The Enlightened College Applicant

The Enlightened College Applicant

A New Approach to the Search and
Admissions Process

Andrew Belasco and Dave Bergman

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD

Lanham • Boulder • New York • London
Published by Rowman & Littlefield
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
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Copyright © 2016 by Andrew Belasco and Dave Bergman
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or
mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission
from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
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ISBN 978-1-4758-2690-6 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4758-2692-0 (electronic)
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National
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Printed in the United States of America
 To mom.
—A.B.

For Leslie and Clara, my two loves.

—D.B.
 Contents

List of Figures
Acknowledgments

The Enlightened College Applicant: An Introduction

1 The Big Picture
2 The Enlightened College Applicant: What Really Matters in a College
3 Getting In: Admission Mythbusters
4 Getting In: Improving Your Odds
5 Getting In: Applying
6 Planning the Financial End
7 College Advice for the Career Minded: So You Want to Be a . . .

Key Takeaways and Conclusions

Appendix
Bibliography
Index
About the Authors
 List of Figures

Figure 2.1 Top Honors Colleges

Figure 4.1 Selective Summer Programs
Figure 4.2 Great Colleges with Less-Than-Great Geographic Diversity
Figure 5.1 Admission Rates—2014–15: ED versus RD
Figure 5.2 Colleges Offering ED II
Figure 5.3 Admission Rates—2014–15: EA versus RD
Figure 5.4 The Most Selective Test-Optional Colleges
Figure 5.5 Common Alumni Interview Questions
Figure 5.6 Selective and Transfer-Friendly Colleges
Figure 6.1 Institutional Net Price (By Family Income)
Figure 6.2 Colleges with Great (Need-Based) Financial Aid
Figure 6.3 Selective and Generous: A Sample of Highly Competitive Colleges
Awarding Significant Merit Aid
Figure 6.4 Going Abroad: Popular Undergraduate Destinations for US Students
Figure 7.1 Top Feeders to Elite Medical Schools
Figure 7.2 Popular Health Care Professions
Figure 7.3 Top Feeders to Elite Law Schools
Figure 7.4 Careers Related to Law
Figure 7.5 Top Feeders (Engineering)
Figure 7.6 Top Feeders (Tech Companies)
Figure 7.7 Top Feeders (Banking)
Figure 7.8 Top Feeders to Elite MBA Programs
Figure 7.9 Careers Related to Business
Figure 7.10 Colleges Producing the Most PhDs in Psychology
Figure 7.11 PhD Productivity: A Ranking of Colleges
Figure 7.12 Top Feeders—News and Media
 Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the support and suggestions of our partner,

Michael Trivette. Michael, this book couldn’t have been possible without
your help.
We also wish to sincerely thank our editor at Rowman & Littlefield, Sarah
Jubar, whose exceptional dedication to every aspect of The Enlightened
College Applicant throughout the publishing process truly went above and
beyond.
 The Enlightened College Applicant
An Introduction

Early in Lois Lowry’s classic young adult novel The Giver, a group of
adolescents nervously await their fate at The Ceremony of Twelve, where
town elders will single-handedly and irrevocably determine their vocational
futures. For the book’s protagonist, Jonas, and his peers, everything is
riding on this one moment. How they will spend every day of their lives
going forward rests fully in the hands of these powerful decision-makers.
At the ceremony, some are selected to high-prestige posts like doctors,
scientists, or engineers and others to more modest posts like street cleaners,
landscapers, or general laborers. In this fictional society, The Ceremony of
Twelve is the watershed moment in young people’s lives, and also one in
which they have absolutely no agency.
Sadly, more than a decade and a half into the new millennium, the way in
which the college admissions process is approached by many Americans
might as well be termed the Ceremony of Eighteen. Each April, swarms of
teens await word from their prospective universities with bated breath, their
hopes and dreams unhealthily tied to gaining acceptance at a very select
subset of name-brand schools.
Prospective college students, we do not envy you. You live in the age of
information overload, where advice about college admissions is abundant to
a fault. Chatter and hearsay on the topic is ubiquitous. In affluent
neighborhoods, this phenomenon runs on overdrive: “If he doesn’t get into
Columbia, I just don’t know what he’ll do,” says the woman in line at the
deli as she waits for her chicken salad order to be filled.
 The news media throws petrol on the inferno, regularly highlighting
shrinking admission rates at elite colleges. Attempts to navigate through the
cacophony of voices often result in students and families left adrift in the
proverbial mile-wide, inch-deep ocean of cyberspace. Going down the
Internet rabbit hole, they land on College Confidential or some other online
forum, taking as gospel the words of some of the most negative,
misinformed fear mongers on the planet (Insert FoxNews/MSNBC joke,
depending on your political affiliation).
An internal monologue begins to develop in the heads of even the most
reasonable, logical young people. “If I don’t get into this school, my
chances at success are doomed.” Level-headed parents, even, ironically,
those who attended nonelite colleges themselves and went on to outstanding
career accomplishments and financial success, suddenly believe that if their
child is rejected from Duke, they will be relegated to a life of menial labor.
It’s natural to get fixated on a particular name school, the type of
recognizable and respected university whose bumper sticker would evoke
jealousy in anyone breathing your exhaust fumes, whose presence adjacent
to your child’s name in their high school graduation program will stun that
one teacher who never seemed to totally believe in him and cause other
parents in the stands to ooh and ahh and say, perhaps with a wisp of
jealousy, “Now that young person is going places.” And that highfalutin
lady in the deli? Well, she’ll be crying in her chicken salad when she finds
out that your kid got into Elite U and her son is stuck at State.
We get it. Encouraging people to adopt a more holistic and consumer-
minded approach to college selection is about as easy as reprogramming the
Manchurian Candidate. After all, messages about the overwhelming
importance of your child attending a prestigious school have been gradually
scaffolded in your brain, embedded deep within your subconscious, and,
after 17–18 years of reinforcement from family, friends, media, and popular
culture, likely entangled with your own sense of self-worth.
The Giver slowly revealed the dark underbelly of an at-first seemingly
utopian society. From an outsider’s perspective, it’s easy to accept the
college admissions process, like Lowry’s fictional world, at face value. In a
kind and innocent, Richard Scarry-like world, admissions officers would
operate with pure intentions and egalitarian zeal, only wishing to further the
noble cause of educating the next generation of responsible citizens. Of
course, they would also probably be aardvarks.
Unfortunately, real life admissions officers have other, more institution-
driven motives. Faced with financial pressures and a persistent need to
climb the rankings of U.S. News and other publications, many devote
considerable effort to drum up applicants for the purpose of rejecting more
students and therefore enhancing their selectivity and status. Institutions
have fed the aforementioned admissions insanity by implicitly perpetuating
a myth that where one attends college is going to be the greatest
determinant of future success. Lois Lowry, a two-time Newbury Award
winner and author of over thirty books that have sold tens of millions of
copies worldwide, might be one of the countless leaders in their respective
fields who would firmly disagree; she graduated from the University of
Southern Maine.1

THE BETTER ANGELS OF OUR NATURE

We are encouraged by the paradigm shift that has begun to take place in the
college admissions discourse in recent years. Strong national voices like
Frank Bruni and Lynn O’Shaughnessy, among others, have begun to peel
away the fear-based and pretentious layers of the college admissions onion,
urging families to consider fit before prestige, while highlighting the many
postsecondary pathways to success.
The better angels of our nature finally seem to be emerging, as these saner
voices have begun to take the college admissions dialogue in a healthier
direction. Yet, there is a need to balance idealism with reality and to provide
a more data-driven examination of college admissions in America—one
that is capable of distinguishing fact from fantasy. The Enlightened College
Applicant will disabuse you of the notion that college admissions is all
about getting in to an elite school; however, it will also honestly confront
the ways in which college selectivity and reputation still matter. Of equal
importance, this book will provide you and your child with the knowledge
needed to make savvy college-related choices and win admission into
institutions that account for the bigger picture of a student’s academic,
professional, and personal life and that ultimately provide optimal returns
on your educational investment.
 We have spent the last decade working with thousands of high school and
college students in a host of capacities: certified college counselors,
teachers, college professors, and administrators. In addition to this
experience on the ground, we both are higher education researchers with a
bird’s-eye perspective of the college admissions landscape. Drawing on our
practical and academic understanding of the admissions game, our goal is to
give you and your child a comprehensive, evidence-based understanding of
college admissions and planning and then teach you how to apply such
understanding to your unique situation. It is our strong belief that after
reading this book you will emerge a better-informed and more thoughtful
college consumer.

WHAT OUR BOOK IS NOT

As you’ve probably noticed, there is no dearth of college guidebooks on the
market. We had no interest in publishing information that is readily
available elsewhere. As a result The Enlightened College Applicant is not a
comprehensive resource guide stuffed with SAT/GPA statistics of admitted
applicants, prestige rankings, application deadlines, popular majors,
admission rates, and the like. While valuable, you can easily track down
hard admissions data in any of the phone book–sized volumes that tower
over this modestly proportioned text.
Anecdotes and generalizations about life on campus/the student body are
likewise absent from this book. Some guidebooks will tell you if hard
liquor is popular on campus or if no one cheats. Such generalities may
capture something about the milieu on a given campus, but they should not
guide your child’s college selection. There are students at every college and
university who are more focused on illicitly purchasing bottles of Smirnoff
than attending class, and someone at even the allegedly most honest campus
is plagiarizing their thesis on eighteenth-century Scottish currency as we
speak.
This is not a step-by-step how-to guide covering the basics like how to fill
out the FAFSA or how your child should submit supplemental materials as
part of their application. Many excellent procedural texts already exist.
Ideally, your child’s counselor will be able to assist them in these areas as
well.
 OUR GOALS FOR YOU: CHAPTER BY CHAPTER
The layout of The Enlightened College Applicant is designed and
sequenced so that readers can achieve specific learning goals in each
chapter that, in the end, allow you to help your child identify the right
colleges (for them) and get the most out of their higher education
experience. The outline of the chapter-by-chapter learning goals below is
provided to give you a coherent sense of where we are headed.
Chapter 1: You will emerge with a firm grasp of the financial realities of a
college education in today’s world and the unexpected ways in which
college-related choices, made at the age of 18 or younger, can impact your
child’s life well into adulthood. With this in mind, you’ll learn how to
account for the bigger picture and help your child decide on a college and
course of study that improves their prospects for long-term success in work
and life.
Chapter 2: You will come to understand the true, in-depth answer to the
question of Does it matter where my child goes to college? Oversimplified
answers to this question abound. We’ll show you what the premier research
has to say regarding the relationship between college prestige and
professional success. We’ll also highlight the often-overlooked institutions
and institutional features that provide for a productive and profitable
undergraduate experience.
Chapters 3–5: Now that you have a better understanding of what
characteristics to look for when helping your child identify their target
destinations, it’s time to get into the meat of our text. These chapters are
loaded with invaluable advice on everything you need to know about the
admissions process, including what number of Advanced Placement (AP)
classes your child should take, whether they should apply early, how they
can write a winning essay, and much more. We begin in chapter 3 by
dispelling the most popular college admission myths. Chapter 4 covers what
students can do, even before the application process begins, to maximize
their admissions prospects. Finally, in chapter 5, we’ll discuss strategies for
crafting an effective college application.
Chapter 6: You’ll understand that adopting a smart consumer mindset is
critical. Accepting that higher education is actually a buyer’s market will
open your eyes to financial aid and merit-based scholarship opportunities,
as well as cost-saving strategies, and will help you and your child avoid
commonly made fiscal mistakes.
Chapter 7: Our “So You Want to Be a . . .” chapter will provide your child
with a detailed roadmap to entering some of the most popular careers:
doctor, lawyer, engineer, software developer/programmer, teacher, financial
analyst, psychologist, journalist, and professor. In addition, this chapter will
include a series of Top Feeders lists revealing which colleges send the
highest percentage of students to top jobs and graduate schools, as well as a
data-driven discussion of whether attending a prestigious college actually
gives students a leg up in each of the aforementioned fields. This is a great
place to just explore professions of interest, or for those high schoolers who
have already settled on a vocation, specific guidance on how to approach
their undergraduate education.

NOTES
1. Lois Lowry began her academic career at Brown University, left to marry a naval officer, and
then resumed her education at Southern Maine later in life, graduating at age 35. She is an excellent
example of someone who obviously had the ability to gain acceptance at an Ivy League school not
needing the name on the diploma to achieve wild success in her chosen field.
 Chapter 1

The Big Picture

Let’s begin by posing and answering the most basic question about college
in the mid-2010s: Is a college education still worth the investment?
We’ll save the drama—even in an era of bloated tuition costs, ballooning
student loan debt, and a weakened American job market, the answer to the
general question of whether a college degree is still worth the investment
remains a resounding yes.
Yet, this affirmative answer is strapped with a Barry Bonds–sized asterisk;
not every degree from every school for every individual is actually worth
the investment. A more extensive and more personalized analysis is
necessary to be of any useful guidance. We lead off with the examination of
a basic question: Is today’s average college graduate still better off than an
average high school graduate?

COLLEGE VERSUS HIGH SCHOOL GRADS

Survey any high school guidance counselor’s assortment of wall hangings,
and you will likely spot some sort of infographic clipped from a newspaper,
showing the difference in projected lifetime earnings for the average college
grad versus the average high school grad—the estimate is about 1 million
dollars or more for the degree earner. It’s no secret that more years of
education equate to higher earning potential. In fact, a recent study showed
that a degree increases one’s hourly earnings by 98%.1
 The advantage doesn’t end with salary; benefits such as health insurance
and retirement packages are also slanted in favor of college grads. Over
75% of college graduates have access to employer-provided health
insurance compared to just 50% of high school grads.2 A similar gap exists
when looking at access to retirement plans. College grads also report being
more satisfied with their jobs, tend to live longer and healthier lives, and are
far less likely to wind up unemployed or in a state of poverty than their
nondegree-holding counterparts.
Forgoing higher education is clearly a perilous road, but so is thinking that
you’ve got it made just because you are college bound. Over the last
decade, earnings for college graduates have actually decreased, when
accounting for inflation.3 This income stagnation runs concurrent with
college tuition prices continuing to skyrocket and 7 in 10 college graduates
emerging from their undergraduate years with educational debt.
Educational debt, in and of itself, is not bad, especially if it leads to better
job prospects and improved earning potential. However, a frightening
number of graduates take on too much debt, attending unnecessarily
expensive schools and programs that fail to provide sufficient returns,
despite the fact that equally beneficial yet more affordable options exist.

THE LIFE-ALTERING IMPACT OF STUDENT LOAN DEBT

The myopic nonchalance with which students willingly take on needless
debt to attend one university over another is a startling aspect of college
selection in the twenty-first century. We’ll explore why, in spite of well-
publicized information about the horrors of student loan debt, the great
mass of applicants choose to plunge right into IOU financing when better
options rest within their reach. Hopefully, we’ll convince you that the debt-
free (or debt-reduced) road, while less traveled, is worth exploring.
Negatively charged adjectives—crippling, burdensome, and
overwhelming, just to name a few—frequently accompany sound bites and
headlines on the topic of student loan debt. Student loan debt is a crisis,
people are drowning in it, and it is seen as a threat to the economy at large.
It is hard not to come away with an appropriate level of concern regarding
student loan debt, yet, in admissions cycle after admissions cycle, swarms
of college applicants continue to make decisions that set themselves up to
be just as financially crippled, burdened, and overwhelmed in adulthood as
the headlines forewarned. The first question is—why?
Some blame lies in the pervasive belief that a student should strive to
attend the most prestigious school to which they are accepted. Such a
narrow mindset takes value and how one’s undergraduate experience fits
into the larger picture completely out of the equation, leading many to
believe that paying exorbitant tuition costs, while something to grumble
about, is ultimately a fait accompli—an unpleasant but unavoidable reality.
Another key factor is that teenagers, even exceptionally bright examples
of the lot, are notorious for concluding that known dangers will never
personally affect them (i.e., “I am aware that drunk driving can be deadly,
but I know that I’ll be fine.”). Not surprisingly this same faulty bravado
seems to enter into decisions around financing higher education.
In the last thirty years, tuition prices are up 538%,4 aggregate student loan
debt is now in the trillions, and the average debt load is around $30,000.5
But we acknowledge that numbers, even numbers this staggering, can seem
distant and abstract. Thus, we aim to present the very real and tangible ways
in which student loan debt can impact a young person’s life, in an attempt to
impart that decisions made at 18 can have significant consequences at 25,
30, and beyond.

Impact on Career Options

A recent survey found that only 13% of workers worldwide actually enjoy
their jobs—talk about a depressing statistic.6 No one’s goal is to join the
87% for whom work leaves something to be desired, but being boxed in by
cumbersome student loans makes someone far more likely to be part of this
unsatisfied cohort. While there are plenty of people satisfied and fulfilled
by their careers in lucrative professions, there are also many who despise
their jobs but are stuck in a type of indentured servitude, working long,
stressful hours just to meet their massive monthly student loan payments.
Those carrying student loan debt are less likely to choose careers in the
nonprofit or public interest sectors. To a teenager, this might elicit a
response along these lines: “Big deal, I’ll just have to take a job where I
have to make more money.” However, as this same individual progresses
through college, they may realize that their true passion lies in a field like
social work, teaching, or public service. Unfortunately, because of loans
already accrued, a switch into a lesser-paying field may prove untenable. In
a world where workers switch jobs an average of every 4.6 years, this desire
or need to shift careers on a dime can likewise be hampered by the burden
of debt.7 Student loan debt is simply the number-one enemy of career
flexibility.
Individuals with high levels of student loan debt are also statistically
unlikely to start their own businesses. Acquiring a small business loan
typically requires being relatively debt-free. Even if indebted graduates
could get financing to start their business, those needing to make monthly
payments cannot afford to endure the growing pains inevitable with any
independent venture. Eliminating this option from consideration is a shame,
as a recent survey indicated that 55% of small business owners are happy
with their jobs—a pretty big jump over 13%.8

Effect on Lifestyle
The only debt burden larger than student loans that most people will
encounter in their lives is that of a mortgage. In recent years, thirty-year-
olds with student loan debts have become less likely to take on mortgages
than their debt-free counterparts—some by choice, others solely because
they cannot get one. Those with high levels of debt are also more likely to
be refused more simple lines of credit such as credit cards or car loans.
Debt can have other powerful effects on available choices in adulthood,
which would have seemed eons away at 18. Holders of student loan debt
are far more likely to delay marriage for financial reasons than those
without. One survey found that 43% of graduates choose to put off having
kids until their student loans are paid off.9

Future Education
It’s important to realize that a college degree, while necessary, is no longer
sufficient for entry into many of the most sought-after professions. If a
student plans on getting a graduate degree to enter the profession of their
dreams, they should be sure to explore that cost before committing to taking
on massive undergraduate loans.
 The average cost of attending a top MBA program is over $111,000,10 and
that doesn’t even account for living expenses and the opportunity cost of
forgoing two years’ worth of paychecks. The average law degree will also
run a total in the six figures. The cheapest medical school will still cost over
$200,000.11
Many graduate degrees that allow entry into lower-paying jobs also cost a
good deal of money. Obtaining a master of fine arts degree will more than
likely cost two to three times your future annual salary. If your passion lies
in the arts, let no one dissuade you from the plan, but you need to have
exactly that—a plan. Racking up massive undergraduate debt and then
taking on additional graduate debt for the purposes of entering a low-paying
job is a setup for disaster, or at the very least, living with one’s parents until
the age of 45 (which, even if you love your parents, likely still qualifies as a
disaster).

The Overeducated Barista

Tales of debt-saddled college grads lining up for jobs at Starbucks abound
in popular media. In this case, popular perception is backed by statistical
proof. In the United States today, over 46% of recent college grads report to
jobs that do not require a four-year degree—nearly 20 million Americans
overall fall into this category.12
Over 300,000 of this group are working as waiters and waitresses, almost
half a million as customer service reps, 115,000 as janitors, 107,000 as
laborers, 83,000 are tending bar at an establishment near you, and the list
goes on and on (mail carriers, flight attendants, landscapers, and
construction workers all have large contingents of college-educated workers
as well).
Of course, there is nothing wrong with making an honest living through
any of these means. The real question is whether this was the working life
these folks envisioned when they started their higher education journey. Did
the server at your local IHOP anticipate delivering Rooty Tooty Fresh ’N
Fruity pancakes to tables of teenagers when he decided to incur 40 grand in
educational debt to pursue an art degree? Are the majority of the nation’s
educated custodians actually math geniuses trying to pull a Matt Damon
from Good Will Hunting? Life can always take us down unexpected roads,
but it seems unlikely that anyone would willingly desire to chart such a
challenging course.
So, how does one avoid this pitfall? Is it sheer luck? Perhaps Branch
Rickey, the baseball executive who famously brought Jackie Robinson to
the Brooklyn Dodgers, said it best, “Luck is the residue of design.”
Whether someone is building a 1940s baseball team or their own
educational and career goals, thoughtful design can be the difference
between success and failure.

Keep Focused on the Bigger Picture

Author Stephen Covey, in his The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,
suggests that it is wise to begin with the end in mind when approaching any
big, multistep decision. Applying this concept to college planning, if as a
high school senior, a student’s dream is to one day pursue a PhD in Marine
Biology, they would plan accordingly, working backward to ensure that
their ducks are in a row (a pun if we’re talking about sea ducks). This
student might consider the following questions:
• Where do most marine biologists live?
• Where are they employed?
• How much do they make?
• What are the best PhD programs in the field?
• What do those programs look for in terms of undergraduate candidates?
• Which institutions did these candidates attend and what did they study?
• Which of these colleges can I afford?
• Is prestige a big factor in this field?
• How much would I owe in student loans if I attend my first choice and
how might that influence the other future steps I’ve outlined above?
Of course, not every high school senior can map out their entire young
adulthood from soup to nuts. Reality is, most cannot, and that’s absolutely
okay. Even if your son or daughter will be entering college with an
undecided label, there are still financial realities that can be projected into
the future and considered. They may want to become a banker; they may
want to open a bakery. Either way, it would certainly be nice to have the
choice.
Designing Your Education
In today’s globalized and competitive economy, skills and/or relevant
experience matter as much or more than a diploma, primarily because a
diploma doesn’t mean what it used to. While degree attainment was pretty
close to a surefire meal ticket a generation ago, simply possessing a
credential from an institution of higher education is still necessary but not
adequate for most college-level jobs.
Although demand for college-level work has grown, many new degree
holders have failed to acquire practical skills valued in the job market,
resulting in widespread unemployment and underemployment among recent
graduates. In light of these trends, it is essential that today’s college
applicants explore academic programs that lead to genuine learning and
distinction, not just a vanilla degree.

CHOOSING A COLLEGE MAJOR: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Buridan’s ass is a well-known (and unfortunately named) philosophical
paradox where a famished donkey sits equidistant between two similarly
delicious bales of hay and, unable to find a rational reason to select one
over the other, ultimately starves to death. Strangely enough, this rather
absurd and morbid fourteenth-century tale is relevant to the dilemma faced
by many college students today.
Never before in human history have young people had such an endless
array of desirable career paths as they do in twenty-first-century America.
The US Department of Education presently recognizes over 1,500 academic
programs offered by the nation’s colleges and universities.13 These include
everything from your run-of-the-mill liberal arts, social science, and STEM
majors to your more unique upstart disciplines such as blacksmithing
(Southern Illinois University), puppet arts (University of Connecticut), and
race track management (University of Arizona). Given this cornucopia of
potential career paths, it is little surprise that settling on a major is a
difficult enterprise.

The Age of Exploration

The concept of a 4-year undergraduate degree is becoming an urban legend
on the scale of Bigfoot and the chupacabra. At non-flagship public
institutions nationwide, only 19% of students graduate on time. At flagship
institutions, the number climbs to just 36%. Shockingly the 6-year
graduation rate across all public and private colleges and universities in the
United States is only 56%.14 There are a multitude of factors behind these
abysmal numbers, but the process of settling on a major is right at the
forefront.
Research tells us that the best-laid plans of high school students frequently
falter early into their postsecondary experience. It is estimated that 75% of
college students will change their major at least once—the average student
will switch a stunning three times before graduating.15 Even at Princeton
University, a campus filled with some of the most driven and focused young
people in the world, an internal study revealed that 70% of this elite student
body elect to pull the old major switcheroo.16
Let’s pause to point out that switching a major is not inherently a bad
thing and is in some cases an unavoidable outcome. Not every high school
senior can be expected to map out their entire academic and career path in
permanent ink. It is perfectly normal for one’s interests to shift and develop
as new experiences unfold, and nothing is worse than sticking with an
academic path one knows is the wrong choice. As the saying goes, “It’s
better to be at the bottom of a ladder you want to climb than halfway up one
that you don’t.”
While changing majors is inevitable for some, others end up abandoning
their initial pathway because of poor planning, lack of information, or
following misguided outside influences. Math and science departments tend
to see the largest exodus as freshmen receive first- and second-semester
grades far lower than anticipated. These students typically did not seek out
the most rigorous options at their high school to ensure that they could
handle college-level STEM coursework. Any student pursuing a STEM
field should avail themselves of advanced math and science classes in high
school. Your first college-level course should not feel exponentially more
challenging than those experienced in 12th grade.

Passion Matters
Another popular category of major switchers are those who selected their
initial area of study for the wrong reasons. The majority of high school
students, almost two-thirds, select areas of study that do not match their
interests—an extremely odd phenomenon and one that is ultimately
counterproductive. Studies have repeatedly shown that students who pick a
major in an area of high interest earn better grades17 and are more likely to
finish their degree in 4 years.18
Yet, despite these findings, many adolescents still feel tremendous
pressure from their parents and others to pursue what are considered the
most economically viable and/or prestigious fields. Interest, passion, and
enjoyment often take a backseat to projected future salary. However,
outside of a few fields, salary data based on your undergraduate major can
be highly unpredictable.

Starting Salary Data

Articles ranking the highest-paying college majors are easy to find but are
typically of little help in selecting a career. A quick glance at any such list
will make you notice that just about all of the degrees producing the
handsomest return on your tuition dollars end with the word engineering.
This is great news for anyone interested in becoming a petroleum,
computer, chemical, civil, electronics, nuclear, mechanical, or electrical
engineer and wholly irrelevant news for the other 95% of prospective
college students.
The fact that the average petroleum engineering major makes $93,500
right out of college does not mean that all the future humanities majors out
there should abandon all of their respective passions and immediately
register for Introduction to Fossil Fuels.19 Planning the extraction of crude
oil from subsurface reservoirs may be lucrative, but it isn’t for everyone.
It goes without saying that the decision on what to do with the next 40
plus years of life after college graduation should not be driven entirely by
average starting salary figures. In addition to the obvious reason that people
don’t want to be stuck in a job that makes them completely miserable solely
to earn a few extra bucks, recent studies have actually shown that salaries
by major tend to level out in the long run. For example, liberal arts majors
may lag behind before the age of 30, but after 50 (their peak earning years),
they surprisingly outearn individuals who pursued a preprofessional or
professional track in college.
Still, one should be cognizant of their short-term, postgraduate earning
potential when selecting what type of school to attend. Ignorance of this
factor can be a setup for financial distress later in life—stress that with
proper planning could have easily been avoided. College grads in the
bottom quartile of earners actually make less than the average high school
graduate. Some of the lowest-paying majors include early childhood
education, drama/theater, social work, library science, and psychology.
Students considering these majors are wise to avoid incurring unnecessary
debt in pursuit of their undergraduate degrees. The same goes for graduates
in STEM fields that do not typically lead to high-income positions right out
of college.
While engineering and computer science grads enjoy solid starting
salaries, meteorology, biology, and zoology majors begin their careers paid
below the median college grad. Other majors that many assume would have
poor starting, and mid-career salaries are actually shockingly strong. For
example, philosophy majors outpace their peers who studied marketing,
pre-law, and even chemistry in mid-career income.20 You read correctly—
philosophy majors!
As stand-alone credentials, many undergraduate diplomas, even from elite
schools, do not alone qualify someone for a high-paying professional job. It
is in these situations that salary data broken down by college major
becomes particularly hard to interpret.

Majors Dependent upon Grad School

Many bachelor’s degrees have limited value on their own but can be
parlayed into relatively lucrative careers through continuing one’s
education. Psychology is perhaps the ultimate example of this phenomenon.
Those with bachelor’s degrees in clinical or counseling psychology enter
the field making less than $35,000 on average. Most will find entry-level
employment in the behavioral/mental health field, working in positions
such as a drug and alcohol counselor, probation officer, group home
coordinator, or social worker.
 While engineering majors can call themselves engineers upon graduation,
psychology majors need to pursue advanced degrees to claim such a
credential. Master’s level psychologists will more than double up their
bachelor’s-only peers, and those who eventually earn a PsyD or PhD will
see average earnings above $87,000.21
If a student plans on entering a grad school-dependent field, make sure
they don’t break the bank on their undergraduate education. Students with
ambitions to enter fields such as law or medicine should account for
undergraduate affordability and performance in addition to prestige, given
the costs of a professional degree. Aspiring doctors and lawyers, along with
would-be professors and scientists, should also realize that graduate school
credentials, not undergraduate name, will be most important to their job
prospects.

Don’t End up a Starving Donkey

As with any element of postsecondary planning, decisions about college
majors should be made within the context of the bigger picture of a
student’s career and life goals. It’s important to be aware of financial
outcomes for graduates in a chosen area, but future salary considerations
are often highly dependent on future educational attainment. A young
person’s own internal compass should guide the major selection process
more than any outside voice.
When it comes to postsecondary choices, young people today possess a
level of choice that would make Buridan’s donkey’s head explode. If a
student makes their choice strategically and follows their instincts, they’ll
be able to successfully pick out the bale of hay that best fits into their life
plan.

LOOKING BEYOND MAJORS: SKILLS THAT EVERY COLLEGE

STUDENT SHOULD ACQUIRE
The selection of an undergraduate major is important but is far from the be-
all and end-all of a college experience. It is an overly simplistic view of
higher education that people emerge from four years of college with a
specific skill related to their primary area of study: education majors learn
how to teach, accounting majors learn how to crunch numbers, allied health
majors learn skills particular to the health care profession, and so on.
Yet, no matter the primary field of study, there are certain generalized
skills that will serve students well in the modern economy where the
average worker will change jobs an astonishing 11 times.22 Abilities in the
areas of written expression, public speaking, foreign language, and
quantitative analysis can and should be honed while pursuing a degree in
any field. If a student emerges from any degree-granting program capable in
those four areas, their investment will be rewarded many times over.

Writing
Elect to major in English and only one thing is for certain—you’re going to
endure at least four years of barbs and jabs from your know-it-all,
curmudgeonly Uncle Jerry. At family gatherings, he’ll interrupt your
attempt to relate your love of Chaucer to a group of elderly female relatives
whose names you have never been 100% sure of (Agnes? Gertrude? Doris?)
with something along the lines of:
Q: “What’s the difference between an English major and a park bench?”
A: “The park bench can support a family of four . . . hardy har har.”

Light laughter and stares of pity from the rest of the room follow.
What Uncle Jerry and his peanut gallery don’t realize is that becoming a
highly literate person actually makes you a very marketable person in the
modern economy. Reports, emails, memos, newsletters, press releases, and
presentations are just a handful of the ways in which written
communication is required on a daily basis in most places of business.
Good writing sets a tone for a company, as of course does inferior writing.
Poor grammar, misspellings, and subpar sentence structure in workplace
communication can be the equivalent of showing up for a client meeting
sporting a mustard-splotched tie (something Uncle Jerry would totally do).
Whether or not a student majors in English, it behooves them to sharpen
their writing skills throughout college—chances are they’ll use them in
their future profession. Survey executives from literally any industry and
they all say the same thing—quality writing is a necessary skill for most
jobs. In fact, within American companies, over two-thirds of salaried
employees have some level of writing responsibility.23 As a result, the vast
majority of companies take writing ability into consideration when making
hiring and promotion decisions.
Many employers bemoan the level of writing ability demonstrated by
recent college grads, even those from elite schools. At risk of sounding like
the aforementioned Uncle Jerry, in a world filled with daily texts, tweets,
and Facebook posts, the average college grad’s grammar, punctuation, and
sentence structure are simply no longer up to the standards of many hiring
officials. This, however, is good news for all of those strong young writers
out there, as their skills have never been in greater demand.

Public Speaking
Warren Buffett once opined that for those entering the business world,
becoming an effective public communicator can boost one’s future earnings
by an estimated 50%.24 Unfortunately, this bump in income would be
viewed by most people as full-blown hazard pay—public speaking is
simply that terrifying an endeavor.
Fear of public speaking runs so deep that, in survey after survey,
Americans report fearing the act of oratory more than any more
traditionally nightmarish situation you can conjure up: heights, plane
crashes, sharks, getting stuck in an elevator, getting stuck in an elevator
filled with sharks, and most famously—death itself.
In trying to avoid public speaking, one might first cross off the obvious list
of professions requiring the practice: minister, motivational speaker,
broadcaster, and actor. Unfortunately, the list doesn’t end there: purchasing
agents, marketers, nonprofit fundraisers, sales reps, public relations
specialists, teachers, professors, realtors, and corporate trainers all are
required to speak to groups, large and small, on a regular basis. In any
profession, even ones almost completely devoid of social interaction, most
employees will still likely have to go through a harrowing interview
process, participate in staff meetings, and discuss one’s worth at some type
of annual performance review. Public speaking, in one form or another, is
pretty darn close to unavoidable.
To fully comprehend the value of quality public speaking, reflect on the
practitioners of the art that you have witnessed every day for the last 12 or
so years—your K-12 teachers. Sadly, a great many of this cohort were
probably such poor presenters that they made your brain melt on a daily
basis (coincidentally, brain melting is #174 on the list of Americans’ fears).
On the other end, the best teachers you had were able to transcend the
monotony of the school day, engaging, enlightening, and inspiring you,
while even on occasion evoking laughter and tears. Imagine what
possessing such a skill set would do in any chosen profession.
Some colleges and universities require that all graduates take a course in
public speaking; most do not. Either way, we recommend that students seek
out opportunities to practice this intimidating but extremely worthwhile
craft. Taking a public speaking course is a good start, but it shouldn’t stop
there—students should ask around and find out which elective courses
require presentations and consider joining a club or activity that requires
public speaking. College presents a unique time to work on becoming
comfortable presenting yourself and your ideas to others—a skill that will
pay off mightily in a future career.

Foreign Language
The Soviet launching of Sputnik in 1957 is widely recognized as the
impetus for President Eisenhower’s initiative to improve science education
in America’s public schools. The strong push for STEM education persists
in the modern era, this time with the revised aim of preparing US youth to
compete in the global economy.
Lost to history, though, is the fact that Eisenhower also spoke of the
equally pressing need to help American pupils become proficient in foreign
languages. By the 1960s, over two-thirds of higher education institutions
required students to learn a foreign language as part of their bachelor’s
degree; today that number has fallen to just 50%.25
The Cold War may have crumbled with the Berlin Wall, but we now reside
in a globalized marketplace where knowledge, trade, and investments know
no borders. For anyone entering fields such as business, finance,
information technology, software development, government, law
enforcement, or health care (just to name a few), fluency in a foreign
language has never been more advantageous.
 The ability to converse with international clients in their native tongue is
of great value. Bilingual college grads entering the private sector right now
can expect a pay increase right off the bat; those conversant in Mandarin
Chinese, German, Japanese, and Arabic may demand even higher
compensation.26 As a secondary bonus, research shows that the process of
language acquisition is the mental equivalent of a P90X workout. Bilinguals
develop increased gray matter in their brains, which leads to heightened
creativity, focus, and decision-making ability.
While studying language may no longer be required at many colleges and
universities, we recommend that students consider completing multiple
levels of a foreign language and take advantage of now-commonplace study
abroad programs. Learning a language during one’s college years will be
easier than one-day listening to Rosetta Stone recordings in the car as you
drive your screaming kids to day care.

Data Analysis
News flash: Analyzing data is no longer done exclusively by middle-aged
men in pocketed, short-sleeved white dress shirts, robotically inputting
punched cards into giant mainframe computers. In a world with Moneyball,
Nate Silver, Freakonomics, and widespread fantasy sports participation,
stats have officially entered the mainstream.
It goes without saying that individuals majoring in areas such as math,
engineering, actuarial science, pre-med, or architecture will be required to
become fluent in the likes of calculus, geometry, and trigonometry. On the
other end of the spectrum, many liberal arts majors manage to take just one
basic math course in college or even eschew mathematics entirely. Math-
phobic individuals tend to cast the quantitative out of their lives forever as
soon as they are able to—a move that may not prove altogether wise.
Some level of data analysis is now a requirement in a surprising number of
non-STEM fields including but by no means limited to business, politics,
nonprofit work, health care, and education. Becoming a human calculator is
less important in today’s workplace than being able to accurately interpret
data. Traces of an increasingly data-driven society are everywhere.
Analytics are increasingly being utilized by human resource departments
for recruiting, measuring productivity, and workplace planning. Companies
like Walmart and Amazon have famously used logistical models to
revolutionize retail. Even the formerly quaint world of public education
becomes more and more data-reliant each year in this age of accountability.
In an effort to cultivate data literacy, we recommend students take at least
one statistics course and one economics course (preferably in
microeconomics) during their undergraduate years. Possessing some level
of ability to analyze data will enhance their employability in just about any
field.

FINAL THOUGHTS
In this chapter, you’ve learned many of the basic tenets of what is genuinely
important when planning for postsecondary education—what students study
and what skills they acquire matter as much or more than where they go,
college planning should be done with long-term life goals in mind, and
taking on too much unnecessary debt can have a sweeping, negative impact
on a student’s future. In spite of these acknowledgments, however, it’s
understandable if you’re still not ready to take the leap and reframe your
approach to college admissions.
Don’t worry, you’re right where you should be. Just lend us your ears,
approach chapter 2 with an open mind, and discover what research and data
actually say about the relationship between college selectivity and student
outcomes.

NOTES
1. Pew Research Center, “Is College Worth It?” May 15, 2011, accessed December 6, 2015,
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/05/15/is-college-worth-it/.
2. Elise Gould, “A Decade of Declines in Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Coverage,”
Economic Policy Institute, February 23, 2012, accessed December 6, 2015,
http://www.epi.org/publication/bp337-employer-sponsored-health-insurance/.
3. Elise Gould, “2014 Continues a 35-Year Trend of Broad-Based Wage Stagnation,” Economic
Policy Institute, February 19, 2015, accessed December 6, 2015,
http://www.epi.org/publication/stagnant-wages-in-2014/.
4. Mamie Lynch, Jennifer Engle, and Jose L. Cruz, “Lifting the Fog on Inequitable Financial Aid
Policies,” The Education Trust, November 2011, accessed December 6, 2015, http://edtrust.org/wp-
content/uploads/2013/10/Lifting-the-Fog-FINAL.pdf.
5. The Institute for College Access & Success, “Project on Student Debt: State by State Data,”
accessed December 6, 2015, http://ticas.org/posd/map-state-data-2015.
 6. Steve Crabtree, “Worldwide, 13% of Employees Are Engaged at Work,” Gallup, October 8,
2013, accessed December 6, 2015, http://www.gallup.com/poll/165269/worldwide-employees-
engaged-work.aspx.
7. U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employee Tenure in 2014,” September
18, 2014, accessed December 6, 2015,
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/tenure_09182014.htm.
8. Yodle, “Survey: SMB Owners are ‘Happy’ Despite Concerns about Healthcare, Retirement &
Customer Acquisition,” August 22, 2013, accessed December 6, 2015,
http://www.yodle.com/company/press-releases/yodle-smb-sentiment-survey.
9. American Student Assistance, “Life Delayed: The Impact of Student Debt on the Daily Lives of
Young Americans,” 2013, accessed December 6, 2015,
http://www.asa.org/site/assets/files/3793/life_delayed.pdf.
10. Patrick Clark, “Debt Is Piling Up Faster for Most Graduate Students—but Not MBAs,”
Bloomberg Businessweek, March 25, 2014, accessed December 6, 2015,
http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-03-25/student-loan-debt-piles-up-for-graduate-students-
but-not-mbas.
11. Janet Lorin, “Medical School at $278,000 Means Even Bernanke Son Has Debt,” Bloomberg
Businessweek, April 11, 2013, accessed December 6, 2015,
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-04-11/medical-school-at-278-000-means-even-
bernanke-son-carries-debt.
12. Richard Vedder, “Why Did 17 Million Students Go to College?” The Chronicle of Higher
Education, October 20, 2010, accessed December 6, 2015,
http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/why-did-17-million-students-go-to-college/27634.
13. Cecilia Capuzzi Simon, “Major Decisions,” New York Times, November 2, 2012, accessed
December 6, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/education/edlife/choosing-one-college-
major-out-of-hundreds.html?_r=0.
14. Doug Shapiro et al, (2013, December), “Completing College: A National View of Student
Attainment Rates-Fall 2007 Cohort (Signature Report No. 6),” Herndon, VA: National Student
Clearinghouse Research Center, accessed December 6, 2015,
http://nscresearchcenter.org/signaturereport6/.
15. Virginia Gordon, (2007), The Undecided College Student: An Academic and Career Advising
Challenge (3rd ed.), Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
16. Corinne Lowe, “70 Percent of Students Change Major After Enrollment, Study Finds,” The
Daily Princetonian, September 18, 2014, accessed December 6, 2015,
http://dailyprincetonian.com/news/2014/09/70-percent-of-students-change-major-after-enrollment-
study-finds/.
17. Lawrence K. Jones and Juliet Wehr Jones, (2012). “Personality-College Major Match and
Student Success: A Guide for Professionals Helping Youth and Adults Who Are in College or Are
College-Bound,” accessed February 29, 2016, http://www.careerkey.org/pdf/Personality-
College_Major_Match_Guide_Professionals.pdf.
18. Jeff Allen and Steve Robbins, (2010), “Effects of Interest-Major Congruence, Motivation, and
Academic Performance on Timely Degree Attainment,” Journal of Counseling Psychology, 57, 23–
35.
19. National Association of Colleges and Employers, “Starting Salaries,” accessed December 6,
2015, https://www.naceweb.org/salary-resources/starting-salaries.aspx.
20. “Salary Increase by Major,” Wall Street Journal, accessed February 29, 2016,
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-Degrees_that_Pay_you_Back-sort.html.
 21. D. W. Rajecki and Victor M. H. Borden, (2011), “Psychology Degrees: Employment, Wage,
and Career Trajectory Consequences,” Perspectives in Psychological Science, 6, 321–335.
22. U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, “News Release: Number of Jobs Held,
Labor Market Activity, and Earnings Growth among the Youngest Baby Boomers: Results from a
Longitudinal Survey,” March 31, 2015, accessed June 17, 2015,
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/nlsoy.pdf.
23. College Board, The National Commission on Writing for America’s Families, Schools, and
Colleges, “Writing: A Ticket to Work . . . Or a Ticket Out: A Survey of Business Leaders,”
September 2004, accessed December 6, 2015,
http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/writingcom/writing-ticket-to-work.pdf.
24. Carmine Gallo, “The Soft Skill That Could Mean $1 Million Hard Cash for One Manager,”
Forbes, November 7, 2013, accessed December 2, 2015,
http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2013/11/07/the-soft-skill-that-could-mean-1-million-hard-
cash-for-one-manager/.
25. Natalia Lusin, “The MLA Survey of Postsecondary Entrance and Degree Requirements for
Languages Other Than English, 2009–10,” Modern Language Association of America, March 2012,
accessed December 6, 2015, http://www.mla.org/pdf/requirements_survey_200910.pdf.
26. Albert Saiz and Elena Zoido, 2002, “The Returns to Speaking a Second Language,” Working
Papers 02-16, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
 Chapter 2

The Enlightened College Applicant

What Really Matters in a College

We begin with an analogy. Three racehorses—Cream of the Crop, Above

Average, and Run of the Mill—are selected by three trainers of varying
quality to prepare for the Kentucky Derby. Trainer A is world renowned,
highly sought after, and thus has his pick of the litter. Without hesitation, he
scoops up Cream of the Crop, who has the most natural ability of the three
equine athletes. Trainer B won’t work with just anyone—he generally gets
strong horses who don’t quite catch the eye of Trainer A. Not surprisingly,
he chooses to work with Above Average, whose name aptly sums up his
natural talent. Trainer C spends more time sipping mint juleps and ogling
women in oversized derby hats than actually working with the horses. He
takes Run of the Mill because, well, that’s who is left.
If Cream of the Crop wins the Kentucky Derby, Trainer A will bask in his
horse’s glory and claim all the credit. The question is, what does taking in
elite thoroughbreds and churning out winners actually prove about Trainer
A? If Cream of the Crop had worked with Trainer B, would he not have still
won the Derby? What if Cream of the Crop had elected to work with that
ol’ lascivious lush, Trainer C? Could he still have emerged victorious given
his immense natural talent?
Now let’s step out of the analogy. Substitute students for horses, colleges
for trainers, and future earnings for winning the Kentucky Derby, and you
should be left with similar questions. In order to begin to find answers to
these types of questions related to college choice and future earnings, we
have to explore a concept known as returns to selectivity.

