Best College Choice for You

On this episode, we discuss the best approach to choosing the best university/college for you!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey, hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hire You Podcast, where we talk about all of the things in Higher Air from a student's perspective, all the way to the staff technology and in between. Welcome back. All right, what's up, y'all? How y'all doing this fine evening? How has the spring semester been treating y'all?

SPEAKER_00 0:46

So far, so good. I I can't think of anything to really complain about. It's been pretty smooth, other than the storm, the winter storm has been pretty smooth selling. Same, same here.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

Same here.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Y'all didn't make any uh snow making. No, I stayed in the house.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

In in the in the beginning, uh, it was snow, and then uh Iceman, we I mean it's too hard to even form. So uh that first couple of days, and then after that, that was all she wrote.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Yeah, man. Yeah. Well, cool. Well, yeah, it's um, I will say it's definitely been a very unique semester with all of the weather, um, especially on our end, um, and uh in the southern parts of the state, which I'm pretty sure it hit multiple places, especially I think the one of the last ones I think was North Carolina. And well, no, I think I recently saw in New York there was like a big time blizzard or something like that that that hit. So um, so yeah, uh Jack Frost has definitely been having a good time in 2026, but it seems like that spring is definitely very near. And so I'm I will say I'm definitely open to it, especially on a cooler side, you know, not too too hot just yet, but just a little bit in between. So um, but yeah, but yeah, well, y'all, we are talking about college decisions. So definitely if the if you are a future college student or you're getting ready to transfer uh from your community college to a university, or you may be attending a university right now, and you may believe that um you may need to choose a new um university to attend for whatever various reasons. This episode is for you. We are going to be talking about things to keep in mind when it comes to uh choosing the best university or college or just educational institution for you when it comes to higher ed. And so I think it would be really cool if we started off with what made you to choose the universities that you did, like what qualities that you would you consider in, what you know, what factors and everything like that. Um, because I think that can really set the tone of just things to keep in mind. And we can, of course, as always, keep it real as well. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

Well, I can go first. Um for me, so this the school that I ended up going to was not my first choice, actually. I just knew in my heart that I was gonna go to the school, um, go to school in Fairville, which is where I was born. I don't know why I wanted to go back to where I was born, but I was just I like I knew I'm going. And then I did this um like overnight stay, my junior year of high school, and something just didn't feel right. And so I was like, maybe this is not for me. Um, and then I went to Girl State, and that's actually where I met Corbin's wife. She was my girl state counselor, and she was going to um UNA Literal, and I was like, okay, I never really looked at UNA Literal and like that, and I had a cousin that was there was a little Frenchman at that time, and some of my let me do a tour, let me do my research, and some of them was like, you know what, this school isn't too far away from home. It's like 55 minutes away. I didn't have a car at that time. And so if I wanted to get around, I was probably relying on the family that I'm having a little round or my parents to come up there. So distance was a big deal for me. Um, having family in the city was also really nice. So that was that was a big reason why, but most of them I felt like going to you in a little rock prepared me more for the world than you know, staying back home because back home all the schools I went to went to were predominantly black. So I mean, I know how to be around black people, but I didn't know about how to how to be around people who did not look like me, who were not raised like me, who, you know, just very different. So I felt like UAL was a very safe place to go to to learn how to deal with people, different people in the world, while also still being close to family, being close to home. Um, I got scholarships. And so I was like, yeah, this this is where I where I am. And like by the end of my first year, really by the end of my first semester, I was like, yeah, this, I made the right choice.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

Okay. That was that was I like, you know, what you said about you really analyzing factors of what like on the exposure aspect and people that you possibly want to be around, or just keeping that in mind, because you know, I do think that's important to consider when it comes to um thinking about your culture and and things that you're used to as far as like upbringing and everything like that. I do feel like sometimes the stereotype of the college experience and everything is a little bit too dramatic. Um, just because they because you know, people used to say, oh, you know, so-and-so is a party school and all this stuff like that, which I don't hear that much anymore. But all colleges have some type of social gatherings, whether it's in an official way, whether it's done by a student organization, um, or it's just a kickback. Like you're gonna always have social gatherings no matter what. Um, but it's more so about in what aspect do you see yourself truly being social and and it working with you know your day-to-day. So I do feel like, especially at that point of your life, it was really cool that that was one of the main things that you was considering and stuff. Um what about you, Justin?

