For last week’s Becker Rose Café, Professor Daniel Schwarz came to give a talk about college success and what we can do to maximize our benefits at school. However, I feel that while the advice was useful, it was slightly difficult to apply. For instance, Professor Schwarz emphasized that we should pick professors who care about the students and know how to teach. And while there are friends or websites that give professors rating, it all depends on whether or not the class is full, or if you have other conflicting courses that stop you from going to one professor.

In addition, Professor Schwarz also gave his views about financial aid and fraternities. One of the biggest benefits of attending an Ivy League is that all of them are need-blind. This means that low-income families have the same chance of attending the school compared to higher-income families. He also mentioned that children from low-income families had the same IQ as kids that were had a better educational background. I feel that while this may be true, one of the harder issues is giving the advantage in academic preparation now that the college admissions process is getting more competitive. Many children may not be able to afford tutoring or extracurricular activities that help make students and their profiles stand out among others.

Lastly, Professor Schwarz talked briefly about fraternities and how they are catered towards people who have the same mindset, similar to a cult. He argued that because of this, there is actually less diversity in these groups since people who join fraternities are similar to each other. Personally, I haven’t had any interest in joining fraternities, but it was nice to hear about his view as compared to student views.