1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,400
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.

2
00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:19,000
This podcast is created and produced with the help of students from the International Community School of Bangkok.

3
00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:23,800
Hello and welcome back. I'm joined by co-host Mia and Frank.

4
00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:31,400
In today's episode, and our first episode of 2025, we have the privilege of talking with several guests from Taylor University.

5
00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:38,000
And according to the U.S. News and World Report's annual College and University ranking for 2025,

6
00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:43,600
Taylor University ranks in the top three of regional colleges in the Midwest of the United States.

7
00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:54,200
The Midwest includes 11 states, which are North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.

8
00:00:54,200 --> 00:01:04,800
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.

9
00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:09,200
But before we get into our first segment, let's hear our quote of the day and get some headline news.

10
00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:13,600
Our quote of the day comes from none other than The Rock or Dwayne Johnson.

11
00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:15,000
He's quoted to have said,

12
00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:18,800
Success isn't always about greatness. It's about consistency.

13
00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:23,200
Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.

14
00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:27,600
This quote emphasizes the importance of pursuing consistency.

15
00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:37,200
It suggests that success is not achieved by chasing perfection or extraordinary results right away, but rather through steady, determined efforts over time.

16
00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:43,400
By focusing on consistent hard work, even small incremental progress can lead to meaningful achievements.

17
00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:51,800
It's a reminder that success is often built on persistence and dedication to daily actions rather than sudden grand outcomes.

18
00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:57,400
The quote also highlights that greatness seems to be a byproduct of sustained effort over time.

19
00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:06,600
The accumulation of consistent effort will naturally lead to exceptional results, allowing greatness to emerge as a reward for hard work and discipline.

20
00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:11,000
And that's our quote of the day. Now onto some headline news with Mia.

21
00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:13,400
Thank you for our quote of the day, Frank.

22
00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:25,200
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.

23
00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:35,000
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.

24
00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:44,800
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.

25
00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:48,000
Our next headline is about the fires in Los Angeles.

26
00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:53,800
Among burning thousands of structures, the fires also destroyed schools and educational sanctuaries.

27
00:02:53,800 --> 00:03:03,400
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,

28
00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:06,100
disrupting education for countless students.

29
00:03:06,100 --> 00:03:14,700
Poor air quality has further limited access to unaffected areas like Griffith Park, and over 300 schools across Southern California had to close.

30
00:03:14,700 --> 00:03:20,400
Experts are doing their best to restore normalcy to Los Angeles as quickly as possible.

31
00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:27,000
And finally, our final headline. A school in London is implementing a four day week, and students love it.

32
00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:35,400
Liberty Woodland School, for students age 4 to 16, is experimenting with ideas that might break the concept of a stereotypical school.

33
00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:41,900
Their facilities are yurt style tents, and they are now experimenting with a four day week due to the shortage of teachers.

34
00:03:41,900 --> 00:03:46,100
As of now, most if not all of the students feedback is positive.

35
00:03:46,100 --> 00:03:59,400
And that's our headline news for this episode.

36
00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:01,400
All right. Thank you for the quote and the headline news.

37
00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:06,400
We'll jump into our first segment with our special guest from Taylor University.

38
00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:12,800
Mia will get us started with our guest on the broad topic of what makes a college or university great.

39
00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:15,000
So go ahead and get us started, Mia.

40
00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:16,800
Hi guys, and welcome to the podcast.

41
00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:18,600
Thank you both for joining us today.

42
00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:21,400
And to get started, could you please introduce yourself?

43
00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:24,800
Tell us a little bit about what you do and where you are from.

44
00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:25,800
Yeah, thanks so much, Mia.

45
00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:27,300
My name is Andy Gammons.

46
00:04:27,300 --> 00:04:30,400
I'm the executive director of admissions at Taylor University.

47
00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:36,500
I've been at Taylor for four years in this position, but I'm also a 1999 Taylor grad.

48
00:04:36,500 --> 00:04:39,200
So it's been really great to be back.

49
00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:40,300
I have six kids.

50
00:04:40,300 --> 00:04:42,100
Three of them have been at Taylor so far.

51
00:04:42,100 --> 00:04:47,100
I met my wife at Taylor back in the day and we're excited to be back at the university.

52
00:04:47,100 --> 00:04:51,200
We live about a mile from campus and it's a great place to be.

53
00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:54,200
We're thankful to be a part of it.

54
00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:56,700
Yeah, my name is Tyler Smith.

55
00:04:56,700 --> 00:04:59,600
I serve as Andy's intern this year.

56
00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:04,800
So I have the privilege of traveling to Bangkok and in Chiang Mai as well.

57
00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:11,400
But I get to travel and network with you guys and tell you about the school that I so dearly love.

58
00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:13,600
And yeah, it's great.

59
00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:17,700
I'm a marketing major and a sport management minor.

60
00:05:17,700 --> 00:05:20,300
And then I call home to Huntington.

61
00:05:20,300 --> 00:05:23,300
It's about 35 minutes north of Taylor.

62
00:05:23,300 --> 00:05:25,400
And I am so Andy has six kids.

63
00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:27,600
I am one of six kids.

64
00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:30,300
I am the second oldest of six kids.

65
00:05:30,300 --> 00:05:33,000
So, yep, it's a little bit about me.

66
00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:33,400
All right.

67
00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:34,500
Thank you so much.

68
00:05:34,500 --> 00:05:37,600
So our broad theme for this episode is sort about the question.

69
00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:39,900
What makes a college or a university great?

70
00:05:39,900 --> 00:05:45,300
And so based on this theme, how do colleges and universities measure success in a way that

71
00:05:45,300 --> 00:05:48,400
positively shapes a student's future?

72
00:05:48,400 --> 00:05:49,500
Yeah, it's a great question.

73
00:05:49,500 --> 00:05:50,800
And I think a really great theme.

74
00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:56,100
And I think one of the challenges is how do you compare universities?

75
00:05:56,100 --> 00:05:57,500
How do you compare colleges?

76
00:05:57,500 --> 00:06:01,100
Because they all are really, really different.

77
00:06:01,100 --> 00:06:06,100
And I think that's one of the things yesterday when we were working with some students here at ICS.

78
00:06:06,100 --> 00:06:10,700
I asked them the question, tell me about your perfect college experience.

79
00:06:10,700 --> 00:06:15,600
And I think it's such a wonderful question to start that conversation for students because

80
00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:21,600
that's really going to shape the type of university or the type of college that you want to pursue.

81
00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:28,900
For instance, if you say, man, I want great research opportunities or I want the most prestigious

82
00:06:28,900 --> 00:06:35,900
place that I can go in order to launch me into a career that's going to be world shaping.

83
00:06:35,900 --> 00:06:38,700
That's going to be a particular type of university.

84
00:06:38,700 --> 00:06:43,900
But somebody might say, man, I really want a university where I can build deep relationships

85
00:06:43,900 --> 00:06:47,100
with my faculty and staff and with students.

86
00:06:47,100 --> 00:06:51,600
Oh, that's going to be a very different university than probably that research university.

87
00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:54,900
So I think that's a really great question to start with.

88
00:06:54,900 --> 00:07:00,200
And I encourage the students that we talked with yesterday to have that conversation with their parents

89
00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:07,900
because that's going to be a great university for you, Mia, might not be a great university for Tyler,

90
00:07:07,900 --> 00:07:12,100
and might not be a great university for Frank.

91
00:07:12,100 --> 00:07:17,300
Now, that being said, I do think there are some metrics that go across the board.

92
00:07:17,300 --> 00:07:20,500
There are outside college rankings.

93
00:07:20,500 --> 00:07:28,900
One of the things that we're talking about right now, Forbes just put out a list of colleges

94
00:07:28,900 --> 00:07:31,200
and their financial health.

95
00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:35,300
And that's a really, really important list to look at.

96
00:07:35,300 --> 00:07:42,300
So we talked to a dad yesterday whose daughter was at a school that closed.

97
00:07:42,300 --> 00:07:45,500
That is that's not a good outcome.

98
00:07:45,500 --> 00:07:52,400
Right. So I think looking at the health of an institution, some of their stats about career outcomes,

99
00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:55,000
you know, do students get a job afterwards?

100
00:07:55,000 --> 00:08:00,600
For instance, at Taylor University, 99% of our students are in jobs or in graduate school

101
00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:02,500
within six months of graduation.

102
00:08:02,500 --> 00:08:04,200
That's important, right?

103
00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:06,100
We call that our success rate.

104
00:08:06,100 --> 00:08:09,400
That compares to about 85% nationally.

105
00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:14,700
But we're even more excited about our excellence rate, which is 93%.

106
00:08:14,700 --> 00:08:19,400
That means students are in full-time jobs in their desired field within six months of graduation.

107
00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:22,600
And that compares to only about 56% nationally.

108
00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:24,800
So those are good stats to look at, right?

109
00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:33,400
If you're at a school where only 56% of their students are in full-time jobs at the end,

110
00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:37,600
within six months of graduation, that should give you some pause, right?

111
00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:42,700
Now, again, I read an article in The Wall Street Journal a couple years ago that said

112
00:08:42,700 --> 00:08:47,100
it's way more about the student than it is about the institution.

113
00:08:47,100 --> 00:08:51,500
So it was talking about Ivy League institutions and said there are students that graduate

114
00:08:51,500 --> 00:08:54,400
from Ivy League institutions and go and work at Starbucks.

115
00:08:54,400 --> 00:08:59,600
And then there are students that graduate from a significantly less prestigious university

116
00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:01,800
and go on to change the world.

117
00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:03,400
So it's way more about the student.

118
00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:07,100
But nevertheless, I think it's a really good question that we're going to have some time

119
00:09:07,100 --> 00:09:09,000
to talk about today.

120
00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:10,300
Thank you so much on that.

121
00:09:10,300 --> 00:09:14,700
And along the same idea of student-centered approach, our next question is related to

122
00:09:14,700 --> 00:09:16,200
networking and connections.

123
00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:22,800
So how important is networking and alumni engagement to our college and universities?

124
00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:26,900
Yeah, I think it's really important, especially for those career outcomes, right?

125
00:09:26,900 --> 00:09:34,200
So especially when you're 22 years old, you have very few skills.

126
00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:41,000
Even if you've really nailed it and you've gotten really good, it really is about who

127
00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:44,500
you know and the types of experiences you've gained during college.

128
00:09:44,500 --> 00:09:49,100
So Tyler, talk a little bit about the internships that you've had and maybe even how you got

129
00:09:49,100 --> 00:09:50,300
those internships.

130
00:09:50,300 --> 00:09:55,100
Yeah, so I'll touch on this internship a little bit.