FINANCIAL RETURNS TO SELECTIVITY

In recent years, the rather revolutionary notion that where you go to college
will do little to determine your future life and career has exploded in
popularity, endorsed by columnists and policy analysts alike. For this we
are quite glad. The frenzied rat race of elite college admissions causes
undue stress and anxiety on students and families. We are firm believers
that talented, driven students will thrive at a number of institutions outside
of the Ivy League.
That being said, we hesitate at making a sweeping, unequivocal statement
saying that it “doesn’t matter where you go to college.” To do so would be
to ignore decades’ worth of research on outcomes related to selectivity—
research that has uncovered some nuances and important distinctions on the
subject of how much a school does or does not impact its students’ future
success.
The term returns to selectivity refers to the financial benefit of attending
schools across the selectivity spectrum—from Harvard with its infinitesimal
6% acceptance rate1 to Northern Arizona University with its generous 91%
acceptance rate.2 The body of research from this field of study will
enlighten and surprise you.

Confirming Assumptions: 1999–2008

To briefly return to our horse-training scenario, the first true question is an
obvious one: Do Trainer A’s, B’s, and C’s horses actually enjoy different
rates of success?
In an effort to scientifically explore the relationship between selectivity
and economic returns, researchers in the late 1990s were able to verify that
students attending colleges on the high end of the selectivity spectrum do in
fact earn higher wages, on average, than students attending less-selective
institutions.3 For example, Yale graduates, as you would have expected,
enjoy superior average earnings to graduates of Southern Connecticut State
University, New Haven’s public and less-prestigious four-year institution.
 Nearly a decade later, a study by another researcher reached a similar
conclusion about the monetary benefit of attending an elite school over a
less-selective school. This research affirmed presumptions about how
income is linked to college selectivity but did so only by comparing apples
to oranges, students with the credentials to attend ultra-selective schools
versus students only able to attend nonselective ones.4 To uncover more
illuminating data, it was time to toss aside the Valencias and line up a pair
of nearly identical Granny Smiths.

Apples to Apples: 2009

In an attempt to look at the effects of attending a selective institution on
comparable applicants, scholars looked at two groups with almost
everything in common, except for one thing—where they went to college.
Students barely admitted into an unnamed flagship university were
evaluated against similarly qualified students who were denied admission at
the same institution and ultimately, in most cases, enrolled in far less-
selective schools. Interestingly, the group of students who attended the
flagship eventually earned 20% more, on average, than their rejected
counterparts, a sizable discrepancy.5
While this outcome tells us something about selectivity’s impact on
monetary returns, the takeaways are limited because the study was limited
to one state, significant findings were limited to white men, and schools
attended by the two groups were either moderately selective or barely
selective at all; the upper echelon of schools was nowhere to be found.
In essence, what remained unanswered was the essential question: Do
students actually benefit from enrolling at the most selective college
available to them? In 2011, two researchers would begin to shed light on an
answer.

A Complex Picture Emerges: 2011

Prior research confirmed that Yale graduates earn more, on average, than
students at Southern Connecticut State University. However, the million-
dollar question remained: Do Yale graduates earn more because of the name
on their diploma or because of the qualities that allowed them to earn
admission at Yale in the first place?
 In an effort to better crack this conundrum, Stacy Dale and Alan Krueger6
set out to distinguish the benefits of college selectivity from personal
characteristics that tend to result in professional success, regardless of one’s
undergraduate institution. The cohorts of students studied by the researchers
possessed similar backgrounds, boasted strong identical high school GPAs
and SAT scores, and held similarly ambitious attitudes toward their
educational and career goals. Here, the authors did find that graduates of
more selective colleges realized earnings 7% greater, on average, than
graduates of less-selective institutions, but their most intriguing finding was
yet to come.
When the authors incorporated an additional control (i.e., adjustment) for
where students applied, they uncovered something quite interesting:
students who applied to a more selective college but who chose instead to
attend a less-exclusive school still earned the same wages as similarly
credentialed graduates of these choosier institutions. In other words,
selectivity of the college one attended didn’t really matter; what counted
was the selectivity of institutions to where one applied.
This finding suggests that, all things being equal, attitude, rather than
undergraduate name drives earnings. In other words, if a student possesses
the mindset to strive toward elite college attendance, he or she likely has the
disposition and intellectual prowess to achieve high earnings, regardless of
whether he or she ultimately attends an elite institution.
Now that we have a clearer answer as to the relationship between college
prestige and income, it’s time to muddy the waters yet again.

Cases Where Selectivity Does Matter

While Dale and Krueger found that the general population experiences
little-to-no earnings boost by attending a supremely selective school, there
are a couple of caveats. First, Dale and Krueger’s study included only elite
and moderately selective institutions, so they were unable to test whether
similar students attending a minimally or nonselective school would be
similarly unaffected. Comparisons were drawn between Penn State and
Princeton or Tufts and Tulane, rather than between Elite U and the local
community college. Thus, a slight revision to Dale and Krueger’s finding is
warranted and suggests that you do not need to attend an elite college to
maximize your financial returns, so long as you at least attend a college
that is selective.
Second, the study revealed that African Americans, Latino Americans,
and first-generation college students did in fact see substantial benefits from
attending the most selective institutions. Members of these
racial/socioeconomic groups who went on to attend elite colleges earned
significantly more than similarly qualified students of the same background
who attended less-exclusive schools. The why isn’t borne out by research,
but a likely explanation exists.
Members of the dominant class (white, wealthy, and educated) often run in
social circles with other connected, powerful (even in a relative sense)
people who possess a high degree of social capital. It stands to reason that
while an upper-middle-class student who attends a semi-selective state
school is likely to benefit from a network of family and family friends who
can help that young person land their first job, a student from a lower-
income household may lack these advantages and must therefore forge their
own connections, accruing their own social capital only by navigating their
way through an elite university.
As such, these groups may uniquely benefit, and thus be more inclined, to
choose the most selective college they can attend. In a world of nepotism
and networking, an elite brand-name college can in fact open doors to
students from less-privileged backgrounds.

Back to the Races . . .

Let’s head back to our Kentucky Derby analogy to clarify the research-
supported effects of selectivity on future income.
The full body of returns to selectivity research tells us that, in most cases,
similarly equipped individuals will likely achieve similar earnings whether
they choose to attend an Ivy like Columbia University or SUNY Stony
Brook, a very reputable yet less-selective institution 50 miles to the east. In
horse-racing terms, an elite horse like Cream of the Crop is going to get his
shot at the Triple Crown whether schooled by Trainer A or Trainer B.
Trainer C’s story, on the other hand, is quite different. If our same highly
qualified student passed up an opportunity to attend Columbia or Stony
Brook in favor of the much less-selective Long Island University, for
example, they might not fare as well out in the working world. Schools like
Long Island University, due to lack of resources, networks, and similarly
abled peer groups, simply cannot provide a comparable undergraduate
experience.
This isn’t to say that an individual from Long Island University cannot be
a president of the United States (Ronald Reagan attended Eureka College
and Andrew Jackson was rumored to be illiterate) or a Fortune 500 CEO
(too many examples to list). It is only to say that graduates of minimally
selective schools are not on equal footing with grads of highly selective or
moderately selective institutions in their quest to ascend the income ladder.

Conclusions: Selectivity Does Matter but Not Entirely

In light of findings uncovered by the complete body of literature on returns
to college prestige, it appears that selectivity does matter, but not in the way
that many think. Among elite and moderately selective colleges, there’s
significantly more variability within institutions than between institutions.
As such, if you have admissions offers from multiple selective schools,
don’t make your choice on the basis of a U.S. News rank; instead, choose a
college that provides you the best fit, knowing that your future professional
success will likely have more to do with your own ability and effort than the
name of the college on your diploma. While it isn’t as simple a statement as
“it doesn’t matter where you go to college,” it is one that is actually backed
by rigorous research.

COLLEGES THAT ARE PROBABLY BETTER THAN HARVARD

Now that you understand what research has to say about the contextual and
often-limited benefits of attending a highly selective school, you may have
opened your mind to a few less-competitive yet still wonderful institutions.
However, we’ve worked with enough cream of the crop high school
superstars to know that for many, the lure of prestige is just too strong.
Ultimately, students and parents alike still want a name school.
We get it. The Harvard name is the Harvard name, and that is an
undeniable fact. When an alumni list includes 7 signers of the Declaration
of Independence, Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and 25
of the current Fortune 500 CEOs in the world, it would be just plain silly to
assert that life’s doors are not swung wide open for Harvard’s graduates
(apologies to forgotten nineteenth President of the United States Rutherford
B. Hayes and the actor who played Herman Munster for narrowly missing
inclusion on this list).
That being said, there are other elite, name-brand colleges and universities
that may provide a better undergraduate experience than Harvard. Let us
begin by revealing the truth about an undergraduate education at Harvard.

What Does a Harvard Classroom Look Like?

A Gallup Poll survey of 30,000 college graduates found that where one
went to school was in no way predictive of happiness in one’s future life or
career.7 There was, however, a strong correlation between close mentorship
by one or more faculty members in college and future satisfaction.
Graduates who felt emotionally supported by faculty and were encouraged
to learn on a deep and experiential level by their professors found
themselves far more engaged in their work years down the line than those
who did not. The average college consumer’s method of discerning how
much of this highly important personal connection and intimate interaction
takes place is to look at a school’s student-faculty ratio. Yet, this figure can
be highly misleading.
Harvard touts a remarkably low student-faculty ratio; some years, it is the
very best in the nation. Unfortunately, their stated 7:1 ratio does not
necessarily mean that classes are small and that classes are taught primarily
by their eminent, full-time faculty. The average class size at Harvard is
below forty and a handful of introductory classes are filled by hundreds of
students.8 According to the New York Times, many Harvard graduates
lament making it through four years and not even getting to know a single
professor well enough to ask for a letter of recommendation.9 While this
factoid is a bit anecdotal for our research-based tastes, a significant amount
of hard data is suggestive of its veracity.
While there exists no shortage of Nobel Laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners,
and leaders in government and business on the Harvard faculty, the
undergraduate teaching duties for these individuals range from limited to
nonexistent. With over 1,200 instructional graduate assistants at their
disposal, a surprisingly large number of Harvard’s undergraduate courses
are taught by either graduate students or undergraduate teaching fellows.
Yes, you heard it correctly—some courses at one of the world’s most
prestigious colleges are taught by fellow undergrads. In the fall of 2013,
Harvard hired 32 graduate students and 32 undergraduates to help teach
statistics courses. That same year, sections of a popular computer science
course were led by 16 undergraduate teaching fellows overseen by one
graduate assistant.10
A 2005 survey conducted across 31 elite campuses found Harvard
undergrads ranking 27th in overall student satisfaction.11 The main reasons
given were the faculty’s emphasis on research over teaching, lack of faculty
availability, quality of instruction, quality of advising, and student life
factors such as sense of community and social life on campus. While the
school has since put together committees geared toward addressing these
issues, student ratings of professor engagement and availability continue to
lag well behind many other premier academic institutions.

Elite Schools with a Superior Commitment to Teaching

Swarthmore College in suburban Pennsylvania has a slightly higher
student-faculty ratio than Harvard (8:1) but boasts an average class size of
only 15 students and an average laboratory class of fewer than 10
students.12 Take a moment to visualize the difference between sitting in a
class of 40 and a class of 15. The educational implications are obvious:
higher engagement, more discussion, more face time with your professors
—heck, they might even take the time to learn your name.
Harvard and Swarthmore both have some of the toughest admissions
standards in the country. The competition for a spot at either institution is a
case of valedictorian-on-valedictorian crime, and perfect SATs are by no
means a guarantor of acceptance. Clearly, if you are sitting in a classroom at
either school you’re surrounded by peers who are also incredibly bright and
driven individuals, the intellectual 1%. The difference is that at
Swarthmore, a liberal arts college without any graduate programs, the
instructor in your class is guaranteed not to be a grad student and certainly
won’t be a fellow undergraduate. Further, Swarthmore students, as a whole,
rate their faculty as being ultra-accessible.13
 Over on the west coast, in Claremont, California, sits Pomona College, a
school that is remarkably similar to Swarthmore in terms of student body
size, class size, professor accessibility, and a generally happy and satisfied
student body. Student accounts of their professors almost universally laud
them as accessible, friendly, and caring. Only 15% of Pomona’s professors
are not full-time instructors, and there are no courses taught by graduate
students.14 Opportunities for undergraduate research abound through grants,
research assistantships, and summer studies. Undergrads present with
professors at conferences and even coauthor academic papers on a regular
basis.
Perhaps the stark difference between the commitment to undergraduate
teaching at Pomona and Harvard is best illustrated in the two schools’ own
words. In a recent job posting for an instructor in physics and astronomy,
Pomona declared that “candidates must have a strong commitment to high-
quality undergraduate teaching in a liberal arts environment, and those with
significant teaching experience are especially encouraged to apply.”15
Compare this to a recent Harvard posting for an instructor in life sciences,
which emphasized skills around “supervising and training a staff of
approximately 30 teaching fellows, as well as a team of undergraduates who
run weekly help sessions.”16
Swarthmore and Pomona are hardly the only ultra-elite schools known for
their commitment to the classroom experience of their undergraduate
students. Located a mere 15-minute drive from Swarthmore, Haverford and
Bryn Mawr both offer comparably wonderful educational experiences.
These three schools also work on the same academic calendar and allow
their students to take courses or even major on each other’s campuses.
Within a stone’s throw of Pomona stand the other four members of the
Claremont Consortium, and all have a similar arrangement. Scripps,
Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, and Pitzer are all prestigious schools
with low student-teacher ratios and a high level of student engagement and
personal connection with faculty.
Outside of these two geographic hotbeds of liberal arts glory, there are
many schools fitting this profile right in Harvard’s own region of New
England. Amherst, Middlebury, Bates, Bowdoin, Williams, and Wesleyan
all offer a chance for the best and brightest students to learn from faculty
strongly invested in teaching and student success. Other phenomenal
options are scattered between the coasts such as Carleton and Macalester in
Minnesota, Oberlin in Ohio, and Grinnell in Iowa.
Pomona, Haverford, Macalester, and company may not inspire the same
awe among the general public as an Ivy name. However, you can rest
assured that the people who need to know—graduate schools and
employers—are familiar with the quality and prestige of these institutions.
In other words, these colleges still very much qualify as the type of name
schools that many students crave.

Not All Ivies Are Created Equal

When seeking a school with a deep commitment to undergraduate
instruction, you don’t necessarily have to look beyond the Ivy League. Yale,
Princeton, and Dartmouth, for example, have long been known for their
balanced commitment to research and teaching.
Yale’s storied residential college system is emblematic of the school’s
commitment to an intimate undergraduate experience. All Yalies are
divided into one of twelve residential colleges prior to their freshman year
and remain part of a cohort throughout their four years together. Each
residential college is overseen by a dean and a master, distinguished faculty
members who live on site and regularly eat meals with students, allowing
these anointed shepherds to better advise and mentor members of their
flock.
The senior thesis requirement at Princeton ensures that no student will
ever exit the university without having had close contact with at least one
faculty member. Working in a one-on-one capacity with a professor,
students begin crafting an original piece of scholarship in their field during
their junior year. Seniors typically take a reduced course load so they can
focus on completing this culminating project, which usually hovers in the
80–100 page range.17 Many alums say that the chance to generate a
legitimate academic work was part of what made the Princeton experience
so special, unless of course you speak with those who ended up running for
high office or were nominated for the Supreme Court, in which case the
words they penned at age 21 were dug out of the stacks, publicized, and
scrutinized to the nth degree (see Michelle Obama, Elena Kagan, & others).
 Dartmouth College prides itself on providing undergraduate students with
structured research opportunities. Their First-Year Research in Engineering
Program allows freshmen to work with research faculty up to 10 hours a
week for an entire year. The Women in Science Project matches female
students with researchers in fields where women are underrepresented, such
as computer science, mathematics, and physics. These samples only scratch
the surface of the abundance of opportunities at Dartmouth—in total, 600
undergrads participate in student-faculty research each year.18

Relax, Harvard Folks . . .

Harvard University was founded in 1636 and has a historical and deep-
rooted place in American life. The pride of being accepted to and
graduating from such an institution is understandable; it’s one hell of an
achievement. Obviously you will be surrounded by an unsurpassed (but not
unparalleled) peer group as well.
If you are one of the 37,000 brilliant, talented, and hyper-motivated
individuals who will be applying to Harvard next year, we want you to do
so with your eyes fully open. Should you emerge as one of the 2,000 odds-
defying souls who gain admission, do your homework to make sure that
Harvard is truly the best fit for you. If you end up joining the 35,000 who
ultimately get rejected, revel in the fact that you have now been granted a
new beginning, released from the mesmeric allure of Harvard’s iconic
status. As T.S. Eliot once said, “What we call the beginning is often the end.
And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start
from.”19
Of course that’s easy for him to say—Eliot was a Harvard alumnus.

LOOK TO THE LIBERAL ARTS

It’s not hard to see why Swarthmore, Pomona, and other schools of this ilk
are desirable. Not only do they possess an impressive name but also, more
importantly, set the standard for high-quality day-to-day education of
undergraduate students. Of course not everyone enters the college selection
process sitting in the catbird seat with near-perfect grades and SATs, getting
to choose between an Ivy and a top-ranked liberal arts school. However,
this doesn’t mean that your only choices will be schools with a football
stadium large enough to house the citizens of several countries combined
(Ohio State’s stadium could seat everyone from Liechtenstein, Monaco, and
Vatican City with about 30,000 seats to spare).
There are many liberal arts colleges for less-than-perfect students that
offer many of the same laudable qualities possessed by the aforementioned
schools, including accessible faculty, small class sizes, and an emphasis on
undergraduate (vs. graduate) education. In addition, and as hinted to
previously, students at liberal arts colleges have access to certain
extracurricular activities that would otherwise be unavailable to them at
large universities, such as joining a varsity sport or assisting their favorite
professor in a research project. At a liberal arts college, you do not have to
compete with a PhD student or NFL prospect to represent your college and
reap the personal and social benefits that come from deep involvement in an
extracurricular activity.
So, yes, liberal arts colleges do offer a variety of benefits to students
during their undergraduate years. But maybe you’re not as concerned about
what liberal arts schools do for students during college as you are with what
these institutions do for students after they have graduated. What about job
prospects and prospects for admission into graduate school? Well, the
following are just a few facts confirming that liberal arts schools do indeed
prepare their students for life after college: Liberal arts colleges constitute
seven of the ten postsecondary institutions that graduate the highest
percentage of eventual PhDs.20 As of 2014, almost one-third of Fortune
1000 CEOs held liberal arts degrees.21 By mid-career, liberal arts majors
earn more, on average, than graduates of preprofessional programs.22
As evident from these findings, bigger isn’t always better when it comes
to choosing a college so, if your child is the kind of student who desires a
close-knit, intimate learning environment and a chance to participate in all
aspects of campus life, consider sacrificing the big name car window decal
for the opportunity to enjoy a substantive and very meaningful four years.

Private Colleges Can Offer Great Deals

Many families on some kind of postsecondary budget assume they will not
be able to afford this type of experience, and, admittedly, the list prices of
these institutions are often high. This is where it pays to be a
knowledgeable college consumer.
Many of the nation’s top liberal arts schools are able to offer a world-class
education at a cost well below the book-price tuition figure. In fact, students
at premier schools such as Pomona and Haverford College typically pay
between one-third and one-half of the stated price tag. The only problem is
that these schools are among the most selective in the entire world, meaning
that the vast majority of applicants are left out in the cold.
Fortunately, many other quality liberal arts schools also offer generous aid,
a fact that strong but not quite elite applicants cannot afford to ignore. Here
are a few examples:

Skidmore College
An excellent liberal arts school located in beautiful Saratoga Springs, New
York, Skidmore has an intimidating annual cost of 45K, which might make
middle-class families instantly rule it out as a possibility. Yet, if you dig
deeper into their numbers, you’ll find that the average net price actually
paid by the 2,500 Thoroughbreds (their mascot) on campus comes in at just
over $22,500.23

St. John’s College

With campuses in Annapolis, Maryland, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, St.
John’s offers students an opportunity to participate in their Great Books
curriculum in an unparalleled intimate environment of under 500 total
students on either campus. You might expect such a uniquely small
educational institution to collect every penny of stated $46,000 annual
tuition, but that simply isn’t the case. Students from middle-class families
can study at either campus for somewhere in the neighborhood of 18–25K.

Hendrix College
Located about half an hour outside Little Rock, Arkansas, Hendrix is a
small liberal arts school with an enrollment under 1,500 students. Hendrix
is known for providing unique opportunities for hands-on learning,
particularly through its nationally recognized study abroad and internship
programs, offerings that sound expensive, and yet are enjoyed by the
average student for $22,000 per year—$15,000 less than the official tuition
cost.

FINDING VALUE: PUBLIC LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGES

We understand that even with the steep discounts at schools like Skidmore,
St. John’s, and Hendrix, attending a liberal arts college is still too expensive
a proposition for some.
Fortunately, hidden gems can be found in the form of public liberal arts
colleges. Outside the awareness of the average college consumer, 27 public
liberal arts schools are spread across the United States, offering some of the
best values in higher education. A quick profile of a few of these schools
will give you a taste as to why.

Truman State
Located in Northern Missouri, Truman State is a selective institution (1205
mean SAT) offering a fantastic education for a bargain price. Truman
students pay an average annual net tuition price of just $13,000. For
residents of the Show-Me State, that cost drops to just over 7K, meaning
that you can have a bachelor’s degree from Truman State for the same price
as a single semester at George Washington University or NYU. The average
class size is 24 students, but some courses will be in the single digits,
translating to an intimate educational experience.

New College of Florida

Formally a private institution, New College became part of Florida’s public
education system in 2001 and has since produced a disproportionately high
number of Fullbright scholars and winners of other internationally
recognized academic awards. Located right against scenic Sarasota Bay,
New College educates a student body of just 800 and boasts a miniscule
10:1 student-to-faculty ratio. It is even more selective than Truman State,
with the average admitted student sporting a 1270 SAT and a 4.0 GPA. With
a list price of 27K but at a net price of just 12K, New College provides
strong students a prestigious college education for a shockingly reasonable
sum.
St. Mary’s College of Maryland
A bit pricier at $14,800 in-state, St. Mary’s still represents a relative bargain
for the 1,800 students who grace its 361-acre campus. While it sounds like a
religiously affiliated school, St. Mary’s has surprisingly been a secular
institution since its founding in 1840. Designated as a public honors
college, St. Mary’s has a 12:1 student-to-faculty ratio and boasts a 70% 4-
year graduation rate. Like Truman State and New College, St. Mary’s is
selective but accessible to B students with solid SATs—their admit rate is
69%.
Other highly reputable (and often affordable) public liberal arts colleges
include the following:
• College of Charleston
• Georgia College
• SUNY Geneseo
• The College of New Jersey
• The Evergreen State College
• University of Minnesota—Morris
• University of North Carolina at Asheville
Simply being aware of public liberal arts colleges makes you more
knowledgeable than the average parent or prospective college student. Even
though 23 states in the United States do not have a public liberal arts
college, meaning that in-state tuition is off the table, many of these
institutions offer such reasonable out-of-state tuition rates that they are still
worth your careful consideration.

HONORS PROGRAMS
While there is much to love about liberal arts colleges, we also
acknowledge that many students are understandably drawn to the bright
lights of a large campus, the big-time sports, and the chance to be part of a
large and passionate student community. For some, those qualities are
simply synonymous with the quintessential college experience.
Not to sound like Ron Popeil on an infomercial hocking food dehydrators
but—now it’s finally possible to enjoy the best of both worlds—the honors
college! While honors programs have existed in one form or another since
the GI Bill first brought an influx of talented but cost-conscious students to
public universities in the postwar era, the full-blown honors college is a
more recent phenomenon. The majority of honors colleges were born in the
1990s, designed with the aim of drawing Ivy League caliber students to
public institutions. Today, it is hard to find a large, public university that
does not advertise some type of honors distinction. Yet, determining the
quality and value among these ubiquitous honors programs can prove
challenging. Below are some key considerations.

Class Size and Number of Honors Courses

Ideally, an honors college will offer a wide variety of honors-only courses
with low class sizes, in the 15–20 range. In reality, these two factors vary
widely across schools. The University of Mississippi, for example, boasts
over 70 honors courses and class sizes of fewer than 15 students. Arizona
State, Indiana, Penn State, and the University of Georgia offer a similarly
vast array of honors courses as well as class sizes under 20 students.
However, you need to be discerning when checking out average class sizes
on university websites. Some programs may truly offer honors courses with
15–20 students, but provide so few specialized courses that honors students
may often find themselves in 300-seat lecture halls, along with the rest of
the general student population. As such, make sure to ask your prospective
college for a complete list of honors courses.

Does the “Honors” Experience Extend Outside the Classroom?

Fairly serious students may benefit by being surrounded by other academic-
minded students outside of the lecture hall. Find out if a prospective school
offers special honors living arrangements. At the University of South
Carolina and Boston University students are required to live in a designated
honors dorm as a freshman. At Drexel University, all honors students live in
a dorm that features special guest lecturers and faculty dinners on a regular
basis. Other schools such as Michigan State leave it up to the student—they
can elect to reside on specified floors of certain dorms if they so choose.
Pitt also makes honors housing optional and, interestingly, also allows
serious-minded but non-honors students to elect to live in the honors
residence hall.

Cost Considerations
It’s no secret that state schools (sans financial aid) have a significantly
lower sticker price than most private colleges. However, given that many
honors students also qualify for substantial merit aid from the larger
university at which they enroll, honors programs can be an absolute
bargain. For example, students admitted into Penn State’s Schreyer Honors
College automatically qualify for an Academic Excellence Scholarship
valued at $4,500 per year, while students at Arizona State’s Barrett Honors
College have exclusive access to scholarships ranging from $1,000 to as
much as $20,000 per year.
Ultimately, honors colleges can be a cost-effective and highly rewarding
undergraduate experience for top-notch students. In the best-case scenario,
students can enjoy all the benefits of a large university (research
opportunities, athletics, and a diverse student body) while still profiting
from an intimate, rigorous, and individualized experience usually reserved
for elite liberal arts colleges.
Figure 2.1 Top Honors Colleges

THREE IMPORTANT FACTORS MOST PEOPLE OVERLOOK

WHEN CHOOSING A SCHOOL
Whether a student is seeking a liberal arts school or a large university
experience, there are three key qualities to look for in any institution, which
often fly under the radar: the presence of a strong alumni network than can
help to land a job down the line, the importance of a college’s location
when trying to enter certain fields or score a position with a specific
company, and the strength of a college’s career services office that can help
students take full advantage of the previous two factors. A prestigious name
can have value, but as we’ll see momentarily, if a teen wants to work for
Microsoft, they may end up being better served by Washington State
University than an elite college on the East Coast.
#1) Alumni Networks
For many freshly minted college graduates, the satisfaction of completing
an undergraduate degree morphs into job search-related anxiety before the
Gothic font on their diploma even has a chance to dry. Many proceed to
blindly send out an entire Redwood’s worth of resumes, obsessively update
their LinkedIn profile, and in true moments of desperation, actually start
considering whether those craigslist opportunities to make $5,000 a week
working from home are legit.
Landing a dream job or even just a job is often determined, in part, by the
old cliché of who you know. Outside of those lucky enough to have helpful
family connections, most unemployed 22-year-olds only know other
unemployed 22-year-olds, which makes networking within their current
social circle a rather incestuous and futile exercise. This leaves students
with two choices: hope that their American Girl doll collection will fetch
enough on eBay to pay the rent or begin tapping into their college’s alumni
network.
How Alumni Networks Can (and Cannot) Help
Rid yourself of any Skull and Bones fantasies—the notion that attending a
certain college will automatically open doors to a life of luxury and
privilege is not realistic. While sharing an alma mater with a potential
employer or networking contact can be helpful in the job search/career
development process, simply showing up to an interview with a fellow
Michigan alumnus, sporting a Wolverine lapel pin is not going to cause the
boss to say, “A fellow Wolverine!!?? Scrap this interview. Here’s a cigar.
Let me show you to your corner office.” Similarly, a desperate cold call to a
random member of a student’s school’s alumni database is not likely to land
them a job (or even a polite reply).
To effectively take advantage of alumni networks, students should work
on cultivating meaningful relationships with alumni in their potential field
throughout their college experience. Your teen should attend alumni events
and call or email alums in their field, and ask if they could speak with them
about their career path. Most people will be happy to speak with them and
offer advice. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that 70% of jobs are
found through some form of networking.24
 While there are no statistics revealing the exact percentage of college
grads who find employment specifically through alumni connections, it is
safe to assume that the number is sizable. It is also a logical bet that schools
with stronger alumni organizations will offer better networking
opportunities than schools with less-established and less-enthusiastic
alumni communities.
Identifying a “Strong” Alumni Network
Two primary indicators of institutions with strong alumni networks are
sheer size and alumni generosity. Penn State has the largest dues-paying
alumni network in the country with 177,000 members.25 Other large
universities such as the University of Illinois, Indiana, University of
Michigan, Ohio State, and UCLA also boast an insane number of graduates,
but judging how connected they are to their alma maters (and therefore to
you, a potential networker) requires additional data.
Identifying institutions with impressive percentages of alumni choosing to
donate to their school is one way to gauge a sense of connectedness and
strength of a network. In this arena, smaller liberal arts schools such as
Bowdoin, Williams, Middlebury, and Carleton lead the way. This can be a
more helpful metric than the overall endowment an institution boasts. For
example, University of Hawaii alumnus Jay Shidler, a real estate mogul, has
donated over 100 million dollars to his alma mater.26 While this
undoubtedly has a positive impact on the school’s endowment, it is not
necessarily indicative of a strong alumni network (good luck getting
Hawaii’s wealthiest resident on the phone to dispense career advice).
It can also be helpful to explore a prospective college’s career services
webpage for how they assist current students in connecting with alumni.
You should see evidence of upcoming events such career and internship
fairs, alumni panels, and employer information sessions.
Another question worth asking is whether a given institution’s network
has regional, national, or international reach? If a student has a goal to work
in a particular field or even for a specific company within that field, such
considerations can be of critical importance.

#2) The Importance of Location

It would be correct to assume that the colleges at which premier tech
companies most heavily recruit include your usual suspects: Stanford, MIT,
Berkley, etc. Yet, what many don’t know is that Redmond, Washington-
based Microsoft plucks an even greater number of employees from nearby
institutions such as the University of Washington, Washington State, and
Western Washington University. Apple, located in the heart of Silicon
Valley, draws a large portion of its workforce from nearby San Jose State
and Cal Poly.27
The world of Wall Street finance is similarly surprising. Rutgers
University and Baruch College rank right up there with the Ivies and a host
of more-selective liberal arts schools in terms of career outcomes in the
finance industry.28 With a large alumni base and close proximity to New
York City, aspiring financial workers may be better served at these schools
than at a more prestigious school in a different region of the country.
In the last decade, more and more large companies have begun forming
partnerships with colleges and universities right in their own
neighborhoods.29 This leads to a steady flow of interns from the school to
the company and allows businesses the chance to scout top talent firsthand.
It also saves them a bundle on both the cost of corporate recruiting and the
cash doled out to new hires for relocation expenses. Access to eager interns
365 days a year is a huge advantage for companies and a wonderful
opportunity for talented students to audition for a job after graduation.
These partnerships are truly a win-win, and it’s important to find out which
schools have them and with whom.
Understandably, many companies like to partner with larger institutions
that have a large and academically well-rounded student body—the larger
the talent pool to pluck from, the better. The University of Michigan’s
massive and extremely bright student body have enticed a gaggle of US and
even foreign companies to migrate into their backyard. Google even set up
a sales and operations office in Ann Arbor just to tap into this never-ending
stream of collegiate talent.

#3) Career Services

Ideally, career centers provide information that enables students to find
good-fit jobs and make the most of their undergraduate years. In truth,
however, too many colleges possess career centers that are understaffed and
underutilized, and which do little to help students’ professional prospects.
At these institutions, students may earn an excellent education yet graduate
without the knowledge and networks to capitalize upon their
accomplishments. Given this reality, we encourage students to investigate
career service offerings before applying. They should reach out to the career
centers at each of their prospective schools to inquire about employment
rates, graduate school placement, and salary statistics. Although career
services staff may not be solely or primarily responsible for collecting
postgraduate data, they should be able to tell students where and how to
access such information.
Moreover, while outcomes data can prove extremely useful, general
statistics may not be sufficient to address questions and/or concerns that are
particular to every student. Perhaps one wishes to enroll in an
undersubscribed major, work in a specific part of the country/world, or
pursue employment in a highly specialized field. In these cases, these
students need to dig deeper and ask questions that yield information more
relevant to their unique objectives, such as these: Which employers recruit
on campus? Which jobs (in their area of interest) have been posted on the
college’s site? Where have students from their desired major(s) attended
graduate school? Does the college partner with other institutions to offer job
fairs or networking opportunities that provide students with access to
professionals in their desired field?
Finally, your child should inquire about how career center staff prepare
them for the world of work. How and when do staff engage students? Do
staff provide services related to career assessment, resume development,
and/or interview prep? What internship and co-op opportunities are
available? What percentage of students utilize career services?
As students begin to develop their list of prospective schools, it’s
important to remember that college should offer them more than a degree. It
should provide skills and experiences that contribute to their professional
development—long after anyone remembers or cares to ask about the
school name on their diploma. With this in mind, look beyond admission
statistics and evaluate those who are responsible for connecting students to
the opportunities that college is supposed to—but is not guaranteed to—
provide.
 We’ve spent the bulk of this chapter laying out what a college should
offer: accessible professors, a focus on undergraduate teaching, a strong
alumni network, ability to connect students directly with employers, and a
school with a solid (but not necessarily spectacular) reputation for the
purpose of keeping open all future graduate school and career-related
opportunities. Now it’s time to cover the other end of the spectrum—the
schools that you should avoid like a rabid raccoon.

COLLEGES TO AVOID
A quick glance at the around-the-web links housed underneath legitimate
news articles on an unfortunate number of sites tells us two things: (1)
people like lists and (2) people like lists slamming someone or something—
20 Celebrities Who Got Fat, 15 Grossest Cruciferous Vegetables, 17 Child
Actors Busted for DUIs. Whether it’s morbid curiosity or pure
schadenfreude, human nature seems to draw us to such lists.
While a like-minded bash list of Colleges to Avoid would titillate, it would
also be disingenuous and ultimately unhelpful to prospective college
students. This is due to the fact that the colleges that should be avoided are
context-dependent and will vary by individual circumstance. Components
such as geographic location, the strength of the applicant, and family
income level are all determining factors. If you’re on any kind of
postsecondary budget, there are a litany of schools that should be avoided;
in fact, there may be hundreds or even in excess of 1,000 schools that
should be avoided.

What Type of College Should I Avoid?

For any money-conscious college student, paying exorbitant tuition
amounts and taking on large quantities of debt for the sake of attending a
low-to-moderately prestigious school can be a monumental mistake. Unless
they are dropping in excess of 40K on a school that can provide them with a
high return on their investment—a proposition that may be more dependent
on their desired field than the name brand of the university—it is worth
pursuing better values in the higher education marketplace.
As you will see, many of the schools that students should avoid are not
bad schools by any means. In fact, quite often they are excellent
institutions, but not at all worth the sticker price when weighed against
other choices that educational consumers, stunningly, rarely even pause to
consider.

Net Price by Income

Highly prestigious schools typically have eye-popping list prices but,
thanks to endowments that resemble Scrooge McDuck’s vault, those with
any degree of financial need often receive a steep discount.
Duke University, for example, has an intimidating price tag of $67,000,
yet the average price actually paid by attendees is $19,000 per year.
Families making a net income under $75,000 per year pay an average of
just over 14K per year, a 79% savings. The average student debt incurred
during undergraduate study at Duke is $20,000, across all income levels. On
top of the reasonable price of attendance, a degree from Duke, thanks to its
reputation and powerful alumni network, can lead to a high return on
investment.
Compare these numbers to a school like Baylor University in Texas, a
school with a solid reputation, but one that wouldn’t be categorized as elite.
Baylor’s official price tag is $59,000, which is less than Duke’s; yet, unlike,
Duke, most students, even those coming from families making under
$75,000 per year, pay the majority of the sticker price. Those from lower-
income brackets still pay nearly 27K while the average student qualifying
for need-based aid still forks over close to 30K per year. As a result, the
average Baylor freshman student (with financial need) can expect to take on
nearly $12,000 worth of debt during the first year, which spread out over
the next four years, is over $28,000 more, on average, than your standard
Duke grad.
No one would put Baylor on a generic list of schools to avoid. It’s a
reputable school that easily cracks many top-college guidebooks. However,
for students lacking unlimited education funds, crossing Baylor off of their
list may be an extremely wise decision.

Low Prestige + High Debt = Avoid

While our previous example pits a topflight school against a lesser, but still
very competitive school, there are countless examples of schools that
charge high tuition, offer minimal aid, and do not provide students with
promising job prospects needed to pay down the debt they accrue.
Take, for instance, the University of Tampa, a private school costing a
little over 40 grand. The net price, what students actually end up paying, is
roughly 27K and family income plays a minimal role in the distribution of
aid, meaning that those in the lowest bracket pay the still pay close to 25K
per year. As a result, the mean debt load a student graduates with is around
$45,000, a number which easily eclipses the average salary a University of
Tampa grad will find early in their career. Therefore, a cost-conscious teen
should avoid the University of Tampa.
We’re not picking on the University of Tampa. There are countless other
schools with similarly disheartening numbers. Other universities where the
average student is saddled with a five-figure debt total every year include
Drexel, Quinnipiac, and most likely, a handful of moderate-to-less-selective
private institutions not far from your home.
In the absence of a comprehensive list, how will you be able to spot a
school along these lines? Simple. Look for colleges with high acceptance
rates, high net price tuition (remember, not sticker price), and excessive
graduate loan debt (as a barometer, the national average for four years is
$30,000) and avoid, avoid, avoid.

Out-of-State Publics
Another category of school that wise consumers will do well to steer clear
of are out-of-state public schools. Flagship universities such as Penn State,
UCLA, Michigan, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, UVA, and UNC
are all, understandably, a big draw to students from all over the country.
They are premier research institutions with a smorgasbord of areas of study,
a wealth of resources, big-time sports programs, top-caliber professors, and
attractive campuses brimming with student amenities. So why would such
fine institutions be on anyone’s list of colleges to avoid? It’s all about the
Clevelands ($1,000 bill) or even Salmon P. Chases ($10,000 bill).
Flagship universities rarely offer significant packages to out-of-staters
leaving families stuck with the nonresident sticker price. Annual, out-of-
state costs at the University of Michigan run nearly 60 grand, more than
double what Michigan residents pay. UCLA charges nearly $25,000 more to
those who hail from outside the Golden State. The University of
Connecticut, a bargain for Connecticut residents at 30K per year (including
room, board, and other expenses), climbs to 52K for outsiders, and after
accounting for need-based and merit-based financial aid, proves more
expensive than Wesleyan, Connecticut College, or Trinity—three elite
colleges in the same state. Amazingly, thanks to the generosity of those
three schools, each carries an average net price of 20K per year or less for
students demonstrating financial need.
If you do your homework, the colleges and universities that grace your
personal avoid list may surprise you and, on the contrary, schools that you
may never have considered as being financially within reach may end up as
viable options. If this piece left you craving actual lists—please Google 32
Unforgettable Justin Bieber Mishaps or 21 Diva Diet Secrets and brace
yourself for a time-killing trip down the Internet rabbit hole.

FINAL THOUGHTS
We hope that we have succeeded in reframing your understanding of what
matters when selecting a college. In citing many examples of excellent
schools, we’ve given you a taste of the outstanding institutions at which
students can enjoy a high-caliber educational experience for a price that
won’t limit their opportunities later in life. To view a comprehensive menu
of schools that may be an ideal destination point, refer to our “So You Want
to Be a . . .” reference guide in chapter 7, where we’ll give you a list of
recommended schools for students with various career-related interests and
goals.
Of course, no matter where a young person decides to apply, they’re still
going to be worried about step 1—getting in! The following three chapters
cover everything you could possibly want to know about college
admissions, straight from the mouths of two experienced private college
admissions counselors who have helped students gain acceptance at
institutions throughout the United States, from Swarthmore to Stanford and
nearly every selective institution in between. We will begin by dispelling
the most common myths we hear perpetuated among students and families
and then dish the insider’s scoop on how to approach standardized tests,
essays, extracurriculars, Advanced Placement classes, early admission, and
other subjects that we are most routinely asked about by our clients.

