as you dig into subjects that
you're unaware of that you are that are new to you that maybe you're you you say
to yourself why am I learning this. I love that question from students. Why am
I learning this? So that you can learn how to learn right. So that you can learn
how to understand something that maybe initially you aren't interested in.
Welcome to adulthood right. So welcome to something where your boss drops
something on your desk and says we don't know anything about this you need to.
What? So that might be your calculus class that you really didn't want
anything to do with. That might be your history class that you didn't want
anything to do with as a business major right. So that new project that you're
that your boss drops on your desk or even your your positions eliminated. I
was we lived in Minneapolis and Minneapolis is a headquartered of
Target. I'm watching the news one day and Target had two meetings that day. One
meeting was the you're you're staying. One meeting was that you're going pick up
your box and you have an hour to exit the building. So all of those exit the
building folks hopefully they were lifelong learners right. Hopefully they
had dug into that general education core in their undergraduate that helped them
become understand how to say I've got to reshape myself. I'm no longer a Target
employee and so how do I make this work because I've got a family to feed. I've
got a mortgage to pay. You know I have to forty more years of work that I have to
do. So I really think those are some of the amazing pieces of lifelong learning.
I think it's also getting back to who the student is. Tyler Smith is gonna have
no problem finding a job because he's a hustler. He's worked he's had four
internships as a junior with the same company. No problem whatsoever right. Work
will never be a problem for Tyler. He'll have all sorts of problems right but
work will never be one of those because because he's a hustler. Now if you're not
a hustler lifelong learner or not you're gonna struggle and so I really think
yes those are things that the institution can do but I think those are
character things as well and those are things that hopefully your parents have
instilled in you growing up. Issues of character issues of grit right. Grit is a
super important topic that folks are talking about. So the folks that got let
go from Target that have grit no problem. They're in a new job as soon as the
severance runs out and probably before right and then the folks that don't have
a lot of grit those are the ones that are gonna struggle. Yeah for sure. All
right thank you and final question our final question is what advice would you
give to students and families who are navigating the college search process
and trying to find the right university fit. Yeah I would just say from a
student's perspective I would just say find what works for you. Make a checklist.
Do I want to do a public university? Do I want to do a Christian University? How
many kids do I want at the school? You know find what works for you and make a
checklist and narrow it down. That's what I would say that's what I did. You know
when I was a little kid my dad graduated from IU and so when I was a little kid I
was thinking oh IU seems like a fun place and I like to you know watch their
college basketball games when I was a kid. So IU sounds great and then you know
the more I got to high school and figured out you know and had those
classes and those activities in high school of like what college do you
actually want to attend I figured out that IU is actually the complete
opposite of what I wanted to do and I wanted to do a Christian school and you
know get to know my professors and get to know my classmates and you know
different things like that and so I would just say take advantage of the
activities that you're given in high school and then I would also say from
like a student's perspective I tell perspective students this all the time
like I took it upon myself my senior year of high school especially like I
just started like kind of freaking out about my grades and about like getting
all A's and like putting all of my work into my academics and you know not that
that's a bad thing that's actually a good thing and that's what you know
we're supposed to do we're supposed to work hard but I probably could have
chilled out a little bit more if I was gonna be honest I couldn't have put a
lot I put a lot of stress on myself and I didn't need to put a lot of stress on
myself so I would just say take it one day at a time and to just relax a little
bit and give yourself grace and figure out what works for you yeah all right
thank you thank you mr. Andy and Tyler for sharing some great insights and
advice not only about Taylor University and what Taylor has to offer but also
some practical things that students and parents can do when it comes to choosing
a college or university that fits so thank you for that this also concludes
our first segment so stick around as we'll be right back with our second
segment right after this short PSA announcement
for today's PSA we will have a quick interview with the special guest who's
going to talk about the upcoming speech mania competition that will be hosted
here at ICS so hello and thank you for joining us here at students incorporated
for the PSA could you please introduce yourself and tell us where you're from
hi thank you for having me so first of all I'll just introduce myself for a
little bit my name is proud I'm currently a senior at ISB and I'm the
founder of speech mania and I'm also the national representative for Thailand
worlds for the past two years and this year is my first time transitioning as
the national director for Thailand all right nice thank you so much so now
proud since you're here to talk about speech mania could you tell us more
about what speech manias purpose and initiatives are so speech mania was
founded with a focus on making speech related activities more accessible and
we plan on organizing more competitions workshops and training sessions that are
basically just decided to help participants get a little bit more used
to yeah yeah uh-huh and one of our most exciting upcoming initiative is that