131
00:09:55,100 --> 00:10:00,800
So last year, I worked on our admissions crew staff that we have at Taylor.

132
00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:04,300
Crew stands for campus representatives for encouragement and welcoming.

133
00:10:04,300 --> 00:10:05,600
So that's how I served.

134
00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:06,800
I gave campus tours.

135
00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:10,800
I helped with a lot of the special events that we do into the evenings.

136
00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:14,900
And then I hosted people overnight in our room or in my room.

137
00:10:14,900 --> 00:10:21,800
And then I once hosted people too, so when visitors would come and visit our campus,

138
00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:25,700
I would just eat lunch with them and ask them about their day and what they're doing.

139
00:10:25,700 --> 00:10:27,500
So that's what I did.

140
00:10:27,500 --> 00:10:29,700
And then I had known Andy previously.

141
00:10:29,700 --> 00:10:31,200
Andy was my boss last year too.

142
00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:33,100
So I had known him previously.

143
00:10:33,100 --> 00:10:37,700
And this time last year, he reached out to me and said, hey, I would love to have an

144
00:10:37,700 --> 00:10:39,200
intern this year.

145
00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:43,400
And I see what you've been doing in our office and that sort of thing.

146
00:10:43,400 --> 00:10:46,200
And so I was praying to be a resident assistant.

147
00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:48,800
I turned that down to take this job.

148
00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:50,800
And that has been, I mean, such a blessing.

149
00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:53,200
And so that was one of the internships I've done.

150
00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:56,840
And then over the summer, I got to work in sports insurance.

151
00:10:56,840 --> 00:11:00,240
For the past three summers, I'm hoping to do my fourth.

152
00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:08,440
And so they just ensure things from a small mini golf place to a giant arena where a national

153
00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:09,440
team would play.

154
00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:11,440
And so it's very interesting.

155
00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:12,520
It's very niche.

156
00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:19,040
And I think one of the big things of how I got those internships is I think my loyalty

157
00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:21,240
and dedication to those things.

158
00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:23,160
I love Taylor so much.

159
00:11:23,160 --> 00:11:24,700
And I love what I do.

160
00:11:24,700 --> 00:11:28,320
And I just kind of put all of myself into my work.

161
00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:30,920
Colossians 323 is one of my favorite verses.

162
00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:34,000
And so I live by that verse.

163
00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:36,200
And that's just how I live.

164
00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:37,520
And so I don't know if you want to.

165
00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:39,800
Your dad worked for that insurance company.

166
00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:45,020
And so that was helpful in that networking opportunity.

167
00:11:45,020 --> 00:11:51,920
So I think it really is who do you know and who are the people in your network?

168
00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:55,280
And alumni can really be helpful with that.

169
00:11:55,280 --> 00:12:02,800
So for instance, there are institutions that have really positive, really exciting alumni

170
00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:03,800
responses.

171
00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:11,160
So 97% of Taylor parents would say they do it all over again.

172
00:12:11,160 --> 00:12:13,240
That's part of that network.

173
00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:20,660
So it's going to be I'm going to call Drew Smith, Tyler's dad, if I want to do an internship

174
00:12:20,660 --> 00:12:22,960
in insurance.

175
00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:27,080
Because I know Tyler's dad works in insurance.

176
00:12:27,080 --> 00:12:28,160
Those are those types of things.

177
00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:31,360
And I know that Drew loves Taylor.

178
00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:38,560
So those networking opportunities, especially in that first job, very few 22-year-olds get

179
00:12:38,560 --> 00:12:40,480
hired because of their resume.

180
00:12:40,480 --> 00:12:41,480
Right?

181
00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:43,000
Very, very few.

182
00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:45,980
And so because their resume is just so thin.

183
00:12:45,980 --> 00:12:49,780
And so therefore, it's well, I have this connection.

184
00:12:49,780 --> 00:12:52,040
And alumni can really be a great part of that.

185
00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:53,040
Yeah.

186
00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:54,040
All right.

187
00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:55,040
Thank you.

188
00:12:55,040 --> 00:12:56,480
And this is just a follow-up question for me.

189
00:12:56,480 --> 00:12:59,800
But like when you did those internships, were you paid?

190
00:12:59,800 --> 00:13:00,800
Or was it?

191
00:13:00,800 --> 00:13:01,800
Yes, both of them were.

192
00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:02,800
Nice.

193
00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:03,800
OK.

194
00:13:03,800 --> 00:13:04,800
All right.

195
00:13:04,800 --> 00:13:08,600
Good to know because I actually did an internship as well at a law firm here.

196
00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:10,100
I didn't get paid.

197
00:13:10,100 --> 00:13:13,480
But it was more like I'm still a high school student.

198
00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:17,080
And so nice that you got paid.

199
00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:18,080
Yeah.

200
00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:20,620
Well, and those internship opportunities really are key.

201
00:13:20,620 --> 00:13:23,360
So I was working at another institution.

202
00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:26,100
And this young woman came back from the summer.

203
00:13:26,100 --> 00:13:27,620
And I said, how was your time?

204
00:13:27,620 --> 00:13:31,580
She had worked as an intern in a senator's office in Washington, D.C.

205
00:13:31,580 --> 00:13:33,720
And she said, well, it wasn't that great.

206
00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:35,960
I definitely know I don't want to do politics.

207
00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:40,760
And I said, that sounds like a successful internship to me.

208
00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:47,960
Part of those experiences in high school and college are to kind of hone and push into,

209
00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:50,480
well, I thought I liked this.

210
00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:54,600
And so she said, I really actually like the research side of politics more.

211
00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:57,660
So successful internship, in my opinion.

212
00:13:57,660 --> 00:14:01,720
So whether you're paid or not, paid is better, of course.

213
00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:04,360
But whether you're paid or not, that's still a good resume builder.

214
00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:05,360
And yeah, for sure.

215
00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:07,680
Continuing to shape and hone that network.

216
00:14:07,680 --> 00:14:08,680
Yeah, for sure.

217
00:14:08,680 --> 00:14:09,680
All right.

218
00:14:09,680 --> 00:14:10,680
Thank you.

219
00:14:10,680 --> 00:14:11,680
Now, our next question.

220
00:14:11,680 --> 00:14:17,260
So this question is sort of like the idea of educational trends, future growth and importance.

221
00:14:17,260 --> 00:14:22,440
And so what factors do you think beyond rankings and prestige should students and families

222
00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:26,280
consider when evaluating a college or a university?

223
00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:28,280
Yeah, so let me talk.

224
00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:30,600
I'll talk about a couple of things.

225
00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:35,520
First of all, I think that one of the questions to ask is who does this institution want me

226
00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:37,880
to become?

227
00:14:37,880 --> 00:14:41,420
And that is a great question for the admissions office.

228
00:14:41,420 --> 00:14:44,800
It's a great question for professors when you go to visit.

229
00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:47,200
Who do you want me to become?

230
00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:52,200
And if the answer fits with what you're looking for, great.

231
00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:58,560
For me, I want to be at a place that wants me to become more like Jesus Christ.

232
00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:02,500
And wants me to make an impact on his world.

233
00:15:02,500 --> 00:15:04,760
So that's the institution that I chose.

234
00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:09,840
Now, there would be other people that might say, if an institution says, we want you to

235
00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:13,600
be a world changer, okay, maybe that's good enough.

236
00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:16,400
Or we want you to be a better welder.

237
00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:18,620
Okay, maybe that's good enough.

238
00:15:18,620 --> 00:15:20,000
Maybe that's what you're looking for.

239
00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:23,480
So that for me is a great question.

240
00:15:23,480 --> 00:15:26,960
And there are definitely institutions that don't have an answer for that.

241
00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:29,520
Oh, we haven't really thought that through.

242
00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:36,800
We just are pushing out diplomas and we're, oh, so that should be, if they don't have

243
00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:40,520
an answer for that, I think that's a scary thing, right?

244
00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:45,660
But at a place like Taylor University, at a place that's a Christian liberal arts institution,

245
00:15:45,660 --> 00:15:52,880
our answer is that we exist to have people who have a passion for Jesus Christ to go

246
00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:55,560
out and change the world.

247
00:15:55,560 --> 00:15:59,240
And so we have that answer down pat, right?

248
00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:05,600
And I think there are examples of that, of people who are doing that on a daily basis

249
00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:08,720
through a real deep commitment to servant leadership.

250
00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:12,300
So that has nothing to do with rankings.

251
00:16:12,300 --> 00:16:17,580
That has nothing to do with how good somebody might say.

252
00:16:17,580 --> 00:16:23,160
But I really do think it goes to the mission of the institution and does that mission align

253
00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:27,320
with who you want to be for the next 40, 50, 60 years of your life?

254
00:16:27,320 --> 00:16:28,320
Yeah, definitely.

255
00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:31,760
I think that's a good point because if you were to choose a college, say Harvard, but

256
00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:36,480
then that doesn't necessarily align with your mindset, it could actually not be as good

257
00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:38,400
as some community college.

258
00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:39,400
Totally.

259
00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:41,700
So we talk a lot about fit.

260
00:16:41,700 --> 00:16:48,780
So you might get into a very prestigious institution, but it might not be a good fit for you.

261
00:16:48,780 --> 00:16:53,360
And so that's a really, really important piece.

262
00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:55,360
What kind of fit are you looking for?

263
00:16:55,360 --> 00:17:00,200
So I always talk to students and say, this is a place that I love.

264
00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:02,040
It's a place that Tyler loves.

265
00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:07,580
It's a place that the students that come here, I think overall love, but it may not be the

266
00:17:07,580 --> 00:17:09,380
best fit for you.

267
00:17:09,380 --> 00:17:15,120
And so your job, students and families, is to find the place that's the best fit.

268
00:17:15,120 --> 00:17:18,160
And I think that's going to help you accomplish your goals too.

269
00:17:18,160 --> 00:17:24,280
And that's really where some of those more empirical data pieces come into play.

270
00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:29,500
I've been talking a lot about this book that came out this past year called Christian Higher

271
00:17:29,500 --> 00:17:31,640
Education and Empirical Guide.

272
00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:35,780
It's by a guy at Baylor named Perry Glanzer, Dr. Perry Glanzer.

273
00:17:35,780 --> 00:17:41,900
And Glanzer in this book goes through all of the different Christian colleges, Christian

274
00:17:41,900 --> 00:17:46,140
and Catholic institutions in the United States and Canada, and rates them on a scale from

275
00:17:46,140 --> 00:17:50,720
zero to 28 on how they've operationalized the Christian mission.

