Today, I toured Brock University in the Niagra Region of Ontario. I had a chance to learn about research opportunities, student life, and financial aid at this 18,000 student university. I was naturally curious about the differences in the American and Canadian college environments. Much to my surprise, I found very few differences. Students still have hard work to do, but also look for opportunities to have fun, too. I learned that Brock has a "level three" research facility which means that it is a high security, infectious disease laboratory, one of only five in Canada. I learned that most of Brock's classes have a seminar component where students are given the opportunity to interact and dig deeper with their classmates with the material that the professor is teaching in the lecture section. I learned that an annual fall tradition that students look forward to is called the "Grape Stomp." Brock is located in a wine region, so grapes are in huge supply. Participants lay out plastic sheets with mounds of grapes on them and crush them with their feet. After the grapes are sufficiently crushed, they combine the contents to form a huge grape slide. Students emerge from this event stained green and red. As you can see, Brock believes in cultivating the intellectual and the experiential/social sides of the brain.
Going in to this tour, I wondered, "how can a college in Canada fit any of the considerations that a student at North Oconee may have?" Some presumed barriers were the obvious- cost. That was a surprise for me- annual total cost is about $30,000 (Canadian $), with the opportunity for an automatic $3500 scholarship with a high school GPA of 93 or better. Compare this to out of state tuition at Auburn $44,000 for some perspective on cost. Remember that there are many other aspects to a college decision than just cost.
The lesson that I took away from this visit is to never discount a college from the decision making process. Sometimes, it is possible to gain a more global perspective by leaving your familiar surroundings. If this is an important part of the education experience for you, maybe Brock could be an option. It is only about 850 miles away!
I look forward to bring you more information from day 2. I have a three hour session on helping families shrink the cost of college. That should be a welcomed blog entry tomorrow. Have a great day, Titans!