will be hosting a qualifier for world's individual public speaking and debate
championship amazing and the top five speaker is gonna get to go to worlds
representing Thailand nice are you one of those speakers or do we I don't think
I'll be competing this year I've been doing it for two years I think it's time
I retire and host all right well that's fine and proud what inspired you to
start speech mania so I think for me the reason I wanted to start speech mania
because I feel like there's just a really influx of like other activities
but there's so little like opportunity for people who want to do public speaking
yeah public speaking related activities and I think I was really lucky because I
was able to go to worlds twice and I think yeah other people they don't even
know worlds exists for public speaking so I think I want to bring that
awareness into Thailand a little bit more got it and I had a really amazing
experience with public speaking and I met some of my best friends got it
like speaking I also think I grew a lot as an individual a lot of speakers and a
lot of really good speeches so I think it really helped me learn and nurture
myself as an individual a lot so I wanted to just bring that same
opportunity really really inspiring proud thank you for what you do in for
speech mania as well and for anyone listening who wants to get involved
proud how can they connect with speech mania speech mania is on Instagram for
the little self promo so for anyone who's interested feel free to reach out
to me directly via Instagram or just come follow us on speech mania dot th and
you can drop us a text on there or you can send us an email our email is linked
in our Instagram we plan on hosting a lot more events and potential
partnerships with other international competitions as well so whether you're
looking to learn compete or just support organization we'd really appreciate if
you could check us out alright could you say the Instagram handle again speech
mania dot th all lowercase all over all lowercase alright and that is it for
today's PSA a big thank you to proud and your commitment to speech mania
all right we're back with segment two or part two and what we're going to do for
this segment is we're gonna ask some questions generally around the topic of
college university as well we're still on the general theme and topic of what
makes a university or college great and so to do this we're actually going to
talk to a lot of our podcast team members because many of them are juniors
and seniors in high school and some of them have been looking at universities
some of them are still looking and so they're in that process of trying to
define what makes a college or university great so right now I've got
Toto and he we in the studio and our first question for them is how would you
describe or define the term college and what is the difference between a college
and university so maybe total we can start with you so like the differences
differences between college and university is like whether like there's
an undergraduate program and a graduate program so so colleges they do offer
undergraduate programs but then like they don't offer graduate programs and
that's where university comes in which they will offer both undergraduate and
graduate programs all right he we what do you think that term college or
university means to you and what are some things you think are the difference
between the two I also agreed to total that colleges focus more on undergraduate
programs while universities provide a wide range of undergraduate graduate and
PhD programs all right thank you guys all right let's move on to our next
question and premise in a studio and she's gonna guide us in our next
question thank you guys and I think it's also important to like kind of consider
that like the difference between college university might look different in
different countries and like across different curriculums okay perfect and
then moving on which aspects of a college education or experience are most
important to you I guess to me it'll either be like the sports or the
community I mean I'm a big sports watcher so like if they have like a
strong sports team out like definitely definitely go watch it and then the
community you know it's better it's better to like feel connected than
detached from like like the people there so I believe if there's a strong
community I think it's like a good part I love that I think school spirit is
important right and then depends on like college size and like different things
so that's cool I loved I love community too like it your turn heehee I think
education is important but adding on to total I think community is also a factor
that is very important because having a sense of belonging where I see you
connection and also provides emotional support and helps to enhance your mental
health yeah I think so too so that it's like your home away from home yeah yeah
all right thank you too for those answers we're gonna move on to our next
set of students okay we have Elsa and Maddie in the studio and we are going to
continue on our conversation of what makes a college or university great and
so our next question for them would be what are some unique aspects colleges
and universities have for different learners so maybe Elsa you can go first
with that question while I was applying for Taiwan universities like NTU I had
to go through like a different application process because I'm a
Taiwanese citizen living in a foreign country and there's a different portal
for that so I think one unique feature is that for the application process they
actually have different application portals for citizens that are living
Taiwanese citizens living in different countries so for me I had to do the
Thailand portal and another unique feature is that in NTU there are
actually three different groups that you get to select from when you applying
and the first group is liberal arts the second and third are more science and
math based so if you're let's say you're like a med student and you want to go
for like a medical program then you would have to choose the second and
third group but that also means that you're not allowed to choose any majors