SPEAKER_02 7:00

So I'm gonna keep it real. So that's that's the that's the that's the keyword real. So being from Pam Blo, born and raised in Pam Bluff, uh, Pam Blah Pie. Uh so at that at that time, my father, being in the military, Vietnam vet, uh, Pam Blah Pie in my era, when I graduated in '99, you took this thing called the ASFAB. So the ASF was at the um at the student center or the like where we used to have the study hall or whatever. Coach Billy Bach was the uh overseer of it. Went in there and I knocked it out the park. I thought, like, hey, military. Dad said, military person. Hey, you go ahead and go from from high school to military. Daddy said, No, you're gonna go to college. I don't care anything about ASFAP because all they want to do is brainwash you, da da da. So this is during the desert storm time. All right, okay, dad. How about I go to C Art? No, I went to UAPB. You're gonna go to UAPB. Yes, sir. I'm paying for your institution, your your curriculum. Yes, sir. So, straight out of high school, 1999, it's like yesterday, May of 99. So you think, well, hey dad, can I get a little break? No, you start in August. Yes, sir. So May of 1999, August of 99, I'm out at the yard. So 18 years old. I don't know what's going on out here. It's totally different. You know, what what are these people doing? Like, why is everybody just like looking like all grown and like they got it together? So I'm walking around. Hey, can you show me where the financial aid building's at? Oh, Koon's Cow. No, that wasn't Coon's Cow. You sent me over there to Koon's Cow. You know, it's kind of like that hazing type of, oh, you look young, you look lost. So I try to get in where I fit in. So long story short, grades weren't as as the best. Uh at that time, you had like you think the black culture or black professors, where there was a lot of foreigners like Dr. Betty and people that didn't look like me, but they were they uh like math. And and you know, why is an Iranian uh individual teaching math? I don't know what's going on. So kind of let the grades slip by the wayside. Uh so between August of 99 and before December of 99, I was like, College is not for me. So I I picked up pharmacy. So my dad was like, Well, that's that sounds pretty safe, that's good. So the pharmacy technician from 19 December 1999, and still to this day I'm a pharmacy technician, so 26 years later. But in the embed in that time between the pharmacy technician, so we we're we're we're migrating from academia to like practitioner, like, okay, I can do pharmacy. All right, so get into the pharmacy at JRMC. Shout out to Jefferson Region Medical Center, did really good at pharmacy. Um, everybody that was a pharmacist says, Justin, you could be a pharmacist. Your knowledge at 18, you know, brand, generic, racial proportions, you know how to read Latin, you know how to make IVs. Okay. All right, you know what that's gonna require? Uh uh education. Oh, well, you mean like go you mean like go back to school? Yeah, you just gotta just hey, we as the pharmacists at JRMC, we will pay for your education. Well, about that. I don't know, you know, kind of messed up at, you know, UALR, da da da. Well, no, that's this place called Southeast Arkansas, you know, college. C Art. It's right there down in the, you know, off of 17th of Hazel. Never now I'm from Pamela. I drove through there, you know, like now, I pay attention. I go from one place to the next. Don't even didn't even know nothing about it. So that's like you go to C Art, you get your core, you build your GPA back up, you keep that momentum. All right. So went there, wonderful experience. So that's the difference between an HBCU and a four-year institution versus a two-year institution. Two years institution is like you get in, you get yourself uh readjusted, you learn the core, and then potentially after that two-year mark, you go back into like the next phase, which is could be UALR or whatever. So, finish that C Arc at 60 credit hours. So during that transition, I was like, Well, pharmacy is not what I want to do. Became a police officer. All right, so police officer, two-year degree. The one of the instructors out there named was Dr. Shapiro. Dr. Shapiro said, Justin, take my advice. You need to go to UALR because that's where I got my bachelor's, master's, and everything. Great place. I'll send you a little recommendation. All right, Roger that graduated from CR 3.7, 3.8 GPA. I'm like, look at me. I'm I'm graduating with honors from a two-year school.

unknown 11:54

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

And so I uh drove down on I-530 and figured out where UALR was at, filled out the application, let a recommendation, then got in. And then like the ebbs and flows was a total like 180 from not to not, I mean HBCU or the two-year college, but I felt like the organization, the professors, it was like more of a scholarly academia. I I went out to uh ULR 2015. So 2015 to now, it's just seemed like it's the it's the standard bearer for me. So along the way, some of my friends were like, Well, I want to get out of Palm Love. So that's where you go to Texas Southern, uh all corn state, or like Henderson or whatever. So, you know, it's just academia in itself, it's just the culture, like, where do you fit in? If you're trying to get an education, if you're trying to get an education, and you know, like I tell even my students now, ULR is not like just like pyro techniques of just blitz and glamour, but you still got people that you know are they good instructors, good environment, safe campus. So, what are you actually looking for at the end goal? So that's been my my experience. So HBCU, two-year, ULR, and then that's where I'm at, ULR. That was a lot, that was a lot, you know, but you know, Blaze knew that was coming. She knew it was coming.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

