Colleges???

Question

Hey. I know i am only 12 but i want to start making my future. I want to become a kindergarten teacher. And i know this will not change. What are some good colleges in the US??

Answer 1

For 12, you sound very confident in what you want to pursue. Just make sure that, if for some reason or another it doesn't work out the way you planned, that you are prepared emotionally to handle it.

I would obviously recomend Ohio State University (since I'm from Ohio) but I've heard a lot of good things from Liberty University and a friend of mine online told me you could actually take college courses online. Something to look into if you are bored.

Your still young! Enjoy your life right now...you've got years ahead of you to decide and prepare for college. If you really can't get it out of your mind, write down all the other things besides being a teacher that interest you and talk with your parents about how you can pursue those. That's my best advice :D

Answer 2

The country needs good teachers, so this is an admirable career goal. Elementary education, however, is one of the least competitive college majors out there, so there are programs for it at many different schools, and getting in isn't too difficult. I looked for rankings for you, and I was unable to find anyone who ranked undergraduate (basic college) programs, but found a few which ranked graduate programs in Education.

U.S. News & World Report ranks Elementary Education graduate programs (sorry, I don't have a subscription, so I could only get you the top 3):

1. Michigan State University
2. University of Wisconsin - Madison
3. Teacher's College - Columbia University (New York)

Ph.Ds. Org ranks Education graduate programs as a whole:

1. Arizona State University (Tempe Campus)
2. Auburn University (main campus in Alabama)
3. Ball State University (Ohio)
4. Boston University
5. Cornell University (Ithaca, NY)

U. S. News also lists the best universities overall. They are:

1. Princeton
2. Harvard
3. Yale
4. Caltech
5. Stanford

Of these, only Harvard and Stanford offer programs in Education specifically.

One word of caution: While I think that your goal is admirable, don't be so rigid that you say you know this won't change. I felt that way about my goals in high school (I wanted to be a middle school music teacher), and it caused me two years of pain once I got to college and realized that I didn't like what it was that most teachers do (I had gone to an unusual school at which our teachers had much more freedom than most). What I usually tell my students (I now teach college students) is that the perfect job for them may not have been invented yet, so while they should go for their current goals, they should remain flexible enough and broadly-educated enough that they can change as the world does.

Answer 3

I wanted to train horses when I was your age. Now I'm getting a PhD in physics. Don't worry about college for another 6 years. Besides, it doesn't take a great college to become a kindergarten teacher. Just a decent one.

Answer 4

It's not the college you go to, it's what you make out of your educational experience.