276
00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:55,420
So again, from an empirical standpoint, he said, and really he's saying, how Christian

277
00:17:55,420 --> 00:17:56,660
is this place?

278
00:17:56,660 --> 00:18:02,860
So he said, he's talked to students all the time who say, well, I'm going to go to this

279
00:18:02,860 --> 00:18:08,260
Christian institution called Texas Christian University, TCU.

280
00:18:08,260 --> 00:18:13,140
Well that is not a Christian university and maybe hasn't been for a long, long time.

281
00:18:13,140 --> 00:18:17,500
And they might not even claim to be, but it says it right in their name.

282
00:18:17,500 --> 00:18:21,960
And so he said he wrote this book and did this research in order to really help students

283
00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:24,860
and families see, make those choices.

284
00:18:24,860 --> 00:18:27,140
And so it's a really positive piece.

285
00:18:27,140 --> 00:18:28,860
I think it's super helpful.

286
00:18:28,860 --> 00:18:31,140
Of course he's not doing interviews.

287
00:18:31,140 --> 00:18:36,280
There's not a heart check for how Christian an institution is, but he's asking questions

288
00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:41,340
like when you go on the website, do they talk about Jesus?

289
00:18:41,340 --> 00:18:42,580
Is it in the mission statement?

290
00:18:42,580 --> 00:18:45,520
Who has to be a Christian to work there, to attend there?

291
00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:46,520
Do they have chapel?

292
00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:48,220
Who has to go to chapel?

293
00:18:48,220 --> 00:18:51,540
Lots and lots of very empirical data-driven points.

294
00:18:51,540 --> 00:18:55,100
And I think it's, I bought 50 copies of the book and I'm kind of handing them out like

295
00:18:55,100 --> 00:19:01,420
candy because it's so important for students and families to be able to ask those questions

296
00:19:01,420 --> 00:19:05,180
and get some real data on how to compare.

297
00:19:05,180 --> 00:19:09,260
And that's what, you know, places like US News and Princeton Review have, are trying

298
00:19:09,260 --> 00:19:16,580
to do is help in a, from a data-driven standpoint, help people compare because it is, there are

299
00:19:16,580 --> 00:19:20,540
4,000 higher education institutions in the United States alone.

300
00:19:20,540 --> 00:19:25,140
And so to come up against that kind of a, you know, imagine that if you went into a

301
00:19:25,140 --> 00:19:30,100
store and there were 4,000 different chocolate candy bars, how would you make that choice?

302
00:19:30,100 --> 00:19:31,100
Right?

303
00:19:31,100 --> 00:19:34,660
There would be no way that you would be able to even over your lifetime, try all 4,000

304
00:19:34,660 --> 00:19:39,300
of those, so you just kind of, it's almost like a dart board, right?

305
00:19:39,300 --> 00:19:40,980
And so it's really hard.

306
00:19:40,980 --> 00:19:46,180
So then, you know, the person with the best marketing rises to the top, the person with

307
00:19:46,180 --> 00:19:51,220
the most name recognition or the longest, those are the places that I think tend to

308
00:19:51,220 --> 00:19:52,220
rise to the top.

309
00:19:52,220 --> 00:19:55,460
And that, again, doesn't always serve students and families very well.

310
00:19:55,460 --> 00:19:56,460
Yeah.

311
00:19:56,460 --> 00:19:57,460
Thank you so much.

312
00:19:57,460 --> 00:19:59,180
That is definitely a very good point.

313
00:19:59,180 --> 00:20:04,180
And now moving along with the same idea of kind of educational trends and future growth,

314
00:20:04,180 --> 00:20:08,940
our next question is, how do colleges and universities effectively balance offering

315
00:20:08,940 --> 00:20:14,660
a broad liberal arts education with specialized programs so that students are well equipped

316
00:20:14,660 --> 00:20:15,660
for the workforce?

317
00:20:15,660 --> 00:20:20,100
Yeah, this was one of my favorite questions as I looked at the questions ahead of time.

318
00:20:20,100 --> 00:20:24,900
You know, I think that I just heard somebody say this a while back.

319
00:20:24,900 --> 00:20:30,620
They said 80% of the jobs that will be available when you graduate are not invented yet.

320
00:20:30,620 --> 00:20:32,920
Now think about that, right?

321
00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:40,620
So even this thing that we're doing right now, a podcaster, this was not invented 15

322
00:20:40,620 --> 00:20:41,620
years ago.

323
00:20:41,620 --> 00:20:47,060
If you had said podcast to someone 15 years ago, they would have said, what?

324
00:20:47,060 --> 00:20:48,060
And now it's ubiquitous.

325
00:20:48,060 --> 00:20:49,060
Yeah.

326
00:20:49,060 --> 00:20:50,060
Right?

327
00:20:50,060 --> 00:20:57,700
And so how do we train students to be able to adapt to new trends, to new things?

328
00:20:57,700 --> 00:21:01,700
I believe, and most people that are doing the kinds of, are at the kind of places that

329
00:21:01,700 --> 00:21:04,500
I'm at, is that's through a liberal arts mindset.

330
00:21:04,500 --> 00:21:10,240
So at a liberal arts institution, you're being taught to think, you're being taught to learn.

331
00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:18,420
So if all you want to do is fix a car, then you can take a course in auto mechanics and

332
00:21:18,420 --> 00:21:19,520
learn how to do that.

333
00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:23,140
But I'll tell you, the car that comes out 10 years from now will be different from the

334
00:21:23,140 --> 00:21:25,500
car that is out today.

335
00:21:25,500 --> 00:21:27,780
And so you better be a lifelong learner.

336
00:21:27,780 --> 00:21:33,660
You better be somebody, unless you're going to get stuck in, well, I don't know how to

337
00:21:33,660 --> 00:21:34,840
fix that car anymore.

338
00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:38,020
The auto mechanic is always going to new trainings.

339
00:21:38,020 --> 00:21:40,300
You're understanding what that's all about.

340
00:21:40,300 --> 00:21:45,620
So I think that that is really, that is a liberal arts standpoint, right?

341
00:21:45,620 --> 00:21:51,020
It's not just so I can have good conversations at a dinner party, which I think is the kind

342
00:21:51,020 --> 00:21:54,180
of cliche about a liberal arts education.

343
00:21:54,180 --> 00:22:00,920
It's so that I can understand what the world is really all about and be a learner who is

344
00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:03,620
not afraid to dig into a new topic.

345
00:22:03,620 --> 00:22:08,500
And truth told, I was not that learner at age 18.

346
00:22:08,500 --> 00:22:10,420
I have become that, right?

347
00:22:10,420 --> 00:22:14,940
I've been somebody that says, okay, I like to read.

348
00:22:14,940 --> 00:22:18,140
I like to dig into new topics.

349
00:22:18,140 --> 00:22:21,700
And I think that's part of the growth process of a college student as well, just from a

350
00:22:21,700 --> 00:22:22,900
developmental standpoint.

351
00:22:22,900 --> 00:22:23,900
All right.

352
00:22:23,900 --> 00:22:24,900
Thank you.

353
00:22:24,900 --> 00:22:29,780
And now our next question sort of fits under admissions, but also culture.

354
00:22:29,780 --> 00:22:35,700
So the question is, how important is the admissions process and what role does that process play

355
00:22:35,700 --> 00:22:39,820
in reflecting a college or a university's core values, would you say?

356
00:22:39,820 --> 00:22:40,900
Yeah, that's a great question.

357
00:22:40,900 --> 00:22:43,140
I'll turn that over to Tyler.

358
00:22:43,140 --> 00:22:49,100
Tyler, maybe just talk about what your admissions experience was like and how important was

359
00:22:49,100 --> 00:22:50,660
the admissions office.

360
00:22:50,660 --> 00:22:54,900
And tell it true, because I think your brother was probably the most important piece.

361
00:22:54,900 --> 00:22:56,620
But yeah, for sure.

362
00:22:56,620 --> 00:22:59,140
So I had an older brother that graduated from Taylor.

363
00:22:59,140 --> 00:23:00,980
That's a nice, yeah.

364
00:23:00,980 --> 00:23:04,980
And I have a current freshman or a current brother who's a freshman there too.

365
00:23:04,980 --> 00:23:06,260
Got it.

366
00:23:06,260 --> 00:23:08,200
There's been three kids that have gone through Taylor so far.

367
00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:13,900
So I do remember my campus tour being really like influential.

368
00:23:13,900 --> 00:23:19,580
I remember like looking at Taylor and being like, wow, this chapel is insane.

369
00:23:19,580 --> 00:23:30,020
And then seeing the culture that they have and seeing this wanted spiritual community

370
00:23:30,020 --> 00:23:33,980
and the intentionality of the tour guides.

371
00:23:33,980 --> 00:23:35,860
And yeah, it was great.

372
00:23:35,860 --> 00:23:38,540
And so yeah, my brother did a lot of that.

373
00:23:38,540 --> 00:23:41,540
I saw what he was experiencing.

374
00:23:41,540 --> 00:23:48,900
And in me being in high school and just wanting that, that was like an easy sell for me kind

375
00:23:48,900 --> 00:23:49,900
of.

376
00:23:49,900 --> 00:23:55,180
So from the admissions side, yes, definitely really important, especially for someone that

377
00:23:55,180 --> 00:23:57,020
hasn't visited campus before.

378
00:23:57,020 --> 00:23:58,980
So I wasn't in that boat.

379
00:23:58,980 --> 00:24:06,540
But yeah, it's super important because it's like maybe the first step in someone seeing

380
00:24:06,540 --> 00:24:08,300
a college for the first time.

381
00:24:08,300 --> 00:24:11,580
And for me, that was my brother.

382
00:24:11,580 --> 00:24:15,180
But also, I do remember my tour guide being really intentional.

383
00:24:15,180 --> 00:24:20,700
And I do remember the people that I was with, the students that I was interacting with in

384
00:24:20,700 --> 00:24:24,780
the classes that I visited and the lunch hosts I had.

385
00:24:24,780 --> 00:24:28,920
And these little things that all make a big difference.

386
00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:34,060
But you talk about your overnight stay and what that was like too.

387
00:24:34,060 --> 00:24:35,060
Yeah.

388
00:24:35,060 --> 00:24:36,900
The overnight stay that I had.

389
00:24:36,900 --> 00:24:42,740
So Taylor does the 24 at Taylor, which is you stay overnight in someone's residence

390
00:24:42,740 --> 00:24:43,740
hall.

391
00:24:43,740 --> 00:24:44,740
Oh, we should do it.

392
00:24:44,740 --> 00:24:45,740
Yeah, it's awesome.