I knew it was coming. I knew it was coming.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Yeah, but I mean, no, that it makes a lot of sense in in the in the weight of like whatever your transitions are, like you have to consider like why these transitions needing to happen, you know, like because we just never know. And and it's good that you added detail, like you said, like your experience extended out, like you attempted in '99, but you went down another path. And one of my biggest lessons, and I'll kind of jump back into that in a second, because you know, I guess it's just appropriate to talk about my choice too. But um, is make sure you choosing for yourself and not anybody else. Yes, absolutely. Um, you know, and actually I get into it now. So it's good to always make sure you're choosing for yourself, whether it's the college degree, whether it's the type of institution you're going to, um, as long as they have what you have. And also just make sure that you just know your why before you even get to that campus, before you even move in. Because, you know, at the end of the day, like I tell my students, your parents, your grandparents, your guardian, in-laws, whoever that supported you, took care of you, whatever, like that, leading up to this, they mean well, but they're not gonna be getting you up to do this schoolwork. They're not gonna take you to go get tutored. They're not gonna be able to talk to your professors for you unless you sign that special document. Um, and uh most importantly, they're not gonna get up and get you out of work, uh, get you up to go to your job that they encourage you to get every single day. Yep. You know, it just ultimately becomes oh, look what I got them to do, I told them to do it, and now they are this, but it's just like, but they did it just because of you. And hey, if they blessed to have still gone through it, persevered, and found a liking to it, then great. But at the same time, I tell students all the time, and I and it may be an actual study, but I truly feel like unless you just really have a natural talent for the type of learning style that fits perfectly with whatever degree you're pursuing, um most college dropouts and you know, academic struggles, I personally feel like comes from choosing the wrong major. Yeah, definitely. You know, and the reason being, you know, for our listeners out there is like I give myself as an example. When I first came into college, I knew I wanted to be a filmmaker. But then I was told, Well, I'm glad you want to do that. And I'm just talking, but it's like the vibe of I'm glad you want to be a filmmaker, but guess what? We still require you to take general courses before you even get to that. And I think I came with that. Yeah, and I think I came in with maybe 12 hours, 12 hours, because like both of the comps, college algebra and speech. I think that was it. Speech, yeah, speech. And basically, I um what happened? Let me get my life together. Basically, me having to go through these general courses was a struggle for me because I know I want to do film. I really do not care about um metamorphosis, your hypothesis. I don't care about any of those things. I don't care about this lab, those frauds, it's kind of crazy that they open looking at me, but I still don't care about this. I want to learn how to be a filmmaker, but because that is the process and the style of higher ed, even at that time, you know, I'm having to go through this thing, you know, and I struggle. Like, I think I barely got by with the bachelor's with the bachelor's, barely got by with my biology class, intro to biology with a C because I didn't do well with the lab. Some type of way I didn't do well with the lab. And then those tests was whooping my tail. And anthropology? Because you have to take two sizes? Shh. Crazy. I think I flunked almost every single test. But because I was willing to, but at least I was willing to put in the work during the homework in the take-home labs, and that's what helped me pass. That's what helped me pass, you know. So it's very important to make sure you know your why. And I feel like, Justin, that is what you get out of your experience. Definitely, you know, finding the best space for you because it's like, oh, this didn't work, that didn't work, but I know why it don't work, and I'm gonna do me throughout this process, and that's important. You know, I feel like college can be for anybody that, you know, career fear requires that type of education, but most importantly, you just gotta know why you want it and why you need it.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

Oh, you made a real good point about like the career and what it requires because I was talking to a student like last week that's interested in cybersecurity. And I'm like, well, really, you don't need anything more than an associate's degree for cybersecurity. And, you know, they were thinking about going and getting their bachelor's and all of that. And I'm like, but have you done your research yet? Like, let's sit here and do some research. And they were like, oh, so I can just do this and do it. And I'm like, yeah, like let's let's start here. You can go and do that other stuff if you want to later on, but let's let's look at what you really, really need and focus on that.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

So your your your choice in school also depends on the research that you do. You need to make sure that you're selecting a school that has the major that you want, um, the job that you want, what type of schooling does it require, and then making sure that school has that degree.