NOTES
1. U.S. News & World Report, “Harvard University,” accessed December 6, 2015,
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/harvard-university-2155.
2. U.S. News & World Report, “Northern Arizona University,” accessed December 6, 2015,
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/northern-arizona-university-1082.
3. Dominic J. Brewer, Eric R. Eide, and Ronald G. Ehrenberg, “Does It Pay to Attend an Elite
Private College? Cross Cohort Evidence on the Effects of College Type on Earnings,” Journal of
Human Resources 34, no. 1 (Winter 1999): 104–23.
4. Mark Long, “College Quality and Early Adult Outcomes,” Economics of Education Review 27,
no. 5 (2008): 588–602, doi:10.1016/j.econedurev.2007.04.004.
5. Mark Hoekstra, “The Effect of Attending the Flagship State University on Earnings: A
Discontinuity-Based Approach,” The Review of Economics and Statistics 91, no. 4 (2009): 717–24,
doi:10.1162/rest.91.4.717.
6. Stacy Dale and Alan Krueger, “Estimating the Return to College Selectivity over the Career
Using Administrative Earnings Data” (NBER Working Paper 17159, June 2011).
7. Julie Ray and Stephanie Kafka, “Life in College Matters for Life after College,” Gallup, May 6,
2014, accessed December 6, 2015, http://www.gallup.com/poll/168848/life-college-matters-life-
college.aspx.
8. Harvard University, “Harvard at a Glance: About the Faculty,” accessed July 8, 2015,
http://www.harvard.edu/about-harvard/harvard-glance/about-faculty.
9. Sara Rimer, “Harvard Task Force Calls for New Focus on Teaching and Not Just Research,”
New York Times, May 10, 2007, accessed December 6, 2015,
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/10/education/10harvard.html?
pagewanted=1&sq=harvard%20task%20force%20calls%20for%20new%20focus%20on%20teaching
%20and%20not%20just%20research&st=nyt&scp=1.
10. Brian C. Zhang, “CS Leads Concentration Growth in SEAS,” The Harvard Crimson, February
13, 2013, accessed December 6, 2015, http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/2/13/cs-seas-more-
concentrators.
11. Margaret W. Ho and Joshua P. Rogers, “Harvard Students Less Satisfied Than Peers with
Undergraduate Experience, Survey Finds,” The Harvard Crimson, March 31, 2005, accessed
December 6, 2015, http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2005/3/31/harvard-students-less-satisfied-
than-peers/.
12. Swarthmore College, “Swarthmore College Class Size Summary,” accessed December 6, 2015,
http://www.swarthmore.edu/Documents/administration/ir/ClassSize.pdf.
13. Lynn O’Shaughnessy, “12 Colleges with Great Professors,” CBS MoneyWatch, November 19,
2013, accessed December 26, 2015, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/12-colleges-with-great-college-
professors/.
14. Robert Franek and Princeton Review (Firm), The Best 376 Colleges (New York: Random
House, 2011).
15. PER Jobs, “VAP at Pomona College (CA),” February 22, 2012, accessed December 6, 2015,
http://perjobs.blogspot.com/2012_02_01_archive.html.
 16. UniJobs, “Preceptor in the Life Sciences,” accessed December 6, 2015,
http://www.unijobs.us/harvard-university-jobs/G2PF/preceptor-in-the-life-sciences.
17. Princeton University Department of Politics, “Senior Thesis,” last modified July 27, 2015,
accessed December 6, 2015, https://www.princeton.edu/politics/undergraduate/independent-
work/senior-thesis/.
18. Michael Qian, “College Aims to Focus Undergraduate Research,” The Dartmouth, October 19,
2014, accessed December 6, 2015, http://thedartmouth.com/2014/10/19/college-aims-to-focus-
undergraduate-research/.
19. T. S. Eliot et al., Little Gidding (London: Faber and Faber, 1942).
20. Lynn O’Shaughnessy, “The Colleges Where PhD’s Get Their Start,” The College Solution,
January 26, 2012, accessed December 6, 2015, http://www.thecollegesolution.com/the-colleges-
where-phds-get-their-start/.
21. Kenneth C. Tsang, “From College Graduate to Chief Executive: A Closer Look at Education
and the Fortune 1000 CEOs,” NACE Journal 75, no. 1 (September 2014): 12–18.
22. Debra Humphreys and Patrick Kelly, “How Liberal Arts and Sciences Majors Fare in
Employment: A Report on Earnings and Long-Term Career Paths,” Washington, DC: Association of
American Colleges and Universities, 2014.
23. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education
Statistics.
24. Glassdoor, “How to Stay Positive with Your Job Search,” July 15, 2014, accessed December 6,
2015, http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2014/07/15/how-to-stay-positive-with-your-job-
search/.
25. Penn State Alumni Association, “Alumni Association Overview,” accessed December 6, 2015,
http://alumni.psu.edu/about_us/overview.
26. University of Hawaii at Manoa Shidler College of Business, “$100 Million: A Visionary Gift,”
accessed December 6, 2015, http://shidler.hawaii.edu/visionary/gift.
27. Will Oremus, “Where Do Googlers Go to College? A Look at Tech Companies’ Top Feeder
Schools,” Slate, May 23, 2014, accessed December 6, 2015,
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/05/23/tech_company_feeder_schools_stanford_to_goo
gle_washington_to_microsoft_sjsu.html.
28. Data collected from LinkedIn University Finder https://www.linkedin.com/edu/university-
finder?trk=edu-rankings-to-uf, accessed February 1, 2016
29. Teri Evans, “Penn State Tops Recruiter Rankings,” The Wall Street Journal, September 13,
2010, accessed December 6, 2015,
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704358904575477643369663352.
 Chapter 3

Getting In
Admission Mythbusters

Books and articles that profess to offer the secrets to the college admissions
process are not at all difficult to find. We hate to be the bearers of bad news,
but these tips are worth about as much as your creepy neighbor’s prized
VHS movie library—that is to say, very, very . . . one more . . . very little.
Like other promises of secret and easy ways to lose weight or become a
millionaire, shortcuts and gimmicks related to college admissions are not
based in reality. Just as you are unlikely to actually lose weight by strapping
on a vibrating ab belt while inhaling two quarts of mint chocolate chip ice
cream, it is equally improbable that you will earn admission through
implementation of a top-secret admissions strategy while sporting a GPA
and standardized test score that is less than adequate.
Although there may not be secrets to winning admission, there are best-
practice strategies that, when implemented together, can significantly
improve an applicant’s chances of earning acceptance. In order to ensure
that this book isn’t just another admissions guide, we devote the next three
chapters almost exclusively to topics that cannot be researched through a
quick Google search or found in your average nuts-and-bolts admissions
book. We will uncover several strategies students can employ to strengthen
their academic and extracurricular profile (see chapter 4) and prepare
impressive applications (see chapter 5). We begin, however, by debunking
several admission-related myths that are most commonly echoed by the
students and parents with whom we meet.

MYTH #1: AN APPLICANT SHOULD TRY TO PRESENT AS

“WELL ROUNDED” TO PLEASE ADMISSIONS COMMITTEES
This myth remains pervasive among nervous applicants and their families.
Sadly, this misconception usually ends with many applicants entering their
admissions interviews dressed in a safari outfit while simultaneously riding
a unicycle, playing a didgeridoo, and explaining their design plans for a
squirt gun that combats diabetes. Okay, maybe a slight exaggeration, but the
bottom line is that well roundedness is a gravely misunderstood concept.
It is true that college admissions committees seek to have well-rounded
classes comprised of individuals who have a serious passion for something
—but this can be and usually is just one thing. As we’ll discuss later,
delving deeply into two or three related pursuits is always better than
superficial participation in a laundry list of things. Plus, playing an
oversized Australian wind instrument without proper footing is a major
safety hazard.

MYTH #2: RECOMMENDATION LETTERS FROM INFLUENTIAL

FIGURES WILL HELP MY ADMISSIONS CHANCES
Local members of congress must employ a secretary whose sole job
responsibility is the mass production of generic college letters of
recommendation for the children of their influential constituents. Parents
with connections often think that such letters from government officials,
celebrities, or other notable public figures will give their kids a big edge in
the high-stakes battle for admissions at prestigious schools. In a majority of
cases, this simply isn’t true and the insight added by these recommendations
is rarely anything other than superficial.
Think about it. Let’s say that a given congresswoman actually met your
child once or twice at a fundraiser. What insight could they possibly provide
that would not be otherwise evident in an application? “So and so is
committed to community service.” Great, an admissions officer could glean
that same information in a more genuine, thorough way from a teacher or
school guidance counselor who watched your child’s commitment to
service grow over a period of years.
Same goes for letters from other influential folks parents might happen to
know. Which is more likely to persuade a committee to accept an applicant
interested in a history major: An enthusiastic letter from Doris Kearns
Goodwin saying that your child has great potential as a historian or a letter
from the student’s Advanced Placement history teacher who has taught
them nearly every day for the past year and who can attest to their abilities
and work ethic inside the classroom? Common sense tells you the answer.

MYTH #3: I GOT A LETTER FROM THE DEAN! I’M IN!

For a high school student, there is something undeniably exciting about
being the recipient of an unsolicited brochure from a prestigious university,
or even better, a personalized letter from the dean of admissions practically
begging them to apply. Unfortunately, this material usually has about as
much value as the L.L. Bean catalog that arrived in the same stack of mail.
It’s no great secret that in the age of U.S. News rankings, colleges are
engaged in a never-ending battle to reject more applicants, thereby
improving their (perceived) selectivity. The truth about these mass mailings
is that their sole purpose is to drum up additional applicants. If you took the
PSAT, chances are you’ll be inundated with junk mail from various
colleges, regardless of your score; so, students should do themselves a
favor: view all recruitment efforts through a skeptic’s lens and rely on one’s
own research to develop a list of prospective schools. You’ll know that a
college truly wants a student when they receive a letter of admission, and
even more so, a substantial merit aid award.

MYTH #4: GETTING INTO A GOOD COLLEGE IS HARDER

THAN EVER
Parents, educators, and even a few of our fellow admissions consultants are
often guilty of spreading this one. They cite dropping admission rates at
Harvard, for example, to claim that earning admission into selective
institutions of higher education has become practically impossible;
however, they fail to account for the bigger picture. The truth is that many
colleges have experienced slight declines in the number of applications they
have received—a trend that may be attributed to a potential shortage of
college-qualified high school graduates.1
Moreover, increasing application numbers at other selective institutions do
not necessarily indicate that earning admission has actually become harder.
As the Common Application continues to proliferate, and as savvy college-
recruiting strategies become more commonplace, selective institutions are
receiving more applications from unqualified students who have little
chance of being accepted and who ultimately do not impact a particular
college’s incoming student profile. In other words, the same types of
students admitted several years ago are likely the same types of students
being admitted today.

MYTH #5: THE MORE I SUBMIT, THE BETTER

Applicants often feel that more is inherently better when it comes to their
application file and proceed to send along everything from editorials
penned for the school newspaper to 5th-grade book reports plastered in gold
stars and seals of approval (featuring an actual seal. Get it?). Such offerings
are highly unlikely to sway the admissions gods.
If a student decides to include ancillary materials, they should do so
judiciously. First ask, “Will this item tell the admissions committee
something important about me that they will not be able to extract from the
rest of my application?” If so, send along an addendum or two. Admissions
officers are busy, and if they want a copy of the play a student wrote at
summer camp when they were 12 years old about Gandhi coming back to
life as a hip-hop artist, they’ll ask for it (but really, they won’t).

MYTH # 6: COMMUNITY SERVICE AND VOLUNTEERING WILL

HELP MY COLLEGE APPLICATION
Many families still believe that evidence of scattered, unfocused altruism is
a prerequisite for admission at highly selective universities. It is not.
Volunteering is a wonderful thing to do in life, but spending a couple hours
at a community hospital or a few days at the local soup kitchen will have
little, if any, impact on your admissions prospects.
 Instead of worrying about the number of service hours, students should
focus on the activities about which they are truly passionate and that will
offer evidence of their unique talents, leadership potential, and/or long-term
dedication. Students are best served by engaging in extracurriculars because
they are part of what makes them who they are. Doing so will enable them
to present as a more authentic and attractive applicant.

MYTH #7: MY SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS WON’T AFFECT MY

COLLEGE APPLICATION
The majority of college admissions officers rarely, if ever, Google
applicants’ names, rifle through their Facebook accounts, carefully pore
over their archived tweets, or analyze their selfies on Instagram. For some
officers, this is a moral issue; your social media should be your private
space. For others, such as those at universities receiving 80,000 plus
applicants, stalking long-abandoned Myspace pages for evidence of middle
school misdeeds would be a terribly wasteful use of precious time.
While most admissions officers steer clear of online snooping, the practice
has trended upward over the last several years. In 2008, Kaplan reported
that only 10% of officers bothered looking at applicants’ social media
pages.2 Today, that number has increased to 40%, and a similar number of
officers report at least googling an applicant simply to see if any relevant
information, positive or negative, can be gleaned.3 Almost one-third of
those surveyed reported ultimately finding something that negatively
impacted their view of an applicant.
Students should not post anything online (or keep anything active online
during the admissions process) that they do not feel represents their best
selves. There is nothing wrong with having a Facebook page, but be
cognizant of the fact that many admissions officers may frown upon the
contents of a student’s Spring Break 2015 Facebook album, unless, of
course, he spent that time at a robotics competition in Dayton, Ohio, rather
than guzzling Keystone Lights with his bros at Daytona Beach. Even if the
majority of schools never peer into a student’s online life, there is simply no
good reason to risk jeopardizing their chances of admission for the sake of
maintaining a risqué Instagram account.
 MYTH #8: COLLEGE RANKINGS SHOULD GUIDE MY
COLLEGE SELECTION
Like most people, we love ratings systems and refer to them when
purchasing a variety of things, like computers or household appliances. But
let’s face it, paying for a higher education is not the equivalent of buying a
toaster—the best college for me isn’t necessarily the best college for you.
Yet, U.S. News and other publications unabashedly assign a rank number to
hundreds of colleges, whose missions, attributes, and learning environments
are as varied as the millions of students who apply to college each year.
College ranking systems appear to suggest that an ordering of institutions
was devised through definitive and rigorous means, and that there is a
significant reason as to why Princeton is ranked 6 spots higher than MIT or
why Amherst is rated 10 spots higher than Vassar. But there is no reason,
really—formulas for college ranking systems are largely subjective and
consist of measures that the magazine chooses, not what the research
community deems as indicative of institutional quality.
For example, U.S. News employs a measure indicating undergraduate
academic reputation, which currently comprises 22.5% of the magazine’s
ranking formula and is determined primarily by college presidents and
deans of admission, many of whom are too engrossed in the business affairs
of their own institutions to possess sufficient knowledge of other colleges.
Forbes makes a more genuine effort to incorporate objective measures into
its ranking system, but the data it collects on retention, graduation rates, and
the number of Rhodes Scholars, for example, still says more about
incoming students than the quality of an institution.
It’s also important to understand that college rankings can be manipulated.
There are numerous, well-documented examples of colleges soliciting
applications from unqualified applicants (to improve selectivity); requesting
nominal donations from alumni (to improve giving rates); and bumping
students from certain classes (to improve class size)—all done for the sole
purpose of advancing one’s ranking.
Other colleges simply cheat, and report false numbers, causing students
and families to make college-related choices that are based on inaccurate
and misleading information. Some reputable institutions that have been
caught lying to U.S. News in the past several years include Tulane
University, Claremont McKenna College, Bucknell University, Emory
University, and George Washington University.4

MYTH #9: STANDARDIZED TEST SCORES DON’T MATTER AS

MUCH AS THEY USED TO
In the last decade, the idea that colleges no longer care that much about
standardized test scores has become prevalent in the admissions discourse.
Many schools themselves like to brag about how they view test scores as
just one of a multitude of factors in the admissions process. Yet like a 7th-
grade boy who spends two hours in front of the mirror every morning trying
to perfect his Justin Bieber bangs while simultaneously proclaiming that he
“doesn’t care what anyone thinks,” the facts about test scores quite simply
belie the claim.
Despite media talk and institutional reports of the SAT and ACTs
diminishing role, the data suggests that standardized test scores have
actually become more important in recent years. Rankings are still driven
by test scores. The admissions process is still beholden to and driven by the
almighty rankings. In fact, U.S. News recently upped the importance placed
on test scores in their methodology. Not surprisingly, the top schools remain
the ones whose freshman classes have the highest SAT scores. Today, 56%
of colleges state that test scores are of considerable importance in their
admissions decisions, placing them third behind grades and a rigorous
curriculum. Twenty years ago only 43% of schools said the same.
As a general rule, larger schools rely more on test scores than do smaller
liberal arts colleges merely as a tool to pare down a massive applicant pool.
In a pragmatic sense, it would be difficult for admissions officers at a
school like UCLA to wade through 60,000+ applications, sans SAT/ACT
data, without feeling like a harried cashier in a Weimer Republic farmer’s
market (“I’ll get you your cabbage as soon as I finish counting your
200,000,000,000 marks!”).
Yet, the last decade has indeed seen a rise in test-optional schools. Wake
Forest, George Mason, Ursinus, American, Bates, Bowdoin, Franklin &
Marshall, Union, and Connecticut College are just a sampling of the highly
selective schools that have adopted a test-optional policy. While this choice
may open doors for the test averse, don’t mistake the intent of the policy as
wholeheartedly charitable or representative of a sweeping philosophical
shift. Test-optional schools generally only receive scores from applicants
who excelled on the test, which ends up raising the average scores they can
report to U.S. News. Thus these institutions can accept lower-performing
applicants with full impunity.
Ultimately, excellent test scores are still necessary for admission at the
vast majority of highly selective schools. At smaller institutions, a student
with an excellent overall profile but weaker test scores may receive a closer
look, but unless that school is test optional or that applicant can throw a 60-
yard tight spiral, the scores still stir the drink.

MYTH #10: EXCELLENT GRADES AND TEST SCORES WILL

GUARANTEE MY ADMISSION INTO AN ELITE COLLEGE
Every year, we encounter students who feel their academic
accomplishments entitle them to entry at an Ivy League school and that the
word safety simply does not apply to them. With such students in mind, we
launch into our story about Mark, a student whose family came to us in
May of his senior year.
Mark was a highly accomplished student with excellent grades and
stratospheric test scores. He talked often about his friend, Jim, who
possessed a similar class rank and who was admitted into Princeton the
previous year. As a result, Mark believed that admission into an Ivy League
school was a virtual lock. He decided to apply to all eight Ivy League
institutions, and at the suggestion of a family friend, also submitted
applications to three prestigious, out-of-state institutions, including the
University of North Carolina, the University of Virginia, and the UC
Berkeley—Mark considered these three colleges to be his safety schools,
despite their excellent reputation and competitive admissions process,
especially for out-of-state students.
April arrived and Mark was dismayed to learn that he was denied
admission at each Ivy League school, and was also waitlisted at UNC, a
university with an average SAT score well below his. Although Mark was
admitted into UVA and UC Berkeley, he soon discovered that out-of-state
rates at both schools were prohibitively expensive. As high school
graduation neared, Mark was scrambling to find a list of colleges still
accepting applications, and dreamed of donning Carolina blue—a color that
didn’t seem all that attractive only a few months ago.
There are several important takeaways from Mark’s story. First, no matter
your background or credentials, never assume admission into an Ivy League
institution. These schools receive applications from many more top-notch
students than they are able to admit, so unless you’re an Olympic athlete
with flawless academic credentials or the child of a US president, there are
no guarantees. Always expand your list of prospective schools to include
colleges outside of the Ivy League.
Second, earning entrance into out-of-state public colleges and universities
can be more difficult than you think. Several reputable institutions have
admissions policies that overwhelmingly favor in-state residents, and as a
result, reject a high number of elite, out-of-state residents every year. It is
not uncommon for students to earn admission into colleges like Penn,
Cornell, or Washington University, while being denied admission at
universities like UVA, UNC, or UC Berkeley, in large part, because of their
out-of-state status. Therefore, prior to finalizing an applicant’s college list
and regardless of their academic background, check to see if the public
schools on their safety list give admission preference to in-state students.
Third, every college list should include at least two to three safety schools,
where a student is very likely to be admitted and which they can afford.
Remember, safety schools are not safe if there exist factors that may
ultimately prevent a student from enrollment, whether personal, financial,
or admissions related.

NOTES
1. Paul Fain, “Nearing the Bottom,” Inside Higher Ed, May 15, 2014, accessed December 26,
2015, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/05/15/new-data-show-slowing-national-
enrollment-decline.
2. Kaplan Test Prep, “Kaplan Test Prep Survey: More College Admissions Officers Checking
Applicants’ Digital Trails, but Most Students Unconcerned,” October 31, 2013, accessed December
26, 2015, http://press.kaptest.com/press-releases/kaplan-test-prep-survey-more-college-admissions-
officers-checking-applicants-digital-trails-but-most-students-unconcerned.
3. Kaitlin Mulhere, “Lots More College Admissions Officers Are Checking Your Instagram and
Facebook,” Money, November 9, 2013, accessed January 31, 2016,
http://time.com/money/4179392/college-applications-social-media/.
 4. Scott Jaschik, “How Much Admission Misreporting?” Inside Higher Ed, January 28, 2013,
accessed December 26, 2015, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/01/28/bucknells-
admission-raises-questions-about-how-many-colleges-are-reporting-false.
 Chapter 4

Getting In
Improving Your Odds

In this chapter, we shift gears from mythbusting to answering the questions

that we most frequently receive from parents in our consulting practice.
Again, these are not When is the SAT offered type of questions that can be
answered in two seconds by Siri but rather more complicated questions
requiring nuanced, research-based expert advice. We begin with a question
that we often receive from parents of our youngest clients who are just
about to enter high school.

IS THERE A PRIVATE SCHOOL ADVANTAGE IN COLLEGE

ADMISSIONS?
Prior to the 1920s, attendance at a topflight prep school was nothing less
than a prerequisite for admission into an Ivy League college. Absurdly, a
diploma from a blue-blood boarding school actually trumped academic
superiority in the elitist admissions landscape of early twentieth-century
America. Today, nearly 100 years later, 62% of Harvard students hail from
a public high school.1 For a less Ivy-centric view, consider that fewer than
6% of college students in 2012 had attended private, nonreligious high
schools. So this begs the question: Do private schools still offer an
admissions advantage at our nation’s most selective colleges and
universities?
The Argument for Private School
Let’s begin by acknowledging that there are some undeniable admissions
advantages to private schools. For example, counselors in public high
schools report spending only 28% of their time on college-related
counseling, while their private school counterparts spend a far healthier
60%.2 Moreover, three-quarters of private high schools employ a counselor
who is solely dedicated to matters of college admissions, something very
few public schools are able to offer.
Private school students are also more likely to be completely surrounded
by highly motivated, college-bound peers, which research suggests raises
expectations and performance. Roughly 86% of private high school grads
immediately go on to four-year postsecondary institutions compared with
51% of public school grads.3
Academic powerhouses such as Harvard-Westlake, which services
Hollywood’s elite, or the Trinity School in New York City, which caters to
the children of Wall Street, still serve, as prep schools did back in the day,
as direct pipelines to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and MIT. A staggering 6%
(yes, in this case 6% qualifies as staggering) of Harvard’s Class of 2017
came from just ten high schools.4 Considering that there are over 30,000
public and private high schools in the country, that is a shockingly
disproportionate number. While some look at the close relationship between
premier magnet high schools and elite colleges and bemoan the sad state of
meritocracy, there is still evidence that public schools may offer an equal or
even better chance at admission to an Ivy than spending four years at
Groton or some other Hogwarts-looking prep school.

The Argument for Public School

Public schools, of course, vary greatly in quality. The dilapidated state of
too many urban and rural schools in the United States is a well-chronicled
tragedy. Yet, a large number of suburban public high schools offer many of
the amenities of a private school, including a full slate of Advanced
Placement (AP) and other college-level or honors courses, as well as a
lineup of strongly credentialed, dedicated instructors.
 Students may also gain an edge by being a big fish in a small pond, or if
you prefer a less overused analogy, a gargantuan begonia in a miniature
greenhouse. Studies have shown that when you control for scholastic
ability, attending a school surrounded by fellow academic superstars
actually has a negative effect on your admissions chances at an elite
college.5 This is in part because a highly abled student, who attends a good
public high school, is more likely to stand out among her peers (and to an
admissions committee) than a similarly abled student attending a top-of-the-
line private school.
Ultimately, colleges admit high school students, not high schools. The who
you know intangibles of the elite private school experience undoubtedly
exist but are tough to quantify. If you are a student who can finish at the top
of your public school class while securing the support needed to navigate
the college admissions process, then you may be better off as a giant gerbil
in a pint-sized Habitrail.

WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR COURSES, CHOOSE WISELY

“It’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.” This age-old
maxim applies not just to sports, but to high school and to college
admissions as well. Many students would be surprised to discover that their
strength of curriculum, or the types of courses in which they enroll during
high school, is often times viewed as more important in the admissions
process than grade point average or standardized test performance. If a
student hopes to win admission into competitive, four-year colleges, they
should consider adopting the following four strategies:
1. Enroll in a fourth year of science and math. Although most high schools
only require that students complete three years of math and science to
graduate, competitive colleges like to see a fourth year in these subjects.
Opting for math and science during senior year demonstrates to an
admissions office that a student is intellectually motivated and willing to
negotiate the rigors of a college curriculum. It may also improve their
prospects for college success, at least according to a widely cited US
Department of Education study:
 The highest level of mathematics reached in high school continues to be a key marker in
precollegiate momentum with the tipping point now firmly above Algebra II. The world has gone
quantitative: business, geography, criminal justice, history, allied health fields—a full range of
disciplines and job tasks tells students why math requirements are not just some abstract school
exercise.6

2. Consider adding an AP/IB course, or two. Taking Advanced Placement

or International Baccalaureate courses during high school signals to
prospective colleges that one is enrolled in a challenging course of study,
and thus prepared for college-level work. In a nationwide survey, the
National Association of College Admissions Counseling (NACAC)
discovered that 70% of all colleges considered AP/IB performance as
having some level of importance in the admissions process, and that 94
percent of colleges viewed an applicant’s strength of curriculum as being
somewhere between somewhat important and very important.7
3. Enroll in challenging and/or relevant electives. Instead of registering for
a cooking or sewing class, enroll in journalism, psychology, French, or
some other academic course that will challenge your child and
demonstrate to their prospective schools that they are passionate about
learning. Although usually not as rigorous as some core academic courses
(in math, science, history, etc.), electives play an important role in the
admissions process. If chosen carefully, they can help develop a student’s
talents and allow them to further exhibit their interest in a particular
subject area. If a student is an aspiring architect, for example, choosing an
elective in engineering or CAD (computer-aided design) will help her to
develop a portfolio of related work (now required by most architecture
schools) and capture the attention of an admissions officer or faculty
member who is seeking applicants committed to this field.
4. Finally, know your limits, and don’t take on too much. Adding an AP or
IB course is fine, but if a student is enrolled in two AP courses his junior
year and opts for five such courses his senior year, he’s likely to become
overwhelmed and earn less than satisfactory grades. Tom Reason, the
former director of admissions at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
expressed his views on the importance of striking a balance when it
comes to course rigor: “We don’t expect students to take every AP or IB
course available. We do expect students to have made thoughtful choices
that exemplify full preparation for college. Rigorous course work without
 performance in that course work is not what we’re after and will not be
fruitful.”8
Reason’s views echo the views of most other college admissions officers
and reveal the need for all students to reflect upon their own academic
limits and to then challenge themselves accordingly. In doing so, students
will not only become happier and more productive learners, they will
become better college applicants.

HOW MANY AP COURSES SHOULD I TAKE?

Most students are familiar with the basics of AP courses: they offer a
chance to experience a college-level curriculum while still in high school,
earn college credits, and impress prospective institutions by undertaking a
rigorous course load. From there, questions typically abound. We’ll do our
best to answer the most commonly asked questions we receive about AP
classes, starting with the most frequent one.
Let’s begin by saying that taking too heavy an AP course load (relative to
the caliber of the student) is never a good idea. If your kid is up at 4 am on
a Wednesday morning rereading the footnotes in Immanuel Kant’s The
False Subtlety of the Four Syllogistic Figures, downing their sixth Monster
Energy, and it’s been three days since their last shower . . . they might be
taking too many AP courses.
Some schools such as University of North Carolina (UNC)—Chapel Hill
have stated publicly that they will not grant favor in the admissions process
to students who took more than five AP courses. This came in the wake of a
study which found that while there was a correlation between higher
freshman GPA and the number of AP courses taken in high school, the
effect flat-lined after five courses. In other words, there was no predictive
indicator of success if you took ten APs versus five.9
Does this mean that 5 is the right number for everybody? Not necessarily,
but most highly selective colleges generally expect that students will have
taken the most challenging course available in math, English, history,
science, and foreign language. If an ambitious high schooler believes that
they can handle more than 5 APs, they should go for it, but they should do
it because they want to, not because they think colleges require it.
 In the case of students not aiming for Ivies, we wholeheartedly
recommend taking AP classes only in their expressed areas of
interest/strength. They could try an AP class as a sophomore (if available)
or as a junior and go from there. If they’re successful, they can take another
AP class or two as a senior. This schedule will be rigorous enough to satisfy
99% of the nation’s colleges and universities and won’t drive them to the
brink of insanity.

Is a Student Who Takes AP Classes Better Prepared for College Than

One Who Does Not?
The jury is still out on this one. Although several reports reveal a positive
relationship between AP participation and college performance, most are
sponsored by the College Board (AP’s creator) and/or rely on woefully
inadequate methodologies. Further, more recent and rigorous studies find
little advantage for AP students, and warn that AP classes at most high
schools are not necessarily adequate substitutes for a college-level course.10
In other words, take some AP courses to save money and improve your
admissions prospects, but don’t expect to enter college more prepared than
similar non-AP students.

How Much College Credit Will I Actually Receive?

Check the AP credit policies of the institutions that your child is
considering. This can vary greatly. For example, at NYU, a “5” on the AP
Physics B exam will net them ten college credits, a “4” will earn them five
credits, while a “3” and a $1.25 will get them a jumbo pack of Nutter
Butters from a campus vending machine. Meanwhile, upstate at Ithaca
College, that same “3” will earn them six college credits and a “4” will
garner them eight credits. The subsequent savings in tuition could put
enough extra cash in their pocket to purchase that obscure, out-of-print,
ridiculously pricey textbook authored by and assigned by their most
egomaniacal professor, or, if they prefer, a year’s supply of Nutter Butters.

DON’T OVERLOOK SUBJECT TESTS

Like AP exams, SAT Subject Tests give students the opportunity to
demonstrate mastery of a content area; yet they play a far more important
role in the admissions process. Often an afterthought in the mind of
applicants, SAT Subject Tests can greatly benefit some applicants and are a
near-necessity for anyone with an eye on gaining acceptance to Ivy or Ivy-
caliber schools. One might say that Subject Tests are like the Jan Brady of
the college application family—easy to forget about when surrounded by
the Marcia-like SAT and ACT.
We receive many questions on the topic and hope that the following will
give you a complete understanding of what these tests entail and whether or
not they should be a part of a student’s college application process.

What’s on the Menu?

There are over 20 Subjects Tests, but that number implies more variety than
is reality. A dozen of the tests are actually in the foreign language arena and
include your usual suspect tongues such as Spanish, French, Italian,
German, Chinese, as well as lesser-studied languages such as Korean,
Modern Hebrew, and Japanese. For several of the language exams, students
can choose between a purely written exam or one that includes a listening
component.
The eight non-foreign language exams cover literature, two levels of
general math, chemistry, physics, American history, world history, and
biology, of either the molecular or ecological variety.

What Tests Should I Choose?

In terms of sheer volume, the three most commonly administered
assessments are the Math Level 2, U.S. History and Literature exams. Of
the science exams, chemistry and biology top the popularity charts. If
Subject Tests are not required by any school to which your daughter is
planning to apply, avoid tests that are redundant in terms of what they say
about her. In other words, if she already has a “5” on the AP United States
History exam, taking an SAT Subject Test in the same area isn’t going to
unveil any significant new information about her ability, even if she
registers a perfect score. If tests are required by a student’s prospective
colleges, she will be best served by focusing on areas of strength and, of
course, adhering to any program-specific requirements.

When to Take Subject Tests

We advise students to take Subject Tests immediately after finishing
coursework for the subject area in which they will be tested, whether during
sophomore, junior, or senior year. This will allow them to maximize their
exposure to key concepts in the classroom and sit for the exam while
everything is still fresh in their mind. In the case of Math Level 2, make
sure that they have had prior exposure to trigonometry and precalculus, as
well as a basic understanding of statistics and probability. In the case of
language, we advise that they wait to take these exams until late in their
junior year, after they have progressed through intermediate and, ideally,
advanced coursework. If they are unhappy with their scores, there is always
the option to retake an exam or two during senior year.

Required, Recommended, or Considered?

Roughly 160 colleges and universities, mostly of the elite variety, require or
highly recommend the submission of Subject Tests as part of an applicant’s
portfolio. Several top-tier colleges such as Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, and
MIT require students to take two Subject Tests of their choosing. Emory,
Georgetown, and Duke are among the institutions that recommend or in
some cases strongly recommend that Subject Tests be a part of any
application
Many other schools do not recommend Subject Tests but will give them
serious consideration in the application process. Institutions such as the
University of Chicago, Vanderbilt, and Boston College fall into this
category. Finally, several of the most prestigious universities consider, but
do not require, students to submit Subject Tests if they have taken the ACT
(with writing). These schools include Brown, Tufts, and Wellesley College.

Special Situations
It is worth noting that some schools will accept Subject Tests in lieu of the
SAT I. The University of Rochester will accept two SAT II tests in place of
the SAT/ACT. Colorado College and Colby College offer the same deal but
require three test scores instead of two.
Other schools require more case-by-case research as they only require or
recommend SAT II scores from applicants to certain academic or honors
programs. For engineering applicants, UCLA and UC Berkeley strongly
advise the submission of math and science Subject Test scores. The
University of Delaware, George Washington University, and the University
of Miami all strongly recommend Subject Tests be included as part any
application to their honors programs.
If a student referred to their high school teacher as Mom or Dad, then they
may be compelled to take Subject Tests. Northeastern, Virginia Tech, and
American University all request Subject Test results from home schooled or
other nontraditionally educated applicants.

A Strong Cohort
While students of varying caliber typically take the SAT I, Subject Tests are
mostly the domain of high-achievers. Over 60% of exam-takers are in the
top 20% of their respective high school classes.12 The average Subject Test
participant scored over a 600 on both the reading and math section of the
SAT I, over 100 points higher per section than the average student.13 Keep
this in mind when interpreting the percentile results of any Subject Test;
students are pitted against stiffer competition.

Prepare for the Test

If you’re going to shell out the College Board fee (including $26 for
registration and $20 per Subject Test) plus the cost of a few number-two
pencils (approximately 17 cents) and have your child spend a portion of
their Saturday bubbling their demographic information into a Scantron for
the millionth time this year, they might as well prep sufficiently so that they
can excel on the SAT Subject Tests.
It sounds obvious enough, but some students will take an SAT Subject
Test with very little preparation on the assumption that since they aced the
class at their high school, they’ll nail the Subject Test just the same. Though
we advise taking a Subject Test after taking a related course, we warn you
that material covered and taught in high school classes will not necessarily
be identical to the material featured on the exam.
Unfortunately, it is very possible for a student to ace an honors biology
class, sign up for the Molecular Biology SAT II Subject Test, and feel like
they have just been thrown a nasty curveball. Remember, unlike in an AP
class, a teacher, even in a very rigorous course, is not aligning his or her
curriculum to an SAT Subject Test. Thus, it’s on the student to learn exactly
what is on these exams and then fill in any gaps with supplemental learning.
Students should give Subject Tests the love and attention they deserve, or
on test day, they might hear their neglected test booklet uttering the lonely
whispered cries of “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!”

WHAT EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES LOOK BEST ON A

COLLEGE APPLICATION?
We hear this question a lot—often from parents who have come to view the
college application process as an exercise in spin, rather than an opportunity
to exhibit passion. While the temptation to amass activities is strong,
especially given the overwhelmingly competitive nature of college
admissions, it’s important to realize that superficiality will not get students
far in life, and it certainly won’t help them get into the college of their
choice. College admissions officers are interested in meaningful
engagement, not perfunctory participation, and are smart enough and
experienced enough to distinguish between the two. That being said, here
are a few rules to abide by as you plan your extracurricular involvement:
1. Keep it real. Every admissions season, colleges strive to admit a diverse
community of students with a wide range of talents and interests. If your
child isn’t interested in sports, student council, or some other typical
extracurricular activity, don’t worry about it. Colleges are just as intrigued
by the student filmmaker or poetry club founder as they are by the
starting power forward or student body president. Provided that they
demonstrate a deep and consistent commitment, admissions officers will
take notice, whatever the activity.
2. Focus on depth, not breadth. Students who assume leadership roles and
participate extensively (10–20 hours per week) in one or two pursuits will
 always outshine comparable applicants who merely dabble in several
activities. If they want activities to have a meaningful impact, have
students find their niche, and improve their college admissions prospects
in the process. Suggest that they forget the laundry list and commit to the
wholehearted following of their true extracurricular interests.
3. Take advantage of the summer. Students want to show colleges that they
are serious about their extracurricular pursuits. They should use their
summer to secure an internship, take a class, or enroll in a camp that will
allow them to further explore their interests outside the classroom.
Though there are admission-related advantages to spending their summer
months productively, doing so does not require that they spend thousands
of dollars on some high-end program, as we explain in our next section.
4. Get a job. A job is one of the most underrated activities on a college
application. Regardless of where they work, a job demonstrates to an
admissions committee that a student is mature, practical, and ready to
take on the responsibilities associated with adulthood. If they can get a
job in their area of interest, great; if they can’t, they should get one
anyway. Most of us, at one time or another, have had to find alternative,
less attractive ways to fund the pursuit of our passions. This will show
colleges that they’re not afraid to get their hands dirty.
All in all, extracurricular life is not about building a resume (students will
have plenty of time to do that later); it’s about finding themselves and their
true calling. Students should follow their heart, strive for authenticity, and
the admissions process will take care of itself.

SUMMER PROGRAMS: DO THEY MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

In the 1990s, while the rest of society was busy squirting each other with
Super Soakers, listening to the Gin Blossoms, and carving Nike swooshes
into their hair, colleges finally realized for the first time that their campuses
were deserted during the summer. Suddenly, an administrator at a
prestigious university had a revolutionary notion, “What if we filled up our
dorms with high school students who are caught up in the admissions
hysteria and charged triple our normal tuition rate for the privilege?” Hence,
the college summer program for high school sophomores and juniors was
born.
Cynical pseudo-historical accounts aside, the merit of summer programs
varies greatly from campus to campus, and it is important to do your
homework before reaching for that Visa card. The following Q&A seeks to
address the most frequent queries we receive from parents on the topic.

How Much Do They Cost?

Elite schools such as Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, and Duke charge
between $1,500 and $3,000 per week for the privilege of sleeping in their
dorms and having a few idle faculty members impart wisdom about the
transition to college life. Programs abroad can be even pricier. On the other
hand, some programs are actually free of charge and can be far more
valuable in both the experiential and admissions sense (more on this in a
moment).

Will They Help My Child’s Chance at Admission?

In most cases, no. A summer spent strutting around Harvard Yard in a
borrowed tweed jacket will be viewed by an admissions committee as equal
in merit to spending your break restocking packets of Horsey Sauce at an
Arby’s in a mall food court. Admissions officers know that very few
students have the resources to drop ten grand on a three-week equivalent to
summer camp and will not grant favor to those who attend. Doing so would
be as absurd as NASA deciding to send a group of Space Camp attendees
into orbit. Never mind that this scenario actually occurs, albeit by accident,
in the 1986 Hollywood mega-flop, Space Camp . . .

Do They Have Any Admissions-Related Value?

Indirectly, perhaps. As with any experience a young person undertakes, a
high-cost summer program could indirectly have a positive impact on a
future application. For example, a summer program attendee might work on
a project that ignites a passion which becomes ideal fodder for a future
application essay. In some cases, a student may impress a faculty member
to the point where they are willing to write a glowing, committee-swaying
letter of recommendation.
 Yet, it is critical to be aware that the programs with the highest value are
actually the ones that are cost free or relatively affordable, and highly
selective. For example, MIT offers several free programs that allow a select
group of high school juniors to intensively study subjects such as the human
genome or robotics.

Figure 4.1 Selective Summer Programs

Bottom Line
If you have unlimited resources and your son or daughter feels they would
benefit from the experience, there is absolutely no harm in attending a high-
end summer program. However, it is important to be realistic about what
you’re paying for. Some elite programs accept as many as 70% of
applicants.14 Again, we recommend first exploring more selective, cost-free
programs that are merit-based and geared toward a discipline of genuine
interest. And, if all else fails, don’t underestimate the value of a normal
teenage summer experience. After all, you have to admit, the Sisyphean
task of Horsey Sauce packet replenishment would make a damn original
essay topic.

COLLEGE ADMISSION CREDENTIALS THAT YOU CAN DO

WITHOUT
So much misinformation about the college admissions process is
transmitted through the you have to do x, y, and z admonitions of peers,
relatives, media outlets, and message boards.
The items on this list tend to cause students and parents undue stress and,
in the end, add little-to-no value to the application process. To be clear, we
are not advising students not to engage in these activities if they hold
intrinsic value to them. We are merely saying that none of the following are
essential components of a successful college application.

1. National Honors Society

Belonging to the local chapter of NHS can be a wonderful thing. Eligibility
requirements vary from school to school, but all chapters require an
impressive number of service hours, community involvement, academic
excellence, and upstanding behavior. So, why does it make our overrated
list? For one, there are roughly one million NHS members in the United
States so it isn’t exactly an exclusive credential that is going to set
admissions officers’ hearts aflutter. Secondly, belonging to this group isn’t
any more impressive than achieving the prerequisites for admittance
independently. In other words, an honor roll student who engages in
community service work is just as impressive as someone doing the same
under the auspices of NHS.

2. Participation in a Sport
Very few admissions officers are going to sprint into the dean’s office after
reviewing an application to exclaim, “You’ll never believe this . . . The
third-string kicker on a high school football team wants to come to our
university! And there’s more . . . he also played volleyball for three months
as a sophomore!” This, of course, is to take nothing away from less-gifted
athletes who choose to dabble in high school athletics for the love of the
game. However, some non-sports enthusiasts feel the need to join teams
solely because they feel it will enhance their college application. Unless a
student’s athletic endeavors show evidence of talent or leadership, they will
be of little help to their admission prospects.

3. Alumni Recommendations
If the campus library is named after the person who wrote a student’s letter
of recommendation, they might be in luck. Otherwise, letters of
recommendation from alumni are only as valuable as the academic-related
insights they contain. A generic letter from a student’s father’s boss’s
cousin’s uncle who graduated from Colgate University in 1973 is not going
to guarantee a place on the prestigious Hamilton, New York campus next
fall.

4. Pay-for-Award Programs
The most notorious of this group was the now defunct Who’s Who Among
American High School Students, a book whose only purchasers,
presumably, were the selected students’ proud grandparents. High school
students continue to be deluged with offers from various honors societies,
fellowships, and leadership organizations. Such nominations typically ask
for a membership fee. Unless a high schooler is nominated for a genuinely
personalized reason (other than being within a certain SAT range) and
joining is free, toss these offers out with yesterday’s grocery store circulars.

RECOMMENDATIONS MATTER
College applicants tend to underestimate the importance of
recommendation letters; this is a mistake. According to a recent NACAC
survey, over 15% of institutions view recommendations as highly important
in admissions decisions and another 43% of schools grant them moderately
important status.15 In fact, the recommendation letter is often assigned as
much importance as your application essays or extracurricular participation.

Why Are They So Important?

Letters of recommendation provide context to a student’s application in a
way that other credentials cannot. Ideally, a letter of recommendation will
further reinforce their strengths as an applicant and reveal positive
information not found elsewhere in their application. All other things being
equal, a strong letter of recommendation may provide an admissions officer
the additional piece of information he or she needs to admit one student
over another comparable applicant.

When Should I Ask?

Request early. By November, a student’s favorite teachers (who are likely
just about everyone’s favorite teachers) will be inundated with
recommendation requests and will find themselves writing the phrase It is
with great pleasure over and over until carpal tunnel sets in. When
soliciting letters of recommendation, it is important that students submit
their requests as early as possible, so that their teachers and counselors
have ample time to write a well-thought-out and detailed narrative of the
student’s past contributions and potential as a college student.

Who Should I Ask?

Stay recent. Students should request recommendations from those who have
taught, mentored, or counseled them within the past two years. Admissions
officers want insight into your child’s most recent performance as a high
school student, since this is often a good indicator of how they will perform
in college.
Stay relevant. Students should be sure to pursue at least one letter of
recommendation from a teacher in their area(s) of academic interest (if they
have one). For example, if your daughter indicates on her application that
she plans to major in engineering, she should ask a science and/or math
teacher to write on her behalf. Admissions officers always appreciate the
opportunity to read letters that attest to an applicant’s abilities in their
prospective major. If a student is undecided on a major (as many students
are), consider an English or math teacher—knowledge and skills developed
in these academic areas are essential to success in any postsecondary field.
Other potential recommenders include a coach, band director, employer, or
other extracurricular sponsor with whom they have established a
meaningful and productive relationship. However, these professionals
should only provide a letter of recommendation in addition to, and not in
place of, a letter from a teacher. A parent or other relative should never
write on a student’s behalf. These people are rarely able to provide an
objective, unbiased account of their character and abilities.