393
00:24:45,740 --> 00:24:50,900
So you stay overnight in someone's residence hall and sleep in the room and just be a Taylor

394
00:24:50,900 --> 00:24:52,420
student for a day.

395
00:24:52,420 --> 00:24:55,860
And so that's what I did in my junior year of high school.

396
00:24:55,860 --> 00:25:01,780
And so as a junior and staying in my brother's room and just talking to the guys on the wing

397
00:25:01,780 --> 00:25:06,060
who had just met me that night, and I felt like I was a part of their wing for the night.

398
00:25:06,060 --> 00:25:13,060
And so I did that overnight visit and I came back to school and I instantly got this feeling

399
00:25:13,060 --> 00:25:14,420
of junioritis.

400
00:25:14,420 --> 00:25:19,400
So you might have senioritis, but I had junioritis when I came back to high school.

401
00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:23,300
That next day of high school was so tough because it's like, why do I have to be back

402
00:25:23,300 --> 00:25:24,300
here?

403
00:25:24,300 --> 00:25:25,300
Why can't I be a Taylor?

404
00:25:25,300 --> 00:25:26,700
So that's what I had.

405
00:25:26,700 --> 00:25:31,060
And that was just the clicking point that I wanted to be a Taylor.

406
00:25:31,060 --> 00:25:37,700
And so those special events that we do, the events that other colleges might not do is

407
00:25:37,700 --> 00:25:39,060
something that sets us apart.

408
00:25:39,060 --> 00:25:44,660
And that's something that's sought after by students.

409
00:25:44,660 --> 00:25:50,940
I want to experience that and be that student for that day.

410
00:25:50,940 --> 00:25:53,880
And what I would say is our job is facilitation.

411
00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:57,740
So I've said over and over and over again, nobody comes to a university because of the

412
00:25:57,740 --> 00:25:59,320
admissions office.

413
00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:02,060
They come to the university because of the students that they see.

414
00:26:02,060 --> 00:26:04,620
They come to the university because of the faculty and staff.

415
00:26:04,620 --> 00:26:08,900
And our job is to facilitate and to showcase.

416
00:26:08,900 --> 00:26:14,340
So I always do say, if the admissions office isn't any good, it's not going to get any

417
00:26:14,340 --> 00:26:16,140
better.

418
00:26:16,140 --> 00:26:19,860
So if the admissions office won't return your phone calls, if the admissions office won't

419
00:26:19,860 --> 00:26:23,940
return an email, then no one will at the institution.

420
00:26:23,940 --> 00:26:25,640
So I think it is a gauge.

421
00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:30,740
We always talk about the service fall off.

422
00:26:30,740 --> 00:26:33,780
So we work really hard not to have a service fall off.

423
00:26:33,780 --> 00:26:37,580
So our level of service is extra mile.

424
00:26:37,580 --> 00:26:42,740
My team, we will go the extra mile to provide great customer service.

425
00:26:42,740 --> 00:26:47,460
So we want to make really sure that there's not a service fall off once a student comes

426
00:26:47,460 --> 00:26:49,460
to campus.

427
00:26:49,460 --> 00:26:54,800
That on day one of Welcome Weekend, there's still as high of a level of customer service.

428
00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:58,580
It's going to look different, of course, because now that you're living there and you're doing

429
00:26:58,580 --> 00:27:04,220
an everyday thing, but there still needs to be a super high level of customer service.

430
00:27:04,220 --> 00:27:06,980
So I think that's the most important thing.

431
00:27:06,980 --> 00:27:08,820
And we are ambassadors, right?

432
00:27:08,820 --> 00:27:15,340
So last night we had a great event with a bunch of ICS students and their families to

433
00:27:15,340 --> 00:27:17,100
talk about Taylor University.

434
00:27:17,100 --> 00:27:20,460
And they may never get to Taylor University.

435
00:27:20,460 --> 00:27:27,740
So we may be their only conduit, their only picture of what Taylor University is.

436
00:27:27,740 --> 00:27:30,700
Or we may be the one that gets them to visit, right?

437
00:27:30,700 --> 00:27:32,420
So we take that very seriously.

438
00:27:32,420 --> 00:27:38,540
That we want to, and for me, my goal is to give as accurate a picture as possible towards

439
00:27:38,540 --> 00:27:40,500
that fit conversation, right?

440
00:27:40,500 --> 00:27:44,700
I had a great supervisor that said in sales, which is what the admissions office is, it's

441
00:27:44,700 --> 00:27:49,460
sales, that the worst thing that can happen is a surprise.

442
00:27:49,460 --> 00:27:54,740
So if a student gets to campus and they say, wow, this was better than I thought it was

443
00:27:54,740 --> 00:27:55,780
going to be.

444
00:27:55,780 --> 00:27:57,160
We've undersold.

445
00:27:57,160 --> 00:27:58,940
We didn't do a very good job.

446
00:27:58,940 --> 00:28:03,100
But on the flip side of that, if they get to campus and they say, well, this isn't what

447
00:28:03,100 --> 00:28:06,380
I thought it was going to be, then we've oversold.

448
00:28:06,380 --> 00:28:11,740
So my goal is always in our events, in our visits, in our conversations with students,

449
00:28:11,740 --> 00:28:16,620
in our marketing material, is to give as accurate a picture of who we are as an institution

450
00:28:16,620 --> 00:28:17,900
as possible.

451
00:28:17,900 --> 00:28:21,380
So that when a student gets there, they know exactly what they've purchased and they're

452
00:28:21,380 --> 00:28:22,980
excited about that purchase.

453
00:28:22,980 --> 00:28:27,260
And I think that that's one of the reasons we've had the high level of success that we

454
00:28:27,260 --> 00:28:30,460
have over the last few years.

455
00:28:30,460 --> 00:28:31,460
Thank you so much.

456
00:28:31,460 --> 00:28:32,740
That's very insightful.

457
00:28:32,740 --> 00:28:35,540
And I've got another culture of focus question as well.

458
00:28:35,540 --> 00:28:41,660
It is, in what ways can a college or university foster a welcoming and engaging campus culture

459
00:28:41,660 --> 00:28:43,740
for both students and faculty?

460
00:28:43,740 --> 00:28:45,300
Yeah, it's a great question.

461
00:28:45,300 --> 00:28:51,580
And I think it has to start from the very top.

462
00:28:51,580 --> 00:28:56,380
So who are the people that are demonstrating that welcoming environment?

463
00:28:56,380 --> 00:28:59,940
Who are the people that are engaging in that?

464
00:28:59,940 --> 00:29:02,180
And it can't just be the admissions office.

465
00:29:02,180 --> 00:29:06,700
One of the things I love about Taylor University is when people come up to me and say, do you

466
00:29:06,700 --> 00:29:13,460
have people stationed, planted around campus to say hello?

467
00:29:13,460 --> 00:29:18,820
And I always say no, and that would be really weird if we did, right?

468
00:29:18,820 --> 00:29:25,060
But our students at Taylor University are excited to share this place with each other,

469
00:29:25,060 --> 00:29:27,040
with new and incoming people.

470
00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:32,340
And so we were just rated the number three happiest students in the country by the Princeton

471
00:29:32,340 --> 00:29:33,820
Review.

472
00:29:33,820 --> 00:29:39,440
And some of that is the self-selection of who we are and where we are.

473
00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:44,540
So a student who is not interested in Taylor University has no reason to come to Taylor

474
00:29:44,540 --> 00:29:46,220
University, right?

475
00:29:46,220 --> 00:29:53,180
So there are places where it's close, it's affordable, it works.

476
00:29:53,180 --> 00:29:55,060
We're not any of those things.

477
00:29:55,060 --> 00:30:00,280
We are the kind of place that the only people that come there is people who are super excited

478
00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:04,640
about digging deep into relationships with each other and with the Lord and want that

479
00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:06,460
to be their college experience.

480
00:30:06,460 --> 00:30:12,840
I talk every day about Christ-centered, rigorous academics in an ultra-engaged community.

481
00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:16,760
And so if that's what you want, you come to Taylor University, we do that better than

482
00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:18,220
any place else in the world.

483
00:30:18,220 --> 00:30:23,780
And so you come for that and then we make that and people are super excited about what

484
00:30:23,780 --> 00:30:25,780
that looks like going forward.

485
00:30:25,780 --> 00:30:29,020
Providing a welcoming environment, I don't think it's something where you can just say,

486
00:30:29,020 --> 00:30:33,620
hey, we encourage people to say hello to each other on.

487
00:30:33,620 --> 00:30:34,620
No, no, no.

488
00:30:34,620 --> 00:30:37,440
Some of that is just Jesus stuff, right?

489
00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:40,300
As we become more like Jesus, we become more welcoming.

490
00:30:40,300 --> 00:30:45,620
Well, if you're a large state institution where Jesus isn't a part of the picture at

491
00:30:45,620 --> 00:30:54,220
all, I think that you have to go towards altruism and things that really are not central to

492
00:30:54,220 --> 00:30:55,220
the mission.

493
00:30:55,220 --> 00:31:01,140
Hey, Tyler, talk just a little bit more about welcoming, what it felt like for you to be

494
00:31:01,140 --> 00:31:08,820
on campus, either as a visitor or as somebody who was new and what that welcome felt like.

495
00:31:08,820 --> 00:31:11,260
It was awesome.

496
00:31:11,260 --> 00:31:13,300
The way that the tour guides...

497
00:31:13,300 --> 00:31:15,420
So the tour guides knew my name.

498
00:31:15,420 --> 00:31:17,780
That was something that stuck out to me.

499
00:31:17,780 --> 00:31:20,300
Hey, what do you like to do?

500
00:31:20,300 --> 00:31:25,420
And it wasn't just about, here's the facts and here's, Taylor, here's what you need to

501
00:31:25,420 --> 00:31:26,420
know.

502
00:31:26,420 --> 00:31:29,260
Here's maybe the selling points or something like that.

503
00:31:29,260 --> 00:31:34,100
It was more of, it's a catered tour, right?

504
00:31:34,100 --> 00:31:35,780
Got it.

505
00:31:35,780 --> 00:31:41,180
Getting to know you and it's caring about you, you're not just another notch in our

506
00:31:41,180 --> 00:31:42,960
goal or whatever.

507
00:31:42,960 --> 00:31:45,420
It's not just another notch on your tour belt.

508
00:31:45,420 --> 00:31:49,020
It's just, what do you like to do?

509
00:31:49,020 --> 00:31:51,740
It's praying for you at the end of the tour as well.

510
00:31:51,740 --> 00:31:57,700
That was something that stuck out to me and something kind of practical that I noticed.

