Jasmine Baucham and College Plus

[gustava]

Yikes. She doesn't seem to understand that she isn't a "college girl." However, she's quite literate; she writes well.

https://allshehastosay.wordpress.com/20 ... lege-girl/

[CrazySister]

Y'know, for as awesome/incredible/godly/!!!111!!!!/better then all else College plus is, they sure do spend a whole lotta time defending it.

[kpmom]

Her dream is to teach English Lit? As a College Plus "Professor"? She certainly wouldn't step foot in an actual high school or college, would she?

[Loveday]

The college girl on the right in that picture is wearing quite a defrauding sweater. :shock:

[treemom]

I believe part of that post was directed at us.

[Witsec7]

I'm sure she'll get admitted to 'grad' school at one of those fundy diploma mills.

[lilah]

So Jasmine's latest posts are about how she has not one but two jobs working as a teacher, one in some co-op (homeschooling maybe?) and another at a private religious school. So she's working outside the home. Go Jasmine!

[samurai_sarah]

Oh dear. There's more to a brick and mortar university than she seems to comprehend. Seminars are about having your views challenged, and defending or recanting them. Basically, getting you to "think". And about being able to prove one's conclusion. Grad school is a whole new level of that. It's not about having done the undergrad degree, and getting recommendations. If she thinks that that's all it takes, she's in for a rude awakening.

ETA: Sorry for coming across as if I'm devaluing online courses from actual universities. :oops: My understanding of college minus is that it's quite different from those, and that they require a lot more.

edited for clarity

[lilith]

She also mentions how she was a very independent minded teenager who wanted a career and independent life intensely. But of course she realised that she was putting it above Jesus, and He helped her do the right thing and stay at home helping her Mum while she did college minus, taught at homeschool co ops, and waited for Prince Charming.

I feel for her. There's one story on her blog about meeting a gay guy at an ice rink. She obviously had a really fun time with him and got on really well, but she had to justify it as showing that Christians could hate the sin but love the sinner, and say she was doing it to minister to him and show him another way rather than just accepting that they really clicked and would probably be great friends.

I think she's an intelligent, interesting girl stuck in a very small world. She's so young, questioning everything you've ever been taught and breaking away from and perhaps being shunned by your family, some of whom are babies you have raised, in your very early twenties, with no solid connections outside fundie circles would be really really hard.

No wonder Voddie made sure she realised Jesus didn't want her to go away to college, she would have been gone in a flash.

[JMarie]

Why is it okay for Jasmine to teach, even part time, at a brick and mortar school, but she wasn't allowed to attend one? She hasn't even finished her College Minus degree but she's already teaching? It makes it seem like this school will accept anyone as a teacher.

I wonder how many College Minus students actually apply to graduate school. At least with the posts and blogs by female students, they seem to want a degree to better prepare themselves for homeschooling their future children. If that is the goal, or the student hopes to be self-employed, why would they need a masters degree?

Most of the MFA programs are at least low residency, meaning the student works from home but spends the last two weeks or so on an actual campus. The University of Texas at El Paso has a completely online MFA, though. That is, if she could get accepted.

[simplysweet]

I was looking into it and noticed that they offer anthropology as a "major" so I sent away for info (I'm currently dragging through my major in it). It has to be nothing more then missionary work. That is my guess!

[Peas n carrots]

I have a hard time believing there was a College Minus grad who was accepted into a grad program at Oxford...unless she is taking creative liberties with the name. I have a friend who is chair of a grad department at Northwestern University, and he said that generally if he hasn't heard of the undergrad program at a school of one of the applicants, it means their program isn't very good and he shitcans the application then and there. Of course not all chairs operate under the same assumptions he does, but I think Jasmine is stretching the truth.

[JMarie]

Something I just thought of: if Jasmine's father has experience as a college professor, why does Jasmine need College Minus to navigate her college path? Couldn't she just ask her father for help?

[hoipolloi]

I believe part of that post was directed at us.