What Is Required of Me?

Students should give adequate information. Immediately after making their
requests, they should provide all willing writers with a resume and a
statement of purpose outlining their academic and other college-related
goals. Both will enable recommenders to offer a more comprehensive
account of what they bring (i.e., can contribute) to prospective schools.

Should I Send More Letters Than Requested?

Don’t go overboard. If a college requires two letters of recommendation,
submit no more than three. Admissions officers are charged with wading
through an enormous amount of information, so too many
recommendations may overwhelm or even annoy a reader. Worse yet, it
could send signals of potential desperation and/or insecurity.

UTILIZING YOUR HIGH SCHOOL COUNSELOR

As private college counselors, we are well versed in the criticisms of
school-based counseling. Unavailable, inexperienced, incompetent—these
are the words that some within our industry often use to describe the
professionals who work hardest to establish safe and supportive learning
environments for our children. Research consistently shows that school
counselors improve the academic achievement, health, and psychological
and emotional well-being of students—not to mention their college
prospects,16 yet many continue to argue that counselors are becoming
obsolete.
We’d like to assert that this argument is not only unproductive, it’s untrue.
Yes, growing caseloads and increasingly manifold job roles have limited the
extent to which many counselors can focus on college planning, making
private counseling a progressively attractive solution to many students and
families. However, it is important to understand that most school counselors
can prove to be powerful advocates during the college application process.
In the spirit of full disclosure, here are a few things that a school counselor
can do (and that a private counselor cannot do) to help students get into
college:
Provide a letter of recommendation. Most colleges still require a letter of
recommendation from a school official. At most high schools, this letter is
written by a school counselor and is submitted as part of the secondary
school report. Counselor-written letters that provide a personal, thorough,
and comprehensive account of the student can have tremendous influence
on an admissions decision.
Engage a college admissions office. At most high schools, counselors
serve as the point of contact when admissions offices have questions or
concerns about a student’s application. In the case of a borderline
application, counselors may also provide an additional key piece of
information or point of persuasion that moves a student into the admit pile.
Offer school-specific information and strategies. How many applicants
from their high school have been admitted into certain colleges? Which
teachers write compelling letters of recommendation? What courses are
sufficiently rigorous and/or draw high praise? It is likely that a school
counselor can answer these and other similar questions. In doing so, they
direct students to the information, personnel, and activities that improve
their college credentials and help them make the most out of their high
school experience.
School counselors can still do a lot for college-bound students; however,
reaping the college-related benefits of school-based counseling requires that
students be proactive. Today’s typical school counselor, though competent
and hard-working, faces time constraints that preclude them from forging a
deep and productive relationship with every student on their caseload.
Therefore, students must take initiative, in particular, by:
Starting early and visiting often. Students should introduce themselves to
their school counselor as soon as possible, preferably before junior year,
and make it a point to provide regular updates about their life inside and
outside the classroom.
Staying organized. This is especially important during senior year, as
students and their counselor strive to negotiate the deluge of demands
associated with the college application process. Staying organized requires
that students complete application-related tasks on time and provide their
counselor with all of the information they will need to submit a secondary
school report, letter(s) of recommendation, and any other school-specific
materials—well before the admission deadlines at prospective colleges.
Respecting boundaries. Students should not make same-day requests or
demand/expect that their counselor answer emails or phone calls outside of
school hours. Being attuned and sympathetic to the many job demands
placed upon a school counselor can go a long way in building rapport, as
well as mutual commitment to college-related goals.

THE ROLE OF DEMONSTRATED INTEREST

Hardly a day goes by where something in the news is not described as
Orwellian. Whether in reference to the government’s latest surveillance
efforts or the newest app for your smart phone that is secretly mining your
personal information and selling it to advertisers, the term has become
nearly inescapable. Its proliferation is a sign of the computerized,
information-saturated times in which we live and it’s visible in our
everyday lives. Amazon.com seems to magically know when we need to
order more toothpaste. The UPS driver transporting our Crest 6-pack is
being monitored by his employers every time he puts his seatbelt on, backs
up the truck, or gets an electronic signature. Of course, it is only a matter of
time before drones completely take over package delivery—a change that
may be more Asimovian than Orwellian.
In this climate, it should be of little surprise that a flavor of 1984 has
entered the college admissions game. So, you ask, what exactly is Dean Big
Brother watching? In this case, it’s the level of demonstrated interest you
show toward a college. Are you their pal on social media sites? Did you
visit the campus in person? Have you emailed an admissions rep to ask
questions or introduce yourself? At the majority of colleges and universities
today, this information is being tracked, recorded, and can actually factor
into a school’s decision about whether to admit or deny an applicant.

The Importance of “Demonstrated Interest” by the Numbers

According to a recent NACAC survey, 20% of colleges and universities
consider demonstrated interest as very important to a student’s application,
the highest such distinction on the survey’s scale. More ballyhooed
application components such as essays and counselor/teacher
recommendations actually rated at the same level or lower in terms of
importance. With another 34% of institutions assigning considerable
importance to demonstrated interest, the percentage of schools that strongly
value a little attention from applicants is 54%, a higher total than that of
class rank, the interview, or extracurricular activities.17
This emphasis on demonstrated interest is a relatively new phenomenon.
Back in 2003, just 7% of schools identified interest as being a highly
important factor and a decade earlier in 1993, the category did not even
exist. The growing importance of demonstrated interest can be directly
linked to the Common Application and other streamlined tools which have
made applying to numerous colleges a fairly easy endeavor.
As students are applying to a greater number of schools, admissions
officers are finding it increasingly difficult to determine which applicants
are actually committed to attending their institution. And if an institution
cannot predict, with reasonable accuracy, who will attend, it is forced to
admit more students—an action that can lower both yield (the percentage of
admitted students attending) and selectivity, which in turn can have
negative effects on a school’s desirability, ranking, and/or revenue. As a
result, many institutions are now looking to signs of demonstrated interest
to determine which students are likely to attend and, ultimately, which
students they should admit.

What Type of Colleges Are Likely to Emphasize Demonstrated

Interest?
Generally, the less selective a school is, the more likely it values being
shown some extra love, and private schools tend to value the attention more
than publics. Additionally, schools with a lower yield rate value this
attribute more than schools with a high yield rate. For example, Loyola
University in Maryland, a reputable and moderately selective college, is a
common backup school among high-achieving students and consistently
struggles to improve upon its low yield rate. As such, demonstrated interest
is far more likely to be an important factor at Loyola than it is at
neighboring Johns Hopkins, a significantly more prestigious school that is a
regular favorite among the crème de la crème students or at the state’s
public flagship, University of Maryland, where in-state tuition rates draw
massive numbers of applicants and where government funding is
guaranteed.

What Can I Do to Demonstrate Interest?

Email your admissions counselor. At most colleges, there will be one
counselor responsible for reviewing applications from students in your
region of the country. With some clever Googling, it’s usually pretty easy to
find the assigned counselor on any institution’s admissions website. Once a
student finds their counselor, they should send a brief email introducing
themselves and describing their interests in the institution. Include a
question or two about the admissions process or a particular academic
offering, the answers to which cannot be easily found on the institution’s
website. Remember, keep it brief. They don’t need to know your son or
daughter’s life story or their thoughts on Cartesian dualism—just the fact
that they are a high school student who is interested in the school.
Complete an online information request form. Just about every college in
the world features a page on its admissions website, where prospective
students can request general information, subscribe to the college’s blog or
admissions newsletter, and/or indicate academic programs/activities that are
especially appealing. They’ll likely send the student piles of printed
materials through snail mail which, whether you carefully peruse or toss
directly into the recycle bin, will serve the purpose of communicating
interest.
Visit campus. If a prospective college is within a reasonable distance, it is
strongly recommended that your teen pays a visit. While there, they should
make every effort to attend an information session and schedule an
interview or informal meeting with an admissions counselor. Connecting in
person with an admissions officer provides students with an opportunity to
show their counselor that they are more than just grades and test scores and
of course gets them brownie points when they calculate your so-called
interest quotient.
 Attend admissions events in your area. If an admissions representative
from a prospective college visits your student’s high school for an
information session or college fair, they should make it a point to be there,
and be sure to introduce themselves. If they are interested enough in a
school to apply, they should definitely be interested enough to meet a rep
who has traveled (sometimes across the country) right to their backyard.
Afterward, they should remember to send a brief thank you email. Yes, their
mailboxes are likely full of perfunctory thank you emails—the email may
even be funneled to a special folder exclusively for perfunctory thank-yous.
The important thing is—you guessed it—it shows that the student is
genuinely interested.
Connect on social media. More schools are offering applicants the chance
to create an online admissions profile where they can submit and track their
online application, schedule a campus tour, and interact with college staff
via Facebook, Twitter, and other social media. Prospective students should
take a minute to create an admissions profile at each of their target colleges,
and if possible, provide detailed information about their academic and
extracurricular interests. It won’t take any more time to connect with a
college on social media than it did to retweet Katy Perry’s latest deep
thoughts about eating tacos on the beach (believe it or not, this is an actual
message which was retweeted by over 13,000 people).

Don’t Go Overboard
It’s nice to like someone’s Facebook post when it resonates with you. It’s
weird to like every single post and picture on their entire account. The line
between showing interest and stalking to the point of a full on creep-out is a
fine one but there are clear divisions. To put it in movie terms, you want to
be more like Hugh Grant buying someone flowers and chocolate in a
romcom and less like Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver—shirtless, sporting a
serial-killer mohawk, and repeatedly screaming, “You talkin’ at me?” into
the mirror.
Many guidance counselors and students resent the entire concept of
demonstrated interest and see it as further evidence of the corporatization of
college admissions. While this may be so, our recommendation is to just
give in and play the game—it’s simple enough and won’t take too much
time. Plus, there’s a darn good chance you’ll learn more about your
prospective institutions through this process, an outcome that will benefit
both you and Big Brother.

THE ADVANTAGES OF LEGACY STATUS

Colleges love to throw around high-minded words like meritocracy, access,
and egalitarianism when discussing admissions policies. Yet such
references to social justice and increased opportunities for the poor ring a
bit hallow when you consider that so-called legacy applicants, those who
have familial ties to an institution, are still given a sizable edge in the
admissions process at the vast majority of elite US colleges and
universities.
If a student happens to be interested in attending their parent’s alma mater,
they will likely find this news encouraging. If not, it’s still important to be
aware as they enter the admissions process that not every decision to accept
or reject is driven solely by merit.

Primary versus Secondary Legacy

The difference between applying to a university that Great Aunt Merle
graduated from in 1912 versus a school attended by one or both parents is
substantial in terms of the potential impact on a student’s admissions
prospects. Having a loose connection such as Great Aunt Merle, a
grandparent, or a sibling qualifies them as being a secondary legacy and can
be slightly helpful in the admissions process. A direct parental connection
means that they are designated as a primary legacy and can be a major
boost to their admissions prospects.

Stats on Legacy Admissions

Colleges like to state publicly that legacy status is nothing more than a
tiebreaker between equally strong applicants, a thumb on the scale is an oft-
used phrase. Yet a quick glance at the statistics on legacy admissions
suggests that the proverbial thumb in question must belong to Andre the
Giant.
A study of thirty elite colleges found that primary legacy students are an
astornishingly 45% more likely to get into a highly selective college or
university than a non-legacy.18 Secondary legacies receive a lesser pick-me-
up of 13%.19 One study revealed that being a legacy was equivalent in
admissions value to a 160 point gain on the SATs on a 1600 point scale.20
The end result of the legacy advantage can be seen on elite college
campuses across the country. At Harvard, the admission rate for legacy
students is five times greater than for the general applicant pool. Fellow
Ivies, Princeton and Yale also admit between 25% and 35% of legacies,
three to four times their overall admit rate.21
Even elite public universities such as the University of Michigan and UVA
grant favor to legacy applicants. However, these two schools differ in how
openly they advertise their legacy policies. UVA created its own Admission
Liaison Program where children of alumni can attend special events,
webinars, and even schedule a one-on-one transcript consultation with the
director of the organization at any point throughout high school. In contrast,
the University of Michigan’s admissions website does not make any
reference to legacy status—the only statement about legacy admissions is
buried in an FAQ.

Do All Schools Promote This Practice?

It is estimated that three-quarters of all research institutions and liberal arts
colleges in the United States factor legacy status into their admissions
decisions. This includes all of the Ivies and many other ultra-elite private
schools such as Georgetown, Duke, Swarthmore, Middlebury, Amherst,
Tufts, and countless others.
A much smaller number of highly selective schools openly oppose
granting favor to legacy status. MIT and Cooper Union are both on record
as openly opposing hereditary privilege in the admissions process.
Other schools, such as Stanford University and UNC, only take primary
legacy into consideration. Interestingly, most elite schools also grant much
heavier consideration to a parent who attended their undergraduate school
versus a graduate program.

Why Do Schools Do This?

One may ask: Why do schools care if mom or dad graced their campus
decades ago? Publicly, institutions typically defend legacy admissions as a
way to respect tradition and acknowledge those who helped to lay the
foundation on which the university is built. Intergenerational continuity is a
term that has been thrown around by defenders of the practice.
If your reaction is a skeptical raise of the eyebrow, join the club.
There is little question that legacy schools expect that they will receive
greater financial contributions in exchange for keeping things in the family.
However, it is interesting to note that one major study found that schools
that grant legacy status actually had no fundraising advantage over schools
that do not. In fact, two of the eight US schools with the largest
endowments are MIT and Texas A&M which banned legacy-based
admission over a decade ago.22

How to Take Advantage

No matter how you feel about the fairness of legacy admissions, if a student
chooses to take advantage, the simplest way to disclose their legacy status is
straightforward—just list their alumni connections on the application. On
most school’s application forms, including the common app, there is a place
to list parents’ educational backgrounds. If the student is claiming a
secondary legacy, they’ll have to do so on the individual institution’s
supplemental forms.
For parents, the more involved with your alma mater you have been since
graduation, the more likely your child’s legacy is to provide an admissions
boost. Admissions offices will look at the alum’s history of financial
contributions, service on boards, and role as a member of the college’s
alumni network. While admissions decisions are not made in smoke-filled
backrooms, who you know can certainly aid your son or daughter’s chances
of receiving a bulky envelope come spring.
Yet, parents need to be careful that they are tactful throughout this process.
Pushy emails and phone calls to admissions reps will come across poorly.
An abrasive and overbearing approach will be off-putting to a school and
can actually end up hurting an applicant’s chances. Keep things positive and
know that your student is definitely going to get special consideration at
your alma mater.
In the worst case scenario, a thin envelope will arrive and, after the
disappointment wanes, your child will select another phenomenal institution
to attend, starting a legacy of their very own.

PLAYING YOUR WAY INTO AN ELITE COLLEGE

Ivy League schools and many elite colleges with Division III athletics
purport not to grant admissions favor or any edge in scholarship
consideration to student-athletes. In related news, Taco Bell claims that
their 89₵ tacos are made with 100% sirloin beef.
Since you can’t always believe the party line, student-athletes interested in
parlaying their physical gifts into selective college admission should be
aware of the realities that lie beneath the posture of sports indifference. In
truth, if you can shoot, skate, cradle, dribble, sprint, throw, or volley better
than 99% of your peers, then you have a significant admissions advantage
over your less-coordinated competition.
Athletes recruited by college coaches typically scored 200 points lower on
the SAT than the average admitted applicant.23 While tough to quantify,
studies have claimed that athletes are up to four times more likely to be
accepted at Ivy League schools than their nonathlete counterparts.24 There
can be a financial advantage as well. Top liberal arts schools may not hand
out football scholarships, but they may have scholarships under various
euphemisms—leadership, for example—that may just so happen to go to
stellar athletes.
It is worth noting that at many elite schools the percentage of recruited
student-athletes relative to the student body is far greater proportionally
than at well-known jock schools like Ohio State or the University of Miami.
For example, Dartmouth’s undergraduate population of around 4,000
students includes over 1,000 varsity athletes.25 With such skewed
demographics, being a jock with a brain can truly be a decisive factor in
opening the doors to America’s most selective schools. This begs the
question: What can scholar-athletes do to exploit this numerical advantage?
Without question, pursuing excellence in the classroom is a must. No
amount of gridiron glory is going to get a kid with a 2.3 GPA and a 950
SAT into Princeton. You’ve got to be, pun intended, in the ballpark
academically. The recruiting process at top scholarly institutions, while
ethically controversial, isn’t going to approach the level seen in Blue Chips,
a 1994 film about a corrupt college athletics department buying basketball
recruits with cars, tractors, houses for their families, and suitcases full of
money.
National Collegiate Athletic Association recruiting season officially
begins the summer before a high school athlete’s junior year. However, this
time frame is rarely the first time coaches and prospective players
communicate. At Division III schools such as Amherst, Middlebury, and
Emory, coaches are free to contact you at any time during high school, and
at all schools (Division I included) athletes may initiate contact with a
coach at any time. We recommend reaching out to coaches early in a
student’s high school career if they are an athlete interested in attending an
academically superior institution.
Getting on the coaches radar early can pay dividends when admissions
time rolls around. Remember, even at the Ivies, a lacrosse coach may have
more sway than a Nobel Prize–nominated faculty member. Fair or not, it’s
critical for prospective college athletes to remember that 100% sirloin beef
isn’t always what it seems.

CAST A WIDE NET: GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY AND COLLEGE

ADMISSIONS
A recent study revealed that the majority of college-bound students (58%)
choose schools within 100 miles of their home, while only 11% opt for an
institution more than 500 miles away.26 In our increasingly mobile society,
this finding is somewhat surprising. Although remaining close to home for
college can seem the more comfortable and convenient option, there are
significant benefits associated with casting a wider net. Most notably, a
willingness to travel can lead to improved admissions prospects and better
financial aid offers. Why? Because colleges crave geographic diversity.
Like high test scores and low acceptance rates, geographic diversity
improves a school’s selectivity, as well as its ability to increase enrollment
and revenue. All things equal, colleges will almost always favor the
applicant coming from a more distant or exotic locale, and not just because
the applicant brings a new perspective to campus. For example, assume
Denison University, a liberal arts college in the middle of Ohio, is seeking
to improve its ranking. Nabbing a highly accomplished student from
Columbus or Cleveland might help, but not as much as luring an equally
accomplished student from Seattle. A Seattle attendee could introduce the
college to an entirely new network of potential applicants, who are more
likely to apply to Denison because of its unique institutional qualities,
rather than because of its convenient location in the Midwest. As a result,
these applicants are less likely to consider Kenyon, Oberlin, Allegheny, and
other nearby competitors that steal away other prospective students. Ideally,
Denison’s new Emerald City connection not only generates greater
application numbers, it also effects a rise in the college’s yield rate, and
consequently, its ranking.
Now, not every college wants or needs to improve the geographic diversity
of its student body—many selective public flagships, such as UVA and
UNC-Chapel Hill, set strict caps on the number of out-of-state students,
while Harvard and Yale already attract more qualified Alaskans than they
are able to admit. However, if you’re an admissions director at a college
without government mandates or Ivy League prestige, chances are you give
admissions and financial aid preference to geographically desirable
applicants.
Figure 4.2 Great Colleges with Less-Than-Great Geographic Diversity

NOTES
1. Francesca Annicchiarico and Samuel Y. Weinstock, “Freshman Survey Part I: Meet Harvard’s
Class of 2017,” The Harvard Crimson, September 3, 2013, accessed December 26, 2015,
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/9/3/freshmen-employment-demographics-geography/?
page=2.
2. National Association for College Admission Counseling, “Effective Counseling in Schools
Increases College Access, Research to Practice Brief,” 2006, accessed December 26, 2015,
http://www.nacacnet.org/research/research-data/Research%20Member%20Only/McDonough.pdf.
3. National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, “Report: High School Benchmarks 2014,”
October 13, 2014, accessed December 26, 2015,
https://nscresearchcenter.org/hsbenchmarks2014/#Results1.
4. Meg Bernhard, “The Making of a Harvard Feeder School,” The Harvard Crimson, December
13, 2013, accessed January 1, 2016. http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/12/13/making-harvard-
feeder-schools/
 5. For example, see: Espenshade, T. J., Hale, L. E., & Chung, C. Y., (2005), “The frog pond
revisited: High school academic context, class rank, and elite college admission,” Sociology of
Education, 78(4), 269-293.
6. U.S. Department of Education, “The Toolbox Revisited: Paths to Degree Completion from High
School through College,” last modified March 2, 2006, accessed December 26, 2015,
http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/toolboxrevisit/index.html?exp.
7. National Association for College Admission Counseling, “Factors in the Admission Decision,”
accessed December 26, 2015, http://www.nacacnet.org/studentinfo/articles/Pages/Factors-in-the-
Admission-Decision.aspx.
8. Valerie Strauss, “AP Courses: How Many Do Colleges Want?” The Washington Post, January
29, 2010, accessed December 26, 2015, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/college-
admissions/ap-courses-how-many-do-college.html.
9. Susan Hardy, “Study Finds That More AP Classes May Not Be Better,” The University Gazette,
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, January 8, 2013, accessed December 26, 2015,
http://gazette.unc.edu/2013/01/08/study-finds-that-more-ap-classes-may-not-be-better/.
10. Zack Budryk, “Should AP Be Plan A?,” Inside Higher Ed, April 23, 2013, accessed January 1,
2016, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/04/23/new-study-challenges-popular-perceptions-
ap
11. College Board, “Institutions Using SAT Subject Tests,” accessed December 26, 2015,
https://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/sat-subject/about/institutions#inst_using_SAT.
12. College Board, “2013 College-Bound Seniors Total Group Profile Report,” accessed December
26, 2015, http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/research/2013/TotalGroup-2013.pdf.
13. Ibid.
14. Mary Camille Izlar, “Harvard Summer Program Recommendations Come at Hefty Cost,”
Bloomberg Businessweek, July 17, 2013, accessed December 26, 2015,
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-07-17/harvard-summer-program-recommendations-
come-at-hefty-cost.
15. Ibid.
16. Andrew S. Belasco, “Creating College Opportunity: School Counselors and Their Influence on
Postsecondary Enrollment,” Research in Higher Education, November 2013: 54(7), 781–804.
17. Melissa Clinedinst, “2014 State of College Admission,” National Association for College
Admission Counseling, accessed December 26, 2015,
http://www.nxtbook.com/ygsreprints/NACAC/2014SoCA_nxtbk/#/28.
18. Elyse Ashburn, “At Elite Colleges, Legacy Status May Count More Than Was Previously
Thought,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 5, 2011, accessed December 26, 2015,
http://chronicle.com/article/Legacys-Advantage-May-Be/125812/?
sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en.
19. Ibid.
20. Thomas J. Espenshade and Chang Y. Chung, “The Opportunity Cost of Admission Preferences
at Elite Universities,” Social Science Quarterly 86, no. 2 (June 2005): 293–305, doi:10.1111/j.0038-
4941.2005.00303.
21. Max Nisen, “Legacies Still Get a Staggeringly Unfair College Admissions Advantage,”
Business Insider, June 5, 2013, accessed December 26, 2015, http://www.businessinsider.com/legacy-
kids-have-an-admissions-advantage-2013-6.
22. Delece Smith-Barrow, “10 Universities with the Largest Endowments,” U.S. News & World
Report, October 6, 2015, accessed December 26, 2015, http://www.usnews.com/education/best-
colleges/the-short-list-college/articles/2015/10/06/10-universities-with-the-largest-endowments.
 23. Gary Gutting, “The Myth of the ‘Student-Athlete” New York Times, March 15, 2012, accessed
December 26, 2015, http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/the-myth-of-the-student-
athlete/.
24. Anneli Rufus, “Your Odds of Getting into College,” The Daily Beast, September 1, 2010,
accessed December 26, 2015, http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/09/01/college-admissions-
15-ways-to-predict-where-youll-get-in.html.
25. Kourtney Kawano, “Athletics and Socioeconomic Status: NCAA and Ivy League Rules
Complicate Recruitment,” The Dartmouth, May 15, 2015, accessed December 26, 2015,
http://thedartmouth.com/2015/05/15/athletics-and-socioeconomic-status-ncaa-and-ivy-league-rules-
complicate-recruitment/.
26. Niraj Chokshi, “Map: The States College Kids Can’t Wait to Leave,” The Washington Post,
June 5, 2014, accessed December 26, 2015,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/06/05/map-the-states-college-kids-cant-
wait-to-leave/.
 Chapter 5

Getting In
Applying

Gregor Samsa went to bed an ordinary, traveling salesman and awoke the
next day a giant, hideous insect. The Metamorphosis chronicles this
absurdist tale of a young man who, out of nowhere, is left irrevocably stuck
going through life as grotesque, oversized vermin. Surprisingly, things don’t
end well.
Unlike poor Gregor, at a certain point during their senior year of high
school, your son or daughter will undergo a significant change that is, quite
fortunately, far less creepy. Instead of shapeshifting into a human-size
cockroach, they will go to bed one night a high school student and awake
the next morning a full-blown college applicant. Yet, just like becoming a
repulsive human-size bug, a major mindset adjustment will be necessary.
In reality, even the strongest student will encounter a perilous gauntlet of
admissions-related choices that require strategic thinking and an
understanding of the rules of a very different game. To help you and your
child shift gears, we move from looking at how high school students can
bolster their college prospects to how college applicants can best position
themselves to win acceptance at the college of their dreams.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER BEFORE APPLYING EARLY

DECISION
In the early 1990s, the University of Pennsylvania was struggling to keep
up with their fellow Ivy League universities and found themselves
frequently relegated to backup plan status among the nation’s top students.
Their institution’s location in less-than-idyllic West Philadelphia and the
“sounds like a state school” name contributed to their relative woes. In an
effort to net more big fish, the University of Pennsylvania offered
prospective students a bargain of Mephistophelean proportions—make a
binding commitment to us months before the regular admissions cycle
begins and we’ll offer you significantly improved odds of acceptance.
Those who fondly recalled hearing their grandmothers utter the axiom “a
bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” quickly shook hands on the deal.
Nonbinding forms of the early application process have been around since
the 1950s, but as we neared the 2000s, hundreds of schools began to see the
advantage of locking in members of their freshman class as early as
possible. This was, however, not without controversy. By 2007, in response
to cries that Early Decision (ED) put minority and low-income applicants at
a disadvantage, schools like Princeton and Harvard did away with the
practice. Yet, the number of ED applicants at other premier schools
persisted and has continued to rise year after year. In the 2014–15
admissions cycle, Johns Hopkins saw an increase of 17%1 from the prior
year, while just about all of the Ivies saw an increase in the 15–16 cycle.2
This phenomenon does not only occur at the nation’s most elite
institutions like our examples above. Many less-selective institutions
offering an ED plan continue to experience record volumes of fall
applications. Because it has become so common to apply ED, we see more
students select this option in a way that is uniformed and ultimately harmful
to their college selection process. To help students avoid making a similar
mistake, we cover the five questions they should be able to answer with
100% confidence before pulling the trigger on an ED app.

1. Have I Adequately Vetted My First-Choice School?

This is the first question anyone considering applying ED needs to ponder,
and ponder hard. Have you visited the campus, taken a full tour, and had the
chance to ask questions of current students as well as admissions reps?
Have you done sufficient homework on other, comparable institutions to
make sure you aren’t missing out on any even better opportunities? Perhaps
most importantly, have you sat down with your parents and calculated the
four years of tuition, fees, and living expenses at your ED school? Planning
the financial end is absolutely critical for anyone, which leads us to our next
question. . . .

2. “Are College Costs a Significant Concern?”

ED admission into a college precludes you from comparing financial aid
offers. You will be receiving only one award, which may or may not be
enough to sufficiently cover your college-related expenses. Most schools
promise to give equal consideration to early admits for both need-based and
merit aid, yet this is simply not in line with reality, especially with regard to
merit aid.
Remember, institutions dangle merit aid to lure exceptional students, ones
who might otherwise elect to attend a more prestigious school, to their
flock. Your ED college has little incentive to award a generous merit aid
package, given that they have already secured your commitment to attend.
Even if they do offer some degree of aid, it may not be the number you
expected. To be safe, if you anticipate needing substantial financial aid,
think twice applying ED. Early Decision is a binding enterprise and backing
out, even with financial justification, is not a pleasant road to travel down.

3. “How Likely Is It That My Desires Might Change During Senior

Year?”
Senior year can be a time of significant growth and change. A commitment
you make in the fall may seem far less appealing months later. An
inspirational AP English teacher may steer you away from the engineering
path you felt so strongly about in October. Perhaps you’ll learn about a
lesser-known college that sounds like it was built just for you. Conduct a
serious self-assessment of your personality before submitting your ED
application. Are you someone whose academic and career desires stay
consistent over time or do your interests tend to change as you engage in
new experiences? Will you genuinely enjoy attending college 2,500 miles
from home or are you someone who ultimately likes to see the family on a
regular basis?
 Settling on a college is a huge decision in so many ways, and one that
many students are not ready to make when their first day on campus is still
10 months away.

4. “Is My Application as Strong as It Can Be?”

Unlike colleges with (nonbinding) Early Action (EA) admission policies,
schools employing ED typically accept or reject (rather than defer) the
majority of applicants. Thus, if an ED school is top on your list, it’s
important that you sell yourself at the highest possible point. ED applicants
sell themselves based on where they stand at the end of the all-important
junior year (unless they opt for ED II—more on this in a moment). If you
feel you’ve maxed out your SAT/ACT score, possess a GPA that is
adequately high, and have no regrets about the rigor of your courses from
9th through 11th grade, then you may be an ideal ED candidate.
If you are more in the late-bloomer category (i.e., you thought 9th grade
was still middle school and forgot to study . . . for an entire year), you may
need senior year in order to maximize your potential and show colleges
what you can really do. In that case, ED may not be the best choice.

5. “How Much Will Applying Early Decision Really Help My Chances

at Admission?”
On the surface, a look at ED versus Regular Decision (RD) acceptance rates
makes it appear as though applying ED is a huge advantage. Middlebury’s
2014–15 ED admit rate was 33% compared to 15% overall. Dartmouth
admitted 28% of ED applicants and just 10% of those who waited until
January. All of the other Ivies admitted ED students at approximately 2
times the rate of everyone else.3
Applying ED does give applicants an edge at top schools; however, the
stats above are misleading for several reasons. For one, students applying
ED to elite schools tend to be more qualified, on average, than students in
the RD pool. In addition, many selective colleges admit the bulk of their
student-athletes through ED—these applicants have already been reviewed
and selected ahead of time. ED is also a time when many legacy students
are brought aboard as well as those with a special skill or skills (i.e., the
juggling, fire-breathing cello virtuoso). Remove these applicants from the
ED pool and advantages associated with applying early shrink greatly.
With all these considerations in mind, an applicant should think carefully
before surrendering their free agency in exchange for an acceptance.
Schools across the selectivity spectrum are not going to reach for a student
well below their mean; it is students on the bubble who are most likely to
receive a boost.
Ultimately, if a student has considered every variable and ED still sounds
like a good idea, then they should go ahead and move forward with that
bird in the hand. However, if they are feeling less than sure, take time to
check out those bush-dwelling feathered friends—sweet, old cautious
grandma may philosophically disapprove but, in the end, they’ll be more
likely to end up picking the best college for them.

EARLY DECISION II
An increasing number of highly selective institutions have initiated a
second round of binding admission programs, giving students another
chance to commit to a college before acceptance while bypassing many of
the potential drawbacks cited in our last section. Unlike traditional ED (I)
programs, ED II allows students to wait until later in the admissions cycle
to declare their allegiance to a particular school.
Figure 5.1 Admission Rates—2014–15: ED versus RD

Why Do Colleges Offer Early Decision II?

Colleges offer an ED II option primarily as a means to improve their yield
rates, which as mentioned previously, is an important indicator of
desirability and one that can have significant influence on a college’s
ranking. Effectively, ED II offers institutions a second chance to grab
guaranteed enrollees.

Why Would a Student Apply Early Decision II?

There are two reasons, in particular. First, a student may be denied at her
first-choice college—to which she applied ED—but has a clear second
favorite and wants to improve her odds of admission at that institution.
Second, a student may apply ED II to take advantage of the flexibility that a
later deadline offers. For example, ED II applicants have more time to
improve their standardized test scores, solidify their college preferences,
and assess their financial need. Students applying ED II also have an
opportunity to submit strong grades earned during their senior year.

When Exactly Is Early Decision II?

Most application deadlines for ED II fall on January 1, at or around the
same time as RD deadlines. ED II applicants usually receive a decision in
mid-February.

Aside from Timing, What Other Differences Exist Between Early

Decision I and Early Decision II?
There are none, really. Both offer potential advantages in the admissions
process. However, both plans are also binding, meaning that you must
attend if admitted.

THE CASE FOR APPLYING EARLY ACTION

For those not ready to commit to the binding contract of an ED application,
EA and rolling admissions can offer many of the same benefits with a good
deal more flexibility.
Figure 5.2 Colleges Offering ED II
Figure 5.3 Admission Rates—2014–15, EA versus RD

EA comes in two varieties: restrictive and nonrestrictive, and knowing

which category your institutions of interest fall under is an essential first
step. Colleges offering restrictive or single choice Early Action (REA)
prohibit applicants from applying EA or ED to any other institution, unless
that institution happens to be public. For example, students applying to
Stanford REA may still apply EA to Georgia Institute of Technology and
the University of Virginia, given that both institutions are publicly
controlled. Nonrestrictive EA means that you are free to apply to as many
schools as you like, just as during the normal cycle. Typically, students will
receive a decision from EA schools in mid-December rather than having to
wait until early April with their regular admission peers. Yet, the potential
solace of enjoying Christmas break with an acceptance under their belt is
only a secondary reason to go down this road.
 One of the distinct advantages of applying EA is that a student’s odds of
admission may be increased. At some selective schools, the difference
between EA and regular acceptance rates are substantial enough to suggest
that EA applicants are given a slight edge. For example, Harvard accepts
21% of their EA applicants versus just 3% of the regular applicant pool.
Other uber-selective schools such as Yale and Princeton also seem to grant
significant favor to EA applicants.
If increased admissions odds aren’t enough to entice your kid into
considering EA, perhaps our financial argument will carry more weight.
Quite simply, more merit aid money is stacked in schools’ coffers in the fall
than will remain by the time the regular April deadline rolls around.
Therefore, scholarship offers can be more generous to EA applicants than
those applying as part of the normal cycle. Further, unlike with ED, EA
applicants have the advantage of being able to apply to any other school
they please if the offer of aid is less than satisfactory. This, of course, means
that schools have more of an incentive to make aggressive offers to
desirable applicants.
Even high school seniors who need an additional semester to beef up their
transcript and/or test scores are encouraged to at least consider applying
EA, particularly if the school(s) to which they are applying defer, rather
than reject, the majority of EA applicants. Students applying EA to these
institutions may still reap the above-mentioned benefits while taking
comfort in the fact that even if their credentials don’t pass muster the first
time around, they will be reevaluated again as part of the regular admission
pool.
Ultimately, EA offers much of the benefit and none of the downside of
more binding alternatives.

GOING TEST OPTIONAL

An iconic year, even by the standards of its iconic decade, 1969 teems with
momentous events in America’s cultural history: the moon landing,
Woodstock, the Amazin’ Mets, and the start of American withdrawal from
Vietnam. That same year, events quieter, although within the narrower
scope of college admissions history, of no less magnitude, unfolded in the
small, coastal town of Brunswick, Maine. There, the newly minted, fresh-
faced Dean of Bowdoin College, Roger Howell Jr., all of 33 years old,
made a bold decision—he would eliminate the SAT as an admissions
requirement for his school.
Howell explained in his inaugural address that he preferred that Bowdoin
focus on the human quality of its students in the admissions process. It was
a concept that very much fit the spirit of the times. Yet unlike other 1969
debuts such as Sesame Street, the ATM, and the Abbey Road album, test-
optional admissions was not a trend that swept the nation like wildfire. In
fact, the second domino’s much-delayed drop took place in 1984 when
Bowdoin’s fellow-Mainer, Bates College, jettisoned its standardized test
requirements. After Bates, things fell quiet for decades until all of a sudden
in the mid-2000s when anti-SAT sentiment reawakened and quickly reached
a fever pitch.
Given its humble beginnings, it is fairly astounding that there are now 850
test-optional schools in the United States, including highly selective liberal
arts institutions such as Wesleyan, Bryn Mawr, Smith, Dickinson, and
Pitzer. There are also many elite schools that have become test flexible such
as Middlebury, Colby, and Hamilton. Understanding the implications of
these policies on your admissions and financial aid prospects is important.

Why Colleges Go Test Optional

Institutions eliminating or de-emphasizing standardized tests often cite a
lack of confidence in the SAT’s and ACT’s ability to predict college success
and/or a desire to improve campus diversity. However, studies have shown
that test-optional polices may not be increasing the enrollment of
underrepresented students.4
Pure-intentioned or not, test-optional schools gain the benefit of not
having to claim the SATs of their presumably lower-scoring students.
Applicants who do not submit scores typically have scores that are
significantly lower than those who elected to include scores in their
application. Therefore, test-optional schools can boast artificially higher-
average SATs for admitted students, which makes them appear more
selective.5
Figure 5.4 The Most Selective Test-Optional Colleges

Don’t Confuse Test Optional and Test Flexible

There are a number of selective colleges, including Hamilton, Colby, and
NYU that do not require the SAT or ACT, but still require applicants to
submit results from one or more other exams, such as AP or IB exams and
SAT Subject Tests. Before developing an admissions strategy, make sure
that you are familiar with the exact testing requirements at each prospective
college and that you learn whether the submission of test scores is truly
optional. These policies are ever-evolving so it is important to stay on top of
the most current policy information. For example, Bryn Mawr became test
flexible in 2009 but switched to full-blown test optional in 2014.
There are also institutional variations of test-optional policies. Lewis &
Clark requires test-optional applicants to submit a portfolio containing,
among other things, an analytical writing sample as well as an example of
quantitative or scientific work. The University of Mary Washington only
allows standardized tests to be excluded from one’s application if that
individual has a high school GPA of 3.5.

Should You Go Test Optional?

It’s not enough to simply compare standardized test scores against those of
the average incoming student. Students should also take a serious look at
other components of their application. Determine whether their grades,
essays, and/or extracurricular record can truly distinguish them as an
applicant and compel their prospective colleges to vote yes. These
application materials will be even more heavily scrutinized now that their
admissions officers are without an essential piece of information, which
although biased, can still provide for meaningful comparisons between
them and the rest of the applicant pool.

Impact on Merit Aid

Some test-optional colleges still award merit aid on the basis of
standardized test scores, at least in part. If an applicant is needy and/or cost
conscious, make sure they understand the financial implications of
withholding your test scores. For example, Dickinson, Gettysburg, and
Goucher are three selective test-optional schools that still require test scores
for merit-based scholarships. We advise you to contact the admissions
offices at each prospective test-optional college to determine whether merit
aid is tied to standardized test performance, and if so, to what extent.

Bottom Line
If a young person, for one reason or another, cannot achieve SAT/ACT
scores that are commensurate with their ability as a student, then exploring
the test-optional route makes good sense. However, unless you possess a
blank check to cover their four years of study, due diligence on each test-
optional/flexible school to which they apply is essential.

WHAT ESSAY TOPICS SHOULD I AVOID?

We would never unequivocally tell an applicant that any proposed college
essay topic is off limits. Great writers can take the most mundane, banal,
and generic subject matter and transform it into a captivating composition.
However, in our experience reading thousands of college essays, we are
able to say with confidence that students are wise to steer clear of the
following five topics—lest they fall victim to some all-too-common pitfalls.

Drugs, Sex, and, Well, Just Those Two . . .

While students are not auditioning to become an altar boy/girl, there are
certain risqué topics that are unlikely to be viewed in a positive light by an
admissions committee. On occasion, we’ve seen students aim for shock
value by incorporating stories of sexual encounters or drug use into their
essays—99% of the time this is an awful idea.
There are of course tactful ways to address these subjects if they are
central to revealing who the student is. One could easily talk about their
sexual identity without writing an abridged version of Fifty Shades of Grey.
Likewise, if a story arc of addiction and recovery is an essential part of a
student’s past, it may be a worthy topic to tackle. However, drugs or alcohol
should never be casually discussed. It sounds like obvious enough advice,
but you’d be surprised . . .

Travel Experiences
This is a common go-to topic for many students. If done well, recounting a
trip to a foreign country, whether for leisure or volunteer work, will reveal
something deeply personal and meaningful about you. Unfortunately, this is
rarely executed well.
Too often, students, even fantastic young writers, waste precious
application real estate on fanciful descriptions of Peruvian landscapes or
generic observations about impoverished denizens of a Central American
village. If your son writes about a trip to Haiti and chronicles the culture of
the Haitian people, then the essay is not really about him—it might as well
be a homework assignment for a World Cultures elective.
An admissions officer is not going to emerge from reading an essay like
this thinking, “What a worldly chap!” In reality, they are likely to feel like
they just read a page from the J. Peterman catalogue of Seinfeld fame.
Remember, students should talk about something that happened to them,
where they are at the heart of the action. Colleges want to know who they
are and how they view the world—the essay may be their only chance to
provide a college with this type of insight and the travelogue is rarely an
effective vehicle.

Grandiosity
Many applicants are naturally inclined toward over dramatization,
hyperbole, and enhanced self-importance in their essays. This is natural for
two reasons: (1) even students with perfect SATs still have a teenage brain
and (2) they wrongfully assume that this is required to impress admissions
officers.
Writing an essay that is compelling doesn’t mean that they need to have
wrestled a puma, grown up in a cult, or discovered a new galaxy at age 7. A
great college essay can take place on a grand stage, but it can just as
effectively take place in everyday life. There is a ready supply of dramatic
tension and conflict in the course of a typical day.
Parents can help their children in the brainstorming and editing stages by
providing them with an adult sensibility and a mature, grounded
perspective. Many overinvolved parents believe that they are helping their
child’s essay by rewriting it in the style and tone of the New York Times.
This is a mistake. Admissions officers do not want to read Nicholas
Kristof’s version of the high school experience—they want it in a student’s
real teenage voice. Yet, parents can help and be of great assistance by
reminding their child to tone down their all-too-eager-to-impress natures.
For example, a change in school lunch menu policy instituted by a student
council president should not be compared to the New Deal. A photographic
expose` in the school newspaper highlighting the poor condition of the
football team’s locker rooms should not lead to comparisons to Jacob Riis.
A discovery in robotics club should not . . . well, you get the idea.

Sports Glory
(In a John Facenda voice) . . . “On a crisp and dreary autumn day, a JV
football field was the setting of a clash of titans, middleweight monsters of
the gridiron, and there I stood, ready to perform the most challenging of the
athletic arts, that fickle mistress known as . . . punting.”
 Ask any admissions officer how many compelling sports-themed essays
they’ve read in their entire careers. The answer will likely be somewhere
between zero and one. Not even the spawn of Grantland Rice himself or
herself could breathe life into this black hole of a topic.
The caveat here is that an essay can, of course, involve athletics as the
backdrop to something deeper and more personal. Competition and training
undoubtedly provide ample opportunity to show more about an applicant’s
character, ability, sportsmanship, reaction to adversity, and ability to
contribute to a larger cause. Just make sure something more revealing is
being communicated than the fact that they once netted a hat trick against a
rival or drained a last second three-pointer despite a sprained ankle. If
they’re that great at a given sport, chances are a coach has already recruited
them.