from the first group and a good thing about the town Taiwanese University
application is that you can select up to 70 majors that you want to major in for
universities all across Taiwan to see which one you're gonna make in so I
think that's a really unique feature that's how many universities have to
offer up to seven majors 70 that's written that's a lot okay Maddie for me
I want to emphasize and talk about liberal arts colleges I feel like with
with the smaller classes they offers I'm able to connect with the professors or
some of my friends better than really big universities and I feel like it
offers like freedom for me to explore different areas of interest and it just
really like opens up opportunities for me to like explore into the business
field or or any other fields that like I haven't heard of and it makes me become
a better learner as well yeah I like that and I really like a liberal arts
college education who I feel like um like you can explore more and also
there's that intersectionality view lenses that you view like a lot of
classes under so thank you and then our next question is what are some ways do
you think higher education will change to meet the needs of like the next
generation students as well as our ever-changing world I think as our
generation is moving more towards technology like and social media because
before in the previous generation there wasn't a lot of need for type but then
now a lot of kids space their education mostly off technology or any technology
so I feel like universities and higher education in general will have to change
their programs to a more like I would say like technology base yeah I love
reason using more like technology equipments like computers and laptops
instead of like can taking notes yeah I feel like that would be like a really
important thing that they might have to change is to meet like the norm and
this gender absolutely I think so too okay Maddie what do you think yeah I
agree with Elsa I feel like the world is evolving into like a tech based world
and so all the curriculums will probably evolve into something like related to
technology for example like computer science it's a really famous curriculum
and it's hard to find jobs if you're a CS major and I feel like it's because the
world is evolving to like tech based road like I like I mentioned and so yeah
technology yeah I think so too it'll definitely be an integrated more all
right thank you you guys so much and then now we'll have our next set of
students okay and finally we have a couple more questions and I have Mia
Rebecca and Premi is gonna answer some of these questions as well so one of our
final questions is this what advice would you give to students navigating
scholarship opportunities and financial aid as part of their college search so
maybe Rebecca you can start off with this question for me personally I apply
to Christian colleges in the United States such as Calvin University Wheaton
College and and other small Christian liberal arts colleges for me I went on
to their official website on Google and you can search up the scholarship section
and they will tell you they have visit grant and some of them they have more
named scholarship offer like Calvin University and some other ones you can
also follow their official Instagram account where they will update the time
that you can apply for specific scholarship that you are eligible for
such as like missionary scholarships and financial aid and others you can also if
you are in the States you can go on campus and have a campus tour they will
tell you the other scholarship they're offering for first generation and for
great based scholarships yeah thank you Rebecca and so I actually applied to
university here in Thailand in Japan and also in the States and I would say the
same thing as you so definitely go on to their website and you know like they
they obviously have like a little spot for like scholarships and you'll be able
to see like which ones are actually eligible for but I would say like just I
just like personally put yourself in a position where you can receive a
scholarship well for me like ah we're in Japan like there were scholarships like
athletes and great great base scholarships and the great base
scholarships were kind of high so if you weren't eligible then you wouldn't be
then then you probably wouldn't get the scholarship so I would definitely say
like put yourself in it into a position where you can actually receive a
scholarship and I would say that's like having a lot of activities and also
maintaining a really good grade throughout high school thank you guys I
would agree to I think having like being a strong applicant already is also
really important like you said and also important not only in you know applying
and getting into those colleges but also like receiving those scholarships and
like with this question I just really want to talk about like to start off
with I think the caveat of inequality like obvious obviously there's so much
inequality in the world right and if you like I've been able to see this a lot
really truly in the college process I feel like you know some people don't
need financial aid period and that's it for them but then or some other people
wouldn't need financial aid but then there's caveats too like for instance if
you're planning a US colleges if you happen to be US citizen your life is
much easier you have an infinite more number more resources and opportunities
and others too and then and it comes to like oh how much is your family income
blah blah and if you qualify for a program you're gonna have to fill out the
FAFSA thesis for just an infinite number more but I think the advice I would give
is just to be resourceful to always ask because I really do feel like especially
in the age that we are in we have like access if we have if we have access to
the internet we have access to an incredible amount of resources and
opportunities and there and I think I would also recommend just I think
starting early is really important especially with the scholarship programs
with a lot of them having deadlines that are earlier one of the saddest things
