What do you Want from your College?

In a recent article about college acceptance rates, Jacoba Urist discusses if it is harder to get into college today than a generation ago. The short of it is no, it is not harder to get into college but it is more competitive to get into highly selective schools.

Article complete! Below are my favorite quotes from the article.

“Today, applying to six or seven places is on the low end. Many high achieving students will apply to 10 or 15 schools, so you’re looking at doubling or even tripling the number of applications from the same pool of applicants.”

Why would anyone apply to 10 to 15 schools? If my son wanted to apply to a dozen schools I would highly recommend creating a short list of six schools and concentrate on three. If you are applying to a dozen school can you really give all of your attention and energy to each application while still being in high school? Depending on your SAT/ACT scores, your financial need, parent’s income, and extracurricular activities, there might be 1-6 schools you know will reject you but because of your ego, you still apply. Besides the application fees you will spend a ton of money travelling to each school, going through the motions, and wasting you and your parent’s time. Maybe it is because I live in the provinces and am not rich, but applying to more than six schools is a gross misuse of energy, a waste of money, and shows a lack of ego control.

“Today, an American college education has become a consumer good—and schools are actively marketing themselves overseas.”

First observation: “consumer goods” from Investopedia are “products that are purchased for consumption by the average consumer.” I don’t like using definitions from a ---pedia but since the author described college as a consumer good I wanted to get the definition out of the way.

College has always been a product consumed by consumers it is just that in the past commentary about college was mainly written by people who all went elite schools and exhorted the benefits of a liberal arts education. Fast forward to the present most commentary is still written by people who attended elite schools but while two generations ago only small minority of people obtained college degrees today almost 35% of the population attain bachelor's degrees. A liberal art education is still important but there are millions of more student going to college today than in 1975 and not all of those students need a comprehensive undergraduate liberal arts education.

Second observation: “schools are actively marketing themselves overseas.” I know many large and small schools actively market overseas to get international students; when a school gets an international student this student will often pay full price (out-of-state or full tuition) meaning they are lucrative for the institution. It also creates an enrollment pipeline for schools allowing them to not be as reliant on domestic students. With that said if ‘issues’ between governments flare-up this international pipeline can dry-up leaving schools short of students and revenue.

“Wealthier families on the other hand, have the resources and flexibility to ensure that their children attend the highest quality high schools, prepare for college admissions tests, and are exposed to the cultural and experiential capital they need to gain acceptance to the most selective schools.”

I find this quote amusing especially “cultural and experiential capita.” What this means is that wealthy parents often think about their child’s college experience since day one and their education, from Pre-K to their senior year of high school is all college prep. Wealthier families have more resources to help their kids be holistically prepared for college giving them a distinct advantage over less financially secure families.

So at the end of the day what does all of this mean; is it harder to get into college today? No.

If your son or daughter or you are going off to college just relax and do the best job you can. If you are aiming for the stars and have to get into an Ivy League (or equivalent) school and have to get into an Ivy League (or equivalent) law or med school then feel free to stress out, work a threescore minimum work week for the rest of your life (I am sure many doctors and lawyers would say fourscore workweek), and apply to 10 to 15 schools. Or if you are more interested in your holistic develop as a young adult then go to the school that fits you at age 18 and don’t go to the school others think you should go to.

Consider this: Presidents of the United States have walked the halls of Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Georgetown, Stanford, and Duke but they have also walked the halls of Texas State University, Georgia Southwestern State University, Eureka College, George Fox University, and the University of Missouri-Kansas City. As an adult, your undergraduate experience is only the first mile in a long, expansive journey called life.