College Admission Myths

I have two sons in college now, and ran the gauntlet of college admissions with my youngest last year.  Even the most prepared students are feeling pressure about the low admittance rate at some of the most desirable colleges, but kids don’t really need to be superhuman to get into their top choice schools. 

In a Washington Post article author Steve Cohen listed his “Top 10 Myths of College Admissions”. 

I agree with Steve Cohen about all of the myths.  I have spoken to admissions officers in the colleges where my sons were admitted, and they back up the points that were made in the article--especially the one about achievement in one or two areas being preferred to dabbling in a lot of areas. 

The word they always use is “passion”.  They want students to demonstrate a passion for a particular subject, activity, sport, artistic endeavor or service project.  They want to see the student willingly spend their free time creatively pursuing that passion. 

Other priorities for admission officers include getting good writers--the content of the essay is less critical than how well written it is.  They want to hear the student's "voice" (and they can tell when it is edited or written by a parent or tutor).  They want to create a college "community", which means they don't want all type-A student body presidents. 

They want to admit a wide variety of students from all walks of life.  Most encouragingly, it is true that there are scholarships and financial aid available for middle class families (even at state schools), but you have to jump through all the hoops by the deadlines in order to qualify. 

One point that was not made in the article, which I would add, is the myth that the elite schools are the best.  A degree from an elite school (Stanford, Harvard, Yale, etc.) will certainly open doors, but it might not be the best fit for all students.  The application process at elite schools is really a crapshoot, because they are accepting around 8% of applicants, so lots of fantastic kids cannot be accepted. 

Many ambitious and outstanding students perform extremely well in schools that have programs that they really want or enjoy. Some schools boast that they have professors that consider teaching as important as publishing or research.  That could benefit their students more than the prestige of professors’ books and experimental breakthroughs.  Many good public schools are highly ranked in particular departments (sometimes even higher than the elite private schools).  

In the summer before senior year, have your student spend the time to evaluate different institutions online, even if you can't visit them all in person.  There are several good websites where students can compare colleges by size, area of the country, department of interest, etc.  

And if they do well on the PSAT test (October of Junior year) they will receive lots and lots of information from colleges in the mail.  I've seen kids (and parents) devastated about not getting into their first choice school, but they can and will do fine elsewhere.  As parents we can gently guide them to find a good fit and hopefully, keep the competitive craziness to a minimum.

By the way, both of my kids went through the K-8 and .  They were well-prepared and were admitted to terrific colleges. 

I am not putting down private schools, just reassuring parents that a public school education, even in these tough times, can lead to a good college education.  As long as kids challenge themselves with the most rigorous programs available in their school, work hard for good grades, and are passionate about one or two extracurricular activities that excite them, they will succeed.