The Stream-of-Consciousness Essay

Okay, so this isn’t exactly a topic, per se, but more of an ill-fated genre that
we’ve seen attempted before. Applicants will throw formality to the wind
and spew out a string of stream-of-consciousness thoughts. “If it worked for
James Joyce, why not me?” Unfortunately, such works typically read more
like a crazy email written by a jilted lover at 3 am than A Portrait of the
Artist as a Young Man.
Writing in an authentic voice does not mean scribbling down some stream-
of-consciousness thoughts 24 hours before the application deadline. There
is a popular myth that Abraham Lincoln jotted down the Gettysburg
Address on a napkin on his way to the battlefield. In truth, he spent over
two weeks crafting the speech and went through five full drafts. All of that
labor for a 272-word document about half the length of a college essay! The
more time that a student dedicates to their essay, the better the product will
be.

Final Thoughts
Again, all of the above topics could be done in a masterful way and end up
a beautiful essay, but based on our experience the probability of this
occurring is less than strong. The basic rules for writing a stellar college
essay vary little from the general guidelines for producing any strong piece
of written work: be authentic, tell a story that is personal and compelling,
and diligently edit, revise, and polish your product. If students follow all of
these steps, they will naturally steer clear of the stumbling blocks and
hazards chronicled above.

HOW SHOULD I APPROACH THE WHY US? ESSAY?

Many colleges and universities require students to compose an essay on
why they wish to attend their school. While it is a relatively generic and
rather dull question, students should not be lulled into delivering an equally
generic and dull answer. They should refrain from offering superlatives
without specific evidence to back up their praise. Imagine an admissions
officer, at the end of a long day’s work, getting ready to digest his or her
37th “Why this college?” answer of the day. Picking up the next essay, the
officer learns that this student wants to attend their school because it is
great and has a stellar reputation—common descriptors that could be
applied to any institution. Yawns ensue. After being reminded for the 37th
time in a day of their school’s U.S. News and World Report ranking, they
take another sip of espresso and move on to the next file. At best, that
student’s essay plays little to no role in the eventual admissions decision.
On the other hand, a student could say that University X is great because
Professor Anderson’s research on the human genome inspired them to study
biology, and they are impressed by the stellar reputation of their one-of-a-
kind undergraduate research initiatives. The student goes on to lavish praise
on the school’s state-of-the-art laboratories that were completely revamped
in 2012, with further renovations scheduled for 2016. In expressing their
individual passion for biology, they paint a picture of how attending
University X would tie in to their academic and career aims . . . Now, that
student has earned the admissions officer’s attention.
Remember, admissions officers want to see that a student has done their
homework on their institution and has demonstrated serious interest in
actually attending their school. They also want to get to know the student
further through their essays in a way that cannot be communicated by
transcripts and standardized test scores. Students should not just go through
the motions when explaining why they want to attend a school. They should
make sure their essay is personalized, passionate, and specifically tailored
to each school to which they apply. If they can’t accomplish this in a sincere
way, they might want to rethink why a given school is even on their
application list in the first place.

ARE OPTIONAL STATEMENTS REALLY OPTIONAL?

Too many students fail to complete optional parts of an application, and
severely hinder their admissions prospects in the process. Optional
statements demonstrate interest and provide an additional opportunity to
showcase attributes that cannot be captured via a grade or test score. On the
other hand, not completing the optional essays can sink their application to
an elite school faster than the infamous “Ninja Rap” sunk Vanilla Ice’s
rapping career.
Many students hatch what they believe to be a plan for the perfect crime—
write a generic enough essay that can be used for every school to which
they apply, one that broadly addresses most prompts but directly answers
none. Trust us, admissions officers can spot these attempts at playing
application Mad Libs in their sleep.
My involvement with the student newspaper has fueled my desire to attend _______
University/College, so that I can take advantage of excellent offerings in the Department of
_________. The academic rigor at your institution is unparalleled and I would be proud to call
myself a [mascot name here] for life.

Going this route, students might as well just fill in the blanks with snot
and butt like they did with their Mad Libs back in 5th-grade. It might at
least elicit a smile from an admissions officer.

What to Do
Students—reference specific academic programs at each prospective
college, talk about the details of your college tour, and highlight a
conversation you had with one (or two) of the school’s current students.
Check out the school’s webpage, social media, and any recent news stories
about exciting developments around campus. Anything you can do to
demonstrate knowledge of each prospective school and genuine interest will
help your admissions cause.

Not Always “Why This College?”

The “Why this college?” prompt is just one of a multitude of optional essay
variations inhabiting the oft-overlooked bowels (another good 5th-grade
Mad Libs word) of the college application.
As an alternative, Duke offers students a chance to address the following:
Duke University seeks a talented, engaged student body that embodies the wide range of human
experience; we believe that the diversity of our students makes our community stronger. If you’d
like to share a perspective you bring or experiences you’ve had to help us understand you better
—perhaps related to a community you belong to, your sexual orientation or gender identity, or
your family or cultural background—we encourage you to do so. Real people are reading your
application, and we want to do our best to understand and appreciate the real people applying to
Duke.6

If a student is gay/bisexual, has a non-Caucasian ethnic background, or

grew up on a hippie commune, they’ll likely be able to address this question
in a compelling manner without too much consternation. Yet, if they
resemble one the first 43 presidents of the United States (white, male, and
financially comfortable), they’ll have to get a bit more creative. Unless, of
course, they look like Martin Van Buren, our eighth and most mangy
president, in which case they’ll need all 250 words just to explain their
overgrown sideburns.
The University of Pittsburgh offers a full-blown smorgasbord of optional
essay topics, nine in total, from describing an influential person in your life
to sharing a talent that was otherwise not noted on your application. There
is literally a topic for every conceivable applicant and while not explicitly
stated, it is fully expected that students will avail themselves of the
opportunity.

Bottom Line
For serious applicants, completing optional essays are about as optional as
brushing your teeth. Likewise, leaving optional fields blank on college
applications, especially at competitive institutions, will undoubtedly decay
a student’s prospects of winning the admissions game.
As the immortal poet John Keats once said:
Kickin’ it up, hour after hour,
Cause in this life there’s only one winner,
You better aim straight so you can hit the center.
 Actually that was Vanilla Ice along with a bunch of mutant amphibians,
but you get the point.

NAILING THE ALUMNI INTERVIEW

Walk into any Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, or public library around the
holiday season and at least a few tables will be occupied by teen/middle-
aged dyads, with the older member asking things like, “Why our college?”
or “What’s your favorite activity?” Alumni interviews are not an
overwhelmingly important part of the college application process, but they
do count and a successful meeting can provide a slight boost to a student’s
admissions prospects.

Prep and Practice

Students should develop intimate knowledge about their prospective school
well in advance of the interview—frantically checking their phone for
university factoids at stoplights while driving to their interview won’t cut it.
Their knowledge of the institution needs to be deeply engrained so that
they’re able to talk naturally and substantively about it.
Alumni interviewers like it when they learn something new about their
alma mater from an interviewee. Students should want to be the guy/gal
who tells their Stanford alumni rep that their engineering department is so
cutting edge that they recently developed gecko-like gloves that allow
people to climb glass walls like superheroes (true story). They should be the
guy/gal who explains to their Kenyon College interviewer that they were
impressed that out of 42 college and universities in Ohio, Kenyon grads
finish with the second-lowest debt sum.
Equally important is that your child develops an intimate familiarity with
their own resume. They should be prepared to discuss their courses,
activities, interests, and objectives going forward, as questions asked are
likely to focus on the areas in Figure 5.5.
Students should reflect on Figure 5.5 and other similar questions
beforehand. Avoid going into an interview cold. Students can ask their
counselor to conduct a mock interview and provide feedback, if possible.
They’ll likely gain a helpful pointer or two and feel less nervous on
interview day.
Remember the Little Things
Typically, the alumni interviewer will contact an applicant to suggest a time
to chat. Unless they are scheduled for pancreas surgery or are testifying
before congress (or something less random but equally important), students
should accept whatever date and time they are offered. It’s important to
acknowledge that this adult’s time is valuable; hence, a teenager saying that
he or she can’t meet after school on Tuesday because they have a Halo 5
tournament at their buddy’s house is not recommended.
A few tips for students: Shake hands with your interviewer. Say please
and thank you. Offer a bless you if he or she sneezes. Send a follow-up note
or email expressing your appreciation. As is true in all of life’s arenas, a
little politeness and courtesy can go a long way.

Figure 5.5 Common Alumni Interview Questions

Show Enthusiasm
Right before the student is a real-life human being who spent four years at
one of their prospective colleges. Hopefully, they will be naturally bursting
with questions. Ask an alum about their experiences and how their college
has contributed to the person he or she is today. Inquire about the college’s
alumni networks and/or solicit advice regarding what a first-time college
student might do to ensure a successful college transition. At the same time,
acknowledge that the interviewer may be far removed from his or her
college experience. Avoid questions about class size, course offerings, and
specific professors.
Whether or not a given college places significant weight on the assessment
of their alumni interviewers (some schools do more than others), the
process of chatting with a knowledgeable individual should be a positive
and enlightening experience. Your son or daughter should be their most
polite, inquisitive, and knowledgeable self and the interview will take care
of itself.

THE MOST COMMON APPLICATION MISTAKES

1. Typos
Let’s start with the most obvious mistake—the dreaded typo. In life, they
happen. Autocorrected texts can turn your dear friend into your dead friend
and bad grammar can mean the difference between “knowing your crap”
and “knowing you’re crap.” Students should always reread their
application, then reread it again, then ask everyone they know to read it.
Because when it comes to grammar or dandruff in a 1980s perm, you never
get a second chance to make a first impression.

2. Be Professional
That [email protected] account has served your son well ever
since 6th grade. While others in his social group traded in their hotmail
accounts for gmail eons ago, he’s held steady. He’s not partystud 2, 34, or
79—he’s partystud1. We fully encourage students to keep their
goofy/offensive/nonsensical email accounts and use them without shame . .
. except when they are emailing prospective colleges.
 Explain to your son that his safest bet is to open a new account that is as
close to his legal name as possible: [email protected]. If
his name is Mike Jones you might have to add a 6 digit number after your
name but that’s okay. And tell your son not to worry, partystud1 may have
to lie dormant for a few months, but he’ll entertain himself—he’s
partystud1!

3. Beating a Dead Horse

Of course, we’re using a cliché here and not referring to actual postmortem
equine abuse (tip: that wouldn’t look good on an app either). Admissions
officers do not like to read the same thing over and over. In other words,
don’t weave the same tale of overcoming adversity through field hockey
into every essay topic.
Real estate on an application is as valuable as Park Place. Don’t treat it
like Baltic or Mediterranean Avenue (even if hotels are cheaper to build and
it’s all part of your grand plan to be a Monopoly slumlord). Students should
use every open space on an application to reveal something new and
important about who they are. That’s what it’s there for.

4. The Never-Ending Activity Page

“Oh, you organized a potato sack race at your family reunion when you
were ten? Welcome to Stanford, young man!”
Perhaps this absurd, never-gonna-happen scenario is the fantasy driving
applicants who submit activity pages and resumes longer than that of the
average head of state. Keep resume/activity lists short but sweet (less than
one page, if possible). Colleges know that no matter how accomplished
your 18-year-old may be, they’re still a teenager. The great majority of
resume-worthy achievements lie ahead.

5. Keep Mom and Dad on a Leash

Speak to any group of college admissions officials and tales of overly
involved parents abound and make no mistake, excessive parental
intervention can harm a student’s admissions chances. Emails and phone
calls to the admissions office should come exclusively from students, who
are the applicant—not their parents. An application should not show any
traces of mom’s or dad’s handwriting or middle-aged writing styles.

LOWER THE RED FLAG: HOW TO AVOID INCONSISTENCIES

IN YOUR COLLEGE APPLICATION
In the adult world, it is fairly common, almost expected, for one’s resume to
exaggerate their past achievements. A babysitting gig can easily become
experience managing an energetic group of young associates and an office
filing job demonstrated your ability to promote synergy and vertical
integration for data-management systems. These examples are not lies in
the sense that they are not conjured from thin air, but are rather comically
souped-up versions of the truth.
Compare that to famous examples of adults who have achieved notoriety
for flat-out fabrications. Frank Abagnale of Catch Me If You Can fame
managed to work in high-profile professions such as physician, lawyer, and
airline pilot without possessing a single credential. MIT’s dean of
admissions, Marilee Jones, was exposed in 2007 of not actually having
earned any of the three degrees she claimed on her resume. Amazingly, she
had been at MIT for 28 years and had even been bestowed an award as their
best administrator.
In the college admissions realm, you’d be surprised how often students, in
an effort to make themselves stand out, go a little too far in exaggerating
their accomplishments and end up putting forth contradictory or
incompatible information. For example, if a student’s resume claims that
they had a lead role in The Glass Menagerie but their drama instructor’s
recommendation lauds them for their admirable work as a stagehand,
suspicions will inevitably arise. This is one of many ways applicants can
stretch the truth and risk setting off an admissions official’s BS-alarm.

Write the Essays Yourself

One of the bigger hot spots for eyebrow-raising contradictions comes on the
essay section. A student with a low writing score on the ACT whose
admissions essay is composed with Hawthorne-level prose will raise more
red flags than a Kyrgyzstani color guard (their flags are red—Google it!).
 Regardless of a student’s literary bona fides, admissions officers expect
their essay to be written in a 17- or 18-year-old voice, not a 40-year-old
voice, unless of course they are a middle-aged applicant, in which case
writing in a teenage voice would be quite strange. Leave the quarter words
resting in the pages of SAT study guides and stick with language of the
small change variety. We’re not saying students should dumb anything
down, but if an admissions officer comes across an essay littered with
words like lugubrious or perfidy, they are going to assume that a student’s
essay was written by either a paid essay coach or the ghost of a nineteenth-
century crime reporter.
Of course, students should get feedback and editing assistance from adults
throughout the essay-writing process. Just make sure that as they
incorporate advice on grammar, flow, sentence structure, and so on, they do
not accidentally incorporate someone else’s voice as well.

Be Honest about Your Extracurricular Involvement

Students should not exaggerate their level of volunteer work, or
extracurricular experience or the number of weekly hours that they spent
engaged in such activities. The notion that they somehow volunteered at a
nursing home 20 hours per week, while playing three varsity sports, holding
down a job, and editing the school newspaper can be invalidated through
basic math.
There is no reason to be less than 100% honest about what a student did in
their spare time during high school. Some folks, short on activities, panic at
the sight of so much blank space on their extracurriculars section that they
resort to grossly embellishing or completely inventing clubs, sports, jobs,
and the like. This phenomenon is seen way too often in admissions offices
around the country—the applicant from the Great Plains region who
founded a spelunking club, the do-gooder who alleges to have volunteered
more hours than that exist in a week, and the teen who claims to fluently
speak three languages but seems to have trouble remembering any of them
during an admissions interview.

Your Interests Should Match Your Past Pursuits

This last topic is not an issue of dishonesty but rather sheer incongruity.
Some candidates try to claim academic and career interests that are not at
all supported by the rest of their application. If you claim to be passionate
about political science and yet passed up the chance to take AP
Comparative Government & Politics senior year in favor of a massive block
of study halls, you have some ‘splaining to do. This is not to say that the
above scenario cannot represent a sincere and compelling true story. Maybe
a student had no interest in history until they watched the film Lincoln this
past October, which then led them to clear out the history/politics section at
Barnes and Noble, igniting a passion that fueled their search for the nation’s
top poli-sci programs, and forever changed their life course. No problem.
Just be sure to chronicle that unique journey in the application.
Falsifying any part of the application will likely cause an applicant more
harm than a mere blemish or two. Believe it or not, an admissions officer
does not want to see a supernaturally well-rounded applicant who claims to
have filled every waking moment with some type of extracurricular activity
and even volunteered for a sleep study at a research institute just to cover
those embarrassingly lazy non-waking moments. Colleges want to see a real
human being capable of communicating their passions and actual life
experience. Be genuine. In the world of college admissions, an honest
stagehand is always a more marketable applicant than a fraudulent lead
player.

ABOUT THAT D IN FRESHMAN ENGLISH

If a student’s high school career has been an uninterrupted parade of top-
notch grades, near-perfect standardized test scores, and saintly behavior,
then those folks can stop reading . . . Except they probably won’t since
perfectionists like to finish every single thing they start, right?
Academic blemishes come in all shapes and sizes, from bombing
sophomore year entirely to a lone C minus breaking a string of trips to the
honor roll. On the nonacademic front, perhaps a student was disciplined for
a fight, had a series of unexcused absences, or was caught plagiarizing an
essay (did you really think your overuse of the word moribund wouldn’t set
off red flags?).
 No matter the severity of the stain, our advice for beginning the cleansing
process is the same—deal with it head on.
Students can use the essays, short response questions, or Additional
Information section as a chance to explain the story behind that semester or
grade that is not like the others. Maybe they found out they had a learning
disability or ADHD. Maybe their parents were getting separated. Or maybe
the reason is unspectacular but gives insight into them as a human being—a
bout of depression, a philosophical crisis, or full-blown ennui.
Students should solicit recommendations from those who are familiar with
their flawed past and can speak to their growth process. Colleges expect
that in their rigorous and challenging environment they will experience a
setback or two over the course of four years. How students responded to
adversity in their life may impress an admissions officer every bit as much
as if they had sailed through high school under storm-free blue skies. After
all, research is showing that grit may be a better predictor of success in
college than raw ability.7
We always tell clients that we all are men, in our own natures frail, and
capable. Of our flesh; few are angels. Okay, we admit it—that was
Shakespeare. Like we said, nobody’s perfect.

DISCIPLINARY VIOLATIONS: TO REPORT OR NOT REPORT

Early 1990s television is littered with examples of teens who gained
acceptance to their dream school in spite of a laundry list of high school
transgressions. In an effort to eclipse her Uncle Jesse’s legendary senior
prank of decades past, Full House’s D.J. Tanner somehow rents an
industrial-size crane which she and her classmates use to lift the principal’s
convertible onto the roof of the school. Later that evening, as rain starts to
pour down, D.J. panics that the car’s leather interior will be ruined and
recruits Uncle Jesse to hot-wire the vehicle so they can put its top up.
Unfortunately for D.J., a cop catches them in the act. Several convoluted
plot twists later, everything is resolved and this foray into auto theft does
not stop D.J. from getting into Berkeley.
Saved by the Bell’s Zack Morris must have been the master of handling his
high school misdeeds through his college admissions process. Despite
kidnapping Valley’s mascot, making fake IDs, driving drunk, surreptitiously
photographing scantily clad teenagers for his Girls of Bayside calendar and,
of course, routinely torturing the hapless Mr. Belding, Zack still gets into
fictional California University.
The point of this journey down sitcom memory lane is that one’s college
prospects are not necessarily doomed by doing something stupid in high
school. Of course, since filling out a disclosure statement on a college
application, while a titillating subject for television, was never the subject
of an episode of Full House or Saved by the Bell, the question remains—
how did D.J. and Zack successfully address these misdeeds on their college
applications?

By the Numbers
Let’s start by qualifying what types of disciplinary blemishes are most
common. The vast majority of infractions in high school are for relatively
minor infractions: cutting a class, cell phone use during school,
disrespecting a teacher, or an excessive public display of affection. To
quantify this, the New York Times reported that at the University of South
Carolina, 7% of applicants self-reported an infraction during high school.
Of those students, 87% were of the typical kid nature as listed above, 13%
involved more serious offenses such as cheating, fighting, or misdemeanor
criminal acts like theft.8
The number of applicants reporting more serious criminal activity such as
vehicular homicide or armed robbery were in the single digits. We’re going
to assume that your issues do not involve ski masks, demands for unmarked
bills, or getaway cars and are more garden variety high school mistakes.

Don’t High Schools Automatically Report That Stuff Anyway?

Given the stakes are so high, one would assume that some governing body
would have laid out clear and explicit rules for how and when high schools
disclose discipline records to prospective colleges. Sadly, this is not the
case. Roughly 40% of high schools always send along discipline records to
institutions of higher education, another 25% sometimes disclose such
infractions.9 Whether or not the fight a student got into as a 15-year-old
accompanies their otherwise unblemished transcript comes down to luck.
Ultimately, unless they are at one of those rare schools where counselors are
mandated to report every misdemeanor down to chewing gum, a guidance
counselor will likely have the decision-making power whether or not to
disclose the incident.

How College Admissions Offices Use This Information (or Don’t)

According to a recent study, over three-quarters of colleges and universities
in the United States request discipline data on applicants, and out of those
schools, almost 90% weigh this factor in making admissions decisions.10
Unfortunately, only a small percentage of colleges actually have a clear
written policy on how disciplinary matters are to be factored into
admissions decisions, thus, as with the high school counselor situation,
those who voluntarily disclose are subject to the whims of the given official
reviewing their application.

Our Advice
College admissions officers universally advise that students be completely
forthright about any missteps in their past. People make mistakes, and 99%
of admissions officers are not going to judge students solely on their worst
moment, especially if that moment is not so severe that they would worry
about the safety of others on campus. Students should use the disciplinary
disclosure area on the application to thoroughly explain the circumstances
around their disciplinary/legal issue. They should talk about how they
learned from the incident and experienced growth and maturation as a
result. If they are sincere and thoughtful, there is a great chance that
checking yes on the disclosure form will not hurt their admissions chances
whatsoever.
Far worse than self-disclosing an incident and having the chance to
explain it is when an admissions officer finds out about the incident through
other means—then the applicant just looks plain dishonest. For example, if
an admissions professional is told about the incident off the record by a
counselor or finds out about the incident through a Google search (the
student got caught drinking on their 18th birthday and graced the local
paper’s police blotter), his or her admissions chances are likely shot.

For Those Who Do Not Like Our Advice

Given how arbitrary this system is at both the high school and college
levels, it’s understandable that an otherwise honest applicant might not be
thrilled to follow our “honesty is the best policy” advice. We get it and there
are circumstances in which a student may choose not to disclose—but they
have to be smart about it. Let’s say that back in 9th grade your daughter’s
essay on Romeo and Juliet was identified as being partially plagiarized
when her teacher ran it through turnitin.com. In reality, she didn’t mean to
take another’s work, but she improperly cited some source material in one
paragraph. Labeling her as a cheater at age 18 for a genuine mistake made
at 15 doesn’t sit right with you. You worry that even with this explanation,
she might lose a spot at a highly selective school to an applicant with
similar credentials and no alarmingly lengthy disclosure statement.
Here’s what she should do: talk openly and honestly with her counselor.
She can tell them how she feels and ask two questions: (1) Will this incident
be automatically reported as part of my school records? (2) Do you feel it is
necessary to report this incident on my application? If the answer to both of
these questions is a clear-cut no, then feel free to move forward without fear
and let the past be just that.

“Did I Do That?”
The lessons of 1990s television on the subject of high school behavioral
incidents do not end with D.J. Tanner and Zack Morris. Perhaps the most
encouraging case is that of Steve Urkel who was still able to get into MIT
regardless of causing property damage just about everywhere he went and
essentially stalking (by almost any legal definition) Laura Winslow for
nearly a decade. While the details of his disclosure statement are unknown,
we suspect, that Urkel may have simply laid all of the blame on his smooth-
talking alter ego, Stefan Urquelle.
Unless a student, like Urkel, invented a DNA serum named cool juice at
some point in their high school career and has a legitimate doppelganger-
related excuse, we recommend either (a) being completely honest with
potential institutions and providing a thoughtful explanation that
demonstrates personal growth or (b) being completely honest with your
guidance counselor and formulating a plan that best fits the unique
circumstances.
NAVIGATING THE ADMISSIONS PROCESS WITH A LEARNING
DISABILITY
The college admissions process can be stressful enough for the average
family. However, college-related anxieties are often compounded when
learning needs are present. In our experience, we have found that the two
most frequent sources of consternation revolve around the disclosure of a
learning disability and the procurement of learning accommodations. The
following information should help assuage fears on both fronts.

Disclosure
It is important to know that admissions and disability offices are not
allowed to discuss prospective students, so revealing a student’s learning
issues to a disability office, in particular, will not impact their admission
prospects. That said, the consequences of alerting an admissions office to
their disability will vary across colleges. Some uber-selective institutions
are not particularly accommodating to LD students. However, negative
consequences should ultimately prove irrelevant because any college
assigning admission penalties to LD students would not present a good fit
anyway.
At other institutions, disclosing a learning disability can actually bring
advantages. For example, a learning disability may explain a relatively low
grade or test score or provide applicants an opportunity to showcase their
hard work and/or to discuss how they overcame learning-related challenges.
In these cases, LD students can increase their odds of admission.
More often than not, we advise students to disclose their learning
disabilities if they feel compelled to do so and to discuss within their
application how their experiences as an LD student have made them more
adaptable, more resilient, and more capable of adding diversity to a
particular college.

Accommodations for Testing

Public school students identified with a disability or medical condition that
impacts learning are supported throughout their K-12 experience via one of
two legal documents: an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or a less-
comprehensive 504 Service Agreement. Extended time on school-based
assessments is a relatively commonplace accommodation for students with
learning disabilities, traumatic brain injury, emotional needs, or ADHD.
However, it is under the purview of the companies who run the SAT and
ACT to decide if these school-based accommodations are truly necessary
for their exams.

The Application Process

On both the SAT and ACT, students with special needs can apply for 50%
extended time or even 100% extended time in extreme cases. The
application is made through the high school’s guidance department, which
is responsible for providing documentation that demonstrates the need for
extra time. A counselor will fill out a form giving a condensed account of
the child’s history. When were they identified with a disability? How long
has extended time been provided through their IEP or 504? Has there been a
recent reevaluation by a school psychologist to confirm the continued need
for extended time?
The vast majority of initial applications are approved, with the College
Board giving the thumbs-up to roughly 92% of those who apply and the
ACT with a slightly more stringent 85%.11 Those numbers ultimately end
up even more favorable, as many of those initially denied resubmit with
additional documentation and eventually triumph.
Both testing companies will most heavily scrutinize instances where a
student was not identified with a disability until high school or when the
provision of extended time was added at the 11th hour to an existing IEP or
504. Each is aware that having an extra 90 minutes or more can constitute a
significant advantage, and want to make sure that savvy students and their
families aren’t trying to game the system.

If You Are Approved

Get ready for a long day of testing. In the case of 50% extended time,
students will be enduring 5 full hours of analogies, exponents, and
meticulous bubbling with a number-two pencil. Students in the extended
time room who finish early must nevertheless stay for the duration of the
testing block. This, however, is but a small price to pay for those who
genuinely need the extra time.

Accommodations for College

Students with significant learning disabilities must consider learning
support services as one of the most important factors in their college search.
There are many colleges and universities that offer minimal to almost no
assistance. On the other end of the spectrum, there are schools that will
allow students to take exams orally, grant extended time, and provide free
tutoring. Some institutions even offer structured programs specifically
tailored for students with disabilities.

Securing Support
During the K-12 experience, students with disabilities are guaranteed
appropriate accommodations through IDEA, a federal law. IDEA does not
apply to postsecondary schools, therefore the only mandate that schools are
required to follow comes from the Americans with Disabilities Act,
legislation that lacks teeth in the educational arena compared with IDEA.
Accommodations are granted on a case-by-case basis and are almost
entirely at the discretion of the college’s Office of Disability Services. To
improve a student’s case, it is essential that disability documentation be
current and conclusive—a specific diagnosis should be provided and
recommended accommodations should be clear.

Before You Apply

Consider the student’s unique circumstances and educational needs, and
then do your homework on which institutions might present a solid fit.
Afterward, speak directly with the coordinator(s) of disability support
services (titles sometimes vary) at each prospective school to learn about
eligibility requirements. A student should seek guidance from parents, but
make the call themselves, if possible.
If a student has a disability, the development of self-advocacy skills is
paramount to succeeding in college. Every student should understand the
nature of their disability and be able to articulate its impact on his or her
learning process. In a public high school, it is incumbent upon the teaching
staff to address the student’s needs and make accommodations. Those tables
turn 180 degrees in college as the onus now falls squarely on the student’s
shoulders.
Parents, as you assist your teen through the complexities of the application
and transition process, make sure not to lose sight of the larger task—
helping your child to assume ownership of his or her education. After all,
being granted accommodations is one challenge. Taking advantage of them
is quite another.

IS THERE ANYTHING STUDENTS CAN DO AFTER BEING

DEFERRED?
There’s a reason the National Hockey League forever did away with the
tieback in 2005—it’s an outcome that is antithetical to the natural human
desire to sort out winners and losers, to see results in black and white terms,
to know definitively where one stands. Unfortunately (or perhaps,
fortunately), the Early Admission/Early Decision process in college
admissions frequently results in the ultimate act of indecision—the deferral.
While better than an outright rejection, being deferred can leave students
feeling helpless and lacking further agency in the quest to win acceptance.
This is simply not the case. Students—below are 5 things that you can and
should do upon being handed the admissions equivalent of a 1–1 tie.
1. If you haven’t already done so, draft a letter to the admissions counselor
assigned to your area, which reiterates why the college is particularly
suited to your interests and goals, and, if applicable, discusses any
accomplishments that have occurred since the submission of your
application. If the college is your top choice, be sure to state so. Also
make sure that your letter strikes an upbeat and appreciative tone—this
shows resilience and leaves a positive impression.
2. Solicit a letter of recommendation from someone who is able to offer a
different and fresh perspective on your candidacy. For example, if you’ve
already submitted a teacher recommendation from a math or science
teacher, consider sending a letter of recommendation from your English
instructor. Alternatively, ask an extracurricular sponsor or work
 supervisor who can attest to your abilities and work ethic outside of the
classroom.
3. Seek opportunities to earn additional recognition. If you’re a writer, send
an article to your local newspaper; if you’re an artist, explore
opportunities to exhibit your work; if you excel in math, enter a
competition. Securing a competitive scholarship, distinguished award, or
similar honor can often aid borderline applicants.
4. If you have not yet visited your first-choice college, consider doing so. A
campus visit offers you an opportunity to talk with students and current
staff, meet face to face with your admissions counselor, and further
acquaint yourself with the offerings of a particular college. It may also
improve your admissions prospects.
5. Study hard. First-semester grades are extremely important for deferred
applicants and provide you with one last opportunity to exhibit scholastic
promise and a trend of academic improvement. It is also important to note
that a number of competitive colleges are willing to review January SAT
and/or February ACT scores in their regular admissions processes, so if
you’re not satisfied with your current scores and believe improvement is
possible, consider registering for one final test.
Even if you dutifully adhere to the above advice, it’s important to
remember that your first-choice school may still reject you in the regular
admissions cycle. In 2015, MIT deferred 4,535 early admission students
and later accepted only 248 of that cohort.12 Historically, Dartmouth
ultimately accepts only 5% of its deferred ED applicants.
Receiving a deferral is by no means a defeat, but it is critical that students
line up a solid back-up plan as they wait for a final decision. Remember,
there are countless institutions that can offer a top-notch education. If
deferrals turn into a yes later on, that’s fantastic. If not, keep in mind that
students still have a plentitude of excellent choices before them.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO GET OFF OF THE WAITLIST?

After battling through the epic journey of the college application process,
with all its emotional twists and turns, the torturous anticipation, the
potential heaven of acceptance or hell of rejection, judgment day has finally
arrived. They tear open the envelope and frantically scan the letter for a
telling phrase. They have been “offered a spot.” So far so good. Then, the
dreaded words appear . . . “on the waitlist.” Ugh. Welcome to admissions
purgatory.

The Good News . . .

Colleges do not place students on the wait list to soften the blow of
rejection or to spread false hope. The waitlist exists as a useful tool that
provides institutions with a safety net against tough-to-predict yield rates. A
growing number of top-tier schools have opted to drop ED, which makes
pinpointing how many accepted students will actually enroll an even more
unpredictable science. Thus the percentage of students plucked off the
waitlist varies greatly from year to year. For example, in the last decade the
number of applicants accepted off of the Brown University waitlist has
fluctuated between 0 and 196 students.13 It’s quite possible that you will
luck into a good year for waitlisters.

The Bad News . . .

Of course, the odds are not exactly forever in a student’s favor. Stanford’s
waitlisted students stand somewhere between a 0% and 5% chance of
receiving an offer, depending on the year. Acceptance rates for those
waitlisted by juggernauts like Johns Hopkins, Princeton, and Middlebury
average under 4%.14
Bottom line, in a good year, chances may be half-decent. In a bad year,
odds are more on par with a participant in The Hunger Games.

What You Can Do . . .

The number-one thing students can do while on the wait list is communicate
clearly, firmly, and respectfully to the admissions office that, if offered, they
will accept a spot at the school. Admissions officers like knowing that they
have students who will enroll if called upon.
A sincere letter to the admissions office and an occasional check-in from a
guidance counselor will suffice. Waitlisted students who obsessively pepper
the dean of admissions’ inbox with crazed inquiries typically do not do
themselves any favors. Remember, colleges are looking for the next
productive member of their freshman class, not the next stalker.
Of equal importance to expressing a student’s intentions is, not
surprisingly, maintaining a strong academic performance. Spring grades,
another teacher recommendation, or a recent unique accomplishment can
still sway an admissions committee.
The student will still want to submit a nonrefundable deposit at their first-
choice school to which they were accepted. There are no bonus points
awarded for declaring that if they do not get off of the Tufts waitlist, they’ll
skip college altogether and become a street performer.
If the call off of the waitlist never comes, allow them to grieve as they
must, and then move on and get ready to thrive at their second-choice
school. After all, the second-choice school surely has a waitlist full of
people stuck in their own purgatory who can only dream of being in your
child’s shoes.

HOW CAN A STUDENT WITHOUT ELITE CREDENTIALS GET

INTO AN ELITE COLLEGE?
Two caveats, before we dish out the advice. First, you’ve no doubt come to
see by now, we do not believe that attending an elite institution constitutes
the only pathway to professional success and a rewarding college
experience. Yet, we also recognize that elite schools can provide an edge in
certain professional fields and that, in some instances, those schools may
represent a good fit for certain students.
Second warning . . . there is no magic button to press or secret handshake
to master, which results in an acceptance letter to a college that might be a
bit out of a student’s league. There are, however, strategies that can increase
their odds.

1) The Transfer Plan

Students might consider starting off at a less-selective school, racking up a
couple of semesters on the dean’s list, and then transferring into the college
of their dreams. Many elite schools have lower admission standards for
transfer students than for high school applicants, although acceptance rates
typically vary greatly from year to year based on enrollment needs.
Figure 5.6 Selective and Transfer-Friendly Colleges

If a student’s prospects of getting into, say, Notre Dame out of high school
are on par with Rudy Ruettiger’s at the beginning of classic sports film
Rudy, their best bet may be working toward a transfer to South Bend after
freshman year. Notre Dame, along with selective schools like the University
of Virginia, the University of North Carolina, and Wesleyan University are
all known to be consistently transfer-friendly.

2) The Less-Popular Major Maneuver

Colleges have institutional needs to consider during the admissions cycle.
This can work to a student’s advantage as the following example
demonstrates:
Applicants to Prestige College’s Italian program have dwindled in recent years. Applicant X took
four years of Italian culminating with a high score on the AP Italian Language and Culture exam.
Unfortunately, Applicant X’s SATs are in the lower quartile for accepted students at Prestige
 College and their overall GPA, thanks to a slow start freshman year of high school, isn’t quite up
to snuff either.

Now, Applicant X wants to study business at Prestige College but knows

he will likely be rejected from that program, so he considers selling his
background in another interest, Italian, to get accepted. If the plan works,
Applicant X could decide to transfer into the business program a semester
or two after matriculating, provided he earns good grades.
Of course, the only reason such a plan would have a prayer for success is
the demonstrated interest and proficiency in Italian previously shown by
Applicant X. If his only stated experience with Italian was enjoying Paul
Newman’s Sockarooni pasta sauce, the college would have easily sniffed
out the scheme, which, not coincidentally, would have smelled like diced
bell peppers and garlic.
It’s also worth noting that this strategy isn’t viable at all colleges, as not all
colleges consider choice of major as a significant factor in their admissions
process. Generally, larger universities with a relatively high number of
majors and distinct undergraduate divisions/schools—UC Berkeley,
Carnegie Mellon, and Cornell, for example—are likely to assign more
emphasis to an applicant’s desired program of study.

3) Enroll in the College of General/Liberal/Continuing Studies

If a student is not opposed to living off campus, studying part-time, and/or
learning among nontraditional students, this could be their ticket to a
prestigious undergraduate degree. Several highly competitive colleges offer
alternative undergraduate degree programs that allow students with less-
than-elite credentials to benefit from the resources and brand of a topflight
institution. These institutions include, among others, Columbia University’s
School of General Studies, University of Pennsylvania’s College of Liberal
and Professional Studies, and Harvard University’s Extension School.
Before pursuing any of these options, however, it is important to
understand elite institutions distinguish between students enrolling in
traditional and alternative programs, not only during their undergraduate
years, but after college as well. In addition to learning about the level of
access alternative students have to university faculty and facilities, it’s also
important to determine whether they will have access to the same career-
related services and alumni networks, and whether the degree/diploma you
receive will be identical to (i.e., as marketable as) that of students
graduating from more traditional programs at the same institution.

NOTES
1. Jill Rosen, “Johns Hopkins Welcomes First Members of Its Class of 2019,” The Hub, December
12, 2014, accessed December 26, 2015, http://hub.jhu.edu/2014/12/12/early-decision-class-of-2019.
2. Jon Victor, “Early Apps Increase at Peer Schools,” Yale Daily News, December 11, 2015,
accessed December 26, 2015, http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2015/12/11/early-apps-increase-at-peer-
schools/.
3. Jennie Kent and Jeff Levy, “Early Decision vs. Regular Decision Acceptance Rates,”
September 2015, accessed December 26, 2015,
https://www.iecaonline.com/PDF/IECA_Library_ED-vs-RD-Acceptances.pdf.
4. Andrew S. Belasco, Kelly O. Rosinger, and James C. Hearn, “The Test-Optional Movement at
America’s Selective Liberal Arts Colleges: A Boon for Equity or Something Else?,” Educational
Evaluation and Policy Analysis, (2015), 37(2), 206–23.
5. Lynn O’Shaughnessy, “The Other Side of ‘Test Optional,’” New York Times, July 20, 2009,
accessed December 26, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/education/edlife/26guidance-
t.html.
6. Scott Jaschik, “Duke Asks the Question,” Inside Higher Ed, September 2, 2014, accessed
December 26, 2015, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/09/02/duke-u-adds-voluntary-
admissions-question-sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity.
7. Marguerite Del Giudice, “Grit Trumps Talent and IQ: A Story Every Parent (and Educator)
Should Read,” National Geographic, October 14, 2014, accessed February 29, 2016,
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/141015-angela-duckworth-success-grit-
psychology-self-control-science-nginnovators/.
8. Rebecca R. Ruiz, “Disclose Disciplinary Infractions, Admissions Officials Say,” New York
Times, October 27, 2011, accessed December 26, 2015,
http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/infractions/.
9. “Education Suspended: The Use of High School Disciplinary Records in College Admissions,”
Center for Community Alternatives, May, 2015, accessed 1/3/2015,
http://www.communityalternatives.org/pdf/publications/EducationSuspended.pdf
10. Ibid.
11. Joie Jager-Hyman, “Receiving Testing Accommodations for Learning Disabilities,” The
Huffington Post, February 7, 2014, last modified April 9, 2014, accessed December 26, 2015,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joie-jagerhyman/receiving-testing-accommo_b_4740601.html.
12. “Admissions Statistics,” accessed February 29, 2016,
http://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/stats.
13. Agnes Chan, “Waitlist Admissions See Huge Jump for Class of 2019,” The Brown Daily
Herald, September 10, 2015, accessed December 26, 2015,
http://www.browndailyherald.com/2015/09/10/waitlist-admissions-see-huge-jump-for-class-of-2019/.
14. Akane Otani, “At Top Schools, a Spot on the Wait List May as Well Be a Rejection,”
Bloomberg Businessweek, April 28, 2015, accessed December 26, 2015,
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-28/at-top-schools-a-spot-on-the-wait-list-may-as-
well-be-a-rejection.
 Chapter 6

Planning the Financial End

Paradigm shift is one of those pop-business buzzwords that tends to be

among the most overused phrases of the twenty-first century. These days,
every time an office manager replaces the old breakroom coffeepot with a
Keurig, it’s a paradigm shift. Whenever a grad student decides to do a Prezi
instead of a PowerPoint, it’s a paradigm shift. We could go on and on but
you get the point—it’s an absurdly overused term.
Thus we ask that you do not take it as a hyperbole when we label the new
reality we are about to set forth as a genuine paradigm shift. While it might
not exactly be as earth-shattering as the heliocentric model, the discovery of
genetic inheritance, or the mass production of the automobile, it does
represent a radical change in thinking about a process that impacts millions
of lives each and every year. Amazingly, this change in thinking is so
simple and supported by such a preponderance of evidence that you don’t
have to be a luminary on the level of Copernicus, Mendel, or Henry Ford to
stumble upon it. Ready? Here it is: Prospective colleges need students more
than students need them. Simple, sweet, and absolutely true. Higher
education is a buyer’s market.
As this chapter unfolds, we will show you how this shift in thinking leads
to the adoption of a consumer mindset to the college selection and
admissions process. In aiming to make you the most informed college
consumer, we will show you, among other valuable insights, that the sticker
price has little correlation with what families actually pay, how to take
advantage of inefficiencies in the financial aid system, and how your child
can shave tens of thousands of dollars off of their future college tuition
while they’re still in high school. But first, we will provide hard evidence
that students, not colleges, are in the driver’s seat.

Excess Supply
Contrary to common belief, most college admissions officers will not spend
this fall sifting through a surplus of qualified applicants, rejecting student
after student with straight A’s and perfect SAT scores. In reality, the
majority of admissions folks will be frantically trying to meet their
enrollment goals as the supply of quality higher education continues to
outpace (eligible) student demand. Simply put, higher education is, despite
what media headlines suggest, more of a buyer’s market than ever before.
Consider the following findings:
• 58% of admissions directors surveyed in 2015 had not met their
enrollment goals for the previous year.
• Over half of admissions directors were very concerned about meeting
enrollment goals for the 2015–2016 admissions cycle.1
• More than 30 percent of admission directors spent their spring and
summer months recruiting students who had already committed to
attending other colleges—a practice that is effectively banned by the
National Association for College Admissions Counseling.2
• Many private colleges now send out revised (i.e., increased) aid offers to
previously admitted students who have yet to commit to their school.3
Although the above findings inspire fear among every college
administrator outside of the Ivy League, they should have the opposite
effect on college applicants and convey a few admissions-related truths.

1. The Application Process Does Not End in November

The rise of Early Decision, Early Action, and priority/VIP applications does
not indicate a more competitive admissions process wherein applying early
is an absolute must; it reflects an increasingly competitive and desperate
four-year college sector that is willing to adopt almost every strategy under
the sun to increase applications and enrollment yield. Although meeting a
November deadline can offer advantages at a number of Early Decision and
Early Action colleges, using the months of December and January to
solidify a student’s college preferences and improve their applications is
appropriate, given that the overwhelming majority of institutions need to
accept students meeting their admissions criteria, regardless of whether they
apply by the early or regular decision deadline.

2. There Is a Lot of Money to Be Won

In an effort to boost attendance and meet enrollment targets, many colleges
have devoted an increasing share of their budgets to attracting desirable
students via the offering of merit-based (i.e., non-need-based) financial aid.
Using merit scholarships to lure high-achieving or high-scoring students
can improve a college’s ranking and eventually its desirability, ultimately
fueling enrollment. And because high-achieving and desirable are relative
terms, students don’t have to be academic superstars to earn merit money. A
number of reputable schools now offer sizable merit awards to B students.

3. If You’re a Good High School Student, You Can Attend a Great

College
There are many reputable institutions that failed to meet their enrollment
goals within the past couple years, and each was recruiting good (not
necessarily great) students well into the summer. Here are a few:
• Beloit College
• Clark University
• Colorado State University
• Drexel University
• Hofstra University
• Lawrence University
• Lewis & Clark College
• Loyola University of Maryland
• New College of Florida
• Reed College
• SUNY at Binghamton
• University of Arizona
• University of Florida
• University of Maryland, College Park
• Wheaton College, Massachusetts
This list and the survey highlighted above offer indisputable evidence that
higher education is indeed a buyer’s market. This fact should compel
students to adopt an admission strategy that is based on confidence, rather
than worry, and take comfort in the fact that any applicant with an open
mind and decent transcript can attend an excellent college at an affordable
price.