511
00:31:57,700 --> 00:32:06,980
Yeah, that was something that made me feel welcomed and gave me a sense of belonging

512
00:32:06,980 --> 00:32:08,940
before I was even there.

513
00:32:08,940 --> 00:32:11,140
And so that's what Taylor is.

514
00:32:11,140 --> 00:32:16,180
We want to welcome you before you're officially a student on campus.

515
00:32:16,180 --> 00:32:20,540
They made a point of asking about what I was involved in.

516
00:32:20,540 --> 00:32:25,780
And if I said I played baseball, they're like, oh, if the tour guide was a sports person,

517
00:32:25,780 --> 00:32:29,140
oh, I played baseball or softball too in high school.

518
00:32:29,140 --> 00:32:30,140
What position did you play?

519
00:32:30,140 --> 00:32:31,220
And then you talk about that.

520
00:32:31,220 --> 00:32:35,100
And then all of a sudden you're talking about coaches and your team and how good you are

521
00:32:35,100 --> 00:32:37,060
or how bad you are.

522
00:32:37,060 --> 00:32:45,900
And then you're going along the lines and going deeper into a topic that is not about

523
00:32:45,900 --> 00:32:48,020
Taylor.

524
00:32:48,020 --> 00:32:50,580
That's not why you're there.

525
00:32:50,580 --> 00:32:54,780
You signed up for a Taylor at Grandpa's visit, but you're talking about something else other

526
00:32:54,780 --> 00:32:55,780
than that.

527
00:32:55,780 --> 00:32:58,020
Yeah, just a follow up question for me.

528
00:32:58,020 --> 00:33:00,140
Did you go to any other university tours?

529
00:33:00,140 --> 00:33:01,440
Yes, I did.

530
00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:03,380
So I went to only one other one.

531
00:33:03,380 --> 00:33:04,380
Oh, okay.

532
00:33:04,380 --> 00:33:10,340
Was there like a big significance in how you felt going into that universe?

533
00:33:10,340 --> 00:33:17,820
Yeah, it's difficult because I was at Taylor a couple more times other than this other

534
00:33:17,820 --> 00:33:18,820
institution.

535
00:33:18,820 --> 00:33:19,820
Okay, okay.

536
00:33:19,820 --> 00:33:22,340
Yeah, so it was different.

537
00:33:22,340 --> 00:33:27,560
I was kind of set on there wasn't a point where I was ever like, I don't think I'm going

538
00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:28,560
to Taylor.

539
00:33:28,560 --> 00:33:32,180
Oh, like I was set on Taylor and then I gave this other school like a shot.

540
00:33:32,180 --> 00:33:36,140
Like, okay, I just want to visit just to not, you know, block out anything.

541
00:33:36,140 --> 00:33:40,460
Okay, so to finish off this segment, we have two questions, one about the present and one

542
00:33:40,460 --> 00:33:41,660
about the future.

543
00:33:41,660 --> 00:33:46,680
So my question is about the present and what would you say are some challenges that colleges

544
00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:48,240
and universities face today?

545
00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:53,260
And how are they sort of innovating and changing to face these challenges?

546
00:33:53,260 --> 00:33:56,100
Yeah, yeah, it's a great question.

547
00:33:56,100 --> 00:34:01,060
And the number one answer that you'll hear from most everybody is the enrollment cliff.

548
00:34:01,060 --> 00:34:05,580
So the enrollment cliff is 2008 was the Great Recession.

549
00:34:05,580 --> 00:34:09,820
2008 plus 18 gives you 2026.

550
00:34:09,820 --> 00:34:16,740
And that is so the thought is in 2008, the Great Recession, people stopped have not stopped

551
00:34:16,740 --> 00:34:20,260
entirely but had fewer kids.

552
00:34:20,260 --> 00:34:24,800
And so the number of students in high school has shrunk period.

553
00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:28,900
So for Christian liberal arts institutions, not only has the number of high school students

554
00:34:28,900 --> 00:34:34,020
shrunk the number of high school students that claim the name of Jesus as shrunk.

555
00:34:34,020 --> 00:34:38,100
And so the number of high school students that claim the name of Jesus as shrunk plus

556
00:34:38,100 --> 00:34:41,880
the number of high school students that claim the name of Jesus that are interested in a

557
00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:47,980
Christian liberal arts institution has shrunk, plus the number of students that are in that

558
00:34:47,980 --> 00:34:51,900
boat that also are able to pay for that kind of an institution has shrunk.

559
00:34:51,900 --> 00:34:58,080
So the customer base is really...

560
00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:03,840
shrinking. So different institutions have taken different approaches to

561
00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:07,500
this and mostly I'm talking about Christian higher education institutions.

562
00:35:07,500 --> 00:35:12,440
If you want I can try and broaden it a little bit to higher education in

563
00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:15,720
general. But so what's happened in Christian higher education is

564
00:35:15,720 --> 00:35:20,400
institutions have done one of two things. They've either said we're gonna be all

565
00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:26,960
things to all people and tried to bring in more people from different areas and

566
00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:31,040
that has not worked very well. So especially around issues of culture and

567
00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:36,480
politics. Oh that's who you are? Okay we can be that. Oh you're this? Oh we can be

568
00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:42,280
that. And that has not that has not done very well for most people. Those

569
00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:47,080
institutions that have done well are institutions that have said this is who

570
00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:52,960
we are and we are honing in on the brand and honing in on our mission and taking

571
00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:57,680
a stand wherever that is culturally or politically but that's who we are and

572
00:35:57,680 --> 00:36:02,360
this we are very clear and delivering that clear message about mission, vision

573
00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:07,440
and values to to the customer base. I always say nobody wants to buy vanilla.

574
00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:12,920
Vanilla is a very hard flavor to sell. You like vanilla? Most people don't like

575
00:36:12,920 --> 00:36:17,160
vanilla. Taylor University is not a vanilla institution. It's very specific

576
00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:22,280
right? And so I think that that's really important is to put out a very specific

577
00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:27,960
very nuanced version of who you are as an institution and then if students are

578
00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:31,960
attracted to that great. If they're not well they can find someplace else but to

579
00:36:31,960 --> 00:36:36,320
try and be again all things to all people I think is not a good thing in

580
00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:40,680
this particular time. But you know generally speaking in higher education

581
00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:46,800
folks are looking at different delivery modes online and I think really at the

582
00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:51,040
end of the day for a place like Taylor University it is back to what we've been

583
00:36:51,040 --> 00:36:57,040
doing for 178 years. This deep relational place, incarnational education where we're

584
00:36:57,040 --> 00:37:01,560
face to face digging into what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ in

585
00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:07,400
this world whatever the discipline is and going hard after those things. Yeah so

586
00:37:07,400 --> 00:37:11,380
Miss Jen was talking about the four P's of college choice yesterday. She talked

587
00:37:11,380 --> 00:37:17,200
about people, place, program and price and so all of those things are things

588
00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:20,440
that I think institutions especially institutions that are struggling are

589
00:37:20,440 --> 00:37:26,920
trying to trying to get better at. So you're talking about program. Yes by all

590
00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:32,280
means so for instance at Taylor we just launched a nursing program. We are in the

591
00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:35,720
process of launching a physician assistant program. So those are things

592
00:37:35,720 --> 00:37:41,240
that health care is everything is about health care right now. So we are moving

593
00:37:41,240 --> 00:37:46,120
harder into those places really pushing. So our top programs over the years have

594
00:37:46,120 --> 00:37:49,760
been education, business and psychology and those are still really strong

595
00:37:49,760 --> 00:37:54,200
programs for us but we're bringing on these other programs as well and you

596
00:37:54,200 --> 00:38:00,040
have to be careful with that too because are those really strong programs or are

597
00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:04,720
those things that an institution is just saying well maybe we'll try this and

598
00:38:04,720 --> 00:38:10,040
throwing spaghetti against the wall and see what's seeing what sticks right. So

599
00:38:10,040 --> 00:38:16,040
there are some of those institutions that are maybe in their last gasp that

600
00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:22,160
are you know trying some different programs but I think yes for sure always

601
00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:26,000
working on the product side the program side to make sure that it's what the

602
00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:31,680
customer wants. I mean that's that's just business right. So whatever whatever it

603
00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:38,480
is if Netflix is still sending out DVDs in the mail they're in trouble right. So

604
00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:44,160
institutions, businesses have to change and morph or your blockbuster video.

605
00:38:44,160 --> 00:38:47,240
You'll have to look those up on the internet because I'm sure you don't have

606
00:38:47,240 --> 00:38:51,000
any idea what I'm talking about. Alright now that we were talking about the

607
00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:54,880
present let's talk about the future and so what are some ways colleges and

608
00:38:54,880 --> 00:38:58,840
universities are preparing students to be lifelong learners to be able to adapt

609
00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:03,120
in a rapidly changing world for the future. So I think this goes back to the

610
00:39:03,120 --> 00:39:09,320
liberal arts curriculum right. I think that as you dig into subjects that

611
00:39:09,320 --> 00:39:14,600
you're unaware of that you are that are new to you that maybe you're you you say

612
00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:18,560
to yourself why am I learning this. I love that question from students. Why am

613
00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:23,360
I learning this? So that you can learn how to learn right. So that you can learn

614
00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:27,400
how to understand something that maybe initially you aren't interested in.

615
00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:32,720
Welcome to adulthood right. So welcome to something where your boss drops

616
00:39:32,720 --> 00:39:39,040
something on your desk and says we don't know anything about this you need to.

617
00:39:39,040 --> 00:39:45,040
What? So that might be your calculus class that you really didn't want

618
00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:48,840
anything to do with. That might be your history class that you didn't want

619
00:39:48,840 --> 00:39:53,080
anything to do with as a business major right. So that new project that you're

620
00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:58,960
that your boss drops on your desk or even your your positions eliminated. I

621
00:39:58,960 --> 00:40:03,680
was we lived in Minneapolis and Minneapolis is a headquartered of

622
00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:09,000
Target. I'm watching the news one day and Target had two meetings that day. One

623
00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:14,720
meeting was the you're you're staying. One meeting was that you're going pick up

624
00:40:14,720 --> 00:40:20,900
your box and you have an hour to exit the building. So all of those exit the

625
00:40:20,900 --> 00:40:25,500
building folks hopefully they were lifelong learners right. Hopefully they

626
00:40:25,500 --> 00:40:30,480
had dug into that general education core in their undergraduate that helped them

627
00:40:30,480 --> 00:40:37,520
become understand how to say I've got to reshape myself. I'm no longer a Target

628
00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:42,760
employee and so how do I make this work because I've got a family to feed. I've

629
00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:47,280
got a mortgage to pay. You know I have to forty more years of work that I have to

630
00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:52,880
do. So I really think those are some of the amazing pieces of lifelong learning.

