My career as a college counselor began in 2001. I was “drinking from a fire hose” back then as I learned the profession. College counseling isn’t an occupation you can really train for. They don’t teach you how to apply to a college and understand financial aid in college. I still remember the first workshop/seminar I attended for college counselors at San Francisco University High School. It was an AP workshop but they had a one-day session called “A-Z for College Counselors”. I still remember how helpful that was and how excited I was about being a college counselor after that all-day workshop.
The experience you gain as a college counselor is critical and then how you use it to counsel future students is most important to your career. There have been changes over the years as colleges add/remove application deadlines, change testing policies, the addition and growth of the Common Application, the popularity of college rankings and acceptance rates dropping each year, but the perceptions that were made regarding college admissions back in 2001 are pretty much the same today.
Quite honestly, it’s these perceptions that us college counselors (high school and college admissions) are always trying to change in our student’s and parent’s minds. It’s not easy though and for some, their perceptions will never change because it’s been engrained in their minds as “truth” from a past experience or from their family or friends. It would certainly make us counselor’s job’s easier though if students and parents knew, understood and believed the reality versus these perceptions about college admissions.
PERCEPTION- Going to one of the “best” colleges (highest ranked) leads to more success and money.
Reality- There are no “best” colleges because success (and money I guess if you think success=money) is determined by the opportunities you take advantage of, connections you make and the hard work, diligence and effort you give. I’ll refer to the “best” college issue in the next “perception” but one question you have to answer is, “what is success”? As Christians, we are to make sure we use the gifts, talents and abilities God has provided us with. If we do this and pursue a field of study in college that we know to be within our giftedness and strengths, and you have a desire to be a continual learner in that field, you will be successful. You will be paid an appropriate amount of money when you work in that field because you should be good at it for all the reasons mentioned above. God will provide for you and you will live contently whatever this amount you are making. The problem comes when people think they have to make “X” amount to be happy. This goes against what scripture says. Please read this blog post from Tithe.ly called “Bible Verses About Money: 9 Biblical Principles of Money and Possessions” to see what I mean. Alex Chediak also writes two great articles titled “Choosing Your Major” and “Vocation Plans” that I would encourage you to read.
PERCEPTION- The higher ranked a college is the “better” it is.
REALITY- Colleges spend millions of dollars “gaming” the rankings and they are not to be trusted. The colleges that find themselves at the top of college rankings make sure each year they stay there by how they approach their admissions process. They spend millions of dollars marketing themselves to “every” student so they can get 30,000+ applications and deny 95% or more of them. They then create this “dog eat dog” world where they create the “perception” that the “best” students come to our school so high school students and their parents think they need to go there to “get ahead” in society and be “more successful” than other people for the rest of their lives. They also get parents to think that if their child then goes to one of these “best” colleges, their reputation will somehow be “better” and they will seem like more “successful” parents. Did you notice all of the quotation marks I had to use in the last three sentences? That’s because all of the words used within them are opinions, not facts. Also, what rankings are you using? I counted just today that there are 15 different college rankings out there with different methodologies. Which one is “true”? The fact is, there are hundreds of great colleges out there and you need to find the one that is the best fit academically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and financially. Look at these acceptance rates for the fall of 1989.
PERCEPTION- The lower the admit rate, the “better” the college.
REALITY- Colleges that have low admission rates spend millions of dollars marketing themselves to students who have no chance (<1%) of getting into their school so they can “convince” them to apply anyway because they “don’t just take student’s with 4.0 GPA’s and 1600 SAT scores”. This may be true, but in most cases, it’s the athletes, kids of famous people or those that give a lot of money to the school who could have a GPA lower than a 4.0 or 1600 SAT scores. If you are not a student in the above demographic, you pretty much need another outstanding “hook” or have a 4.0 GPA and 1600 SAT score…and they still may not accept you if you do! The majority of the times, it’s all about what they are looking for and not what you are bringing to the table. What’s the big difference between a college with a 5% admission rate and a 65% admission rate? The college with the 5% admission rate tries really hard to get as many applications as possible from students who have no intention of going there so they can deny more. The college with the 65% admission rate only get’s students to apply their school that intend on going there so less apply which means their admit rate is higher. There’s a way colleges also manipulate application numbers by counting seniors who just start the application but don’t finish it but I won’t get into all that right now.
PERCEPTION- Higher test scores mean a better chance of being admitted.
REALITY- This is a half-truth because having test scores in the top 50% range of what a specific college gets from their applicants in a particular year is a plus. However, in this “test-optional” world we live in now, test scores have been de-emphasized in the admissions process and more emphasis has been placed on the courses a student takes, the grades they receive in these courses and the involvement and impact they have made in their school and local communities. After this year, most colleges will have admitted a number of seniors into their freshman classes who never submitted test scores. As they get more comfortable doing this and realize that they can still bring in a well-rounded, successful and intelligent class of students, this will de-emphasize the need to know test scores even more. Before the pandemic colleges were already beginning to re-evaluate the need to require a test score from applicants because the way that testing exposed an equity gap in regards to income and opportunities available to certain students. Click here and go to page 7 to view the income demographic that send scores to colleges the most this past year. It’s the wealthier families that can spend hundreds (or thousands) of dollars on test prep and in a way “control” their results. If you are a great test taker, definitely let a good test score benefit your application. However, if you are not or you don’t perform as well on the test as you think you should have, you don’t need to stress anymore because you still have plenty of options…as long as you were diligent and did as best as you could in your high school courses!
PERCEPTION- Where you go to college for undergrad still matters even if you know you need to go to grad school.
REALITY- While not always the case, if you know you will need to earn a Masters (and possibly Doctorate) degree in the career field you are pursuing, it’s not the college you earn your undergrad degree at that matters, it will be the grad school that you attend. So why do people put so much emphasis on undergrad? Because of perception, reputation and falsehoods they have believed. There are so many great colleges and universities that would be a better financial fit and you would pay a lot less to attend. If you know you will also need to pay $50,000+ for grad school, why spend a fortune earning your undergrad degree. Click here for a good read on this topic from The Atlantic. Also, here is a great example of a student and her parents who lived through this decision and how successful she was in the end. My Supreme Court SAIL class also talked to Sarah, a clerk for Justice Kavanaugh. Sarah gave great advice herself, based on her path to where she is today, to not put that much emphasis on where you attend college for undergrad.
PERCEPTION- If I think I have “need” and I get accepted to a “100% meet need” college, I won’t have to pay anything.
REALITY- The overwhelming majority of parents do not want to pay more for college, but they are able to pay more than they think. Each college that says that they meet 100% need, is going to determine what your EFC (Expected Family Contribution) is for their school and it will most likely be different for each college you apply to. Typically, if one parent in the household is earning a steady income and/or there is money in assets, home equity, savings accounts, etc., these will drive up your EFC pretty quickly. You need to determine if you would rather pay $25,000 a year at a competitive admission college because you think the “name brand” school is worth the extra cost, or you could attend another really good college, get merit and need based financial aid, the sticker price is lower to begin with, and still have a great experience. What you should be most concerned about is ROI (Return on Investment).