THE PRICE IS NOT WHAT YOU PAY

If you’ve ever noticed a sudden, unexplained rise in your cable bill, you’ve
probably experienced something like this: After calling the cable company
and enduring twenty straight minutes of deafeningly loud advertisements
for the latest sequel to Horrible Bosses, you finally get an operator on the
phone. You express your displeasure and threaten to switch to another
company. Without hesitation, the representative immediately pitches you a
new limited time offer that includes more channels for less money than you
were originally paying. This offer wasn’t listed on the website or advertised
anywhere, but must simply be reserved for irate customers with one foot out
the door.
The lesson here is that cable companies are not exactly beacons of
transparency—unfortunately, and this may surprise you—neither are
colleges. Most college-bound students and their families eye the list price of
a prospective school when deciding if it is a financially viable option. Yet,
in the modern higher education marketplace, the list price and the net price,
that is, what the average student actually pays, frequently have little to do
with one another. Grasping the difference between the stated and actual
tuition costs can revolutionize the way you shop for colleges and can
greatly expand a student’s economically sound postsecondary options.

Don’t Believe the Sticker Price

If you shop for colleges the way you shop for other high-expense items,
automobiles for example, you would be doing yourself a disservice and
greatly limiting your options. While car dealers, like cable companies, are
not exactly known for their straightforward pricing methods, we still enter a
dealership with a general idea of what we can afford. If our budget allows
us to target pre-owned Toyotas with a list price of 14K and nothing a penny
higher, then we can be pretty darn sure that even if we are the best
negotiator in the entire world, the 40K Lexus in the same showroom is not
going to be realistic option for us. Evaluating college costs, however, could
not be a more different ball game.
Let’s look at the example of Beantown Barbara, a Massachusetts resident
and accomplished high school student who would love to attend a selective
private college, but is being told by her middle-class parents that this is off
the table unless she wants to take out massive loans. Barbara had been
interested in high-caliber schools like Northwestern University in Chicago,
IL, Vanderbilt in Nashville, TN, or even Tufts, the prestigious college right
in her own backyard. Her SATs and grades are likely good enough to gain
acceptance at all three, but she and her family are turned off by the Lexus-
level pricing, as each school costs in excess of $40,000 per year in tuition
alone. Wanting to avoid accumulating unnecessary undergraduate debt,
Barbara decides that UMass, with an in-state tuition rate of 14K, is
probably her best bet.
Unbeknownst to Barbara and her family is the fact that Northwestern,
Vanderbilt, and Tufts, through generous merit and need-based aid
opportunities, actually have average net prices equal to UMass. Amazingly,
all three private schools have an average net price (again, what students
actually pay) of under $20,000 (including tuition, fees, room and board),
approximately one-third of their respective sticker prices. That doesn’t
mean that Beantown Barbara would have been offered exactly that price. It
could have been higher but it also could have been lower; either way, it
would have been worth applying and finding out.

Net Price by Income

We will move a few states westward for a moment for our next example. As
a high school student in Ohio, Buckeye Bob finished in the top 10% of his
class and kicked butt on his last attempt at the ACT. His dream is to attend a
selective private university somewhat close to home. Bob shares with his
parents that his top choices are Oberlin, Kenyon, and Denison. Bob’s
parents beam with pride until they see the sticker price of these schools—all
over $60,000.
Bob’s parents are solidly middle class, earning $67,000 a year in
combined family income. They assume that they are caught in no man’s
land, earning too much income to qualify for government grants but not
enough to cover the steep tuition costs at a private school. Discouraged,
Bob looks at Ohio’s state school options. He knows that he’ll be fine
attending a school like Ohio State, Cleveland State, or the University of
Akron, but he wishes there was some way he could have a shot at his true
best-fit schools.
Fortunately for Bob, his guidance counselor understands the concept of
net price at private schools like Oberlin, Kenyon, and Denison. These
institutions tend to be generous with aid and take income strongly into
consideration. While Oberlin’s annual cost of attendance is approximately
$66,000 per year, the actual price students pay sharply declines as you go
down the income ladder.
The average family whose income exceeds $110,000 pays around 40K.
Families making between 75 and 110K get a sizable discount, with the
average falling just below $26,000. Those with an income level in the 48–
75K range, like Buckeye Bob’s family, pay under $18,000 in tuition. At
Denison, families in that income range pay a little over $17,000. Kenyon
College’s average net price for a student like Bob comes in even lower at
roughly $11,000.4
Most of the state schools in Ohio cost somewhere in the neighborhood of
10 grand per year. Most likely, a university like Ohio State will still cost
Bob less than his dream schools, but the revelation about net price may still
have moved a school like Oberlin from a complete fantasy to a potential
reality.

Don’t Forget to Select a Quality Financial Safety School

Discovering the concept of net price should lead students to radically alter
the way they go about selecting target colleges—they should feel freed up
to aim high and dream big. However, it is crucial to also come up with
backup plan that is a sure thing from a financial end. Most college-bound
students are aware of the importance of having a safety school, an
institution where obtaining admission is pretty darn close to a statistical
guarantee. However, for anyone without unlimited funds, selecting a
financial safety school may be of equal importance.
No one likes to consider doomsday scenarios, but if you thoughtfully
selected a quality financial safety school, you can now breathe a little easier
as you await financial and merit aid notifications from your top-choice
schools. In our examples above, UMass and Ohio State would have made
perfectly good financial safety schools (assuming that they were also
safeties from an academic standpoint) because they were affordable (even at
100% of the list price) and not schools that our sample students found
undesirable. In picking a financial safety school, don’t just pick a random
school that happens to be relatively inexpensive. Target a school that you
would genuinely like to attend, considering for location, availability of
majors of interest, extracurricular activities, etc.
Understanding that the list price and the net price are two very different
concepts will help to broaden the college search and may just put a
student’s dream schools within financial reach. Don’t believe us? Call your
cable company today and start enjoying the full gamut of premium channels
for a fraction of the price.
Figure 6.1 Institutional Net Price (By Family Income)

ESTIMATING COLLEGE COSTS: THE POWER OF A NET PRICE

CALCULATOR
The Genesis of the Net Price Calculator
To address the problem of price obfuscation, the feds passed a bill in 2011,
which requires institutions of higher education to post a net price calculator
(NPC) on their university website. While the required components of these
calculators are clearly delineated by the government, enough wiggle room
exists for some schools to still offer less-than-helpful estimation tools. We
present a guide for distinguishing between helpful and less-helpful
calculators and offer tips for using this tool in formulating an application
strategy.

Good versus Bad NPCs

If you are able to input all of your data into a school’s NPC in less time than
it takes to read a Garfield comic, then you are highly unlikely to unlock
useful financial information (Yes, even one of the longer, semi-dramatic
Garfield strips, i.e., when Odie mistakenly gets taken to the pound). The
rule of thumb for the time it should take to plug in your data is 15-20
minutes. Have documents related to family income, assets, and investments
by your side—if an NPC is going to tell you anything accurate, this
information will all be required.

Visit the Net Price Calculator before Applying

There is no reason for a student to waste money and precious time
completing an application for a school that even in the best-case aid
scenario is well beyond their financial reach. The worst strategy a student
can employ is to base their entire college list on pure financial guesswork.
Therefore, we urge students and families to visit the NPCs of prospective
colleges before, rather than after, a student decides to submit an application.

Use Net Price Calculators as a Guide

If you play around with the merit aid section of an NPC, you will see how
altering certain variables will affect the net tuition price. For example,
running the numbers for both a 1290 and a 1350 SAT score may give you
two very different estimates. The 1290 a student has in the bag as they enter
their senior year might be more than enough to ensure acceptance at their
top-choice school; therefore, they see little reason to retake the SAT another
time. Yet if the NPC on the school’s site tells you that an extra 60 points
will cut five grand off the tuition, it’s probably time for that student to bury
his or her nose back in those test-prep guides.
To find net price calculators for a prospective college, simply google the
institution’s name and net price calculator. Or, visit the Department of
Education’s Net Price Calculator Center at
https://collegecost.ed.gov/netpricecenter.aspx.

WINNING NEED-BASED AID

You likely vowed to start planning for your son or daughter’s education
back when he or she was only a baby. Your intention was to open a 529
Plan and stash away a little extra cash each month until it matured into a
six-figure sum. With that money plus an athletic scholarship—I mean, your
kid was a peewee soccer MVP at the time—you would be sitting pretty by
the time it came to pay that first tuition bill. Unfortunately, life got in the
way of these best-laid plans, and now you’re scrambling for practical short-
term advice on how to finance the education of their dreams.
Unless you happen to stumble upon a 1985 Delorean fully loaded with a
flux capacitor (in which case you should pull a Biff and bet on future sports
events), you’re not going to be able to go back in time and execute that
long-term savings plan. But that certainly doesn’t mean that all is lost. In
this section, we offer tips for navigating the financial aid process, as well as
a few short-term strategies you can employ to maximize your chances of
receiving a sizable award.

Fill Out the FAFSA!

For those with significant financial need, the federal government continues
to be the largest source of student aid. Each year upward of 65 billion
dollars, money that comes in the form of Pell Grants, work-study programs,
and educational tax breaks, is awarded to families. Additionally, the feds
loan out 95 billion dollars with far more favorable terms than private
lenders.5 That’s over 160 billion dollars handed out each year for higher
education, a sum greater than the gross national product of all but 57
countries in the world.6 The bottom line is that there is a substantial amount
of federal money available, so filling out a FAFSA is certainly worth your
time.
This seems like obvious enough advice, yet each year over one million
families fail to file a FAFSA solely because they do not believe that they
would meet the income requirements for aid (hundreds of thousands of
others fail to fill out the FAFSA for other reasons).7 This includes many
middle-class and upper-middle-class families who, due to the funky, almost
nonsensical formula for awarding aid, may have actually received an award
had they simply taken the time to complete the form.

Changes Are Coming

To encourage higher filing rates and a more equitable application process,
the federal government has recently taken steps to simplify the FAFSA. As
of fall 2016, applicants are able to file the FAFSA on October 1, a full three
months earlier than in years past, and complete the form using tax data from
two years prior. Proponents of FAFSA simplification assert that these
changes will encourage more students to apply before a college’s financial
aid deadline—thus receiving priority consideration for scholarships and
other institutional funds—and will allow families to more accurately
estimate how much aid they’re likely to receive before applying to a
particular college. Under the previous system, families had to wait until
January to file the FAFSA and often did not know their aid eligibility until
after the application process had concluded, which prevented many from
choosing and applying to colleges where they were likely to receive the
most aid.

Understand the Expected Family Contribution

After submitting a FAFSA, you will be assigned an Expected Family
Contribution (EFC); this is the amount the federal government deems
appropriate for you to pay each year toward tuition, room and board, books,
and so on. However, receiving a low EFC doesn’t mean it is time to pop the
champagne corks and pick any college you want. The EFC is only a
guideline that schools may or may not adhere to. In fact, only a relatively
small number of competitive and well-funded institutions can meet the full
financial need of all admitted students.

The CSS Profile

Many of these well-funded colleges comprise a group of nearly 300 schools
that also require the CSS Profile, a form primarily used to assess an
applicant’s eligibility for institution-based (rather than government-based)
aid. Unlike the FAFSA, the CSS Profile charges a filing fee—$25 for the
first school and $16 for every additional school.
Figure 6.2 Colleges with Great (Need-Based) Financial Aid

You may grumble about the fees associated with CSS Profile submission,
yet it might turn out to be the wisest investment since Asa Griggs Candler’s
$2,300 purchase of the Coca Cola recipe back in 1888. Random references
to nineteenth-century business transactions aside, the CSS Profile can
produce its own lucrative results, but families may find that the questions
about their financial lives are far more invasive than those on the FAFSA.
This is due to the fact that the CSS Profile allows schools to apply their own
Institutional Methodology. Questions may arise on topics such as family
medical costs, retirement accounts, detailed business records for the self-
employed, and other financial matters that are likewise outside the purview
of the FAFSA.

Meet (Priority) Deadlines

In order to maximize your eligibility for federal, state, and institutional
funds, it is essential to file the FAFSA, CSS Profile, and other required
financial aid documents on or before a college’s priority financial aid
deadline, which can be different from deadlines set by federal and state
agencies. For example, the federal government requires students to file a
FAFSA on or before June 30 in order to receive federal funds. However,
waiting until June 30 to file a FAFSA would likely prevent these same
students from receiving institutional-based aid at their target school, as the
overwhelming majority of selective colleges have priority financial aid
deadlines that come much earlier, typically between February and April.
Every year, thousands of families fail to meet these institution-set deadlines,
leaving otherwise guaranteed money on the table.
Now that you have a better idea of which forms need to be filed and when,
let’s take a look at several quick and easy strategies to maximize your aid
eligibility.

Defer Your Year-End Bonus

To understand why you should postpone the receipt of a year-end payout,
you first need to understand an important term in the financial aid world,
known as the base income year. The base income year, or base year, is the
calendar year that precedes the academic year for which financial aid is
being sought. For example, a high school senior seeking aid for the 2018–
2019 academic year would have 2016 as his or her base year. The base
income year largely determines a student’s financial aid eligibility as a
college freshman and also often influences the amount of aid he or she is
awarded during subsequent years. Thus, if possible, a family should take
steps to minimize the appearance of earnings during this period.
Certainly, it would not make any financial sense to go to extreme
measures to reduce your income such as quitting your job or refusing a
raise. However, if you are due to receive a lump sum payment, such as a
company bonus or retirement/pension account withdrawal, you may want to
look into deferring the receipt of that money until you are outside the
aforementioned window of time.

Move Assets from Child to Parent

Now, we’re not advocating going all Macaulay Caulkin’s dad on your kids
and spending their summer job earnings on a bedroom Jacuzzi. This one
actually comes down to simple math. According to financial aid formulas,
parent assets are calculated at 5.65%, while student assets are assessed at a
much higher rate—between 20% and 25%. In other words, for every $1000
in a son or daughter’s bank account, a family’s EFC will increase by least
$200. If that same $1,000 was in a parent’s name, the family’s EFC would
only increase by a little more than 50 bucks.

Use Savings to Pay Down Debt

The world of financial aid punishes you for having large stacks of available
cash; yet it does not credit families for having high-interest debt on a credit
card or auto loan. Thus, paying off these types of consumer debt before
submitting the FAFSA can kill two birds and greatly improve your chances
of getting more aid. It may just be the most lucrative shifting of funds you
can do not involving the Cayman Islands and a banker in a white suit.

Additional Strategies
There are numerous other long-term and short-term strategies that families
can adopt to improve their financial aid prospects. However, a detailed
account of all of these strategies is beyond the scope of this book. If you’re
interested in learning more, here are a couple great resources:
• Paying for College Without Going Broke, written by Kalman Chany;
• Finaid.org, a comprehensive financial aid information website developed
by Mark Kantrowitz.

PAYING FOR COLLEGE: HOW TO WIN MERIT AID

At the risk of sounding like Matthew Lesko, the question mark suit-clad
lunatic of early 2000s infomercial fame, colleges want to give you free
money!!!
Okay, so schools aren’t exactly looking to send cash to any freeloader with
a self-addressed stamped envelope, but each year billions upon billions of
dollars are indeed handed out by institutions for the purpose of luring
desirable students onto their campuses.

The Top Factors in Netting Merit Aid

As usual, it starts with the good ol’ meat and potatoes of the application—
strong test scores and a high GPA. Some colleges, especially larger
institutions, literally have formulaic scholarship tables that tell students how
much money they’re likely to get from them. Trinity University in Texas is
just one of a slew of schools that take much of the suspense out of the merit
aid process through such means. Applicants at Trinity with a 1250 SAT and
a 3.75 GPA will qualify for an award of 17K per year. Raise that to a 1350
and a 4.0 and the award is 23K per year.8

Maximizing Your Chances

Students traditionally approach the admissions process from a place of
desperation, “Please, please accept me!” This isn’t exactly the best mindset
for a consumer in any marketplace . . . and yes, students as college
applicants are in fact consumers. When students realize that many
admissions officers feel an equal desperation to land a student like them, the
tables suddenly turn. The focus is now on constructing a college list
comprised of good-fit schools that are likely to reach deep into their coffers
for a student with a great academic profile.
Strategic targeting of schools is critical in the merit aid chase. The Ivies
and other uber-selective colleges rarely award scholarships based strictly on
merit, primarily because they don’t have to—these schools attract plenty of
students with remarkable credentials and bank accounts, and as such, award
almost all of their aid according to financial need. However, dozens of
equally reputable yet slightly less-selective institutions will open their
pockets to high-achieving students. George Washington, Tulane, and Wake
Forest University are just a few of the many prominent colleges that
strategically use merit aid to increase their institutional rank and profile.9
Figure 6.3 Selective and Generous: A Sample of Highly Competitive Colleges Awarding
Significant Merit Aid

In general, applicants should look for schools where they are close to the
75th percentile for SAT scores and GPA/class rank. Don’t be deterred by the
sticker price of private colleges in this process. In general, private schools
offer larger merit aid packages that can knock their tuition below that of
seemingly cheaper state schools students may have been considering.

Keeping Your Merit Aid

When merit aid is offered there is typically a stipulation that students must
maintain a certain GPA to be able to renew the scholarship beyond
freshman year. The exact number fluctuates from school to school. For
example, Drexel University requires that students maintain a 2.75, Hofstra a
3.0, while Rutgers demands a more stringent 3.25. The only other common
requirement is that students remain full-time, carrying a full credit load.
 TEST YOUR WAY TO A LOWER TUITION
Widely considered one of the best documentaries of the 2000s, The King of
Kong takes you deep within the surprisingly fascinating subculture of
competitive retro video gaming. The film tells the story of two middle-aged
men competing to obtain the world record in Donkey Kong, a rudimentary
arcade game from the early 1980s, with such cutthroat ferocity that you
would think millions of dollars or perhaps even eternal life was at stake—in
reality, only bragging rights are on the line. They stay up in the wee hours,
nestled in their garages, trying desperately to unlock additional points and
outdo their competitor. So, you ask, what in the heck does this have to do
with students testing their way to lower tuition?
Most people approach endeavors in life, whether we’re talking about
Donkey Kong or the SAT/ACT, as challenges to be conquered and then
quickly moved on from. If a college-bound junior scores well on their
SAT/ACT and feels that that score will be good enough to secure admission
at the schools that they are interested in, they typically refocus themselves
on their coursework, extracurricular activities, and life outside of school.
While this approach is completely understandable, students who take the
King of Kong approach to standardized tests often make out with, well, a
whole lot of quarters. It costs about $55 to retake the SAT or ACT, but it’s
important to understand that 55 bucks plus hours of dedicated preparation
can be worth thousands upon thousands of dollars in merit aid money.

Guaranteed Scholarships
Many public and private schools offer guaranteed scholarships to students
who meet defined criteria, usually in the areas of GPA and SAT/ACT
scores. For example, Hartwick College, a private liberal arts school in New
York, offers five different scholarship levels, the highest of which grants
$26,000 per year to students with an A average and at least a 1260 SAT/28
ACT score. West Virginia University (WVU) is a public institution and has
a range of scholarships for students with GPAs ranging from 3.0 to 3.8 and
SAT scores from 1030 to 1340. At WVU, the amounts awarded to
nonresidents are much greater than scholarships for West Virginia residents,
who already enjoy a greatly reduced in-state tuition.
 Other schools do not offer a 100% guarantee on these scholarships, but
still state minimum SAT/ACT requirements for consideration. One such
school is the University of Kentucky, which requires applicants to their top
scholarship to have an unweighted 3.8 GPA and a 1440 SAT/34 ACT score.
While students possessing the requisite credentials are not guaranteed the
awards as in the cases above, winners receive quite a bounty including full
tuition, room and board, a stipend, a new iPad, and cash to use while
studying abroad.

Other Merit Aid

Even at colleges where scholarship criteria is not explicitly laid out,
SAT/ACT scores play a huge role in determining which applicants receive
offers of merit aid. Remember, the point of non-need-based merit aid from
an institutional standpoint is to offer enough of a discount to attract top
students. There are two metrics that will clue students in about their chances
of scoring merit aid at a given college or university. The first is the
percentage of students at that school that receive merit aid, numbers which
are readily accessible at collegetransitions.com. The second is to look at the
75th percentile of SAT/ACT scores for accepted students, also easy to track
down online or in literally any college guidebook. If a student’s score falls
at or above that number and a given school is known for being relatively
generous with merit aid, chances are that they will get a substantial offer.

Test-Optional Schools Still Reward High SATs

Remember, just because a school is willing to admit an applicant without
consideration of SAT scores, they are still less likely to award a scoreless
applicant merit aid. Some test-optional institutions explicitly state on their
websites that they will not take the submission of standardized test scores
into consideration when making merit aid decisions. In our experience,
regardless of such proclamations, strong scores always impact award
decisions. Even test-optional institutions are still concerned about their
rankings in U.S. News and will dish out merit aid to reel in candidates with
exceptional standardized tests scores.

Second (or Third) Time Is a Charm

Students typically take the SAT or ACT for the first time in the spring of
their junior year. Those who elect to retake the test a second or third time,
especially the following fall, improve their overall score by an average of
40 points.10 It makes sense that students would receive a natural boost for
two reasons: (1) it’s not their first rodeo, they know the routine, the timing
of the test, the format, etc. and (2) they’ve been exposed to more relevant
academic material in the classroom since the last sitting. And these
advantages don’t even account for the biggest difference of all—students
have an entire summer to learn the secrets of the SAT/ACT backward and
forward.

Study Hard
Registering for a test-prep course or one-on-one tutoring can pay dividends,
particularly if a student benefits from the structure of formal instruction
and/or lacks the discipline to develop and follow a test-prep regimen.
However, if they are truly self-motivated and committed, burying their nose
in a prep book can prove just as effective. Students should take practice test
after practice test while simulating the conditions they will encounter on
test day. Afterward, they should read the detailed explanations provided on
the questions they get wrong. Trust us—it works.

Your Dedication Will Pay Off

The only thing that masterfully maneuvering Mario up a series of platforms
to depose an oversized ape will get you is a good reputation among a couple
dozen socially awkward grown men. However, obsessive dedication to the
SAT/ACT, even just for a brief spurt of time, can earn students and their
family significant tuition discounts, money that will impact not only a
young person’s undergraduate years but their adult years as well.

START EARLY AND SAVE BIG: THE BENEFITS OF EARNING

COLLEGE CREDIT DURING HIGH SCHOOL
Too many talented students pass up opportunities to earn college credits
during their high school years for just a tiny fraction of what they will pay
later in freshman tuition. Understanding the options that may be available to
students at their high school is step one. Step two is exploring the policies
of each of the prospective colleges with regard to awarding postsecondary
credits earned prior to matriculation. What follows is an overview of
Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), College-Level
Examination Program (CLEP), and dual enrollment options and how they
have the potential to save students tens of thousands of dollars at almost any
college or university in the United States.

Advanced Placement (AP)

Advanced Placement tests cost approximately $90 a pop and can earn
students between three and eight college credits a piece. AP exams are
offered in May, typically at or near the end of an AP course; however,
students don’t have to enroll in an AP class to register for an AP exam. In
fact, an increasing number of high schoolers without access to AP
coursework are opting to take the tests, as are students who have access to
AP coursework in their respective schools but who cannot fit a particular
class within their schedule.
The rise in AP test-taking seems justified, given that the returns for good
performance are nothing short of astonishing. The average private college
costs over $31,000 per year in tuition.11 That’s for 30 credits, which
translates to over $1,000 per credit. In this example, passing just one AP
test can save between 3 and 8 thousand bucks. You’ll be hard-pressed to get
that kind of return on a $90 investment if Gordon Gekko or heck, even
Nostradamus, was your financial advisor.
Most schools accept AP credits with open arms although the minimal level
of performance varies. Boston University, like many selective institutions,
only accepts scores of 4s and 5s on the AP exam and, in some cases, a
distinction is made between the two. In evaluating AP Biology scores, BU
will award 8 credits for a 5 on the AP exam and 4 credits for those who
scored a 4.
Yet many colleges, even selective ones, award credits for a 3 on an AP
exam in all or at least some subjects. The University of Chicago will award
some level of credit for a 3 in physics. The University of Wisconsin–
Madison will grant three credits for each score of 3 on an AP exam and will
typically offer even more credits for scores of 4 or 5. To learn about AP
credit policies at prospective colleges, visit the College Board website at
https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/creditandplacement/search-credit-
policies.
Ultimately, whether your kid is eyeing a less-selective or super-prestigious
college, it pays to take AP exams. Not only are there significant admission-
related benefits for doing so, but the financial rewards can be immense.

International Baccalaureate (IB)

International Baccalaureate courses are very popular outside of the US, but
a growing number of American high schools now offer students a chance to
earn college credit through the IB program. Unlike with AP, IB tests require
students to have completed an IB course prior to sitting for the exam.
However, not all schools in the United States will offer credit for singular
IB test scores but rather require the completion of a comprehensive IB
diploma.
The IB diploma takes teens two years to complete and requires courses in
six disciplines. While the AP curriculum allows students to play to their
strengths, the IB diploma program takes a more holistic approach and
forces students not only to master traditional subjects like experimental
science and math but also to learn a foreign language, write an essay,
complete a community service project, and pass tests in every single
content area. IB exams are scored on a 1-7 scale with 4 generally being
considered as passing (like a 3 on the AP).
It’s a common misconception that IB credits are not widely recognized by
colleges and universities in the United States. While this was a fairly
accurate assessment a handful of years ago, today almost 1,700 American
postsecondary schools now award credit for IB.12 As with AP, individual
schools’ policies vary and need to be explored on a case-by-case basis.
The University of Florida will give you 3-4 credits for a score of a 4 and
6-8 credits for anything above a 5. The prestigious Barnard College will
award 30 credits for the IB diploma if the aggregate score of all six tests is a
30. Caltech will not give credit for any IB coursework; however, they do
not grant credit for AP either.

College-Level Examination Program (CLEP)

CLEP exams are a lesser-known option for earning college credits, and
students can do so by paying a relatively small fee of $80 and
demonstrating sufficient knowledge in one of 33 different areas.
Administered by the College Board, the same company who runs AP and
the SAT, CLEP exams are accepted by over 2,900 colleges and
universities.13
Since there is no accompanying course for CLEP exams, students are
pretty much on their own in terms of preparation. Pick up a CLEP study
guide for ten bucks, get a sense of the material covered, take a sample test,
and if they feel like they have a firm grasp on the material, give it a try. The
best time to do this is typically right after completing high school
coursework that is relevant to the exam. Maybe they just finished an honors
economics course and feel like they understand the material at a college
level. A student’s knowledge gained in the classroom plus their self-directed
independent study should be a solid recipe for success on the CLEP.
Even though the vast majority of institutions will award credit for strong
test scores, it is especially important to check the policies of individual
schools related to CLEP. Many schools will only accept exams that they
feel directly match up to a component of their own core curriculum. At
Elon University, only 6 of the 33 CLEP exams can be substituted for
undergraduate credit. At Denison, a small liberal arts school in Ohio, CLEP
scores must be at or above the 75th percentile in order to receive credit. The
University of North Carolina—Charlotte is more generous and accepts all
but a few CLEP tests with much lower required scores than the previous
two schools.

Dual Enrollment
Rather than a simulated college atmosphere, as with AP or IB, dual
enrollment is an option that affords teens the chance to actually immerse
themselves in a college environment while they are still in high school.
Most commonly, the participating postsecondary school will be a
community college or local branch campus of a larger state university.
Students typically utilize dual enrollment opportunities to either knock out
core courses that will be requirements at their prospective colleges or to
sample an academic offering that may be unavailable at their high school
(i.e., a less commonly studied foreign language or computer science
course).
Numerous studies have found that participation in dual enrollment aids
college readiness and persistence. If that isn’t reason enough to consider
this option, taking college courses during high school can, as with AP, IB,
and CLEP, lop off a sizable portion of their freshman bill.
Finding out whether one’s future college will accept dual enrollment
credits is relatively easy—a simple Internet search will usually do the trick.
There are a few schools that have more stringent policies. Rice University
will consider previously earned college credits but not if they appear on a
high school transcript as dual credit. On the other hand, the University of
Texas at Austin does accept credits earned in this manner. As a general rule,
public schools are far more open to honoring dual enrollment credits than
private schools, especially of the elite variety.

Final Thoughts
A great many students pursue a rigorous college-level course of study in
high school purely from an admissions-driven mindset. We encourage
teenagers to expand their thinking, considering the enormous financial
advantages that can be obtained as they simultaneously complete
challenging coursework that will prepare them for a successful college
experience. Spending time on such pursuits will be far more valuable than
one of the favorite pastimes of less-informed college bargain hunter—the
wild goose chase of searching for private scholarships.

THE TRUTH ABOUT PRIVATE SCHOLARSHIPS

In the early 1970s, the US auto industry received warnings from economic
experts—if they continued to focus on the wrong thing, Japanese car
companies would soon put them out of business. Detroit’s Big 3 of GM,
Ford, and Chrysler were told that if they remained attached to producing
oversized, inefficient American-style models, they would be surpassed by
the compact, fuel-efficient cars being made by the Japanese if the price of
gasoline were to drastically increase.
Laughing off these dire warnings, US auto execs continued with business
as usual. Over the course of the decade, due to a changing atmosphere in
the Middle East, the price of oil skyrocketed and the American car
companies crumbled. If you’ve ever seen Eminem’s 8 Mile or an episode of
Hardcore Pawn, you know how things turned out in the Motor City.
It’s easy to become fixated on details that are new, shiny, and fun (like a
’72 Corvette) and ignore others that are counter to our belief system. Such
is the case with how prospective college students seek financial aid. For
whatever reason, students and parents alike spend an inordinate amount of
time seeking out private scholarships from employers, nonprofits, and local
organizations and not enough time investigating where the bulk of aid
money actually comes from.

The Shocking Numbers

Let us quickly disabuse you of this notion through simple numbers. In the
2014–2015 academic year, roughly $180 billion in total student aid was
awarded to undergraduate students. The overwhelming majority of student
aid comes from the federal government, representing roughly half of all aid
awarded. Institutional aid from colleges and universities is the second
largest source, accounting for $40 billion and state governments give just
over $10 billion of total aid. Only 6% of the total aid handed out comes in
the form of employer and private scholarships, a number that doesn’t quite
support all of the hype.14

Unclaimed Money?
Many parents mistakenly believe the popular notion that millions of dollars
of private scholarship money goes unclaimed each year so they spend
precious time scouring through scholarship websites, books, and other
sources chasing this pot of gold. While there is some truth to the idea of
unclaimed private college money, the fact also remains that many of those
scholarships are inaccessible because the qualifying requirements are so
limiting.
For example, there may be a scholarship at a regional university
specifically aimed at a student from a particular county, with a high school
GPA of 3.5 or higher, who is majoring in interior design. If no incoming
student meets these criteria, the scholarship may go unclaimed. If the
scholarship is claimed, however, funds are likely to be awarded for only one
year, not four—unlike federal, state, and institutional scholarships/grants,
private scholarships are rarely renewable.

Private Scholarships Can Hurt Your Financial Aid Package

It is also important to note that since the federal government requires
postsecondary institutions to consider private scholarships when calculating
financial aid, outside scholarships can actually reduce your original aid
package. Let’s say, for example, that a family’s EFC is $17,000 and the cost
of the college is $30,000. In order to meet this cost, the college offers
$13,000 in its financial aid package to assist the family.
Now let’s say that the student wins a $3,000 scholarship from a local
employer. In this instance, most schools would then reduce their respective
financial aid offers by $3,000. Hopefully, these reductions target loan
awards, rather than grant awards, although that isn’t always the case at
every school. All in all, private scholarships have very little impact on the
bottom line for students requiring need-based aid since scholarships often
lead to a reduction in their original financial aid award. For affluent
students who do not require aid, however, scholarships will undoubtedly
impact out-of-pocket costs by reducing the amount they owe.
By no means do we want to discourage students from applying for private
scholarships; we just encourage them not to dedicate an excessive amount
of time to these often fruitless pursuits. On the subject of common mistakes
parents and students make, we turn next to wallet-killing obsession with
out-of-state public schools.

THE OUT-OF-STATE SIRENS’ SONG

In Greek myth, the Sirens, half-woman/half-birdlike creatures crooned such
sweet melodies to passing sailors that they would abandon ship, become so
enraptured with the Sirens’ song that they would completely forget to eat,
eventually starving to death. Flagship state schools such as the University
of Michigan, the University of Virginia, Penn State, and those in the
University of California system have never caused any seafaring gents to
die of hunger, but their name recognition, desirability, athletic prowess, and
status as research institutions have lured many out-of-state applicants to
unwisely pay hefty tuition bills, while passing up better-value opportunities
at private colleges.
Let’s look at a few examples. Annual, out-of-state costs at the University
of Michigan run close to 60 grand, roughly double what Michigan residents
pay. UCLA charges nearly $25,000 more to those who hail from outside the
Golden State. Penn State, a bargain for PA residents, climbs to
approximately $50,000 for outsiders, and after accounting for need-based
and merit-based aid, proves as more expensive than Franklin & Marshall,
Lafayette, or Lehigh—three highly competitive colleges in the same state.
That’s right, on top of the steep nonresident markup, prestigious public
schools of this ilk rarely offer significant financial aid packages and rely on
out-of-staters who can and will pay the maximum tuition. This practice is
far from nefarious.
Public institutions have been hit hard with budget cuts in recent years and
do not sport the gargantuan endowments of many private schools. Out-of-
state students capable of paying the full bill have become a desirable source
of revenue. The less admirable side is that students from out of state
sometimes have an admissions edge if they have the funds behind them.
This is not exactly a shining example of egalitarianism. None of this is to
argue against attending any of these terrific schools if students have done
their homework and feel they’ve found an ideal fit. Flagship universities
offer worldwide name recognition, gigantic alumni bases for networking,
and the excitement of 100,000-seat football stadiums on Saturdays.
However, for those with finite financial resources (i.e., most of us),
students may find an equally strong private school that is far more likely to
offer a sizable financial aid package. If they’re in need of funds yet give
into the allure of a flagship school, a student may not end up on an island,
withering away, listening to a bunch of mutant bird-women harmonize, but
they are almost guaranteed to end up with a more cumbersome than
necessary tuition bill.

CAN YOU REALLY PAY IN-STATE TUITION AT AN OUT-OF-

STATE UNIVERSITY?
In an effort to dodge the aforementioned price hike of an out-of-state
school, many parents inquire about, ahem, alternative methods.
 To most of us, the concept of in-state tuition is a straightforward
proposition—government-subsidized public institutions offer a lower
tuition price to residents of their state. Families can elect to take advantage
of the in-state tuition or pay a sizable premium for an out-of-state public
school. Pretty cut and dry, right? Not anymore. Savvy parents have figured
out how to exploit legal loopholes that allow their children to enjoy an in-
state discount at an out-of-state school. With the four-year difference
between the out-of-state and hometown tuition price entering the six figures
at some state schools, the stakes of this new game could not be higher.

What Are the Rules and How Do Students Bend Them?

Every state has unique rules and loopholes that might open the door to
being awarded in-state status. The most common strategy that crafty
families employ involves trying to establish residency in the state where
they hope to attend college and taking some form of a gap year. If students
are going to go this route, they’ll need to show evidence that they weren’t
just playing the system (even if that is precisely what they are doing). They
need to get a driver’s license in their chosen state, find a job, and pay
income taxes. In most cases, awarding or withholding in-state status is still
completely at the school’s discretion, and they do not shy away from
rejecting students whose profile raises red flags.
Establishing independence from one’s parents is another huge hurdle.
Many states require any student under a certain age (often 23 or 24) to
prove that they have been financially independent from their parents for at
least two years. Otherwise, residency is viewed as reverting back to their
parent’s home state, even if a student has physically resided elsewhere for a
long period of time.
On the more extreme end, some students have even gone as far as to
arrange sham marriages with people who reside in the state where they wish
to attend school. Establishing residency, at that point, is a breeze, even if the
rest of your life would likely be a freak show (and also a Lifetime movie).

Hired Help
For-profit organizations are springing up to assist families with this process
and, according to many college officials, are toeing the line between
opportunism and criminal deception. For upward of ten grand, an
organization will help you put together a petition for in-state tuition. Such
substantial documentation is required that these applications can end up
literally being hundreds of pages long. No information is publicly available
as to how successful these agencies are at delivering the goods.

More Legit Avenues

If a student comes from a military family or is the child of a recently
discharged veteran, he or she may qualify for in-state tuition as an out-of-
state student. The recently passed Veterans Access, Choice, and
Accountability Act of 2014 allows dependents of recently discharged
veterans to claim in-state tuition at public schools in all 50 states.
Individuals currently serving in the military (and their dependents) do not
qualify for the nationwide tuition benefit, but due to other legislation, still
quality for lower rates. Virginia, Texas, Ohio, and dozens of other states
have passed bills offering in-state tuition to out-of-state military families.
In addition to passing legislation benefiting military families, many states
have arranged reciprocity agreements with each other, providing lower
tuition to students residing in neighboring states. For example, member
states of the Midwest Student Exchange Program allow out-of-state
students to receive a tuition rate no higher than 150% of the in-state rate.
The Western Undergraduate Exchange which includes the popular higher
education destination points of Arizona, California, and Colorado have the
same 150% cap, but require student to apply for consideration.
In some instances, such pacts will allow students right on the border of
one state to attend. The University of Louisville’s agreement with certain
bordering Indiana counties is one such example.
We believe that, in the absence of extenuating circumstances, the effort
and/or money spent to try to procure out-of-state tuition through
questionable means would be better spent researching other affordable
public and private options and pursuing merit aid and scholarships. There
are simply too many outstanding institutions across the United States to
warrant engaging in a The Sting-style long con. However, if a student is part
of a military family or if their state is part of one of the consortiums that
offers discounts, then in-state or reduced tuition is an excellent avenue to
explore.
Crossing state borders is only one far-from-home option in the quest to
find a higher education bargain. For all the would-be globetrotters out there,
many values exist if students are willing to cross international borders.

GOING ABROAD FOR COLLEGE

Pursuing an undergraduate degree abroad may sound like an extravagance
reserved for the jet-setting upper-class, yet going to college in a foreign
country can actually make excellent economic sense for the more cost-
conscious prospective college students. As we write, there are 27,000
American students pursuing degrees abroad at a host of locations around the
world. The United Kingdom, Canada, and France are the three most popular
destinations, but many other countries including Brazil, Germany, and
several Scandinavian nations also offer appealing educational options for
American students.

Do I Need to Speak a Foreign Language?

The polyglot answer is nyet, non, and nein. Studying abroad does not
require speaking multiple languages or even being bilingual. Three-quarters
of these students elect to study in English-speaking countries but many non-
English-speaking countries, Germany, for example, now offer courses and
even entire academic degree programs fully in English.

Tuition-Free or Reduced Options

The idea of spending 50 grand per year is a foreign idea (pun intended) in
many places around the world. German universities are completely state
funded and are 100% tuition free. Universities in France, Sweden, Finland,
and Norway also allow US students to enroll at little or no cost.
Not every nation is so benevolent with higher education services that
students can attend sans tuition, but most countries at least have lower
average tuition than the United States. The average tuition for international
students studying in the United Kingdom is around 18K.15 Canada’s rates
for US students are in the same ballpark (or shall we say ice rink?), which
while a bargain by American standards, is actually three times the rate for
natives.16

Can I Still Get Loans?

Believe it or not, students wishing to complete four years at a foreign
university may still be eligible for federal financial aid. While not every
international postsecondary institution participates in US federal loan
programs, over 800 schools worldwide do. Roughly half of these 800 are
German-based universities, but locations also stretch to locales such as New
Zealand, Argentina, and the Czech Republic

Consider Cost of Living

In many cases, the cost of living while studying abroad will be similar to or
less than the cost of living on a college campus in the States. However,
there are exceptions. For example, American students studying in Australia
and the United Kingdom would likely incur higher (non-tuition) expenses
than they would staying closer to home. Some destination points will cost
you a lot more. To give you an idea, in Norway’s capital city of Oslo, a can
of soda will cost you the US equivalent of $3.43.17 One can only imagine
the cost of a meal plan.

Earning Acceptance
Generally speaking, foreign universities assign more weight to the hard
facts of an application—such as rigor of course load, GPA, and SAT scores
—and place less emphasis on extracurricular involvement. So, while
simultaneously heading the debate team, entering Ukrainian dance
competitions, founding a nonprofit, and lettering in three varsity sports is
extremely impressive, don’t expect it to improve a student’s admission
prospects at Cambridge or Oxford, for example.

Earning Your Degree

Many foreign schools offer less-structured learning time than American
universities, which means a greater degree of self-motivation and discipline
will be involved from the jump. Many students going abroad will be
expected to assume responsibility for their own learning, as well as navigate
course requirements and exams, often without the aid of a syllabus or
reading list. Of course, if students have the internal drive and independent
mindedness to seek out an academic program thousands of miles from
home, chances are they can adjust to the differences of a foreign university
system.

Three-Year Bachelor’s?
In 1999, a number of European nations signed what was known as the
Bologna declaration, which among other less interesting things, legitimized
the 3-year bachelor’s degree. In the years since, additional nations have
jumped on board making this abbreviated option pretty standard. Other
countries such as Australia and India are not part of the Bologna club but
still offer 3-year full undergraduate programs. Students hailing from the
United States do need to be careful when pursuing this option, however, as
some American graduate schools will not admit holders of so-called
Bologna degrees or will do so only conditionally.
Traveling to a foreign land to pursue an undergraduate degree is not for
everyone. Yet for adventurous, open-minded young people, the willingness
to consider schools outside of American borders can open up intriguing
academic possibilities at potential bargain prices.
Figure 6.4 Going Abroad: Popular Undergraduate Destinations for US Students

FINAL THOUGHTS
The advice dispensed in this chapter was crafted to assist just about any
student, regardless of academic/career interest, in selecting a college that
will provide value in addition to a first-class higher education experience—
even those who haven’t the first clue what they wish to do when they grow
up. Chapter 7 will take things a step further, offering guidance for career-
focused teens who are motivated to ultimately enter a targeted professional
field.
Creating a postsecondary plan for a student who aims to one day enter
med school can be quite different from planning for a student who dreams
of one day being an elementary school teacher. Issues of prestige,
undergraduate financial planning, and major selection are explored for the
nine professions that our students most frequently desire to enter.
 NOTES
1. Scott Jaschik, “Pressure from All Sides: The 2015 Survey of Admissions Directors,” Inside
Higher Ed, October 1, 2015, accessed December 6, 2015,
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/survey/pressure-all-sides-2015-survey-admissions-directors.
2. Scott Jaschik, “More Pressure Than Ever: The 2014 Survey of College and University
Admissions Directors,” Inside Higher Ed, September 18, 2014, accessed December 6, 2015,
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/survey/more-pressure-ever-2014-survey-college-and-
university-admissions-directors.
3. Ry Rivard, “Summer Scramble,” Inside Higher Ed, May 21, 2014, accessed December 28,
2015, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/05/21/colleges-miss-enrollment-targets-step-their-
summer-recruitment.
4. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education
Statistics.
5. College Board, “Trends in Student Aid 2014,” accessed December 6, 2015, https://secure-
media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/misc/trends/2014-trends-student-aid-report-final.pdf.
6. World Bank, “GDP Ranking,” last modified December 16, 2015, accessed December 27, 2015,
http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/GDP-ranking-table.
7. Mark Kantrowitz, “Reasons Why Students Do Not File the FAFSA,” January 18, 2011,
accessed November 11, 2015, http://www.finaid.org/educators/20110118nofafsareasons.pdf.
8. https://new.trinity.edu/admissions-aid/financial-aid/academic-merit-scholarships-first-year-
students.
9. Nick Anderson, “Colleges Often Give Discounts to the Rich. But Here’s One That Gave Up on
‘Merit Aid,’” The Washington Post, December 29, 2014, accessed December 21, 2015,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/colleges-often-give-discounts-to-the-rich-but-
heres-one-that-gave-up-on-merit-aid/2014/12/29/a15a0f22-6f3c-11e4-893f-
86bd390a3340_story.html.
10. College Board, “Retaking the SAT,” accessed September 17, 2015,
https://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/sat-reasoning/scores/retake.
11. College Board, “Average Published Undergraduate Charges by Sector, 2015–16,” Trends in
Higher Education, accessed December 6, 2015, http://trends.collegeboard.org/college-
pricing/figures-tables/average-published-undergraduate-charges-sector-2015-16.
12. International Baccalaureate, “The IB by Country,” accessed December 28, 2015,
http://www.ibo.org/country/US/.
13. College Board, “CLEP: Getting College Credit,” accessed December 6, 2015,
https://clep.collegeboard.org/overview/collegecredit.
14. College Board, “Total Undergraduate Student Aid by Source and Type, 2014-15,” Trends in
Higher Education, accessed December 6, 2015, http://trends.collegeboard.org/student-aid/figures-
tables/total-undergraduate-student-aid-source-and-type-2014-15.
15. David Matthews, “International and Postgrad Fee Survey, 2014,” Times Higher Education,
August 21, 2014, accessed February 29, 2016,
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/international-and-postgrad-fee-survey-
2014/2015207.article.
16. “University Tuition Fees, 2015/2016,” The Daily, September 9, 2015, accessed February 29,
2016, http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/150909/dq150909b-eng.pdf.
 17. Shivika Jindal, “Most Expensive City in the World–Oslo, Norway,” February 13, 2014,
accessed December 6, 2015, http://richglare.com/expensive-city-world-oslo-norway/.
 Chapter 7

College Advice for the Career Minded

So You Want to Be a . . .