631
00:40:52,880 --> 00:40:59,120
I think it's also getting back to who the student is. Tyler Smith is gonna have

632
00:40:59,120 --> 00:41:03,880
no problem finding a job because he's a hustler. He's worked he's had four

633
00:41:03,880 --> 00:41:10,360
internships as a junior with the same company. No problem whatsoever right. Work

634
00:41:10,360 --> 00:41:14,720
will never be a problem for Tyler. He'll have all sorts of problems right but

635
00:41:14,720 --> 00:41:19,120
work will never be one of those because because he's a hustler. Now if you're not

636
00:41:19,120 --> 00:41:24,720
a hustler lifelong learner or not you're gonna struggle and so I really think

637
00:41:24,720 --> 00:41:29,360
yes those are things that the institution can do but I think those are

638
00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:33,760
character things as well and those are things that hopefully your parents have

639
00:41:33,760 --> 00:41:39,600
instilled in you growing up. Issues of character issues of grit right. Grit is a

640
00:41:39,600 --> 00:41:44,800
super important topic that folks are talking about. So the folks that got let

641
00:41:44,800 --> 00:41:50,160
go from Target that have grit no problem. They're in a new job as soon as the

642
00:41:50,160 --> 00:41:55,320
severance runs out and probably before right and then the folks that don't have

643
00:41:55,320 --> 00:42:00,960
a lot of grit those are the ones that are gonna struggle. Yeah for sure. All

644
00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:05,800
right thank you and final question our final question is what advice would you

645
00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:09,600
give to students and families who are navigating the college search process

646
00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:14,760
and trying to find the right university fit. Yeah I would just say from a

647
00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:18,800
student's perspective I would just say find what works for you. Make a checklist.

648
00:42:18,800 --> 00:42:23,800
Do I want to do a public university? Do I want to do a Christian University? How

649
00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:28,680
many kids do I want at the school? You know find what works for you and make a

650
00:42:28,680 --> 00:42:31,920
checklist and narrow it down. That's what I would say that's what I did. You know

651
00:42:31,920 --> 00:42:35,680
when I was a little kid my dad graduated from IU and so when I was a little kid I

652
00:42:35,680 --> 00:42:39,640
was thinking oh IU seems like a fun place and I like to you know watch their

653
00:42:39,640 --> 00:42:43,680
college basketball games when I was a kid. So IU sounds great and then you know

654
00:42:43,680 --> 00:42:47,520
the more I got to high school and figured out you know and had those

655
00:42:47,520 --> 00:42:53,160
classes and those activities in high school of like what college do you

656
00:42:53,160 --> 00:42:56,760
actually want to attend I figured out that IU is actually the complete

657
00:42:56,760 --> 00:43:01,560
opposite of what I wanted to do and I wanted to do a Christian school and you

658
00:43:01,560 --> 00:43:05,160
know get to know my professors and get to know my classmates and you know

659
00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:08,000
different things like that and so I would just say take advantage of the

660
00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:11,840
activities that you're given in high school and then I would also say from

661
00:43:11,840 --> 00:43:15,840
like a student's perspective I tell perspective students this all the time

662
00:43:15,840 --> 00:43:21,480
like I took it upon myself my senior year of high school especially like I

663
00:43:21,480 --> 00:43:25,440
just started like kind of freaking out about my grades and about like getting

664
00:43:25,440 --> 00:43:31,560
all A's and like putting all of my work into my academics and you know not that

665
00:43:31,560 --> 00:43:34,880
that's a bad thing that's actually a good thing and that's what you know

666
00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:38,280
we're supposed to do we're supposed to work hard but I probably could have

667
00:43:38,280 --> 00:43:42,560
chilled out a little bit more if I was gonna be honest I couldn't have put a

668
00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:47,040
lot I put a lot of stress on myself and I didn't need to put a lot of stress on

669
00:43:47,040 --> 00:43:52,800
myself so I would just say take it one day at a time and to just relax a little

670
00:43:52,800 --> 00:43:58,120
bit and give yourself grace and figure out what works for you yeah all right

671
00:43:58,120 --> 00:44:02,480
thank you thank you mr. Andy and Tyler for sharing some great insights and

672
00:44:02,480 --> 00:44:07,240
advice not only about Taylor University and what Taylor has to offer but also

673
00:44:07,240 --> 00:44:11,240
some practical things that students and parents can do when it comes to choosing

674
00:44:11,240 --> 00:44:16,960
a college or university that fits so thank you for that this also concludes

675
00:44:16,960 --> 00:44:20,400
our first segment so stick around as we'll be right back with our second

676
00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:25,120
segment right after this short PSA announcement

677
00:44:27,360 --> 00:44:32,080
for today's PSA we will have a quick interview with the special guest who's

678
00:44:32,080 --> 00:44:36,400
going to talk about the upcoming speech mania competition that will be hosted

679
00:44:36,400 --> 00:44:41,480
here at ICS so hello and thank you for joining us here at students incorporated

680
00:44:41,480 --> 00:44:45,520
for the PSA could you please introduce yourself and tell us where you're from

681
00:44:45,520 --> 00:44:50,480
hi thank you for having me so first of all I'll just introduce myself for a

682
00:44:50,480 --> 00:44:54,360
little bit my name is proud I'm currently a senior at ISB and I'm the

683
00:44:54,360 --> 00:44:58,680
founder of speech mania and I'm also the national representative for Thailand

684
00:44:58,680 --> 00:45:02,640
worlds for the past two years and this year is my first time transitioning as

685
00:45:02,640 --> 00:45:09,480
the national director for Thailand all right nice thank you so much so now

686
00:45:09,480 --> 00:45:13,680
proud since you're here to talk about speech mania could you tell us more

687
00:45:13,680 --> 00:45:19,400
about what speech manias purpose and initiatives are so speech mania was

688
00:45:19,400 --> 00:45:23,480
founded with a focus on making speech related activities more accessible and

689
00:45:23,480 --> 00:45:28,120
we plan on organizing more competitions workshops and training sessions that are

690
00:45:28,120 --> 00:45:31,880
basically just decided to help participants get a little bit more used

691
00:45:31,880 --> 00:45:37,120
to yeah yeah uh-huh and one of our most exciting upcoming initiative is that

692
00:45:37,120 --> 00:45:40,960
will be hosting a qualifier for world's individual public speaking and debate

693
00:45:40,960 --> 00:45:44,960
championship amazing and the top five speaker is gonna get to go to worlds

694
00:45:44,960 --> 00:45:50,600
representing Thailand nice are you one of those speakers or do we I don't think

695
00:45:50,600 --> 00:45:54,040
I'll be competing this year I've been doing it for two years I think it's time

696
00:45:54,040 --> 00:46:00,960
I retire and host all right well that's fine and proud what inspired you to

697
00:46:00,960 --> 00:46:05,640
start speech mania so I think for me the reason I wanted to start speech mania

698
00:46:05,640 --> 00:46:10,040
because I feel like there's just a really influx of like other activities

699
00:46:10,040 --> 00:46:13,720
but there's so little like opportunity for people who want to do public speaking

700
00:46:13,720 --> 00:46:18,160
yeah public speaking related activities and I think I was really lucky because I

701
00:46:18,160 --> 00:46:21,760
was able to go to worlds twice and I think yeah other people they don't even

702
00:46:21,760 --> 00:46:25,320
know worlds exists for public speaking so I think I want to bring that

703
00:46:25,320 --> 00:46:29,080
awareness into Thailand a little bit more got it and I had a really amazing

704
00:46:29,080 --> 00:46:33,280
experience with public speaking and I met some of my best friends got it

705
00:46:33,280 --> 00:46:38,920
like speaking I also think I grew a lot as an individual a lot of speakers and a

706
00:46:38,920 --> 00:46:43,560
lot of really good speeches so I think it really helped me learn and nurture

707
00:46:43,560 --> 00:46:47,080
myself as an individual a lot so I wanted to just bring that same

708
00:46:47,080 --> 00:46:51,800
opportunity really really inspiring proud thank you for what you do in for

709
00:46:51,800 --> 00:46:55,960
speech mania as well and for anyone listening who wants to get involved

710
00:46:55,960 --> 00:47:01,280
proud how can they connect with speech mania speech mania is on Instagram for

711
00:47:01,280 --> 00:47:05,360
the little self promo so for anyone who's interested feel free to reach out

712
00:47:05,360 --> 00:47:10,640
to me directly via Instagram or just come follow us on speech mania dot th and

713
00:47:10,640 --> 00:47:15,640
you can drop us a text on there or you can send us an email our email is linked

714
00:47:15,640 --> 00:47:19,600
in our Instagram we plan on hosting a lot more events and potential

715
00:47:19,600 --> 00:47:23,280
partnerships with other international competitions as well so whether you're

716
00:47:23,280 --> 00:47:28,040
looking to learn compete or just support organization we'd really appreciate if

717
00:47:28,040 --> 00:47:33,640
you could check us out alright could you say the Instagram handle again speech

718
00:47:33,640 --> 00:47:40,240
mania dot th all lowercase all over all lowercase alright and that is it for

719
00:47:40,240 --> 00:47:47,160
today's PSA a big thank you to proud and your commitment to speech mania

720
00:47:49,640 --> 00:47:55,360
all right we're back with segment two or part two and what we're going to do for

721
00:47:55,360 --> 00:48:00,420
this segment is we're gonna ask some questions generally around the topic of

722
00:48:00,420 --> 00:48:05,040
college university as well we're still on the general theme and topic of what

723
00:48:05,040 --> 00:48:09,000
makes a university or college great and so to do this we're actually going to

724
00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:14,440
talk to a lot of our podcast team members because many of them are juniors

725
00:48:14,440 --> 00:48:18,200
and seniors in high school and some of them have been looking at universities

726
00:48:18,200 --> 00:48:22,320
some of them are still looking and so they're in that process of trying to

727
00:48:22,320 --> 00:48:26,360
define what makes a college or university great so right now I've got

728
00:48:26,360 --> 00:48:31,320
Toto and he we in the studio and our first question for them is how would you

729
00:48:31,320 --> 00:48:36,120
describe or define the term college and what is the difference between a college

730
00:48:36,120 --> 00:48:40,920
and university so maybe total we can start with you so like the differences

731
00:48:40,920 --> 00:48:44,520
differences between college and university is like whether like there's

