When someone tells you to “stay in your lane”, it is normally after you have tried to do something that you didn’t have the knowledge, expertise or experience to do. What they’re saying to you is, “keep doing what your good at.” Should this be advice we always adhere to? Not necessarily. There will be times when one decides to take a risk and “step out of their comfort zone” and that’s fine. Honestly, at certain times, it’s encouraged because you can learn a lot by taking risks. Yet when someone does do this, they shouldn’t expect the ideal result. Why you might ask? Because if you are taking a risk, this probably means that you are moving forward without the preparation or credentials others may have who are taking on this challenge with you or it’s something that will be competitive.
I once applied for a job that others around me (family and friends) were saying “that’s great” or “you would be good!”. I knew I didn’t have the related experience other applicants would have or even what the employer was ideally looking for. However, I thought I would be very good at what the job was and since I heard a number of people encourage me, I spent the time to apply. I didn’t even get an interview but that’s okay, I didn’t come into it with many expectations and I was proud of myself for putting in the effort.
Having assisted high school seniors for 20+ years now as they apply to college, this “stay in your lane” saying has run through my head numerous times. Every senior comes into the college application process differently. Nobody is exactly the same. There are just too many factors that vary (family, background, extracurriculars, grades, courses, test scores, etc.). Nevertheless, many seniors try to apply to colleges that they have very little chance of getting accepted to because of the schools prestige, name, or rank or because they aren’t getting honest feedback from friends and family. What’s even more frustrating is that some of these seniors actually expect to get accepted. Now, there are definitely seniors that understand getting accepted to a certain college is a long shot but they would still like to complete the application. That’s fine with me! These seniors will also have additional colleges that they apply to as well that are a good fit for their credentials.
One aspect of “staying in your lane” when it comes to college admissions, is to “blaze your own trail”. You are different than anyone else that is going through this college application process. You may hear of the colleges your friends, neighbors or relatives applied to and were accepted to, but their “story” is different than yours! Don’t compare yourself to anyone else who went through or are going through the college application process with you. Just because they may have gotten accepted to a specific school, doesn’t mean you will or should.
Below are 3 additional factors to consider when trying to understand if you should “stay in your lane” when applying to colleges and understanding if you are applying to colleges that are “in your lane”.
1. Academic– If you don’t have straight A’s (maybe a couple of B’s), your chances of getting into a highly competitive admission college (top 25 of rankings) go down dramatically. You also needed to have taken the most rigorous course load at your school and have been very involved in extracurriculars at your school and outside of your school. Although we live in a test-optional world now, these highly competitive admission colleges also would like to see test scores at their mean that they post each year (typically, this means as close to 1500 or 34 ACT). Even if you meet all four of these criteria, it is a “reach” to get into the most competitive admission colleges.
If you haven’t done all four of these things, it’s OKAY! 95% of high school students in American haven’t either. If you’ve done one or two of these things, that’s great! I applaud you for working hard, completing what you have as well as you possibly can and for trying to be involved as much as possible inside and outside of school. There are still MANY colleges out there that would love to have you. There are excellent flagship state, private and Christian colleges that would be a great fit for you. The overwhelming majority of colleges accept students with A’s and B’s, a few C’s and even a D on their transcript. Go to websites like College Data, College Scorecard or SCOIR to search for colleges that match what you have done.
2. Financial- This is often an overlooked factor when it comes to “staying in your lane”. Even students who have great grades, test scores and are involved in many extracurricular activities, should not consider competitive admission colleges because if they have to pay 3/4 or full price to attend one of these colleges, I don’t think it’s money well spent, especially if you know you will need to go to grad school. If you have done well in each of the four factors mentioned above, MANY colleges will give you a lot of money to go to their college, and many colleges are going to provide you with a similar education and opportunities.
Most high school students have around a 3.8 weighted GPA, get between an 1100-1200 or 25 ACT and are involved in a number of extracurricular activities. Even if you didn’t achieve each of these criteria, there are plenty of great colleges for you to apply to. My biggest piece of financial advice is to not go into debt beyond what your potential starting salary would be. This may mean leaving off your list of colleges you are applying to, schools that have a more popular name because typically with the “name” comes more of a cost.
3. Major- Let me get this out of the way right away. Are there benefits to getting a high paid job in finance or the government/politics if you attend an Ivy League school, compared to a less known competitive admission college or another very good four year college? Yes. If you have the credentials (see #1) and you in essence “win the lottery of college admissions” by getting accepted to an Ivy League school, could you pay off thousands of dollars of debt if you were to get a high paying job in finance or government/politics? Yes…over time. Do graduates of lesser known, quality four year colleges get good jobs in finance or government/politics? Yes. It’s all about taking advantage of the opportunities presented to you, working hard, taking a risk and networking at whatever college you go to.
If you are not majoring in finance or government/politics, there is no correlation between the name of the college/university on your degree and the first job that you get after you graduate from college. After you’ve worked in your first job after college the school you went to becomes even less important because your next position is typically based on previous and related experience.
Find the major that would be a great fit for you to pursue. You can do this through internship experience and assessments like YouScience (students at DC take this free through SCOIR), MyMajors, O’Net Online or Career Direct. Another couple of good articles to read on this topic are Check on Return on Investment for Colleges and Academic Majors by Lynn O’Shaughnessy and a previous blog post I wrote titled “Choosing a College Based on ROI“.