Speak with enough successful professionals and you’ll likely come across a
few folks who stumbled into their success after a relatively aimless,
meandering youth. They drifted through high school, maybe even
undergrad, and then, voila, they were one of the leading orthopedic
surgeons in the world. For some, professional success springs from humble
or directionless beginnings. Yet, it’s fair to say these folks are the exception,
not the rule.
Many who enter professional fields like medicine, law, engineering,
teaching, or computer programming were driven from a relatively early age
to pursue activities related to their desired field. Sometimes a career path
manifested itself in high school, for others they were destined for certain
careers since they could talk—think of the future engineer somehow jerry-
rigging a pile of Duplos into a working combustion engine as a toddler.
Back in chapter 1, we cited alarming statistics regarding both rising
student debt and the shocking number of degree holders working jobs that
did not require a college education, many of whom are now suffering long-
term financial consequences as a result. Look no further than a statistic
released in 2015 revealing that 37% of Uber drivers possessed college
degrees and nearly 11% held graduate degrees.1 Again, as we said before,
there is absolutely nothing wrong with choosing to work in a field that
doesn’t require any higher education. What is undesirable is accruing
massive student loan debt at an expensive private college and then ending
up in a lower-wage, limited-benefits job—especially when this
circumstance could have easily been avoided with just a small dose of
planning back in high school.
In such a challenging economic climate, we feel that a resource guide is
needed to more effectively guide young people toward a style of college
planning that properly accounts for long-term financial and career-related
realities. In the absence of such advice, it’s simply too easy for parents and
students to develop tunnel vision in the college selection process where
practical and down-the-road factors fall by the wayside; it’s also easy to
sign up as an Uber driver.
Whether your child has been sure of their future field since they were in
Huggies or is just beginning to lean toward a certain profession as a high
school senior, our “So You Want to Be a . . . ” chapter is designed to help all
career-minded high school students think intelligently about their
postsecondary journeys. In this chapter, we will look at the financial,
academic, and personal factors that college-bound students and their
families should consider when exploring some of the most popular
professions: doctor, lawyer, engineer, software developer/programmer,
teacher, financial analyst, psychologist, professor, and journalist. We also
highlight the colleges that send the highest percentage of students to top
jobs and graduate schools in these professional fields, and by doing so,
reveal whether attending a prestigious undergraduate school can actually
help one’s job prospects.

SO YOU WANT TO BE A DOCTOR . . .

Should I Be a Pre-Med Major?
This may come as a surprise, but the acceptance rate to medical school
among those who majored in the biological sciences is actually less than
that of humanities, math, or social science majors.2 Translation: Students
are genuinely free to pursue any academic major on the road to med school.
That being said, if you choose to pursue your dream of majoring in a
foreign language, there will be a laundry list of prerequisites that you will
have to squeeze into your academic schedule. Most medical schools require
two to four semesters of biology, two semesters of both organic and
inorganic chemistry, physics, and math (including calculus). If you can
balance a non-pre-med major and these demanding courses, go for it. If you
start accidentally labeling hydrolytic enzymes in French on your biology
final, it may be time to consider a more focused course of study.

Gain Experience in the Field

Not only will gaining experience in the field help you decide if a medical
career is right for you, it will help you build a resume demonstrating
passion and a lifetime commitment to the profession. Selecting a college
with ample research opportunities for undergraduates can be advantageous,
as can involving yourself in clinical work and medical-related community
service. In fact, the majority of US medical schools cite these activities as
important or very important to their admission decisions.3

Do I Need to Attend a Prestigious Undergraduate School?

Earning admission into medical school requires, above all, a high
undergraduate GPA and MCAT score, regardless of your undergraduate
institution; however, the competitiveness of your alma mater can indeed
have influence, especially at the most prestigious medical schools. For
example, Harvard Medical School insists that it “is looking for people with
broad interests and talents, not for students from particular academic
institutions.” Yet, an analysis of where current HMS students attended
college would suggest otherwise.
Using data from the business networking site, LinkedIn, we were able to
identify the undergraduate backgrounds of 385 Harvard Med students, who
comprise more than half of the school’s MD candidate population.
Surprisingly, more than 70 percent earned undergraduate degrees from a
college or university identified as elite.4 The most commonly represented
institutions included Yale, Duke, MIT, Stanford, and, of course, Harvard.
Similar analyses of other top medical schools yielded very much the same
results, indicating that undergraduate prestige does matter. For example, of
the nearly 260 Stanford MD candidates with a LinkedIn profile (more than
half of Stanford’s current MD student population), a whopping 60 percent
earned bachelor’s degrees from one of 12 undergraduate institutions:
Stanford, MIT, Duke, Johns Hopkins, or one of the eight Ivy League
colleges. Keep in mind there are over 2,000 four-year colleges and
universities in the United States.
Of course, Stanford, Harvard, and other elite medical schools may admit a
disproportionately high number of Ivy League students, not because of the
name on their undergraduate diplomas, but because they possess abilities
and/or talents that are actually superior to candidates from other, less-
competitive institutions and which enabled them to secure a spot at a top
college in the first place. However, the lack of undergraduate diversity
among elite med school students is too glaring to ignore; and in light of
several recent studies suggesting that the overwhelming majority of high-
achieving students do not in fact attend an Ivy League or other elite college,
it would seem fair to conclude that elite medical institutions do give at least
some preference to graduates of highly selective institutions, irrespective of
their GPA or MCAT results.5
Figure 7.1 Top Feeders to Elite Medical Schools

Interestingly, the results of our analysis also suggest that certain elite
medical schools, such as Stanford and Duke University, give preference to
their own undergrads, perhaps in part because they have an intimate
familiarity with the rigor of the program, but also because these schools
have a vested interest in seeing their own alumni advance to the highest
rungs of the medical profession. For example, a Duke undergraduate who
goes on to attend Duke medical school is more likely to become an alumni
donor, and given her MD from Duke, is more likely to land a coveted
position within the medical field, thus bringing greater revenue and prestige
to the university.

What If I Can’t Get Admitted into a Prestigious College?

Ultimately, attending a highly selective undergraduate institution can
improve one’s medical school prospects, but it is not the only pathway to a
medical career. There are nearly 150 accredited MD-granting institutions in
the United States, and another 30 plus accredited institutions granting
doctorates in osteopathic medicine—most accept students from a wide array
of undergraduate institutions, and nearly all produce physicians who
achieve success within their respective specialties. It is also important to
note that job security, employment prospects, and earnings are almost
always strong for medical school graduates, regardless of which medical
school they attend. This is not the case in other desirable professions, such
as business or law, where a significant percentage of students attending less
than prestigious graduate schools fail to secure jobs and salaries that are
commensurate with their level of education.
However, if you remain determined to attend an elite medical school but
don’t have quite the credentials to attend an elite college, you might
consider these slightly less-selective institutions, all of which have strong
pre-med offerings, and despite their absence from our top feeders list, still
have excellent track records of placing graduates into the best MD
programs:
• Baylor University
• Boston University
• Case Western Reserve University
• Clark University
• College of the Holy Cross
• University of California, San Diego
• University of Pittsburgh
• University of Washington

Plan the Financial End

Eighty-six percent of medical students emerge from school with debt to
their name. The average debt load is close to 180K.6 The good news is that,
unlike with law school, just about everyone who makes it through med
school will end up with a six-figure career, yet doctors’ salaries vary greatly
by specialty area. While primary care physicians bring home a median
compensation of $241,000, cardiologists and orthopedic surgeons make
more than twice that amount.7
It’s important to remember that becoming a medical doctor can involve up
to 14 years of higher education meaning that you will be missing out on as
many as ten post-undergrad, income-generating years. While this represents
a pretty significant opportunity cost, those with a burning desire to join the
medical field will find the rewards well worth the sacrifice.

Related Careers
If you want a career in health care but don’t want to spend the time or
money pursuing a medical degree, consider these other popular professions,
seen in Figure 7.2.

SO YOU WANT TO BE A LAWYER . . .

Should I Be a Pre-Law Major?
The American Bar Association does not recommend a pre-law course of
study for future barristers in college. In fact, they have decreed publicly that
there is no right major. A look at law school admissions data reveal that
history, economics, math, science, and philosophy majors all have far
superior rates of admission into law school than those with a pre-law or
criminal justice background.8 Essentially, if law school is your desired next
step, then you have a license to pursue whatever subject you find
intellectually stimulating as an undergraduate. The operative phrase there is
intellectually stimulating. To be adequately prepared to ace the LSAT and
handle the rigor of law school, you’ll want to steer clear of phys ed,
advanced crocheting, or bowling industry management.

Figure 7.2 Popular Health Care Professions

Make Sure You Actually Want to Be a Lawyer

To picture the day-to-day experience of most attorneys, start by imagining
your favorite oozingly earnest Sam Waterston closing statement from Law
& Order . . . Okay, ready? Now subtract all of the glamour, drama, and
high-minded ideals. Substitute in 90-hour workweeks, endless mountains of
paperwork, and a cutthroat and highly stressful work environment.
Okay, maybe that was a bit harsh but if you examine surveys of those
presently in the field, a less-than-rosy picture of the job emerges. Over half
of those practicing law today say they wish they had chosen a different
career.9 Equally bleak is the fact that depression, substance abuse, and even
suicide are more prevalent in the legal field than in any other profession.10
We’re not saying there aren’t lawyers who have wonderful and fulfilling
careers, but you’ll want to do your research to make sure there is an area in
the field that genuinely excites you.

Gain Experience in the Field

Jumping straight from your college graduation into law school might make
you feel like the star of your five-year high school reunion (“Man, that
guy/gal has got direction!”), but it could cost you the chance to do your due
diligence. We recommend spending some time working in a legal setting
before cutting that first hefty law school tuition check. Whether it’s in the
summer or after graduation, there is no better method of career counseling
than actually seeing the real deal up-close.
Does Going to a Prestigious Undergraduate School Help?
Getting into a reputable law school, where job opportunities are plentiful, is
first and foremost a numbers game. In general, so-called tier-one law
schools are looking for students with outstanding GPAs and LSAT scores.
These are, after all, the primary metrics used by U.S. News to rank the top
law programs. The prestige of one’s undergraduate institution is less of a
factor, but still appears to play an important role.
Using LinkedIn data, we were able to identify the undergraduate
backgrounds of approximately 60 percent of all students enrolled in law
schools that are ranked among the top 15 by U.S. News. Although degree
holders from elite colleges are not as pervasive as they are at the nation’s
top medical schools, their numbers still far exceed their representation
among four-year college graduates. Of the nearly 8,700 students currently
enrolled at a top-15 law school and for whom we were able to collect
education data, more than 38% earned degrees from an undergraduate
institution that was rated as Elite, while approximately 63% graduate from
one of 73 colleges defined as Elite or Extremely Selective (see the Appendix
to learn how we rank colleges by selectivity). Harvard, Yale, and UC
Berkeley sent the highest number of graduates to elite law schools, and are
included among our other top feeders.11
Although our analysis suggests that undergraduate prestige does matter, it
also indicated that graduating from an uber-selective college was not the
only way to earn entry into a top law program. According to our estimates,
close to 30% of all elite law school attendees graduate from an
undergraduate school accepting more than half of all applicants. In addition,
there were a number of reputable yet slightly less-competitive schools that
sent a significant share of graduates to the nation’s best law schools,
including the following:
• American University
• Fordham University
• Furman University
• George Washington University
• St. Olaf College
• University of Florida
• University of Georgia
• University of Pittsburgh
In fact, given the overriding importance of GPAs and LSAT scores, it is
safe to assume that there can be potential advantages associated with
attending a slightly less-selective institution, particularly if you are able to
earn a higher GPA than you would at a more exclusive school. For example,
a student with a 3.7 from George Washington University may present as
more competitive than a 3.4 student from nearby Georgetown.
Ultimately, if you are an aspiring lawyer and in the midst of choosing an
undergraduate institution, perhaps it’s best to keep in mind what Michigan’s
top-ranked law school wrote about the role of college prestige, which likely
summarizes the stance adopted by other prestigious law programs:

Figure 7.3 Top Feeders to Elite Law Schools

 While the strength of an undergraduate institution is certainly a factor we consider in the
admissions process, our commitment to maintaining the excellence of our student body does not
limit the wide range of educational institutions from which our students hail. There most
assuredly is no accredited school whose graduates we would be simply unwilling to admit.12

Plan the Financial End

Two key things to remember here:
1. Law school is extremely expensive.
2. Not every lawyer makes a ton of money.
Just about everyone who successfully works their way through medical
school will go on to a lucrative career. This is simply not true of law school,
where, quite frankly, there will be winners and losers. Your performance
relative to the rest of your class matters, and those at the bottom 50th
percentile of their class rarely, if ever, waltz into six-figure jobs. Those with
a passion for less lucrative sectors of the profession such as family law,
civil rights, or public interest also need to be particularly thoughtful in this
area.
The average law school graduate comes out over $100K in debt.13 There
is, of course, good debt and bad debt. Overpaying for a high-end
undergraduate education and then paying big bucks for a lower-end law
school is likely to leave you with bad debt. If you have a choice between
attending an elite college for undergrad or an elite law school (and not
both), go with the elite law school every time.

What Kind of Law School Should I Aim for?

Unlike our approach to undergraduate admissions, we do not place as large
of an emphasis on fit when it comes to law schools. Of course, fit matters to
the extent that, for example, candidates interested in a career in government
may find better prospects at a DC-area law school. Yet, it is important to
acknowledge the reality that law school and the legal field itself are
hypercompetitive and prestige is of paramount importance.
If you’re going to go to law school, aim for a top-shelf institution. Tier 3
and 4 law school graduates too often face a chilly job market and are
saddled with burdensome debts. If, after looking over your law school
prospects, you conclude, like Groucho Marx, that you wouldn’t join any
club that would have you as a member, it may be time to explore other
professions.

Figure 7.4 Careers Related to Law

Related Careers
College-bound students with interests in law, policy, and/or criminal justice
should understand that becoming a lawyer is not their only career option. In
reality, there are dozens of potentially fulfilling and financially rewarding
occupations for which having a legal background is desired, if not required.

SO YOU WANT TO BE AN ENGINEER . . .

Many Types of Engineers
There are more than 25 different areas of study within the engineering
discipline including but not limited to civil, mechanical, biomedical,
chemical, electrical, geological, architectural, industrial, aerospace,
software, and nuclear engineering. Naturally, these varying fields can
involve very different courses of study. However, all engineering disciplines
share certain core competencies that must be mastered in order to enter this
highly competitive profession.

Do You Have an “Engineering Mind?”

Because engineering degrees dominate lists of top-paying bachelor’s
degrees, a good number of high school students (and their parents)
understandably elect to explore it as a career option. Here’s a word of
warning on that subject: this is rarely a skill set that appears suddenly in late
adolescence when it’s time to select a college major—for most, it is evident
from early childhood.
From a very early age, those with an engineering mind can often be found
taking things apart and putting them back together. Some may enjoy
repairing machinery or electronic equipment, teaching themselves computer
programming, or tinkering with inventions. In essence, these individuals
possess both a passion and an aptitude for figuring out how things work.
This combination of innate ability and zeal is essential in a discipline that
requires a high level of perseverance and diligence.

Fact: Engineering Programs Are Challenging

The attrition rate for engineering students in unparalleled. A gulp-worthy
50% of freshmen engineering students eventually drop out or change
majors.14 The primary reason why students drop out of engineering
programs is a lack of preparedness for the high level of rigor. Beyond the
sheer challenge of the material is the time commitment required. The
average engineering major spends 20–25 hours studying outside of the
classroom, more than any other major.15 However, students at top
engineering programs at schools like MIT and Caltech have the lowest
freshman dropout rates, in large part because their classes are comprised
exclusively of students who took the most rigorous curriculum available to
them in high school.

What Courses Should I Take in High School?

No matter what type of engineering you plan on studying, it’s a good bet
that impeccable math skills will be required. Plan on taking AP Calculus
and AP Statistics while in high school. Not surprisingly, advanced science
courses are also a must—chemistry, biology, and physics of the honors or
AP variety are recommended. Nationwide, only 63% of public high schools
offer physics and just 50% have a calculus course.16 If these courses are
unavailable in your school, seek out opportunities online or at a local
community college.
Partaking in any computer science program offered by your high school is
also strongly recommended for all would-be engineers. Some schools offer
computer-aided design and AP Computer Science. All engineers need to be
tech-savvy and formal training in high school can give you an edge. It’s
also wise not to neglect English. Engineers in today’s marketplace are often
required to be strong writers and communicators. Soft-skill areas such as
adaptability and collaboration are also great assets for anyone entering the
world of engineering.
Do I Need to Attend a Prestigious Undergraduate School?
The engineering field is more egalitarian than others—most employers are
more interested in what you can produce than the selectivity of your
undergraduate college.
An examination of starting and mid-career salary data from over 300
engineering schools supports this reality and reveals a pretty level playing
field and a general lack of correlation between prestige and pay.17
For example, Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, is
ranked by U.S. News as the 76th best engineering program.18 Its graduates
have an average starting salary of $66,800 and an average mid-career salary
of $120,000. Compare that to MIT, ranked first overall, where graduates
enter the field with an average salary of $74,900 and enjoy an average mid-
career salary only $4,000 more than a typical Stevens grad.19
We’re not making the argument that Stevens Institute of Technology and
MIT are on equal footing; we are merely highlighting the fact that the
choice between attending a highly selective and moderately selective
engineering program is not likely to determine the amount you are
compensated for your work.
The selectivity of your undergraduate institution, however, may determine
where you work. Although there appears to be little, if any, relationship
between the name on your diploma and numbers on your paycheck,
undergraduate brand can still have an influence on the companies to which
you have access. The following Top Feeders list shows that if you want to
work as an engineer for some of America’s most sought-after employers,
having a degree from a selective institution can certainly help your chances.

Consider a Dual Degree Program

If you are determined to attend an elite engineering school, yet don’t have
the credentials to matriculate right away, a dual degree engineering program
is an avenue worth exploring. This format allows students to earn a
bachelor’s degree at any one of a host of participating colleges in three or
four years and then, if a minimum GPA is earned (typically a 3.3 or better),
matriculate into a prestigious engineering program. For instance, Columbia
University’s highly selective engineering school partners with almost 100
liberal arts colleges across the country, from Ivy-caliber institutions like
Middlebury to Marietta College in Ohio, which has a 70% acceptance rate.
Students apply to Columbia during their junior year, and if accepted, spend
the next two years earning a BS in engineering. Washington University and
Dartmouth College also offer prestigious dual degree engineering programs.

Job Outlook
In making a case for STEM education, politicians frequently bemoan our
country’s shortage of engineers. These speeches leave the impression that
anyone with a bachelor’s in engineering will have 15 job offers before his
or her graduation cap flies into the air. It’s true that an engineering degree of
any variety is typically about as sound an educational investment as exists,
however, some engineers, such as those in the naval and mining fields,
actually suffer from higher unemployment rates than the general labor
pool.20
Figure 7.5 Top Feeders (Engineering)

The ten-year job outlook for engineers varies greatly by branch and, of
course, is always subject to change based on technological developments,
environmental factors, and shifting political landscapes. For example, the
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts that openings for civil engineers
will grow significantly through 2022 due to the nation’s aging infrastructure
and need to replace roads, tunnels, bridges, and dams.21
From aging structures to aging humans, the need for biomedical engineers
should be in demand over the coming decades as the elderly population in
the United States continues to need more and more medical care.22
Likewise for petroleum engineers, ever-increasing oil prices and an older-
than-average workforce should lead to healthy job growth.23 However, the
oil and gas industry is notoriously boom or bust and so it is very difficult to
project with any certainty.

Bottom Line
Explore engineering as an area of study if you have an aptitude and passion
for the related subject matter. Don’t try to read the industry tea leaves when
selecting a branch of engineering to study; pick a specialty area that is of
high interest and within your academic wheelhouse.
Earning an engineering degree from any school, no matter the level of
prestige, requires an exceptional level of commitment and fortitude. Those
who conquer the academic challenges and enter the marketplace with a
bachelor’s in any engineering field will be well positioned to earn
substantial compensation relative to other degree holders.

SO YOU WANT TO BE A SOFTWARE

DEVELOPER/ENGINEER/PROGRAMMER . . .
What’s the Difference Between a Software Developer, Engineer, and
Programmer?
These terms are sometimes used rather interchangeably which can lead to
confusion. While there is a degree of overlap in terms of job duties and
educational requirements, software developers, engineers, and
programmers all have unique job duties and educational requirements.
 Programmers’ primary duties center around creating and inputting code.
Most programmers have computer science degrees; others are self-taught.
In a Venn diagram, the ability to code would overlap for both programmers
and those termed software developers. Typically, the job title of software
developer goes to someone who is a generalist, well versed in a number of
systems and languages but not necessarily an expert in any one (like a
programmer). Developers lead teams of programmers, possess strong
communication skills, and help connect employees with expertise in
different areas to work toward a bigger-picture goal.
Here’s where things get unnecessarily confusing . . . some software
engineers hold the title of software developer. However, the designation of
engineer carries some weight and your average engineer would not enjoy
being grouped as a developer with individuals lacking a degree in
engineering. By definition, engineers explore the practical applications of
scientific and mathematical principles as related to the creation of software.
They, like developers, are looking at the big picture of a project, but with a
lens more focused on science than art.

Do I Need to Attend a Prestigious Undergraduate School?

Indeed Google, Apple, and other premier tech companies do recruit heavily
from the usual suspects: Stanford, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, etc. However, a
school’s proximity is also of great importance.
For example, Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, plucks the majority
of their employees from places such as nearby University of Washington,
Washington State, and Western Washington University. Apple, located in
the heart of Silicon Valley, draws a large portion of its workforce from
nearby San Jose State and Cal Poly.24
As with the engineering profession at large, entering the field of software
development is more about what you can do than the name on your
diploma. That said, a computer science major from an elite school that also
possesses an exceptional skill set will be at a premium on the job market
and will also have an inside track to the most desirable companies in the
tech industry, as the following Top Feeders list demonstrates.

What Courses Should I Take in High School?

It should come as little surprise that math is going to be of paramount
importance. Taking a rigorous algebra, trigonometry, geometry, and pre-
calc/calc class is a must, but none of these branches of mathematics
translates directly to computer science.

Figure 7.6 Top Feeders (Tech Companies)

If possible, find a way to take a discrete mathematics class. Discrete math

is the foundation of modern-day computer science and includes topics such
as combinatorics, probability, number theory, logic, and graph theory. While
discrete math is a staple of most high school math competitions, it is not
always offered by schools due to the fact that its content is not the primary
focus of high-stakes state standardized tests or the SAT. You may have to
take a summer course at a local college or study the subject on your own,
but the rewards will be ample.
 Of equal duh status is to partake in any and every computer course offered
by your school. AP Computer Science is immensely beneficial but is only
available at fewer than 5% of American high schools.25 Roughly 40,000
high school students in the United States take the AP Computer Science
exam each year compared to over 400,000 who take AP Calculus.26 As with
discrete math, ambitious students should seek to enroll in computer science
coursework online or at a local college.

What Should I Major in?

Appropriate fields of study for entry into this profession include computer
science, computer engineering, computer information systems, or
mathematics. Regardless of your major, it’ll be of benefit to be well versed
in a variety of programming languages such as C++, CSS, Python, PHP,
Java, and JavaScript. Opportunities to complete independent research
projects and obtain internships during your four years of study will also be
key in showing employers that you have the practical experience and
knowledge needed to land your first job.

Salary Expectations
Software engineering is a well-compensated field, with the national average
salary right around 90 grand. This is a rare career where the starting salary
for a bachelor’s degree holding individual reaches almost $70,000 per year.
Experienced engineers/programmers/developers working for major
multinational corporations such as Amazon, Oracle, and Intel will achieve
average salaries in the low-six figures.27
Computer programmers without the engineer title attached to their name
will typically earn close to 50K out of college and will average out at
around 70K. Those who go on to become IT managers or take on other
administrative duties can bring home salaries in excess of 100K.28

Job Outlook
Jobs in software development are projected to grow at 22%, faster than the
average occupation, through 2022.29 In addition to the continually growing
world of mobile applications, this field will also benefit from the expansion
of information technology in the health care field as well as increased
investment in electronic security for government and private networks.

Bottom Line
Jobs in the software development field, whether you are an engineer or a
programmer are stable, well compensated, and projected to grow
significantly moving into the future. Those who are knowledgeable,
experienced, and efficient will see a tremendous return on their educational
investment whether they attend a selective tech powerhouse or a state
school.

SO YOU WANT TO BE A TEACHER . . .

Does Going to a Prestigious Undergraduate School Help?
Breaking into the teaching field is numerically a very different endeavor
than landing a job in the highly selective worlds of law, medicine,
engineering, etc. There are presently 3.7 million people making their living
as primary or secondary school teachers in the United States. Almost 85%
of those 3.7 million educators are employed by their respective states in the
public system, while the remaining few hundred thousand individuals staff
private and parochial schools.30
If school districts, even top-notch ones, only accepted candidates from
elite colleges and universities, the majority of the country’s classrooms
would be left unsupervised. A resume that boasts a prestigious
undergraduate school may certainly catch the eye of a hiring official,
especially from a desirable suburban district where breaking in is extremely
competitive. However, even in these districts, a distinguished alma mater is
far from a prerequisite.
Of more importance is the proximity of your college. Public institutions
are often the best feeders into the most desirable schools and districts within
their respective states. For example, in Pennsylvania, where teacher salaries
are relatively high and pensions are relatively generous, many schools draw
a high percentage of their employees from Penn State, University of
Pittsburgh, and other less-selective state institutions, such as Millersville
and West Chester Universities. Students attending these schools have an
inside track to PA jobs because they are more likely to meet requirements
for state licensure, secure local student teaching opportunities (which often
to lead to employment), and benefit from strong alumni
representation/networks within PA school districts. In general, if you know
where you want to spend your teaching years, it’s best to concentrate your
college search on nearby schools, particularly those that are in-state and at
least moderately selective.

Teacher Salaries
The widespread belief that teaching is, across the board, a low-income
profession is a bit too broad and is ultimately misleading. In reality, teacher
salaries vary greatly by type of school (public vs. private), region of the
country, and type of community (urban vs. suburban vs. rural).
The overall average salary for a public school teacher in the United States
comes in at just over $53,000.31 However, in certain geographic pockets
such as the Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, and San Diego suburbs,
teachers at the top of the pay scale bring in six-figure salaries. Scarsdale
School District in New York has the highest median teacher salary in the
country at $137,000.32
Private school teachers will make significantly less than their public
school counterparts. Charter schools, which continue to spring up in urban
areas across the United States, also typically offer lower pay than public
schools.
As with salary, benefits bestowed upon teachers have great variability on a
state-by-state basis. There are 28 states who currently still offer pension
systems to their public school teachers, but with almost all of these systems
in financial crisis, it’s hard to imagine they will sustain, at least in their
present form, through the next generation of educators.

Gain Experience in the Field

Amazingly, 40% of individuals graduating with a teaching degree never
even enter a classroom, instead electing to pursue other fields. Of those who
do take over a classroom, 40-50% leave the profession within 5 years.33
Too often, students studying education do not enter an actual K-12
classroom of any kind on a regular basis until student teaching, which
traditionally occurs during one’s final undergraduate semester. Colleges of
education have been trending toward offering more practicum experience
throughout the four years to help give students a more steady diet of actual
classroom exposure, but there is no reason not to take matters into your own
hands.
One of the beautiful things about gaining experience in the education field
is that, wherever you live, a school is never more than a stone’s throw away
and most will offer ways to get involved. Many K-12 buildings offer
chances for community members to tutor or mentor students, supervise
after-school activities, or observe a classroom setting upon request. Even
when you are still in high school yourself, ask your teachers, counselor, or
principal if you can get involved working with younger students—the
insight you gain will go a long way in helping you determine whether
pursuing a degree in education is right for you.

Think about a Double Major

Given the alarming retention statistics in the field of education, it is not a
bad idea to seek a double major. Education degrees from most colleges and
universities are generally viewed as less rigorous and selective than other
areas of study. Coupling your education degree with a second area of
interest, especially in the subject area where you want to teach, can improve
your marketability and leave many options open should you choose to enter
another field or pursue an advanced degree in a different discipline.

Plan the Financial End

First-year teachers nationwide average close to $40,000 per year. Because
teaching pay scales are almost always on a schedule that accounts for years
of service and degree status, even higher paying districts very rarely start
teachers above $50,000, and it is typically a 15+ year climb to reach the
max salary. Except for a smattering of districts across the country
experimenting with merit pay, longevity is the sole pathway to incremental
raises, which can be frustrating for young teachers.
Avoiding debt prior to entering the teaching field is strongly recommended
if not absolutely necessary. Unless your parents or a substantial merit aid
package are covering the entire bill, we recommend being very cost
conscious during the college selection process. Remember, the selectivity of
your college will not have a sizable impact on your ability to obtain a
teaching job.
If you intend to stay in teaching for the long haul, plan on eventually
pursuing a master’s degree. Graduate school is not a barrier to entry in the
field of education, but the majority of teachers pursue advanced degrees at
some point in their careers. At present, 55% of public school teachers hold
at least a master’s degree and if you look only at industry veterans, that
number increases substantially.34 Many school districts will pay a portion of
their employees’ grad school tuition. In all states, teachers are required to
obtain additional credits as part of continuing education programs tied to
maintaining a license, making post-baccalaureate study of some variety
mandatory.
For some, teaching is a rewarding experience that is more a calling than a
job. In the right geographic region, in a public school setting, the
combination of solid salary and unmatched retirement benefits can make
teaching a more viable living than many commonly believe. Unfortunately,
many leave the profession due to stress, lack of administrative support, and
lack of academic freedom in the classroom. Yet, for those born to be
teachers, those obstacles are minor when weighed against the opportunity to
help bring learning to life, inspire young people, and play a genuine role in
shaping the future.

SO YOU WANT TO BE A FINANCIAL ANALYST . . .

What Exactly Does Being a Financial Analyst Entail?
Most analysts work for brokerage houses, banking or credit institutions, or
insurance brokerages. In general, the daily work of a financial analyst
includes carefully studying global financial trends for the purpose of
accurately predicting future value of stocks, bonds, and companies. This is
accomplished, in part, through reading voluminous amounts of research and
news material as well as through financial modeling and analysis.

Do I Need to Major in Business?

No. Though many financial analysts do study business administration or
finance, the majority pursue other majors during their undergraduate years.
Economics is the most common major among finance professionals while
mathematics, engineering, and political science are also well represented.35
Wall Street employers typically regard intelligence, drive, and certain
personality traits as more important than college major, in part because the
technical aspects of many finance-related jobs are learned through on-the-
job training, rather than inside a college classroom. Thus, individuals
possessing non-typical majors can still prove competitive in the hiring
process, and may even have an advantage over candidates coming from
more traditional backgrounds.
Rob Dyer, head of recruitment at Deloitte, insists that non-business and
non-finance graduates make very good employees because they often have
different thought processes. “If they’ve studied history, for example, their
research skills give them a huge boost. They’re self-starters—they’re used
to going away, studying on their own, and coming back with a view. These
are important skills for us,” Dyer says.36 Dyer’s sentiments are
substantiated by recruiters at other firms, such as Goldman Sachs, where
liberal arts graduates constitute the largest group of employees and
significantly outnumber those with undergraduate degrees in business or
finance.37

Do I Need to Attend a Prestigious Undergraduate School?

Regardless of your major, if you are looking to land a job at a top
investment bank or hedge fund, attending a selective undergraduate
institution is pretty close to a prerequisite. Ultra-competitive institutions
with large alumni bases located in the Northeastern United States provide
students with a particular edge.
For example, the US schools most represented at high-powered banks like
Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase or Morgan Stanley include Ivies UPenn,
Columbia, Cornell, Harvard and Princeton as well as NYU, Georgetown,
and Boston College. Other strong but not hyper-selective schools such as
Baruch College and Rutgers University are also well represented in the
industry, in part, because of their sheer proximity to Wall Street.38
What Courses Should I Take in High School?
Taking rigorous math courses including AP Statistics is strongly advised.
Students should also consider developing a strong command of
spreadsheet/data management software like MS Excel. While more
advanced software is used in many investment firms and brokerage houses,
becoming proficient in the basics will lay the groundwork for future
learning.
The social/communication aspect of the financial world can easily be
underestimated and yet is of critical importance. Opportunities to pursue
high-level English classes as well as public speaking or drama courses will
help hone skills essential to life as a financial analyst.

Figure 7.7 Top Feeders (Banking)

Be Prepared for Long Hours
Seventy to eighty hour weeks are commonplace, especially for those in
their first few years in the field. In addition to your work hours, it benefits
young analysts to network with potential clients as well as others in the
field during their limited free time. Do the math, and it’s easy to see why
work/life balance can be a great challenge in this field. Similar to those
starting in the legal field, young financial professionals report a higher level
of stress and fatigue than peers in less all-consuming lines of work.
Symptoms such as depression, anxiety, weight gain, and other health issues
are common.39

Salary Expectations
Fortunately, your long hours do not go uncompensated. Salary expectations
for financial analysts are quite high, especially when considering that base
salary doesn’t tell the whole picture. In fact, analysts at many private firms
can more than double their base salary through performance bonuses.
The average salary for financial analysts nationwide is $76,000 yet this
figure is somewhat misleading as it includes relatively lower-paid workers
in the insurance field, whose average salary is just under $50,000.40 Some
entry-level jobs at top Wall Street hedge funds pay an average salary in
excess of $300,000.41
Financial analysts can also be promoted to portfolio or fund managerial
positions where top performers have the opportunity to bring home annual
salary figures with six zeroes.

Job Outlook
Financial analyst positions are expected to grow at 16%, faster than the
average occupation, through 2022.42 However, competition for these job
openings is sure to remain fierce. The industry is so cutthroat that many
Wall Street banks and private equity firms begin recruiting top-level
prospective candidates 18 months before a position even becomes available.

Additional Education
Unlike many other fields, lucrative entry-level employment is a realistic
possibility in the financial industry. Still, nearly half of financial analysts
(and many other business professionals) move on to pursue MBAs within
their first five years of employment, in order to accelerate their career
growth and earn even higher pay. Their decision to pursue further education
seems justified, as demand for MBA graduates has never been higher, and
reaches far beyond the financial sector.
According to a 2015 survey conducted by the Graduate Management
Admission Council, nearly nine in ten US companies have plans to hire
MBA graduates, who are estimated to make a median starting salary of
$100,000, not including sign-on or year-end bonuses.43 Graduates of elite
business schools now command starting salaries in excess of $130,000, on
average, and are about as likely to pursue careers in technology and
consulting as they are finance. Given the versatility of an MBA and the
significant returns to earning such a degree, it’s easy see to why so many
future and current college students have their sights set on attending a top-
tier business school.

MBA Admissions and the Role of Undergraduate Selectivity

In contrast to other professional degree programs, such as those in law or
medicine, MBA programs strongly encourage applicants to possess at least
a couple of years of work experience, meaning that few students apply
immediately after graduating from college. Still, the competitiveness of
one’s undergraduate institution is considered in the MBA admissions
process. Similar to our analyses of medical and law school students, we
relied on LinkedIn to identify the alma mater of those currently enrolled at
the nation’s most prestigious business schools.
Of the 6,700 students included in our sample, nearly 39% graduated from
one of 30 colleges defined as Elite, while slightly more than 68% graduated
from one of 73 colleges defined as Elite or Extremely Selective (see the
Appendix for a list of colleges and their category of selectivity). Our list of
top MBA feeders is comprised almost exclusively of institutions in these
selectivity categories. Only Trinity College in Hartford, CT (Moderately
Selective) is defined as less than Extremely Selective.
 Although the list is dominated by highly selective schools, several
(slightly) less-competitive universities were also well represented, including
the following:
• Boston University
• Brigham Young University
• George Washington University
• Miami University
• University of Illinois
• University of Maryland
• University of Texas at Austin
• Whitman College

Figure 7.8 Top Feeders to Elite MBA Programs

Alternatives to the MBA

Instead of earning an MBA, a significant number of financial analysts
pursue professional certifications and licenses through less formal and more
affordable educational means. Many entry-level financial analysts spend
their evenings and weekends studying to become a Chartered Financial
Analyst (CFA), a designation awarded to qualified individuals by a
nonprofit organization called the CFA Institute. To earn the charter, you
must have four years of work experience in the financial industry, hold a
bachelor’s degree, and pass level 1, 2, and 3 exams. Each exam takes an
estimated 250 hours to prepare for, and pass rates are low with only 20% of
those sitting for the level 1 exam continuing on to pass all three.44 Those
who persevere emerge with an impressive credential that can lead to
promotions, raises, and increased desirability on the open market.
Analysts interested in entering certain specialty fields will first have to
earn licensure in those areas. For example, anyone wishing to buy or sell
securities must first demonstrate proficiency on the Series 7 exam
administered by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The vast
majority of states will also require would-be securities agents to also pass
the Series 63, which covers state laws and regulations.

Bottom Line
Entering this field at the top level is greatly aided by attending a highly
selective undergraduate school. Your work as a financial analyst will entail
long hours in a highly competitive environment. Yet, those with the right
personality and work ethic may end up occupying Wall Street for many
years as part of this fast-paced and lucrative profession.

Related Careers
Of course, students attracted to Wall Street primarily because of the big
money and high prestige should not consider finance as their only career
option. The business world is filled with non-finance professionals who
have forged equally remunerative and often times more rewarding career
paths. There are a few other occupations worth exploring, shown in Figure
7.9.
Figure 7.9 Careers Related to Business

SO YOU WANT TO BE A PSYCHOLOGIST . . .

Which Helping Profession Is Right for Me?
The term psychologist likely conjures up an image of a professionally
attired individual scribbling on a notepad as a patient, reposed on a couch,
shares traumas from their adolescence. This image is consistent with the
work of a clinical or counseling psychologist, just two of a plethora of
options in this diverse field.
A host of specialty areas exist in the field of psychology: school
psychology, sports psychology, organizational psychology, experimental
psychology, forensic psychology, and neuropsychology, just to name a few.
There are also many professional jobs in the mental health field that do not
carry the psychologist label such as rehabilitation counselor, social worker,
special educator, or guidance counselor. Entrance into these positions
typically requires a master’s degree. However, if you want the title of
clinical or counseling psychologist, you must plan to continue your higher
education journey, as all states now require these professionals to hold a
PhD or PsyD degree.

Plan the Financial End

Salaries in the mental health field will increase significantly based on the
level of education required to enter a given field. Those with bachelor’s
degrees in psychology enter the field making less than $35,000 on average.
Most will find entry-level employment in the behavioral/mental health
field, working in positions such as a drug and alcohol counselor, probation
officer, group home coordinator, or social worker. Master’s level
psychologists can expect to earn nearly double that of their bachelor’s-only
peers and those who eventually earn a PsyD or PhD will see average
earnings above $87,000 and if you become one of the top 10% of earners in
the profession, you can see over $110,000.45
 Even better pay may await those willing or wanting to explore careers
outside traditional mental health settings. For example, the BLS recently
cited industrial-organizational psychology as among the fastest growing and
highest-paying occupations in the United States.46 Specializing in human
behavior in the workplace, industrial-organizational psychologists help
businesses and other organizations improve work productivity, evaluate
prospective employees, and design policies and systems that optimize work
performance and quality of work life. In 2014, top-earning I/O
psychologists took home annual salaries of more than $145,000.47
Like I/O psychology, school psychology is also among the fastest growing
occupations in the country. Working primarily in K-12 settings, school
psychologists use their expertise in mental health, learning, and behavior to
aid the academic and emotional development of students. Unlike other
psychological specialties, school psychology does not require a doctorate
for entry, and most practitioners hold either a master’s or specialist degree.
Despite this, school psychologists earn robust salaries exceeding $70,000
on average, and many have ample time, especially during summer months
(when school is not in session), to pursue consulting, private practice, and
other income-generating endeavors.48

Does Going to a Prestigious Undergraduate School Help?

Since becoming a psychologist is guaranteed to involve education beyond
the bachelor’s, the real question here becomes this: Can attending an elite
undergraduate school give you a leg up if your goal is to one day attend a
top graduate program in the field?
Doctoral programs in clinical psychology are extraordinarily competitive.
Admissions rates at schools such as Boston University, Yale, and the
University of Michigan are under 3%. Even less-competitive psych
programs have rates hovering between 5% and 10%.49 Therefore it figures
that attending a highly selective undergraduate school could be a tiebreaker
between two similarly qualified applicants. To test this hypothesis, we
analyzed data provided by the National Science Foundation’s annual Survey
of Earned Doctorates (SED). SED collects information on all (research)
doctoral degree recipients in the United States in a given year, including
where recipients received their bachelor’s degree. Using this information,
we were able to identify which colleges produced the highest percentage of
graduates who eventually went on to earn a PhD in psychology. They are
shown in Figure 7.10.
Most top-producing institutions are highly selective, suggesting that
attending a competitive college may indeed give aspiring psychologists an
edge on their competition. In addition, all of the top producers are small
liberal arts colleges—a finding that is indeed interesting, but not necessarily
surprising. As discussed in chapter 2, students attending liberal arts colleges
are significantly more likely to interact and collaborate with faculty, which
often enables them to acquire substantive research experience and strong
letters of recommendations—two things that, along with high grades and
GRE scores, significantly improve a student’s PhD admission prospects.50

Figure 7.10 Colleges Producing the Most PhDs in Psychology

Do I Have to Major in Psychology?