SPEAKER_02 19:53

Well, I want to I want to piggyback on that too. It's a simple formula for I and I tell any student, and Glaze, you're right, if it's if it's cybersecurity, but if you have income refreshments, so we touched on transfer student, and we get this a lot for our university. When a student or transfer student comes in with the hours, like 60 hours, some of them doesn't be equivalent. And so it's like you you bring these credit hours in, it's like, well, it's 60 hours. I should get my you know, cybersecurity degree. No, where are you at in core? So that's some of the guidelines that people need to understand before they even choose any institution. Like Blaze says, and you too, Corgan. Do your research, learn your why. If you know that you hadn't done a comp to fine arts, humanities, uh Flex Core, uh Core Science, all social science, and you may have like uh something from Westgate University says, Well, I took you gotta you gotta do your research because you're going in and it's a plan. Financial aid is going to play for a certain amount of hours. If you're financial aid, the uh you know your uh your SAP. So like for me, for my for my UALR, UAPB uh example, if I came from UAPB to come to UALR, I would be placed on academic probation because of the GPA. It's a lot of factors that go in to where what is your why? Let's guide you to take the basic courses, you know. But a lot of people and that's the that's the disconnect. Students are hearing from parents, transfer, or even adults. They don't really know how like to look at a person like, what can I do? What do I need to do? Versus like, well, everybody as soon as you come in, you're supposed to know. You had prior, like the call, well, PL prior learning assessment, right? PLA. You you should know, know every every college, every everybody is different of what they would allow for a student to take in. And so when you get that student in, like, I think that's one of the things that we have at UA UA LittleRot. People like on this call, they know you have three different versions of life experiences that can probably get you. to the best outcome possible. But if you don't have it, you know, you just flying by the CD.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

Yeah. Yeah. Most definitely. Most definitely. It's it's just really important to make sure that you know your why, you know, and I'll, you know, share my story, you know, with y'all. Like again, I want to be a filmmaker and and initially I actually want to be a college football coach. Um and I um start really paying attention to the the hiring and firing culture in college football and realized like hmm they getting rid of them pretty fast. Like we in the pros. And I specifically want to be a college football coach because I love the energy and just the play style and everything like that. Because at that time and to a certain degree it you know now my life too like sometimes it's getting better. NFL hadn't just been the most attractive to me. And so um once I realized that like oh like I might have to take a chance on like I might get fired after you know a year or sometimes it's not even my fault because it's the players not doing what we asked them to do.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

Or uh or it's one of those in the middle of the season.