that you don't want to do is missing a scholarship opportunity just because you
didn't know the deadline because you missed a deadline because you didn't
research fast enough and also I would also recommend like breaking down the
types of scholarships knowing your situation and knowing if you need
institutional scholarships outside scholarships how those work how those
programs work and like just in general as well as specifically defining these
colleges these scholarships and I just also do want to say if you do get a
scholarship you do need to be very proud of yourself because I do feel like
especially scholarships institutional scholarships to like T20 or a lot of
top-tier schools in the United States are incredibly hard and I would even
argue maybe even harder than getting just getting accepted into like a higher
ranked school it's just incredibly hard and so I think my other advice is just
to know that yes that you know some people don't have to worry about this at
all some people have to worry about it to a certain extent some you have to
worry about it a lot and honestly sometimes seeking for financial aid feels
as heavy or equally as heavy as just applying to college itself and I think
just knowing that and also just having empathy if you don't need scholarships
if you don't need financial aid just having empathy and like having
understanding for those people that might do and just just having the
awareness raise I feel like is something that is really important and so just in
general just all that start early research there's so many opportunities I
promise there are so many opportunities you can do any like you can do a lot of
things just go out there do your research and also like Mia said have a
strong applicant be a strong applicant life is gonna be easier for you and just
yeah okay so sorry that's a long-winded answer but I had a lot to say that's
okay because you guys are in the middle of doing this this advice is really good
for especially those students who are coming up and and going to be doing this
next year our final question and we can just be really quick with this one is
from your experience what resources can students use to search or research
colleges or universities effectively before making a final decision so maybe
you can give us a quick answer of maybe from your perspective what you did and
maybe some advice to students who will be kind of jumping into this the next
year or two so Rebecca go ahead and you can start with this one for me I went to
two websites to check to research about the colleges such as niche calm and us
college or like we call that us news okay type the specific colleges that we
want to research about they will give a range from a to D or E about their
academics diversity and at least party and then several other categories that
they'll be grading on and some other research that I've done is go to Google
and research on their official website you can see their student life their
campus pictures and also the clubs that they're providing etc and for some of
you that have the opportunity to actually go on the campus it's also a
really good thing that you can do as a research to see if you like the dorm if
you like the like the college environment and about the community that
you will be in in the future yeah so one website that I keep going back to it's
the US News and World Report website like I go to this website when I need
numbers so when I need like a specific out-of-state tuition fee or like I need
a specific ranking for this university so yeah I think that like the US News and
World Report website is like really good if you want like specific numbers I
think I would do honestly like the websites that you've mentioned are really
helpful they've been helpful to me too and especially in like former research
as well as the college's own website especially when you're writing your why
college essays guys and also I think but what's also really important to remember
I think is also kind of informal sources because I feel like informal sources like
maybe like Reddit or Quora or just like tiktok yeah Instagram oh I think one
advice I got that was really good is just if you want to know the vibes of
the college watch like a vlog watch a vlog on YouTube I think that's really
helpful too because then it's like a more like some I think there's like
review college review YouTube some videos so I think those the formal ones
are also really helpful but so are the informal ones that kind of give you like
a more honest and candid and in some ways an insightful take on the college
when you're researching so yeah all of your resources use all of your resources
and I want to add on to Pramie's answer that we can also do research by
interviewing others like the currently enrolled students in colleges that you
you are interested in and talk about how their classes are like and if they're
enjoying their colleges okay that ends part two or segment two and we really
appreciate our students coming in and just giving some practical real advice
especially because many of them are in this process right now so we hope that
this episode which is how can a college or university be great because there's
so many out there especially within the US system I think there's over 4,000 just
within the US's educational system higher educational system so there's
lots of choices out there and I think it's it's on the students responsibility
is to really do their homework and seek out the one that best fits them all
right thank you everybody
thanks again to our special guests from Taylor University and to our student
guests for this episode we hope it was informative and insightful and helps all
of us answer the question what makes a college or university great I guess that
is for each person to decide themselves okay stay tuned for our next episode as
we dive into the topic of entrepreneurship and as always this
podcast will not be possible without the hard work and support of our
international student production team all music and sound effects are courtesy
of pixabay.com a vibrant community of creatives sharing copyright free images
videos and music and we are signing off until next time we are students
incorporated because your voice matters