Increasing Your Return on Investment in College

Increasing Your Return on Investment in College ACT SAT Prep and College Admissions Blog Over the past several decades, the cost of college has been rising at a much faster rate than people’s income in the United States. What this means is that it`s effectively become a lot more expensive to go to college. The value of the entire decision to attend is being reevaluated. Many articles are being written about this â€" here’s one example. This means a few things. For one, it means that students need to be more and more careful about which colleges they choose to go to and secondly, it means that students need to think long and hard about how to increase their return on investment when they decide to go to college. And so what we`d like to do is spend a little bit of time here thinking about that second point, increasing your return on investment when you decide to go to college. Then at the end of this post, we`ll come back and talk about that first point which is choosing which college to attend. College is a unique investment in that you can really control the return that you get from it. Let`s assume college costs $25,000 a year, so that`s $100,000 to get a degree, assuming you finish it in four years. Let’s consider that investment versus an investment in, for example, the stock market. Well, with the stock market, you buy some stock for $100,000 and while you can choose which stocks you buy, once you buy them, you just sit back and wait and see how they do. College is very different because you can control what that $100,000 returns to you in “value.” If you take that $100,000 and you basically “buy” a degree from a mid-tier school, party a lot and get a C average, well, the return that you get on that investment will be relatively low in the form of a less prestigious job or a lower salary, et cetera. Compare that to taking $100,000 and spending it on a degree in engineering from Harvard, for example. Well, that degree is going to be worth so much more, therefore the return on that $100,000 is going to be so much higher. It might seem obvious, but it’s an important point to think about. You should start thinking about this concept early, well before you`re even ready to go to college. Of course the concept would apply both for college and graduate school for those that are getting PhDs, MBAs or law degrees. The better that you do in high school (i.e,. higher GPA, more activities, etc.), the better position you`ll be to make those dollars that you`re going to invest in a college degree more valuable. If you don`t get the right grades or the right test scores in high school, you`re not in a good position to get into the type of a college that gives you a high return on your investment. So that`s the important thing to think about - college is an investment, but one where you can control the return on that investment. In a future blog post, we`ll touch upon the first point that we started off making - students might just want to think long and hard about which colleges make the most sense for them, based on the value of the degree they’ll have once they graduate relative to the tuition cost being charged. They also might want to begin thinking much harder about how AP classes, summer school, and online courses can help reduce the cost of college my increasing the number of credits they can transfer in. But that’s a topic for another time. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(215486, '6baac2ae-05a3-4610-9d1f-265c8cbd809f', {});

Irvine Calculus Tutor Why is Calculus Such a Stumbling Block

Irvine Calculus Tutor Why is Calculus Such a Stumbling Block Tips From an Irvine Calculus Tutor: The Calculus Conundrum: Why is Calculus Such a Stumbling Block? Tips From an Irvine Calculus Tutor: The Calculus Conundrum: Why is Calculus Such a Stumbling Block? Many students dread taking calculus. Whether it’s the final math class of high school or a required prerequisite for their college degree, calculus is often a necessary mathematical capstone in education. Calculus also tends to carry with it a reputation for being much more difficult than previous math book your private Irvine calculus tutor today. This stereotype is supported by many students who struggle and even fail their first calculus class. Often times, these are students who completed â€" or even excelled in â€" their previous math classes. So why is calculus such a stumbling block? What makes it so different from our other math courses? The first, likely the most significant, reason for calculus difficulties is the class’s deviation from the previous progression in math classes. Coming into calculus, students have been following progressions in their math knowledge for years. First, we learn addition, and that 2 + 3 is equal to 5. Then we learn how addition leads to multiplication, or that 2 x 3 = 2 + 2 + 2 = 6. Finally, we learn how multiplication leads to exponents, or that 23 = 2 x 2 x 2 = 8. This process took years of math classes to master and build up from addition. A similar process happens with subtraction to division to negative exponents; in algebra with one variable to single step equations to multi-step to multi-variable; and in functions from linear to quadratic, to polynomial and their graphs. These progressions build upon themselves and have students master the previous concepts before moving on to the next, usually over the course of years. You may have learned addition in the 1st grade but didn’ t see an exponential until 7th. You probably did your first “find x” in middle school, but weren’t conquering complex polynomial factoring until 10th or 11th grade. Calculus throws this timeline of progression out the window. Now you’re starting over with new concepts and new progressions, but it’s consolidated to just one class. When you learned linear functions in middle school they teach you how to find the slope, but do they ever mention the word derivative? When you move on to quadratics, do you also learn the graph of the slope of your parabola? As your graphs approach asymptotes, was there ever a mention of limits? When you had to memorize dozens of transformations and identities in trigonometry, were any of them the derivatives or integrals of the functions? You’ve been working with calculus concepts for years without knowing because the teachers are saving it all for calc class. And once you get to calculus, they spring it all on you and expect you to jump through all of the hurdles in a few weeks. Remember that nice progression from addition to exponents that gave your years to master the topics and become an expert? Now you have a month if you’re lucky to get from the derivative of y = 2x to deriving y = (sin(32 -4))3(ex+1)-5. If your teacher lost you somewhere along the way, you’re doomed for the rest of the year. Just like you would be doomed in middle school if you never mastered addition. The same fast-track progressions happen with integrals, with limits, and with sequences and series. You’ll see symbols you’ve never seen before, doing operations that are entirely unfamiliar, and you’re expected to progress from beginner to expert in them all. And you better not try to simply memorize some equations and problem-solving steps, or the word problems will eat you alive (READ: 5 Signs You Need a Math Tutor in College). This last idea is a common problem even for students who get an ‘A’ grade in their calculus class. Many students have the memorization capacity and studying habits to learn how to do calculus problems. They learn how to solve their integrals and manipulate their functions by sheer repetition without always understanding what’s going on. This leads to another quintessential calculus complaint: “When would I ever use this is real life?” Students have a hard time seeing any applications when all they have to rely on memorization and don’t understand what they’re doing. Stay tuned for part two! In the meantime, book your private Irvine calculus tutor from TutorNerds. Call us for more information. Michael C. is currently a private math, science, and standardized test tutor with TutorNerds in Irvine and Anaheim. All blog entries, with the exception of guest bloggers, are written by Tutor Nerds. Are you an education professional? If so, email us at pr@tutornerds.com for guest blogging and collaborations. We want to make this the best free education resource in SoCal, so feel free to suggest what you would like to see us write.