SPEAKER_01 23:18

Yeah like or get fired in the middle of the season or what was that um or they may not even just be talented enough you know because that's also a thing and now you got NIL you know can you even afford certain certain players and keep them there you know and so uh and that was this way before that was even a thing. And so I stepped back and I thought about you know what else that I really have been interested in and that's filmmaking. Well it's been movies because I love watching movies and it's like I think I would be interested in making movies because I love stories and played with toys heavy growing up because I was you know only child until I was 16. And so um so yeah and basically I started researching where uh there were film programs that so that's another thing and going back and Blaze mentioned that like you got to know and make sure that whatever you may really like that school you may really want to be a hog you may want to really be a Spartan or whatever the case may be but do they even have the major for you to even obtain the the degree that will qualify you for the job you know and so I searched around and pretty much Fayetteville had a program UCA had a program as well but I did even deeper research and found out that um UCA had um our Arkansas PBS affiliate um in the state on their campus. And so I still at the time really wanted to go to Fayetteville. That's where I wanted to go for all of the wrong reasons. My homeboy at the time um from back at home he had been up there about two years used to come down and tell me about all his experiences and everything but it had nothing to do with really progressing in the degree field. And so I um uh what really kept me from really trying to pursue going there I got accepted but I could never find enough time to be able to go visit and at that time it was five hours away from where I'm from and so that ain't no hopping to skip you know so so I won't ever forget like it was like the second time I wasn't gonna be able to go to like that open house or something like that. My mom was like well Corgan it may not be meant for you to go to that school and I was like oh man and so wrapped that up left that alone went to UCA and campus outside or where like that really nice the dorms was very traditional at the time I think they really got some new ones and really nice ones right now. But what I you know really didn't uh care for is that I just really feel like at the time and you know I know I said the university name I'm not saying it's like that now at all because this is uh almost 15 years ago uh but okay all right all right I'm just playing with you it's it's about it's almost well hold on Corgan at least she didn't say dang for me remember I said 1999 right she didn't say so I'm just I'm glad she didn't say dang to me so thank you thank you for that much much love Blade thank you for you know okay look it's like she was kind of like when that song right then clear you see she be giving me a hard time y'all yes sir yes sir so but but yeah like so I'm not saying it's like that right now at all I feel like they actually do a really good job when it comes to their film students advertising about their projects da da da da da da anyway um so yeah so um but the professor at that time just really didn't seem engaged with me at all and this is a lesson for our professors and staff members you know when you're out there on the recruiting side whether it's open house or orientation and he just didn't really seem interested in making sure that he showed that he really liked that I was interested in that program because for those of you who are not familiar with you know Arkansas stuff like that like this is not a traditional filmmaking state movies um have been made here there are a lot of talented musical artists that's from here and all this stuff like that but a lot of them don't come back after they done made it you know and like that for various reasons and and so you know me personally you know I did not feel um secure in taking a chance on that university because I did not feel desired as a student to be there and so that's what ultimately um led me to um to to checking out this other university that my friends have been talking about um in Little Rock and I'm like I ain't never heard of that where is that Ed dah da and I'm like a good amount y'all like I it was like five or six folks like back from the crib and I um went there it was on a rainy day this is now this is when you you can get to tell like what was going on like West Hall wasn't was barely finished um Student Service Center wasn't there at all I don't even remember how they even looked then but that wasn't even there like literally the old school red bricks was there where you have to be careful or you're gonna trip the fall and then bust your knee you know like that's what it was and as y'all know on a rainy day like it ain't like that now it's way better now but on a rainy day the university did not look too good on a cloudy day or rainy day but the thing that got me is the staff members showed that they was happy for me and my family to be there at that time they was like oh I want to introduce you to this person that person not to sell me on anything not to be like oh we might have a scholarship just like hey we're glad you're here we're looking forward to you are you gonna come we would love for you to be here we got this program I can get you a part of this that the third basically trying to already get me in to have a sense of belonging as quick as possible you know and to my higher end folks out there whenever you recruit and everything like that always understand that the the best way to lock in the student is if they um build a sense of belonging as soon as possible. That's gonna make them more comfortable that's gonna make them open up and share things that they may be struggling with. So you can continue to be a service for them. And that's what they did, you know, and that's what that's why I end up choosing you know UA Little Rock and uh and been back and forth ever since student and professional you know and so so yeah I think at the end of the day y'all you know for our listeners that's listening in for this episode today I hope you just understand that it's important to make sure that whatever institution that you're looking at they have what you want. At any institution you can have a good time. It may be a little different from what you expected it may not look the same as others that you hear of here and there. Everybody can have a good time and and multiple connections and friendships can be made at these places unless sometimes unfortunately it's just really a negative space and you have faculty and staff members that make it more about themselves than about you because it's all about you truly and and so um make sure that you keep all of these things in mind. Parents please be supportive of this and keep it in mind when y'all going to visit these schools and making these final decisions um because affordability is a big thing too um we'll get into it but please don't be afraid of potentially having to take out loans because taking out loans is truly a part of life you know it's when you take out more than you need is when it's so yeah so you going yeah you might want to go to Ole Miss and you're gonna have to take out a max amount of loans as opposed if you go to University of Memphis and you may have to take a little bit but there are other scholarship money opportunities and everything like that to help you afford it, you know, especially depending on what your test scores and stuff like that is, you know, and so and my last thing I I will mention before we uh head on out is pay attention to the universities like say if you um are a state that is connected to uh you know Mississippi and all this stuff like that sometimes you get out of state tuition waived and out of state you know like connecting state scholarships like you need you institutional scholarships which are golden to get you may get those and that might actually help you be able for the university that you just would love to attend you know so so yeah but before we end this very and very important and timely conversation anything else before we head out team I mean I feel like we all really brought some great points um know your why make sure you do your research and make sure you're doing what you want to do and not just what somebody else is telling you to do.

SPEAKER_02 33:01

Yeah I I I concur with that and then the dynamic uh about when I mentioned about how my dad said you shall you will and this that and the third you know he he's been gone for about five years now he didn't pass away but even about my time of the smooth transition to where like it's almost you have to prove to yourself and prove to your parents that you are capable of just being in you know a certain you know category or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 33:38

So yeah that that's so that ties into the why and it ties into like just you know and and being in the know you know being in the knowing so yeah most definitely most definitely well we appreciate y'all tuning in to another episode of the Hire You podcast like I said we're getting back edit the weather traveling work has been very very crazy um especially on my end but we're definitely gonna uh get it back going for you all and hopefully be able to continue to share um some things that could be very you know useful in whatever uh aspect you know like I said we try to make sure that we support the faculty staff and students with this and just get together and have a good time. So again y'all have a good one. See y'all