732
00:48:44,520 --> 00:48:49,840
an undergraduate program and a graduate program so so colleges they do offer

733
00:48:49,840 --> 00:48:53,320
undergraduate programs but then like they don't offer graduate programs and

734
00:48:53,320 --> 00:48:57,920
that's where university comes in which they will offer both undergraduate and

735
00:48:57,920 --> 00:49:02,200
graduate programs all right he we what do you think that term college or

736
00:49:02,200 --> 00:49:06,240
university means to you and what are some things you think are the difference

737
00:49:06,240 --> 00:49:11,840
between the two I also agreed to total that colleges focus more on undergraduate

738
00:49:11,840 --> 00:49:18,120
programs while universities provide a wide range of undergraduate graduate and

739
00:49:18,120 --> 00:49:22,840
PhD programs all right thank you guys all right let's move on to our next

740
00:49:22,840 --> 00:49:26,400
question and premise in a studio and she's gonna guide us in our next

741
00:49:26,400 --> 00:49:30,600
question thank you guys and I think it's also important to like kind of consider

742
00:49:30,600 --> 00:49:33,480
that like the difference between college university might look different in

743
00:49:33,480 --> 00:49:37,760
different countries and like across different curriculums okay perfect and

744
00:49:37,760 --> 00:49:42,240
then moving on which aspects of a college education or experience are most

745
00:49:42,240 --> 00:49:46,400
important to you I guess to me it'll either be like the sports or the

746
00:49:46,400 --> 00:49:50,800
community I mean I'm a big sports watcher so like if they have like a

747
00:49:50,800 --> 00:49:54,880
strong sports team out like definitely definitely go watch it and then the

748
00:49:54,880 --> 00:49:58,320
community you know it's better it's better to like feel connected than

749
00:49:58,320 --> 00:50:02,440
detached from like like the people there so I believe if there's a strong

750
00:50:02,440 --> 00:50:06,040
community I think it's like a good part I love that I think school spirit is

751
00:50:06,040 --> 00:50:09,240
important right and then depends on like college size and like different things

752
00:50:09,240 --> 00:50:13,680
so that's cool I loved I love community too like it your turn heehee I think

753
00:50:13,680 --> 00:50:20,440
education is important but adding on to total I think community is also a factor

754
00:50:20,440 --> 00:50:26,200
that is very important because having a sense of belonging where I see you

755
00:50:26,200 --> 00:50:34,600
connection and also provides emotional support and helps to enhance your mental

756
00:50:34,600 --> 00:50:38,880
health yeah I think so too so that it's like your home away from home yeah yeah

757
00:50:38,880 --> 00:50:42,840
all right thank you too for those answers we're gonna move on to our next

758
00:50:42,840 --> 00:50:48,520
set of students okay we have Elsa and Maddie in the studio and we are going to

759
00:50:48,520 --> 00:50:52,240
continue on our conversation of what makes a college or university great and

760
00:50:52,240 --> 00:50:56,880
so our next question for them would be what are some unique aspects colleges

761
00:50:56,880 --> 00:51:00,760
and universities have for different learners so maybe Elsa you can go first

762
00:51:00,760 --> 00:51:07,560
with that question while I was applying for Taiwan universities like NTU I had

763
00:51:07,560 --> 00:51:10,320
to go through like a different application process because I'm a

764
00:51:10,320 --> 00:51:14,560
Taiwanese citizen living in a foreign country and there's a different portal

765
00:51:14,560 --> 00:51:19,000
for that so I think one unique feature is that for the application process they

766
00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:23,600
actually have different application portals for citizens that are living

767
00:51:23,600 --> 00:51:27,540
Taiwanese citizens living in different countries so for me I had to do the

768
00:51:27,540 --> 00:51:32,160
Thailand portal and another unique feature is that in NTU there are

769
00:51:32,160 --> 00:51:36,520
actually three different groups that you get to select from when you applying

770
00:51:36,520 --> 00:51:40,840
and the first group is liberal arts the second and third are more science and

771
00:51:40,840 --> 00:51:45,680
math based so if you're let's say you're like a med student and you want to go

772
00:51:45,680 --> 00:51:49,880
for like a medical program then you would have to choose the second and

773
00:51:49,880 --> 00:51:53,560
third group but that also means that you're not allowed to choose any majors

774
00:51:53,560 --> 00:51:57,840
from the first group and a good thing about the town Taiwanese University

775
00:51:57,840 --> 00:52:03,280
application is that you can select up to 70 majors that you want to major in for

776
00:52:03,280 --> 00:52:08,040
universities all across Taiwan to see which one you're gonna make in so I

777
00:52:08,040 --> 00:52:11,160
think that's a really unique feature that's how many universities have to

778
00:52:11,160 --> 00:52:17,240
offer up to seven majors 70 that's written that's a lot okay Maddie for me

779
00:52:17,240 --> 00:52:23,080
I want to emphasize and talk about liberal arts colleges I feel like with

780
00:52:23,080 --> 00:52:28,840
with the smaller classes they offers I'm able to connect with the professors or

781
00:52:28,840 --> 00:52:33,580
some of my friends better than really big universities and I feel like it

782
00:52:33,580 --> 00:52:39,760
offers like freedom for me to explore different areas of interest and it just

783
00:52:39,760 --> 00:52:44,680
really like opens up opportunities for me to like explore into the business

784
00:52:44,680 --> 00:52:50,200
field or or any other fields that like I haven't heard of and it makes me become

785
00:52:50,200 --> 00:52:54,560
a better learner as well yeah I like that and I really like a liberal arts

786
00:52:54,560 --> 00:52:58,800
college education who I feel like um like you can explore more and also

787
00:52:58,800 --> 00:53:02,320
there's that intersectionality view lenses that you view like a lot of

788
00:53:02,320 --> 00:53:07,720
classes under so thank you and then our next question is what are some ways do

789
00:53:07,720 --> 00:53:11,440
you think higher education will change to meet the needs of like the next

790
00:53:11,440 --> 00:53:16,360
generation students as well as our ever-changing world I think as our

791
00:53:16,360 --> 00:53:20,920
generation is moving more towards technology like and social media because

792
00:53:20,920 --> 00:53:25,200
before in the previous generation there wasn't a lot of need for type but then

793
00:53:25,200 --> 00:53:30,640
now a lot of kids space their education mostly off technology or any technology

794
00:53:30,640 --> 00:53:35,080
so I feel like universities and higher education in general will have to change

795
00:53:35,080 --> 00:53:40,240
their programs to a more like I would say like technology base yeah I love

796
00:53:40,240 --> 00:53:43,120
reason using more like technology equipments like computers and laptops

797
00:53:43,120 --> 00:53:47,440
instead of like can taking notes yeah I feel like that would be like a really

798
00:53:47,440 --> 00:53:51,480
important thing that they might have to change is to meet like the norm and

799
00:53:51,480 --> 00:53:56,440
this gender absolutely I think so too okay Maddie what do you think yeah I

800
00:53:56,440 --> 00:54:02,600
agree with Elsa I feel like the world is evolving into like a tech based world

801
00:54:02,600 --> 00:54:13,720
and so all the curriculums will probably evolve into something like related to

802
00:54:13,720 --> 00:54:19,680
technology for example like computer science it's a really famous curriculum

803
00:54:19,680 --> 00:54:26,180
and it's hard to find jobs if you're a CS major and I feel like it's because the

804
00:54:26,180 --> 00:54:32,680
world is evolving to like tech based road like I like I mentioned and so yeah

805
00:54:32,680 --> 00:54:37,200
technology yeah I think so too it'll definitely be an integrated more all

806
00:54:37,200 --> 00:54:40,200
right thank you you guys so much and then now we'll have our next set of

807
00:54:40,200 --> 00:54:44,440
students okay and finally we have a couple more questions and I have Mia

808
00:54:44,440 --> 00:54:49,560
Rebecca and Premi is gonna answer some of these questions as well so one of our

809
00:54:49,560 --> 00:54:53,640
final questions is this what advice would you give to students navigating

810
00:54:53,640 --> 00:54:58,960
scholarship opportunities and financial aid as part of their college search so

811
00:54:58,960 --> 00:55:04,080
maybe Rebecca you can start off with this question for me personally I apply

812
00:55:04,080 --> 00:55:09,280
to Christian colleges in the United States such as Calvin University Wheaton

813
00:55:09,280 --> 00:55:16,200
College and and other small Christian liberal arts colleges for me I went on

814
00:55:16,200 --> 00:55:23,200
to their official website on Google and you can search up the scholarship section

815
00:55:23,200 --> 00:55:28,400
and they will tell you they have visit grant and some of them they have more

816
00:55:28,400 --> 00:55:33,440
named scholarship offer like Calvin University and some other ones you can

817
00:55:33,440 --> 00:55:37,920
also follow their official Instagram account where they will update the time

818
00:55:37,920 --> 00:55:42,240
that you can apply for specific scholarship that you are eligible for

819
00:55:42,240 --> 00:55:49,800
such as like missionary scholarships and financial aid and others you can also if

820
00:55:49,800 --> 00:55:55,760
you are in the States you can go on campus and have a campus tour they will

821
00:55:55,760 --> 00:56:02,200
tell you the other scholarship they're offering for first generation and for

822
00:56:02,200 --> 00:56:10,920
great based scholarships yeah thank you Rebecca and so I actually applied to

823
00:56:10,920 --> 00:56:15,400
university here in Thailand in Japan and also in the States and I would say the

824
00:56:15,400 --> 00:56:19,560
same thing as you so definitely go on to their website and you know like they

825
00:56:19,560 --> 00:56:22,320
they obviously have like a little spot for like scholarships and you'll be able

826
00:56:22,320 --> 00:56:26,480
to see like which ones are actually eligible for but I would say like just I

827
00:56:26,480 --> 00:56:31,080
just like personally put yourself in a position where you can receive a

828
00:56:31,080 --> 00:56:35,960
scholarship well for me like ah we're in Japan like there were scholarships like

829
00:56:35,960 --> 00:56:41,040
athletes and great great base scholarships and the great base

830
00:56:41,040 --> 00:56:45,520
scholarships were kind of high so if you weren't eligible then you wouldn't be

831
00:56:45,520 --> 00:56:49,040
then then you probably wouldn't get the scholarship so I would definitely say

832
00:56:49,040 --> 00:56:52,880
like put yourself in it into a position where you can actually receive a

833
00:56:52,880 --> 00:56:57,200
scholarship and I would say that's like having a lot of activities and also

834
00:56:57,200 --> 00:57:01,000
maintaining a really good grade throughout high school thank you guys I

