How to avoid the grave mistake, being made by Students and Parents in selecting the College which would help them shape the future?

I recently watched a movie and was shocked by the storyline of how a brilliant student, tragically ends up his life upon not getting selected for an “Elite College” which he had predetermined as his only dream college!

Having gone through an exhaustive exercise over the last two years of identifying and securing admission into an ideal college for my son, I believe it is prudent for me to share some of my learning’s on this entire Elite College Admission process.

Getting into a prestigious college has always been competitive, but it’s becoming increasingly crazier and stressful with a record number of college applicants, extremely low acceptance rates, and the desperation of parents to get their kids into the “right” college.

Generally, Students and Parents draw a list of Elite Colleges from the published rankings however these rankings can be misleading and often do more harm than good. In reality, much of the desperation to get into elite colleges is misplaced since the reputation of college has little to do with one’s success or satisfaction in life. Sure, being accepted to an Elite college may give a student an advantage in life, but successful people come from a wide range of colleges, and certainly not just the Elite ones.

If students are finding it harder to get accepted into their college of choice, it isn’t because universities are raising their standards – it’s because they’re competing to raise the number of applicants, lower their acceptance rate and thereby get a better overall ranking. Colleges know that a low acceptance rate makes a college appear to be prestigious and highly selective about whom they let in. In fact, a low acceptance rate number is commonly used as a promotional tool in brochures and reference materials. Therefore, when colleges go out of their way to cast a wide net and attract huge numbers of students, it isn’t an attempt to bring in high-performing students; it’s an effort to make sure that their acceptance number is as low as possible. 

Since the applicant pool for colleges is continually growing, the traditional advantages like good test scores and grades just won’t cut it anymore and that’s why, to stand out from an increasingly competitive crowd, many are turning to expensive college prep courses, thereby putting immense financial pressure on themselves.

 Even more damaging is that it makes students focus more on a ranking and less on whether that college is the best academic fit for them. It’s been a common practice for students to favor lists that mirror the all-important rankings in the news rather than seriously consider lists of colleges that were carefully created with their needs and wants in mind. Even more, a college selection should not only be based on Academic fit but also on how the students will actually fit in and how the college would shape them as a person. The real opportunity provided by the college is a chance to expand horizons and get out of the comfort zone by presenting an opportunity for people to learn about different ways of life outside the classroom and many elite colleges may not offer the socioeconomic diversity required to enable the same. 

One good option for an undergraduate course may be a liberal arts college as they tend to provide amazing education, engaged communities and superb preparation for the future. They allow students to take classes in many disciplines and provide an overview of arts, humanities, mathematics, natural sciences, and social sciences and give students more freedom to create their own programs, thus preparing them for variety of career paths versus a specific career path, while building their critical thinking and communication skills. This is extremely helpful to students who are relatively unsure about which major to choose and in countries like the United States; the flexibility of changing a major midterm is a blessing as statistics indicate that 50%-70% of the students change their major at least once.

Intelligence and a prestigious education don’t guarantee that one will thrive in life. While we may believe that a fancy alma mater and intelligence may add up to being an impressive success, this isn’t always the case. The real qualities of success include characteristics such as a strong work ethic, good instincts, a drive to hustle, excellent communication skills and creative ability. All of which have little to do with which university someone went to and how many academic awards they received.

Albeit, attending a college that isn’t considered among the most elite could increase one’s chances of developing these qualities. That’s because they often come as a result of persistent hard work in creating and chasing down opportunities rather than having them handed to you as a result of your college’s reputation.

However, while your college’s reputation may not be important, what you do during your time at college is. College’s reputation has little to no significance in regard to one’s satisfaction in life. Elite Colleges even tend to narrow students’ horizons. For most college students, their period of higher education is also a transitional one, as it serves in many ways as a bridge between childhood and adulthood. Traditionally, someone’s college years are a time for discovering their interests and finding a career to pursue.

These days, however, there’s an increasing amount of people who see college as being of value for one specific thing: money and there is a notable decrease in the number of students who valued college as a place of self-discovery where they’d form a meaningful life philosophy. The culture at elite colleges can encourage to pursue high-paying consulting jobs while insinuating that some jobs were not worthy of a degree from that college. Students can grow increasingly ill-equipped to do anything outside their narrow career paths. Instead of producing well-rounded adults, elite colleges may produce more fragile thoroughbreds, namely students who have learned how to excel in the classroom yet are woefully unprepared for adulthood.

Smaller colleges can have a personal touch and allow curiosity to thrive. In fact, elite colleges can even discourage creativity, given how much they encourage careerism. Many students may have already concocted elaborate plans for their careers. These students stand the risk of being so much focused on these plans that little attention may be given to actual learning. Creativity may be encouraged at a smaller college and ground-breaking ideas aren’t going to come from the student who has blinders on from having plotted every detail of their future. Innovation is the result of people with open minds responding to the world around them.

If you’re looking for the best college, the first step is to ignore the arbitrary rankings published and the second step may be to do your homework by paying attention to the relevant details based on your need and not letting things like reputation get in the way of facts. 

If you would like to know about the Skills and Jobs which are no longer going to be required in the future and which ones to focus upon, then you can learn about the same here Skills and Jobs Outlook for 2022 and Beyond