Mission and Values

Today’s Thursday Thoughts builds on last week’s post about finding the schools that are the right fit for your child. Last week, I commented on the 4 Ps: Place (geography, setting), Program (academic offerings, do they have your major, liberal arts, career-oriented), People (student life, athletics, religion, etc), and Price (both need-based and merit-based).

A classmate of mine gave an example this week of one of her students who really wanted to go to NC State to study nursing. NC State doesn’t have a nursing program. It is helpful for students to think about what they want to pursue after college before they get too focused on any one school. Some schools have great exploratory programs for students who are undecided on a major.

Something else that is very important when looking at schools is to really dig into the mission statement, priorities, strategic plan, and even recent donations that have been made to schools. There have been some big changes happening at some public universities in Florida. If a potential school has a mission statement, values, or priorities that don’t align with the student’s values, there is a high chance that the student won’t feel comfortable at the institution and won’t be able to thrive there and become the best version of themselves. The bottom line remains: there are many schools that will be a great fit for your child that will value them and what they bring to the campus community.