falconfan1 wrote:Globe, BG is not perceived poorly by high school students. You are typing an opinion and you have a background/experience working in education. You have spoken to 17 year olds who have told you that BG is not well perceived by them. That's OK and certainly true- as it is about any school short of a top 40 school. Do ANY of your students view BG as a good place to go to school? I deal with literally hundreds and hundreds of students who CHOOSE BG over others. I likewise work in the education field and, literally, in the field. Hundreds to thousands of students of all shapes and types. High schools of every kind all around Ohio and the country.
BG has a very fine reputation among students and families. We attract top scholar applicants, applicants from around the country, applicants to particular majors, applicants from alum families, applicants from first generation college families and so on. Many choose to attend. Our grads do well. As one poster says, much is on the student themselves after they arrive. But I can point to many many success stories for students of all kinds.
We are viewed as a "value" play and our grads (who work hard) are employed, in top grad schools etc. To downplay our Business program is ridiculous. Our placement rate is outstanding in several sequences and employers are recruiting live on campus in very large numbers. Generally, employers love our students
Tomorrow's BG Teacher Job Fair will be a huge event. One of the very biggest in the nation. Why? Because our grads are really really good. Our reputation is very good. The school districts' experience with BG grads is overwhelmingly positive.
In athletics, we can appeal to nearly all recruits and families. We will lose some recruiting battles in every sport for many reasons. Sometimes, a rival will tell their story better about their version of the academic program or have a certain highly specialized major. Perhaps the student simply enjoys the big city setting of another school. Or maybe her brother just had a wonderful experience at ABC College.
But our academic reputation does not hurt us w the general applicant pool. It helps us.
Go Falcons!
I work with thousands of students a year who wouldn't even consider going there. I've never met one that said....I wish I went to BG. I have met plenty that transferred or joked about even considering it. I am not saying this is how I want it to be, just how it is. I wish it had a great reputation. I wish it truly did recruit people from all over the country and world. Compare it's diversity and programs to Miami, OU and OSU and it's not close.
An athlete isn't choosing any program at BG over their sports coach, if they have other options. They want to be successful in their sport and they will go with a coach that they trust will get them there. Football and Basketball players especially define themselves by their sport. Its their passion and what they love and almost everyone of them has a hope to eventually get paid to do it. The existence of a program might be a factor but the overall reputation of the school and location matter much more to students and for an 18 year old those matter less then the coach.
Im not trying to bash bg. I love bg. It was really fun. But if I am completely honest I am advising my kids to go elsewhere.