Psychology has become a wildly popular college major, with the number of
bachelor’s degrees handed out doubling since the 1990s.51 Oddly enough,
only about a quarter of undergraduates who major in psychology actually
go on to enter the field. Instead, many elect to pursue jobs in sales,
government, advertising, and a number of other only obliquely related
vocations.
For those who are serious about a career in psychology, being a psych
major is not necessarily a hardened prerequisite for all graduate programs in
the field. While the majority of applicants to master’s and doctoral psych
programs will possess a BA or BS in psychology or a closely related field,
many programs only require the completion of a number of core classes.
Prerequisites vary from school to school. For example, Hofstra’s PhD
program requires that applicants have achieved a B or better in an
undergraduate statistics course and an experimental psychology (lab)
course. Pitt’s Graduate School of Psychology requires applicants to have
completed a minimum of 12 undergraduate credits in psychology, one
abnormal psych class, and one advanced mathematics course.
Many programs require applicants to take the GRE Psychology exam as
well. It stands to reason that someone who majored in psychology will have
an edge since they have received more formal schooling on the subject than
non-majors.

PsyD versus PhD

The PsyD, or Doctor of Psychology degree, is a fairly recent creation,
having emerged in the 1970s to answer the call for better practical training
for future clinicians. PhDs are a better route for those who wish to enter
academia or other research-focused areas of the field; however, many who
obtain a PhD also enter the field as clinicians.
PhD programs tend to be the more selective of the two, sporting admit
rates less than half that of PsyD programs, on average. PhD programs also
tend to be more affordable, primarily because most PhD students secure
significant financial support in exchange for assisting faculty with research,
whereas students admitted into more practice-oriented PsyD programs are
usually responsible for paying their own way.

Job Outlook
The job market for psychologists looks decent with positions expected to
grow about as fast as average in the coming decade. Those with doctoral
degrees or specialty certifications such as school psychology will fare best.
If you plan on pursuing graduate degrees in the mental health field, make
sure you select a school with opportunities to participate in research and
work closely with faculty. Hands-on experience plus top-notch grades and
standardized test scores will make you a quality candidate to continue your
studies and eventually land the helping job of your dreams.

SO YOU WANT TO BE A PROFESSOR . . .

Fiction versus Reality
Life as a college professor sounds like a delightfully quaint way to make a
living. Residing in a rent-free cabin somewhere in New England, clad in
your unfashionable yet almost required patch-sleeved sweater, you walk
across a picturesque campus each day to deliver an hour or two worth of
lecture, engage in intellectual debates with your colleagues, and work on
the Great American Novel.
Unfortunately, the realities of working in academia in the twenty-first
century are significantly less idyllic. An unfavorable job market, a shift
toward part-time faculty, and the corporatization of higher education have
made the day-to-day realities challenging and the barriers to entry higher
than ever before.

Do I Need to Attend a Prestigious Graduate School?

More than ever before, prestige matters in the field of higher education. A
recent study examined 19,000 tenure-track or tenured faculty at over 450
colleges and universities. They focused on three very different disciplines:
computer science, history, and business, and reached several overarching
conclusions about whether the prestige of your PhD program matters. The
findings: Just 25% of the institutions surveyed produced 71–86% of the
professors in those fields.52 Further, half of the history professors hailed
from eight schools, half of the business professors from 16 institutions, and
half of the computer science professors from 18 prestigious colleges and
universities. All of the usual suspects grace these lists: all eight Ivies,
Berkeley, University of Chicago, MIT, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, and a
handful of other premier, super-selective institutions.
 The takeaway from this research is obvious: Your job prospects in
academia are very much tied to the prestige of the school where you earn
your PhD.

Do I Need to Attend a Prestigious Undergraduate School?

Knowing that attending an elite PhD program significantly improves your
chances of landing a tenure-track academic job, let’s examine the next
logical question: Do you need to attend an elite undergraduate school to get
into an elite PhD program?
One examination of PhD candidates in philosophy found that over 80%
had attended top 50 universities or liberal arts colleges,53 while a more
recent study of six top-ranked PhD programs in several disciplines reveal an
admissions process that favors students from prestigious undergraduate
institutions. Admissions committee members interviewed for the latter
study were quoted as saying that they believe elite college attendees were
preadapted to elite graduate programs, and given their ability to earn
admission into a prestigious undergraduate school, must truly be better.
Finally, our own examination of National Science Foundation data
revealed that prestigious colleges, particularly those of the small, liberal arts
variety, also produce a disproportionately high number of PhDs in general.
Our findings are made evident in the following Top Feeders list, which
ranks colleges producing the highest percentage of graduates who
eventually go on to earn PhDs in several fields across the humanities,
sciences, and social sciences. Surprisingly, selective liberal arts colleges
dominate the rankings in every discipline.
The preponderance of liberal arts colleges on this list is due, at least in
part, to the fact that liberal arts grads have increased access to faculty and
research opportunities, which ultimately gives them a leg up on other PhD
applicants (this point was also made in our last section examining
psychologists, who also require a PhD to practice). Therefore, it seems fair
to suggest that aspiring PhDs should at least consider liberal arts institutions
during their college search.
It is also important to note that our advice is not limited to those with elite
college admission credentials. Although our top feeders list features a high
number of very selective liberal arts institutions, several prominently
ranked schools do accept students with less than excellent grades and
standardized test scores, including Kalamazoo College, Allegheny College,
Lawrence University, and others.
Finally, whether attending these schools or the more selective institutions
on this list, future PhDs must also account for other equally or more
important factors in the PhD admissions process. Aside from college
destination, strong grades, excellent GRE scores, research experience, and a
publication (or two) can go a long way toward helping you earn admission
at a top-notch doctoral program.
Figure 7.11 PhD Productivity: A Ranking of Colleges

Earning a PhD Is a Long Commitment

The average PhD takes over eight years to complete. Breaking this down a
bit, a doctorate in the physical sciences averages just under seven years, a
doctorate in the social sciences just over seven, and a terminal degree in the
humanities takes over nine years. As you slog through this intellectual
marathon, many of your peers will be out earning money, getting promoted,
starting families, and so on. It’s important to enter this type of endeavor
with the long view in mind and crystal clear about the level of sacrifice
required.
Failure to plan and adopt a winning mindset partially explains the attrition
rates in PhD programs—50% of those who start a program never finish.54
Even for those who survive, additional perils await.

The Adjunct Reality

Since 1975, the percent of part-time professors in the United States has
increased by 300%.55 Today, these part-timers known as adjunct professors
make up over half of the total faculty members at US colleges. They are
paid an average of just $2,700 per class.56 In an attempt to scratch together
a living, many adjuncts take on as many courses as possible each semester,
often at multiple universities. Still, the average adjunct’s salary comes in
right around 20K, which equates to the annual salary of someone making
minimum wage. Employing adjunct faculty is an extremely cheap labor
source for universities and they have little incentive to hire full-timers with
a glut of PhDs available to teach each semester.
If you are going to dedicate eight plus years of your life to obtain a PhD,
it’s important to understand that your reward will be a fierce job market
with a limited number of full-time, tenure-track positions. Supply and
demand (depending on the field) is not on your side, nor is the hiring trend
in higher education.
Adjuncts around the country are beginning to unionize and voice what
they perceive as unfair practices on the part of institutions. Whether this
leads to substantive change by the time someone in high school right now
earns a PhD and enters the job market is yet to be seen.

Salary for Tenure-Track Professors

Tenure-track assistants’ and associate professors’ average annual salaries
fall between 67 and 77K. Full-tenured professors average right around
100K. There is, however, great variability across disciplines. For example, a
newly hired computer science professor takes home $83,000 while an
equivalent scholar in the field of journalism earns a significantly lower
salary of $59,000.57
It is important to understand that those hired as tenure-track assistant
professors typically have 5–7 years to impress the university with their
ability to publish, teach, and aptly fulfill other administrative duties.
Generally speaking, most schools, with the exception of some liberal arts
schools, place paramount importance on publications over teaching. The
higher education cliché of publish or perish often guides tenure decisions.
The climb toward the top of the hill, becoming a tenured full professor,
takes many additional years and much good fortune.

Job Outlook
Postsecondary education jobs are expected to grow 13% through 2024;
however, the BLS is careful to note that this includes both full-time and
part-time positions.58 Additionally, these projections vary across disciplines
with high job growth expected in fields like health care, nursing, biology,
and law and slower growth in areas like agricultural science, library
science, and education.

This Must Be a Labor of Love

Unlike other prestige fields with arduous and costly paths to entry, entering
academia does not offer a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. For
individuals committed to the idea of teaching and researching at a
postsecondary level, proper planning beginning with the selection of an
undergraduate institution is necessary. This is a field where elite credentials
give candidates a leg up in the pursuit of a tenure-track position.
Regardless, your journey to a stable and rewarding career as a professor
will likely continue well into your 30s. For those who possess passion and
zeal for a given subject, the end result will justify the means. For those
picturing that cabin in New England and a relaxing, quiet life, academia is
likely not for you.

SO YOU WANT TO BE A JOURNALIST . . .

A Changing Field
In the period following Watergate, roughly 82% of the young people in the
world decided to become investigative journalists in the hopes of becoming
the next Woodward and Bernstein (perhaps a slight exaggeration). The
glamorous appeal of sitting in a cubicle in the newsroom of a major
metropolitan paper at 2 am, sporting a short sleeve, white dress shirt and
drinking cup after cup of Maxwell House, all while bringing down the
powers that be was simply too much to resist.
Figure 7.12 Top Feeders—News and Media

Fast forward forty years, and the career of journalist is almost

unrecognizable from its previous form. Pure print journalism has given way
in favor of web-based reporting, independently run blogs, podcasts, tweets,
and the technologically oriented like. The media is no longer an exclusive
club controlled by a handful of newspaper publishers and the owners of the
major broadcasting networks. The gatekeepers that used to have the final
say on who got to call themselves a reporter have been overrun by new
media advances. While many lament the fall of traditional journalism, the
seismic shift of the last two decades has created a field where anyone with
an area of expertise and a unique voice can find an audience—a
development not without its career advantages.

Journalism versus Broadcast Journalism

The line between these two fields has faded faster than most newspapers
circulation counts. Print reporters today are often asked to create video
content to accompany articles, seek out media appearances to promote their
publication, and snare as many Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus
followers as they possibly can.
To accommodate an ever-changing industry, many institutions, including
the University of Georgia, Boston College, and the University of Missouri
now offer students a bevy of concentration options under the general
umbrella of journalism, such as community journalism, entrepreneurial
journalism, visual journalism, magazine journalism, health and science
journalism, and so on.
Of course, students who want to work exclusively in television news still
typically major in broadcast journalism where they learn the ins and outs of
the industry, both in front of and behind the camera.

Does Going to a Prestigious Undergraduate School Help?

Journalism is a field built on what you are able to produce. A state college
grad who writes beautifully and knows how to tap sources and produce
engaging content will never take a backseat to an Ivy Leaguer whose
reporting is mediocre.
On the other hand, attending a college with an elite journalism school can
help with landing an internship and networking if your aim is to work at a
major newspaper, magazine, website, or television market. Schools with
notable communications/journalism programs such as Syracuse, UNC,
Northwestern, and Columbia can provide grads with huge alumni
networking bases and therefore premier internship and entry-level job
opportunities. Thus, it should come as no surprise that each of these
institutions is featured on our top feeders list revealing which schools
produce the highest percentage of graduates landing jobs at top news
outlets.

Gain Experience in the Field

The beauty of the journalism field is that opportunities to try it out in high
school are abundant. Heck, even most middle schools publish a paper and
air morning announcements. If you want to be a journalist, start today.
There are countless opportunities to begin publishing work outside of your
high school. Start a blog, freelance for a small local paper—whatever
allows you to write, write, and write some more.

Think about a Double Major

It never hurts to carve out a niche area of expertise in the journalism field.
For example, a background in an area like science, computer science, or
economics can allow you to write on topics and for publications that many
other young journalists simply wouldn’t have the ability to tackle. Those
with a strong knowledge base in a given area may find better prospects than
generalists.

Journalist Salaries
This is a field where salaries are most commonly modest and, in rare
instances, where notoriety is achieved, outrageously high. The average
salary for someone in the radio, television, or print journalism field is
around $37,000.59 For local news anchors and reporters in small markets
around the United States, salaries average as low as the mid-20s. Small
market jobs constitute the majority of the positions in this field. However,
those who rise to the top of the profession and get plucked up by a top 25
market can expect salaries in the low-six figures. Of course, for those who
dare to dream, celebrity journalists are paid like NBA stars. The Matt
Lauers and Diane Sawyers of the world take home more than 20 million per
year.

Plan the Financial End

Don’t plan on hitting that 20 million dollar mark right away. In fact,
planning somewhere in the neighborhood of $15 per hour is a safer bet.
Then, there is the matter of relocation . . . As a journalist you need to be
willing to travel. Very rarely will someone begin their career in broadcast
journalism in a major market. If you are a budding sports writer, get ready
to cover the Billings Bighorns junior hockey team in Montana before you
get a crack at the New York Rangers. From a financial standpoint, two
things are important to plan for: the need to travel and the likelihood that
you will not make much money early in your career. It goes without saying
that taking out massive undergraduate loans could hinder your mobility and
therefore stand in the way of essential early career opportunities.

NOTES
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correspondents-and-broadcast-news-analysts.htm.
 Key Takeaways and Conclusions

Now that you’ve finished reading our research-based, stats-laden, big-

picture argument for how parents should approach the college process, we
are confident that you have emerged a more informed and empowered
higher education consumer. At this very moment, you are fully ready to
steer your child through the admissions gauntlet with a steady hand,
dauntless and stoic, immune to the multitude of distractions and pitfalls that
await on this harrowing journey.
Yet, as the months pass and the unavoidable torrent of admissions-related
lunacy pounds your senses, this newfound self-assuredness is likely to
erode. You’ll hear that lady again in the deli talking about her son’s
admission to a top 20 school as being a matter of life and death. You’ll see a
never-ending parade of headlines on reputable news sources about how
getting into college has never been more difficult—“Harvard’s admission
rates down again!” Chatting with other parents from the sidelines of your
daughter’s JV soccer game, you’ll be forced to imbibe the collective
fretting, status anxiety, and vicarious aspirations tied to undergraduate
prestige.
To combat these unhelpful forces, we advise that you return to this section
of The Enlightened College Applicant reread it, and recite it like a mantra.
Okay, it’s probably too long to recite, but reread it, internalize it, and let it
serve as a suit of armor protecting you against misinformation,
misdirection, and mania.
 1. HIGHER EDUCATION IS A BUYER’S MARKET AND YOU’RE
IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT
Prior to 1984, AT&T had a monopoly on the telecommunications industry.
If you wanted to make a call, you had to go through gold ol’ Ma’ Bell.
Thus, the corporation held all of the power, the customer had absolutely
none.
Today, every other advertisement on television is a phone company
competing hard for your business, offering free upgrades, buyouts of
competitor’s contracts—anything to get your business. It’s a cutthroat
marketplace and you are the beneficiary. The marketplace of higher
education is very much the same.
It’s critical to remember that the vast majority of quality colleges and
universities in the United States are feeling more anxiety than you are about
the upcoming admissions season. Outside of a small number of institutions,
admissions offices are panicking as we speak over meeting enrollment
requirements for next year. With so much competition for even average
students, there is a long line of schools looking to woo your son or
daughter, even if their GPA and SATs weren’t close to perfect.
You don’t have to beg T-Mobile, Sprint, AT&T, or Verizon to take your
business. The same goes for the overwhelming majority of colleges and
universities.

2. THINK ABOUT COLLEGE IN THE CONTEXT OF YOUR LIFE

Our “So You Want to Be a . . .” chapter provided you with a roadmap to
some of the most popular career fields. Yet, in a broader sense, we hope this
chapter leaves you with one guiding principle: your investment in an
undergraduate degree may be the largest (or second largest, behind a
mortgage) and most important investment you will ever make in your
lifetime—don’t make this decision without considering the facts on the
ground.
If your child’s goal is to work at a top investment bank or enroll at an elite
law or medical school, then attending an elite undergraduate institution may
pay dividends. If their aim is to work in early childhood education, pursing
a fancy degree may have little upside, especially if you or your kid take on
massive debt in order to do so.
The average 17/18-year-old is not ready to select a vocation with 100%
certainty but that doesn’t mean you can’t engage them in a meaningful
conversation about how their undergraduate institution and undergraduate
debt may impact their future. If an undecided student elects to attend a
wildly expensive college that is beyond their parents’ means, it is important
for them to understand the future implications. Calculate what their monthly
debt payment would be at 22. What salary would they have to earn to make
this payment and afford an apartment, car, health care, and so on? These are
conversations that are rarely part of the college selection dialogue but, in
our opinion, should actually be at the forefront of the discussion.

3. YOUR CHILD’S TALENTS AND MOTIVATION WILL BE THE

PRIMARY DETERMINANTS OF THEIR SUCCESS; HOWEVER,
THEIR CHOICE OF COLLEGE CAN ALSO MATTER
In laying out the body of research on the subject of prestige and returns to
selectivity, we showed a murkier picture than the popular cry of “It doesn’t
matter where you go” that has gained momentum today. At heart, we are
fellow proponents of the belief that talented people do not need a
prestigious school attached to their name in order to succeed—simply put:
cream rises. Academic studies have shown us that raw talent and winning
personality traits often do trump the reputation of the institutional name on
a graduate’s diploma, so long as they choose a college that is at least
moderately selective.
Still, it is important to keep in mind that undergraduate prestige can give a
person a leg up in certain professional fields. As chapter 7 highlights, there
is an undeniable preponderance of elite college graduates at the nation’s top
business, medical, and law schools. Thus, high-achieving students
interested in pursuing any one of these fields are wise to consider the Ivy
League, but they should also explore the 60 plus other institutions that are
nearly or as prestigious and that may offer a better undergraduate education.
All things equal, choosing Harvard over Henderson State will result in
higher earnings and better job prospects; yet choosing Harvard over
Hamilton College, an outstanding yet slightly less-selective institution,
probably won’t. Remember, there is not one but dozens of colleges that can
provide the right fit, even for those who aspire to enter the most competitive
professions.

4. DON’T OBSESS OVER ADMISSIONS AND FORGET ABOUT

THE BIGGER PICTURE
Overfocusing on admissions can be a distraction from the more important
factors of fit and financial sensibility. Many students become obsessed with
getting into the most selective college that will accept them, while ignoring
other equally reputable schools that would, in the end, make significantly
more sense to attend.
Of all the students excitedly scurrying off to college next fall, only a
minority will graduate from that school within four years. The majority will
transfer, drop out, or slog through six plus inefficient years to earn a degree.
Taking the time to find a school that truly meets your child’s unique
academic, financial, social-emotional, and pre-vocational needs will give
them an exponentially better chance to finish their degree and lay the
groundwork for later success. In addition to reviewing acceptance rates and
average standardized test scores, make sure to also investigate a school’s
retention rate, graduation rate, and record of job placement. Remember, the
admissions process is not an end, but a means to something much greater.

5. LOOK AT FACTORS BEYOND RANKINGS

Brandeis University presently enjoys the distinction of being rated the 34th
best national university by U.S. News, eleven slots below UCLA at 23rd.
Both are wonderful schools, but should this gap in rank be considered when
choosing which school makes more sense for your child? At this point,
you’ve read our book and can likely figure out that the answer is—of course
not.
UCLA is almost ten times the size of Brandeis, located on the opposite
coast, and known for completely different areas of strength. They can’t be
compared to one another in any meaningful way and that would be
assuming that algorithms employed by U.S. News and other ranking
systems are actually grounded in research (they are not).
 Strength of alumni network, proximity to target employers, and dedication
to career services are just a few of the real-world factors that should be
placed above where a college ranks in a glossy magazine. Perhaps most
importantly, what does actual instruction look like in the classroom? Even
among prestige schools, great variance exists with regard to the quality of a
classroom experience. Will your child be taught by tenured professors and
leaders in their fields or by graduates or even fellow undergraduates
(remember our discussion of Harvard vs. Swarthmore)?

6. SKILL ACQUISITION MATTERS

In the 1998 NFL Draft, the San Diego Chargers selected Ryan Leaf, a
highly touted Pac-10 quarterback with the second overall pick. That same
year, undrafted free agent and the University of Northern Iowa graduate,
Kurt Warner, was finally signed by an NFL franchise, the St. Louis Rams.
Ryan Leaf was immediately handed the starting job with San Diego, a
position which he quickly lost due to lack of ability and discipline. Warner,
on the other hand, arrived unceremoniously in St. Louis and spent the
season as the third-string quarterback. As it turns out, despite his lack of
pedigree, Warner was ridiculously good. When he was given a chance the
following year, he not only took the Rams to the playoffs, he won the Super
Bowl.
All of that football talk is to make the point that the name on your son or
daughter’s diploma may impact where they start, but their actual skill level
will determine where they finish. An individual from a no-name college
who writes masterfully, speaks two languages, possesses top-notch people
skills, and isn’t afraid of a little math is going to have a Warner-like rise. An
individual who went to Cornell and scraped by academically while pouring
energy into his jam band may meet a Ryan Leaf-like fate in the workplace.

7. ENTERING A LOW-PAYING MAJOR DOES NOT MEAN YOUR

CHILD WON’T MAKE MONEY IN THE LONG RUN
See Warner versus Leaf above or, if you prefer statistics, remember that
philosophy majors blow past many assumedly more lucrative areas of study
by mid-career. English majors are in demand in the business world for their
writing ability and analytical skills. Pressuring your kid to major in
engineering or computer science when they lack passion for the subject is a
surefire way to precipitate a quarter-life crisis and at least a decade of costly
therapy bills.
Additionally, it’s important to remember that many of the most desirable,
satisfying, and lucrative careers require a graduate degree. As we’ve
referenced, liberal arts majors fare quite well in the workplace and in the
graduate school admissions process.

8. FRIVOLOUS DEBT IS THE NUMBER-ONE ENEMY

We chronicled for you the many ways in which excessive debt can impact a
young person’s personal and professional life well beyond their
undergraduate years. If a postsecondary budget is limited (most people),
college cost must factor into the equation, as should return on investment.
Borrowing thousands of dollars to attend a less-than-elite (or extremely
selective) college very rarely makes sense, and will likely result in a young
adulthood filled with stress and servitude.
To quote ourselves from chapter 1: “They may want to become a banker;
they may want to open a bakery. Either way, it would certainly be nice to
have the choice.”

9. GOOD PERFORMANCE AND AN EYE TOWARD EARLY

COLLEGE CREDIT ARE THE BEST WAYS TO SAVE ON
COLLEGE COSTS
While the masses chase the white whale of private scholarships, you and
your kid will be exerting all of your energy in areas more within your
control and more likely to pay dividends. In reality, there are three main
ways to save big on college that are within their control: (1) earn good
grades; (2) study like hell for the SAT/ACT; and (3) accrue college credits
while still in high school through AP/IB and dual enrollment courses and/or
CLEP exams.
In our culture of get-rich-quick schemes, this answer probably lacks sex
appeal because it involves hard work, self-improvement, and long-term
planning. However, accepting this truth now and tuning out the mirage of
private scholarship money will, in the end, be a far more successful
strategy.

10. THERE ARE COUNTLESS TRAPS TO AVOID

The admissions maze is fraught with seemingly promising avenues that lead
only to dead ends. While everyone’s maze is different, there are some
generalizable wrong turns that should be avoided. There are many private
colleges that sport exorbitant tuition prices, offer low return on investment,
and leave students with excessive debt. There is the trap of the out-of-state
flagship school for which students will pay a sizable premium, likely
passing up better values within their home state or at private schools
nationwide that have more incentive to generously dispense merit aid
awards. There is the all-too-common sales pitch of style over substance:
Look at our brand new multimillion dollar gym! You can study abroad at a
Greek resort for a month! Check out our brand new physics lab, ahem, . . .
(trailing off) that is only open to grad students.
Students should ignore the frills and deeply investigate the substance of
the educational experience. It will be more cost-effective to send your kid to
a school with a mediocre but accessible physics lab, buy them a gym
membership at LA Fitness, and fork over cash for a summer trip to Greece.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Even the most mature and high-achieving young people are susceptible to
the lure of a school’s colors (UNC’s powder blue often has this effect),
dreams of bumper-sticker glory, and the one-upmanship of institutional
name-dropping. Parents, of course, are often equally or more drawn in by
the trappings of college brand. However, if your child is truly going to
maximize the benefits of their higher education, they must first be true to
themselves. They should ignore the sensationalism and scare tactics, set
aside status-driven tendencies, and situate college in the context of their
life. Doing so will produce lasting positive effects not only during their next
four years, but for the many decades that follow. We hope that we have
convinced you to take this step.
 Appendix

Elite colleges accept fewer than 20% of all applicants and possess an
average composite ACT (25%tile) score of at least 29 or an average
combined SAT (25%tile) score (CR + M) of at least 1300. These include the
following:
• Amherst College
• Bowdoin College
• Brown University
• California Institute of Technology
• Claremont McKenna College
• Columbia University
• Cornell University
• Dartmouth University
• Duke University
• Georgetown University
• Harvard University
• Harvey Mudd College
• Johns Hopkins University
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Middlebury College
• Northwestern University
• Pomona College
• Princeton University
• Rice University
• Stanford University
• Swarthmore College
• Tufts University
• United States Air Force Academy
• University of Chicago
• University of Pennsylvania
• Vanderbilt University
• Washington University
• Washington and Lee University
• Williams College
• Yale University
Extremely selective colleges accept fewer than 40% of all applicants and
possess an average composite ACT (25%tile) score of at least 28 or an
average combined SAT (25%tile) score (CR + M) of at least 1260. These
include the following:
• Barnard College
• Bates College
• Boston College
• Brandeis University
• Bucknell University
• Carleton College
• Carnegie Mellon University
• Colby College
• Colgate University
• College of William and Mary
• College of the Holy Cross
• Connecticut College
• Cooper Union
• Davidson College
• Emory University
• Franklin and Marshall College
• Georgia Institute of Technology
• Grinnell College
• Hamilton College
• Haverford College
• Kenyon College
• Lehigh University
• Macalester College
• New York University
• Northeastern University
• Oberlin College
• Scripps College
• Tulane University
• United States Military Academy
• United States Naval Academy
• University of California, Berkeley
• University of California, Los Angeles
• University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• University of Notre Dame
• University of Richmond
• University of Rochester
• University of Southern California
• University of Virginia
• Vassar College
• Wake Forest University
• Wellesley College
• Wesleyan University
Very selective colleges accept fewer than 60% of all applicants and possess
an average composite ACT (25%tile) score of at least 26 or an average
combined SAT (25%tile) score (CR + M) of at least 1190. These include the
following:
• American University
• Babson College
• Bard College
• Bentley University
• Boston University
• Brigham Young University
• Bryn Mawr College
• Case Western Reserve University
• Clemson University
• Colorado School of Mines
• Denison University
• Dickinson College
• Emerson College
• Fordham University
• George Washington University
• Gettysburg College
• Hobart and William Smith Colleges
• Lafayette College
• Marist College
• Mount Holyoke College
• Occidental College
• Ohio State University
• Reed College
• Pitzer College
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• Rhodes College
• SUNY at Binghamton
• SUNY at Geneseo
• Santa Clara University
• Shimer College
• Skidmore College
• Smith College
• Southern Methodist University
• St. Olaf College
• Stevens Institute of Technology
• Stony Brook University
• Union College
• University of Florida
• University of Georgia
• University of Maryland, College Park
• University of Miami
• University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
• University of Pittsburgh
• Villanova University
• Whitman College
• Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Moderately selective colleges accept fewer than 70% of all applicants and
possess an average composite ACT (25%tile) score of at least 24 or an
average combined SAT (25%tile) score (CR + M) of at least 1110. These
include the following:
• Appalachian State University
• Augustana College, Illinois
• Baylor University
• Beloit College
• Bennington College
• Butler University
• CUNY Baruch
• California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
• Centre College
• Chapman University
• Clark University
• Clarkson University
• DePauw University
• Drake University
• Earlham College
• Elon University
• Florida International University
• Florida State University
• George Mason University
• Gonzaga University
• Gustavus Adolphus College
• Hampshire College
• Illinois Institute of Technology
• Illinois Wesleyan University
• Kalamazoo University
• Kettering University
• Lewis & Clark College
• Loyola Marymount University
• Loyola University of Maryland
• Marquette University
• Miami University
• Milwaukee School of Engineering
• Muhlenberg College
• New College of Florida
• North Carolina State University
• Penn State University
• Pepperdine University
• Purdue University
• Rochester Institute of Technology
• Rollins College
• Sarah Lawrence College
• Sewanee: University of the South
• St. Lawrence University
• Texas Christian University
• The College of New Jersey
• The College of Wooster
• Trinity College
• Trinity University
• United States Coast Guard Academy
• University of California, San Diego
• University of California, Santa Barbara
• University of Connecticut
• University of Dayton
• University of Delaware
• University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
• University of Maryland, Baltimore County
• University of Massachusetts Amherst
• University of North Carolina at Asheville
• University of Portland
• University of San Diego
• University of South Carolina
• University of Texas at Austin
• University of Texas at Dallas
• University of Tulsa
• University of Washington
• University of Wisconsin–Madison
• Ursinus College
• Virginia Tech
• Washington College
• Wheaton College, Illinois
• Wheaton College, Massachusetts
• Wofford College
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 Index

Academic Excellence Scholarship, 39

adjunct professors, 194
admission prospects, maximizing, 5;
private school advantage, 61–63;
school counselor, recommendation from, 76–77.
See also college application, essential components of a successful
admission-related myths:
applicants’ social media pages, 55;
college ranking, 55–56;
community service and volunteering, 54;
dropping admission rates, 53–54;
excellent grades and test scores, 57–59;
letters of recommendation, 52–53;
number of application forms, 54;
personalized letter from the dean of admissions, 53;
standardized test scores, 56–57;
well roundedness, 52
admission-related truths, 128–30
admission strategy:
relevant electives, 64;
types of courses, 63–64.
See also Advanced Placement (AP); extracurricular involvement in college application; SAT
Subject Tests
Advanced Placement (AP), 5, 62–64, 145–46;
AP participation and college performance, relationship between, 65;
basics of, 64;
credit policies, 66;
number of courses taken, 64–66
Alumni interviews, 106–9
Alumni Networks, 41–43
American job market, 7
American University, 166
Amherst College, 32
application mistakes:
achievements, 110;
professionality, 109;
redundancy, 110;
tales of overly involved parents, 110;
typos, 109.
See also college admissions process
Arizona State University, 38–39

banks, high-power, 181–82

Barrett Honors College, 39
Baruch College, 43
Bates College, 32
Baylor University, 46, 163
Beloit College, 129
bilingual college grads, 19
Bologna declaration, 155
Boston College, 67
Boston University, 39, 163, 184
Bowdoin College, 32
Brigham Young University, 184
Bruni, Frank, 3
Bryn Mawr College, 32, 100
Bucknell University, 56
Buridan’s ass, 12–13

career services, 44–45

Carleton, 33
Carnegie Mellon College, 124, 174
Case Western Reserve University, 163
Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), 186
Claremont Consortium, 32
Claremont McKenna College, 32, 56
Clark University, 129, 163
Colgate University, 74
college, selection factors for, 41–45;
Alumni Networks, 41–43;
career services, 44–45;
geographic diversity, 85–86;
importance of location, 43.
See also colleges to avoid
college admissions process, 2–3, 207–8;
avoiding inconsistencies in your college application, 110–12;
college costs, estimating, 134–35;
deferral and, 119–21;
disclosure of a LD, 116–19;
dual enrollment, 147–48;
 in elite colleges and Ivy League schools, 83–85;
evidence-based understanding of, 3;
in a foreign country, 153–56;
getting into elite institution, 122–25;
questions to consider before applying early decision, 89–92;
waitlist, 121–22.
See also application mistakes; college application, essential components of a successful; essay
topics to avoid
college application, essential components of a successful:
letter of recommendation, 74;
National Honors Society (NHS), 73;
participation in sports, 73–74;
pay-for-award programs, 74
college costs, estimating, 134–35
college credits during high school years, benefits of, 145–48, 210
college degree, choosing factors for, 12–16;
context of student’s career and life goals, 16;
entry-level employment, 15–16;
financial returns, 26–30;
graduate school, 15–16;
highest-paying college majors, 14–15;
lack of planning, 13–14;
passion, 14
college graduates:
advantages for, 7–8;
earnings for, 8;
job satisfaction, 8;
versus high school grad, 7–8
College Level Examination Program (CLEP), 147
College of Charleston, 37
The College of New Jersey, 38
College of the Holy Cross, 163
college prestige and professional success, 5
college’s priority financial aid deadline, 138
colleges to avoid, 45–48;
out-of-state public schools, 47–48.
See also college, selection factors for
college summer programs, 70–73
Colorado State University, 129
Columbia University, 71, 125, 171
Cooper Union, 82
Cornell University, 124
cost-free programs, 73
Covey, Stephen, 11
crafting an effective college application, 5
CSS Profile, 136–38

Dale, Stacy, 27
Dartmouth College, 33, 171
demonstrated interest, 78–83;
importance of, 78–79;
steps to show, 79–80;
types of colleges emphasizing, 79
disciplinary violations, 113–16
double major, 179
Drexel University, 39, 129
dual degree engineering programs, 171
dual enrollment, 147–48
Duke University, 46, 71, 105–6, 161, 163

early decision (ED):

case for applying EA and rolling admissions, 94–97;
colleges offering ED II, 95;
distinct advantages of applying, 97;
II programs, 92–95;
questions considered before applying, 89–92;
versus regular decision (RD) acceptance, 92–93, 96
educational debt, impact of, 8–12;
career as waiter and waitresses, 11;
on career flexibility, 9–10;
on future education, 10–11;
on lifestyle, 10
elite colleges:
applicants acceptance, lesser than 20%, 213–14;
college admissions process, 83–85, 122–25;
elite engineering schools, 172;
elite law schools, 167;
elite medical schools, 162;
MBA programs, 185;
PhD program, 192–94;
tech institutes, 175.
See also Ivy League colleges
Emory University, 56, 67, 84
engineering education, 169–73
engineering mind, 169
essay topics to avoid, 101–4;
final thoughts, 103–4;
grandiosity, 102;
sexual encounters or drug use, 101;
sports glory, 103;
stream-of-consciousness thoughts, 103;
travel experiences, 101–2.
See also college admissions process
The Evergreen State College, 38
Expected Family Contribution (EFC), 136
extracurricular involvement in college application, 69–70, 112
FAFSA, 135–39
financial aid planning:
formulas, 139;
for law education, 168;
for medical education, 164;
for psychology education, 187–88;
for teaching education, 179–80
financial analyst, 180–87
financial realities of college education, 4
financial safety school, 132
flagship universities, 47
Fordham University, 166
foreign language skill, 19
fourth year of math and science, advantage of, 63
freshman English, 113
Furman University, 166

geographic diversity and college admissions, relationship, 85–86

George Mason University, 100
George Washington University, 37, 56, 68, 142, 166, 184
Georgia College, 37
The Giver (Lois Lowry), 1–2
The Glass Menagerie, 111
GPA scores, 27, 37, 51, 65, 84, 91, 100, 124, 140, 142–43, 149, 154, 161, 166
guaranteed scholarships, 143

Harvard name, 30–31

Harvard University, 34, 71, 166;
iconic status of, 34;
versus Pomona undergraduate education, 32–33;
undergraduate education, 30–31
Harvard-Westlake School, 62
Harvey Mudd College, 32
Haverford College, 32, 35
Hayes, Rutherford B., 30
Hendrix College, 36
Hofstra University, 129
honors programs, 38–40;
class size and number of, 38–39;
cost considerations, 39;
and living arrangements, 39;
top, 40

in-state tuition, 151–53

intergeneration continuity, 83
International Baccalaureate course, 63–64, 146
Ivy League colleges, 33–34, 58, 66, 89, 128, 161;
 private school education and admissions advantage at, 61–63

Johns Hopkins, 67–68, 121, 161, 191

Kaplan Test Prep, 59n2

Keats, John, 106
Kennedy, John F., 30
Kentucky Derby analogy, 25, 29
The King of Kong, 142–43
Krueger, Alan, 27

law education, 164–69

Lawrence University, 129
legacy applicants, 81
legacy status:
advantages, 83;
primary versus secondary, 81;
stats on, 81–82
less-popular major maneuver, 124–25
Lewis & Clark College, 129
liberal arts colleges, 34–36, 42;
private colleges, 35–36;
public colleges, 36–38
list price of a prospective school, 130–32
Lowry, Lois, 1–3, 5n1
Loyola University of Maryland, 47, 79, 129
LSAT score, 166

Macalester, 33
Marietta College, 171
MBA programs, 183–87
MCAT score, 161
medical education, 160–64
merit aid, winning, 140–42
The Metamorphosis, 89
Miami University, 184
Middlebury College, 32
Midwest Student Exchange Program, 152
Millersville University, 178
MIT, 62, 71, 111, 116, 161, 171, 174, 191;
legacy status, 82

National Association of College Admissions Counseling (NACAC), 64

National Honors Society (NHS), 73
need-based aid, 135–40;
long-term and short-term strategies for getting, 139–40
net-price calculator (NPC), 134–35
net price of a prospective school, 130–33
New College of Florida, 37, 129
non-need-based merit aid, 143

optional statements, 105–6

O’Shaughnessy, Lynn, 3
out-of-state costs, 150–51
out-of-state public schools, 47–48
out-of-state tuition, 151–53

paradigm shift, 127

pay-for-award programs, 74
Pennsylvania State University, 3, 42, 47, 89, 125, 177–78
PhD program, 192–94
Pitzer College, 32
Pomona College, 32–33, 35
popular careers, roadmap to:
in academia (professor), 191–95;
doctor, 160–64;
engineering, 169–73;
financial analyst, 180–87;
lawyer, 164–69;
psychologist, 187–91;
software developers, engineers, and programmers, 173–77;
teaching, 177–80
primary legacy, 81
Princeton University, 7, 33, 62, 84
private scholarships, 148–50
psychologist, 187–91
PsyD, or Doctor of Psychology degree, 190
Public Liberal Arts Colleges, 36–38
public speaking skill, 18–19

quality financial safety school, 132–34

quantitative analysis skill, 20

Reason, Tom, 64
recommendation letters, 52–53, 74–76;
counselor-written letters, 77;
importance of, 75;
number of, to be submitted, 76;
potential recommenders, 75–76;
requirements, 76;
when to ask, 75
Reed College, 129
returns to selectivity, 26–30;
institution, context of, 27;
personal characteristics versus college selectivity, 27–28;
relationship between college prestige and income, 27–28;
 1990s, 26;
selective institutions versus nonselective school, 28–29;
U.S. News rank, 29.
See also Harvard University
Rickey, Branch, 11
Robinson, Jackie, 11
Roosevelt, Franklin, 30
Roosevelt, Teddy, 30
Rutgers University, 43

SAT scores, 27, 31, 34, 57, 61, 82, 84, 98, 128, 134–35, 143–44, 154.
See also SAT Subject Tests
SAT Subject Tests, 66–69, 100;
choosing a test, 67;
in foreign language, 66;
institutions recommending, 67–68;
preparation for, 68–69;
in special situations, 68;
when to take, 67.
See also SAT scores
school counselor, 76–77
Schreyer Honors College, 39
Scripps College, 32
secondary legacy, 81
selective colleges, applicants acceptance:
extremely, fewer than 40%, 214–15.;
moderately, fewer than 70%, 216–18.;
very, fewer than 60%, 215–16
self-disclosing an incident, 115
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Stephen Covey), 11
Shidler, Jay, 42
Skidmore College, 36
skills for employment, 16–20;
foreign language, 19;
public speaking, 18–19;
quantitative analysis, 20;
writing, 17–18
software developers and programmers, 173–77
Stanford University, 71, 161, 174
Stevens Institute of Technology, 171
St. John’s College, 36
St. Mary’s College, 37
St. Olaf College, 166
SUNY Geneseo College, 38, 129
Swarthmore College, 31–32

teaching, 177–80
tenure-track assistants’ and associate professors’, 194–95
test-optional schools, 57, 98–101, 144;
impact on merit aid, 100;
most selective, 99;
reason for, 98;
versus test flexible, 100
top-college guidebooks, 46
transfer plan, 122–24
Trinity School, 62
Truman State institution, 37
tuition fees, way to lower, 142–45
Tulane University, 56, 142

UC Berkeley, 58, 124, 166, 191

ultra-selective schools, 26
University of Arizona, 129
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 42, 47, 163
University of Chicago, 67, 191
University of Connecticut, 47
University of Delaware, 68
University of Florida, 129, 166
University of Georgia, 39, 166
University of Illinois, 42, 184
University of Maryland, 129, 184
University of Miami, 68, 84
University of Michigan, 42, 82
University of Minnesota, 38
University of Mississippi, 38
University of North Carolina (UNC), 38, 58, 65
University of Pittsburgh, 106, 163, 166, 178
University of South Carolina, 39
University of Tampa, 46–47
University of Texas, 186
University of Virginia (UVA), 58, 67;
Admission Liaison Program, 82
University of Washington, 43, 163
U.S. News, 29, 57, 104, 165–66, 171

Vanderbilt University, 67

Wake Forest University, 142

Washington State University, 41, 43
Washington University, 171
Wesleyan College, 32
West Chester University, 178
Western Undergraduate Exchange, 153
Western Washington University, 43, 174
West Virginia University (WVU), 143
Wheaton College, 129
Whitman College, 186
“Why this college?” essay topic, 104–5
Williams College, 32
Women in Science Project, 34
writing skill, 17–18

Yale University, 33, 62, 161, 166

 About the Authors

Andrew Belasco
A licensed counselor and independent educational consultant, Andrew’s
experience in the field of college admissions and transitions spans nearly 15
years. After receiving a BA from Georgetown University and an MEd from
Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, Andrew earned a PhD
from the University of Georgia’s Institute of Higher Education, where his
research focused on college access and institutional admission policies.
A recent fellow of the Association for Institutional Research, Andrew’s
work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, American
Educational Research Association, National Center for Education Statistics,
and University of Michigan’s Inter-university Consortium for Political and
Social Research. He has published in education’s top academic journals,
including Education Evaluation & Policy Analysis, Research in Higher
Education, and the Journal of Higher Education, among others, and his
research and commentary have been featured in the New York Times, the
Washington Post, Forbes, CBS MoneyWatch, U.S. News & World Report,
Inside Higher Education, the Chronicle of Higher Education, National
Public Radio, and more than a dozen other media outlets. Andrew is a
member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling
(NACAC) and the Higher Education Consultants Association.
Prior to launching College Transitions, Andrew worked as a school
counselor at Abington Senior High School in suburban Philadelphia, as a
college admissions consultant and blogger for Kaplan Test Prep, and as a
research consultant at the federal level for the Congressional Advisory
Committee on Student Financial Assistance.
Dave Bergman
Dave has over a decade of professional experience in the field of education,
which includes work as a teacher and administrator at the award-winning
Abington Senior High School in suburban Philadelphia, an adjunct
professor at Temple University, certified independent educational
consultant, and author of a widely read weekly blog on college admissions.
Named a President’s Scholar while earning his BA in History from
Temple University, Dave continued his education at Temple, earning
Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Education. While a doctoral student, Dave
completed his dissertation on the relationship between adolescent
motivation and educational outcomes and published scholarship on how to
successfully reach high school students with Teachers College Press and
The National Council of Teachers of English. He holds a certificate in
college counseling from the University of California, San Diego, and is a
member of NACAC.
As a cofounder of College Transitions—an admissions consulting firm—
Dave works as an independent educational consultant and essay coach and
writes a weekly blog on the world of college admissions for
collegetransitions.com that reaches tens of thousands of readers. His work
has also been regularly published by Phillyburbs, Carolina Parent, The
Charlotte Observer, and TeenLife.