That was my impression, too.

Sorry, Jasmine, not buying it for at least a couple of reasons:

(1) You're too defensive about CollegePlus. No, it is Not the equivalent of any accredited brick & mortar school in the country. If Rice Uinversity is "just as good" then why didn't you apply & go there as a part-time student?

(2) Your father is on public record advocating his bullshit philiosophies for abusing training babies & children, and keeping adult chidlren like you at home & under his thumb till whenever. So, I can't accept that you're doing these things out of a perfect free will.

(3) Plain fact is your parents should only be adding to your family if they -- and only they -- are prepared to raise all those kids they've chosen to have or adopt. If they were the responsible adults they should be, their plans for adding to the family should not be predicated on having you there to pick up the slack.

[Mela99]

I have a hard time believing there was a College Minus grad who was accepted into a grad program at Oxford...unless she is taking creative liberties with the name. I have a friend who is chair of a grad department at Northwestern University, and he said that generally if he hasn't heard of the undergrad program at a school of one of the applicants, it means their program isn't very good and he shitcans the application then and there. Of course not all chairs operate under the same assumptions he does, but I think Jasmine is stretching the truth.

I spent a month studying abroad at Oxford. They do NOT mess around with letting people in. You need work experience, extracurriculars, damned good references, and you need to be prepared to work your ass off. Remember, that's the school that takes RHOADES SCHOLARS. I ain't knocking homeschoolers -- from the grades of 8-12 I WAS one, but for severe medical issues -- but I had to work my everloving ass off to earn the right and the money to go there.

[marmalade]

I'm applying for grad schools in the field of education (with a bachelor's in...English lit) and guess what? People of your "acquaintance" who happen to have PhD's are NOT the kind of references they're looking for. They want professors you've worked with or teachers/admins you've worked with while doing field work (honey, you can't actually TEACH until you get those credentials) to gauge your EXPERIENCE and assess your ability to actually TEACH. Go figure. :roll:

I know lots of people with post-grad degrees, including a few actual doctors who could write a character reference for me, but my application would summarily be thrown in the trash. Poor Jasmine either doesn't have a clue or is applying at Christian colleges whose admission policies are different than, say, Oxford's.

[fluttershies]

I spent a month studying abroad at Oxford. They do NOT mess around with letting people in. You need work experience, extracurriculars, damned good references, and you need to be prepared to work your ass off. Remember, that's the school that takes RHOADES SCHOLARS. I ain't knocking homeschoolers -- from the grades of 8-12 I WAS one, but for severe medical issues -- but I had to work my everloving ass off to earn the right and the money to go there.

Goodness knows how a College Minus 'graduate' would handle an Oxford interview.

[CelticGoddess]

I'm so happy for her, that CollegePlus has taught her how to take a test. However, there was an essay portion when I took the GRE. No amount of test taking skill helped me with that. No, it was having taken several (like 5) Comp and Lit courses that helped with that.

(And GRE ain't everything. I had one of the highest GRE scores in the application pool at MUSC when I applied to nursing school in 2007, and I still got waitlisted)

[CelticGoddess]

Goodness knows how a College Minus 'graduate' would handle an Oxford interview.

And that is why I got waitlisted! I suck at interviews. :?

[LucySnowe]

And that is why I got waitlisted! I suck at interviews. :?

I don't think Oxford interviews graduate students - all the UK universities are trying to increase their international student population (they can charge lots more £££ for overseas than home students, and international students are cash cows) and the logistics of every single one having to fly in for a discussion would be insurmountable. Also, a lot of grad students in the UK are on one-year masters courses, which really don't need that kind of face-to-face investment. Heck, I got into a PhD program in the UK and there was never any talk ot interview (though in that case you'll often have an e-mail conversation with your prospective supervisor).

I can actually believe that one student got onto one course at Oxford. Not for English where they will get eighty bazillion applications for every space, but an esoteric one-year MSc, yeah, even Oxford could make a decision like that. But my suspension of disbelief only goes so far, and i would prefer some specifics.