835
00:57:01,000 --> 00:57:05,760
would agree to I think having like being a strong applicant already is also

836
00:57:05,760 --> 00:57:10,320
really important like you said and also important not only in you know applying

837
00:57:10,320 --> 00:57:14,280
and getting into those colleges but also like receiving those scholarships and

838
00:57:14,280 --> 00:57:18,040
like with this question I just really want to talk about like to start off

839
00:57:18,040 --> 00:57:21,280
with I think the caveat of inequality like obvious obviously there's so much

840
00:57:21,280 --> 00:57:24,520
inequality in the world right and if you like I've been able to see this a lot

841
00:57:24,520 --> 00:57:28,720
really truly in the college process I feel like you know some people don't

842
00:57:28,720 --> 00:57:32,720
need financial aid period and that's it for them but then or some other people

843
00:57:32,720 --> 00:57:35,360
wouldn't need financial aid but then there's caveats too like for instance if

844
00:57:35,360 --> 00:57:38,280
you're planning a US colleges if you happen to be US citizen your life is

845
00:57:38,280 --> 00:57:42,440
much easier you have an infinite more number more resources and opportunities

846
00:57:42,440 --> 00:57:46,520
and others too and then and it comes to like oh how much is your family income

847
00:57:46,520 --> 00:57:49,520
blah blah and if you qualify for a program you're gonna have to fill out the

848
00:57:49,520 --> 00:57:54,760
FAFSA thesis for just an infinite number more but I think the advice I would give

849
00:57:54,760 --> 00:57:59,960
is just to be resourceful to always ask because I really do feel like especially

850
00:57:59,960 --> 00:58:05,360
in the age that we are in we have like access if we have if we have access to

851
00:58:05,360 --> 00:58:09,040
the internet we have access to an incredible amount of resources and

852
00:58:09,040 --> 00:58:13,960
opportunities and there and I think I would also recommend just I think

853
00:58:13,960 --> 00:58:16,760
starting early is really important especially with the scholarship programs

854
00:58:16,760 --> 00:58:20,680
with a lot of them having deadlines that are earlier one of the saddest things

855
00:58:20,680 --> 00:58:23,980
that you don't want to do is missing a scholarship opportunity just because you

856
00:58:23,980 --> 00:58:26,520
didn't know the deadline because you missed a deadline because you didn't

857
00:58:26,520 --> 00:58:31,000
research fast enough and also I would also recommend like breaking down the

858
00:58:31,000 --> 00:58:33,680
types of scholarships knowing your situation and knowing if you need

859
00:58:33,680 --> 00:58:37,440
institutional scholarships outside scholarships how those work how those

860
00:58:37,440 --> 00:58:42,680
programs work and like just in general as well as specifically defining these

861
00:58:42,680 --> 00:58:46,240
colleges these scholarships and I just also do want to say if you do get a

862
00:58:46,240 --> 00:58:50,600
scholarship you do need to be very proud of yourself because I do feel like

863
00:58:50,600 --> 00:58:54,680
especially scholarships institutional scholarships to like T20 or a lot of

864
00:58:54,680 --> 00:58:57,760
top-tier schools in the United States are incredibly hard and I would even

865
00:58:57,760 --> 00:59:03,320
argue maybe even harder than getting just getting accepted into like a higher

866
00:59:03,320 --> 00:59:07,880
ranked school it's just incredibly hard and so I think my other advice is just

867
00:59:07,880 --> 00:59:11,560
to know that yes that you know some people don't have to worry about this at

868
00:59:11,560 --> 00:59:14,200
all some people have to worry about it to a certain extent some you have to

869
00:59:14,200 --> 00:59:18,800
worry about it a lot and honestly sometimes seeking for financial aid feels

870
00:59:18,800 --> 00:59:23,560
as heavy or equally as heavy as just applying to college itself and I think

871
00:59:23,560 --> 00:59:28,400
just knowing that and also just having empathy if you don't need scholarships

872
00:59:28,400 --> 00:59:30,960
if you don't need financial aid just having empathy and like having

873
00:59:30,960 --> 00:59:34,120
understanding for those people that might do and just just having the

874
00:59:34,120 --> 00:59:38,960
awareness raise I feel like is something that is really important and so just in

875
00:59:38,960 --> 00:59:42,920
general just all that start early research there's so many opportunities I

876
00:59:42,920 --> 00:59:47,280
promise there are so many opportunities you can do any like you can do a lot of

877
00:59:47,280 --> 00:59:50,960
things just go out there do your research and also like Mia said have a

878
00:59:50,960 --> 00:59:55,760
strong applicant be a strong applicant life is gonna be easier for you and just

879
00:59:55,760 --> 01:00:02,040
yeah okay so sorry that's a long-winded answer but I had a lot to say that's

880
01:00:02,040 --> 01:00:06,920
okay because you guys are in the middle of doing this this advice is really good

881
01:00:06,920 --> 01:00:11,840
for especially those students who are coming up and and going to be doing this

882
01:00:11,840 --> 01:00:16,400
next year our final question and we can just be really quick with this one is

883
01:00:16,400 --> 01:00:22,280
from your experience what resources can students use to search or research

884
01:00:22,280 --> 01:00:27,640
colleges or universities effectively before making a final decision so maybe

885
01:00:27,640 --> 01:00:32,040
you can give us a quick answer of maybe from your perspective what you did and

886
01:00:32,040 --> 01:00:37,400
maybe some advice to students who will be kind of jumping into this the next

887
01:00:37,400 --> 01:00:43,200
year or two so Rebecca go ahead and you can start with this one for me I went to

888
01:00:43,200 --> 01:00:50,240
two websites to check to research about the colleges such as niche calm and us

889
01:00:50,240 --> 01:00:55,960
college or like we call that us news okay type the specific colleges that we

890
01:00:55,960 --> 01:01:02,440
want to research about they will give a range from a to D or E about their

891
01:01:02,440 --> 01:01:10,760
academics diversity and at least party and then several other categories that

892
01:01:10,760 --> 01:01:16,800
they'll be grading on and some other research that I've done is go to Google

893
01:01:16,800 --> 01:01:22,160
and research on their official website you can see their student life their

894
01:01:22,160 --> 01:01:28,840
campus pictures and also the clubs that they're providing etc and for some of

895
01:01:28,840 --> 01:01:33,080
you that have the opportunity to actually go on the campus it's also a

896
01:01:33,080 --> 01:01:37,800
really good thing that you can do as a research to see if you like the dorm if

897
01:01:37,800 --> 01:01:43,320
you like the like the college environment and about the community that

898
01:01:43,320 --> 01:01:49,440
you will be in in the future yeah so one website that I keep going back to it's

899
01:01:49,440 --> 01:01:53,340
the US News and World Report website like I go to this website when I need

900
01:01:53,340 --> 01:01:57,920
numbers so when I need like a specific out-of-state tuition fee or like I need

901
01:01:57,920 --> 01:02:02,720
a specific ranking for this university so yeah I think that like the US News and

902
01:02:02,720 --> 01:02:06,400
World Report website is like really good if you want like specific numbers I

903
01:02:06,400 --> 01:02:09,320
think I would do honestly like the websites that you've mentioned are really

904
01:02:09,320 --> 01:02:12,520
helpful they've been helpful to me too and especially in like former research

905
01:02:12,520 --> 01:02:15,000
as well as the college's own website especially when you're writing your why

906
01:02:15,000 --> 01:02:20,000
college essays guys and also I think but what's also really important to remember

907
01:02:20,000 --> 01:02:23,880
I think is also kind of informal sources because I feel like informal sources like

908
01:02:23,880 --> 01:02:29,280
maybe like Reddit or Quora or just like tiktok yeah Instagram oh I think one

909
01:02:29,280 --> 01:02:32,280
advice I got that was really good is just if you want to know the vibes of

910
01:02:32,280 --> 01:02:36,000
the college watch like a vlog watch a vlog on YouTube I think that's really

911
01:02:36,000 --> 01:02:39,500
helpful too because then it's like a more like some I think there's like

912
01:02:39,500 --> 01:02:43,640
review college review YouTube some videos so I think those the formal ones

913
01:02:43,640 --> 01:02:47,000
are also really helpful but so are the informal ones that kind of give you like

914
01:02:47,000 --> 01:02:52,000
a more honest and candid and in some ways an insightful take on the college

915
01:02:52,000 --> 01:02:55,760
when you're researching so yeah all of your resources use all of your resources

916
01:02:55,760 --> 01:03:02,040
and I want to add on to Pramie's answer that we can also do research by

917
01:03:02,040 --> 01:03:06,840
interviewing others like the currently enrolled students in colleges that you

918
01:03:06,840 --> 01:03:12,000
you are interested in and talk about how their classes are like and if they're

919
01:03:12,000 --> 01:03:18,720
enjoying their colleges okay that ends part two or segment two and we really

920
01:03:18,720 --> 01:03:23,160
appreciate our students coming in and just giving some practical real advice

921
01:03:23,160 --> 01:03:27,640
especially because many of them are in this process right now so we hope that

922
01:03:27,640 --> 01:03:34,080
this episode which is how can a college or university be great because there's

923
01:03:34,080 --> 01:03:38,840
so many out there especially within the US system I think there's over 4,000 just

924
01:03:38,840 --> 01:03:43,680
within the US's educational system higher educational system so there's

925
01:03:43,680 --> 01:03:49,880
lots of choices out there and I think it's it's on the students responsibility

926
01:03:49,880 --> 01:03:53,680
is to really do their homework and seek out the one that best fits them all

927
01:03:53,680 --> 01:03:56,520
right thank you everybody

928
01:03:56,520 --> 01:04:09,920
thanks again to our special guests from Taylor University and to our student

929
01:04:09,920 --> 01:04:14,680
guests for this episode we hope it was informative and insightful and helps all

930
01:04:14,680 --> 01:04:19,680
of us answer the question what makes a college or university great I guess that

931
01:04:19,680 --> 01:04:24,880
is for each person to decide themselves okay stay tuned for our next episode as

932
01:04:24,880 --> 01:04:29,200
we dive into the topic of entrepreneurship and as always this

933
01:04:29,200 --> 01:04:32,680
podcast will not be possible without the hard work and support of our

934
01:04:32,680 --> 01:04:36,600
international student production team all music and sound effects are courtesy

935
01:04:36,600 --> 01:04:41,040
of pixabay.com a vibrant community of creatives sharing copyright free images

936
01:04:41,040 --> 01:04:45,580
videos and music and we are signing off until next time we are students

937
01:04:45,580 --> 01:05:04,160
incorporated because your voice matters