[crassy]

I don't think Oxford interviews graduate students - all the UK universities are trying to increase their international student population (they can charge lots more £££ for overseas than home students, and international students are cash cows) and the logistics of every single one having to fly in for a discussion would be insurmountable. Also, a lot of grad students in the UK are on one-year masters courses, which really don't need that kind of face-to-face investment. Heck, I got into a PhD program in the UK and there was never any talk ot interview (though in that case you'll often have an e-mail conversation with your prospective supervisor).

I can actually believe that one student got onto one course at Oxford. Not for English where they will get eighty bazillion applications for every space, but an esoteric one-year MSc, yeah, even Oxford could make a decision like that. But my suspension of disbelief only goes so far, and i would prefer some specifics.

They do. Not only that but you have to have impeccable references from advisory professors, a 3.8GPA, and various other things. An interview *may* be requested.

I am looking at grad schools and even with my 3.5GPA from an actual university I am having issues. It doesn't help that my field is ridiculously small and there are only a handful of universities in the world that have the programme.

[alba]

I don't think Oxford interviews graduate students - all the UK universities are trying to increase their international student population (they can charge lots more £££ for overseas than home students, and international students are cash cows) and the logistics of every single one having to fly in for a discussion would be insurmountable. Also, a lot of grad students in the UK are on one-year masters courses, which really don't need that kind of face-to-face investment. Heck, I got into a PhD program in the UK and there was never any talk ot interview (though in that case you'll often have an e-mail conversation with your prospective supervisor).

I can actually believe that one student got onto one course at Oxford. Not for English where they will get eighty bazillion applications for every space, but an esoteric one-year MSc, yeah, even Oxford could make a decision like that. But my suspension of disbelief only goes so far, and i would prefer some specifics.

I'm 99% certain that Oxbridge have offices in the US (New York, maybe?) where they conduct interviews of North American students.

[atheistjd]

I absolutely hate when people call themselves autodidacts, or act as if that makes them smarter than those who have to, you know, learn from other, more experiences and knowledgeable people. EVERYONE is an autodidact to some degree. Sure, some people are more voracious readers or generally more inquisitive, but life is about learning as an individual - that doesn't make you special or qualified for anything. But there is a reason that society confers degrees for specific fields of study and numbers of credit hours... There is something different about obtaining an actual degree. This mentality that all these CollegeMinus students/homeschooling parents are smarter than those liberal professors and can teach themselves the same things is what scares me about homeschooling... it is just the epitome of hubris and narcissism. Ugh!

/rant

p.s. it does not appear that Jasmine actually thinks C- is better than a real University. If anything, it seems like she would JUMP at the chance to have classroom learning and interaction, but the "invaluable time" (aka forced labor) with her younger siblings and fundie-instilled fear of the evil "debt" prevent her from being able to, which is sad. While I am sure it is nice that she gets to spend time with them and potty-training is quite the accomplishment, there is a REASON most 20-somethings aren't doing that - they need to grow as a person! Free Jasmine!

[pomology]

This thing is such a scam. As a recent college graduate in the process of evaluating/being nostalgic about my college experience, the whole philosophy behind College Minus makes me sad, because it totally ignores the purpose of college. But, of course, the worst thing about it, is that it charges money to teach people how to get themselves a sub-par worthless education. Can't people figure out how to do that all by themselves? Why are they paying for it?

[starfish]

If she thinks Rice U. would accept someone with a "College Minus" degree into one of their graduate programs, she has either been smoking something or is competely deranged. I seriously doubt it. If she wants to go to graduate school, then she should go instead of just talking about how she *could* go if she really wanted to.

She will end up teaching at a homeschool co-op and that's it. That may be enough for her. It is for some people and there's nothing wrong with that.

And yeah, I saw the remarks aimed at us. I think we are spot-on in our accuracy.