EduPlan

With two suicides happening at MIT in the last two months, MIT leadership takes measures to support students and prevent further tragedy.

In its article “MIT reexamines campus efforts after 2 suicides,” The Boston Globe talks about the deceased, their families, friends and the support available on campus for this not to continue happening.

Do you know what Richard Branson (CEO of Virgin), Michael Dell (CEO of Dell Computers), and Paul Allen (Microsoft’s co-founder) have in common? These corporate superstars never attended, nor graduated, from an Ivy League school. Yet today, they are considered some of the most successful executives in the world.

The Ivy League dream. Many students suffer from it; many parents desire it for their children —to earn an education in a brand-name school that can secure a top salary, offer amazing career opportunities, and the chance to take that next step to become a great leader. Or not? Every day, we hear more success stories about professionals who did not attend a top-tier school. One interesting case was shown by Dale and Krueger’s research paper “Estimating the Payoff to Attending a More Selective College.” This team of respected scholars conducted an in-depth study and concluded that if you are talented enough to gain acceptance to a top-tier school, whether you actually attend that school or not will make no statistical difference in your income twenty years after graduation. The study presented current income for the class of 1976 freshman of 34 colleges. The range went from students that gained admission to some highly selective schools such as Yale, Dartmouth, and Harvard, and students that attended less selective schools such as Penn State and Denison University. The study assessed whether the average annual earnings for students attending Princeton and Columbia, for example, would differ if they would have attended a less selective school. We might find this surprising (I actually find it refreshing), but the research findings proved that attending (or not) an elite school will not directly help or harm a student’s capacity to be positioned in a higher or lower pay scale. What Krueger and Dale concluded is also supported by tons of anecdotal information, as Gregg Easterbrook quotes in his article “Who Needs Harvard?” One of the examples he offers is the U.S. Senate, which only lists twenty-six members with undergraduate degrees from super selective schools, while explaining that “half of U.S. senators are graduates of public universities, and many went to “states”—among them Chico State, Colorado State, Iowa State,…” What does this mean for students? It means that there certainly is a wide range of great choices for students seeking an education that propels an outstanding career.

As a college counselor, stressing over college choices is part of my daily routine. However, my stress is related to finding schools with the right fit for the student. I want to make sure that the college the student finally selects  is one where they’ll be able to thrive academically, socially, and personally, while opening opportunities for career advancement. Oftentimes, parents and students themselves feel the pressure of choosing a school for the wrong reasons – name recognition, rankings, status quo in the admissions world, and, simply, brand name recognition. I see students often believing that selectivity is correlated with future professional success. As Dale and Krueger, and countless personal examples have proven, this is not so. So taking this out of the equation, since it is no longer valid (right?), let’s evaluate what really is important.

I’ll start with the reminder that the college admissions process should not be a student’s final life goal. When admissions are seen as the means to an end, but not as the award received for doing everything right, that is a start with the right foot. Going to college is one small step (albeit an important one) in what hopefully will become a long-term professional success story. The buck does not stop here! If you gain admission to the college of your choice, it does not mean that you have “arrived.” Often, I see students thinking that they have it made because they are attending an Ivy League school. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. These same students have an equal chance to find themselves unemployed after graduation as those attending less prestigious schools. It is what got you in to a school that can help you get far: discipline, creativity, sense of responsibility, and maturity used during the college admissions process. These traits, and others like perseverance, ambition, and any exceptional abilities you possess, are important aspects of who you are and what you offer as a professional. Keeping this in mind, you will be ready to take advantage of the opportunities placed in front of you.

Know this: when choosing a school considering fit, you will gain acceptance to a community where you have a great chance to thrive. It will make no difference in your long-term career success if you attend a highly selective school or not. However, your talent, commitment, ambition, and the opportunities you take to challenge yourself will be essential to secure a place in a great Master’s/Doctoral program, to  open doors professionally, and ultimately to achieve your career goals.  So, get ready to combine these attributes and the educational opportunities provided to you in order to seize your future and become the superstar you are meant to be!

Applying to college is a gamble.  You send your applications and test results off to a handful of universities with no guarantee of which ones will accept you, which one you will choose, or if you’re going to be happy with the end result.  You play your cards and hope to win.  There are a few steps you can take, however, to increase your chances of a happy outcome.  The obvious step is to be extremely studious, ace your exams and get top grades.  Another way of increasing the odds of getting into a good college is to apply Early Decision, but this option comes with its own set of risks, and is generally beneficial to only a select group of applicants.

The Early Decision program is a binding contract between the student and the institution whereby they mutually agree early on – the ED application deadline for 2011 is November 1^st, and the student can expect to hear from the school within a month – that the student will attend that school and withdraw all other college applications.  The only way you can break this contract is if you can prove that the school’s financial aid offer is insufficient for your needs.  Because of its binding nature, it is designed for students who are completely, 100% certain about which school they wish to attend.  If you have any doubt about where you want to study, ED is not for you.  If, however, you are one of the few students who do feel fully committed to attending a particular college, ED can make the college application process a relatively smooth experience. You may only apply ED to one college, but you should consider sending regular applications to other schools in case you are not accepted to your first choice.   Not all schools use the ED program, so be sure to check the school websites if you are considering this option.

Applying Early Decision can be quite advantageous if you have done the research and truly feel you have chosen a college that you can afford and is a good fit.  Using this program can increase your chances of gaining admission, since the school knows that you will be attending if accepted. This allows schools to admit students that will enhance their yield (percentage of admitted students that decide to attend), which positively impacts school rankings.

Applying ED can also eliminate a great deal of the stress typically involved in the college admissions process.  There’s a lot to be said for knowing where you are going to study, as you can stop waiting and worrying and start to focus on your priorities.  Likewise, you can save a lot of money by reducing the number of applications you file.  Statistics show that students who apply ED increase their chances of admission, possibly due to the fact that these students tend to have high academic records.  Applying ED can also increase your financial aid package as the school coffers are still be quite full at this stage of the game.  Schools like to have a good idea of how many students will be attending and paying fees each year and ED helps them plan their budget.  It’s a win-win situation.

But Early Decision is not for everyone.  If you are one of the many students whose higher education choices will be strongly influenced by finances, then you will probably want to take the standard route to applying for college.  Most colleges offering ED are private schools with high fees.  They may offer some level of financial assistance, but when applying ED, you do not have the option of comparing financial aid offers.  Once you have been accepted, you cannot wait to see if a different school will offer you more money.  State schools do not generally offer the ED program, but tend to be much more affordable.  Unfortunately, this is a real deciding factor for many students.

Another disadvantage to the ED program is the pressure it puts on young people to make a very big decision.  Choosing where you want to spend the next four years studying is no small matter and many students just haven’t completely decided by their senior year.  Applying to a variety of schools can help with this process.  When you send out your applications, choose schools where you think you will be happy.  No choice will feel perfect, but lots of choices will feel very good.  Look for schools where you think you will be happy, but let go of any expectations of finding a school where you will be happiest.  All campuses will have things you like and things you hate.

There is no doubt that in every graduating class there will be a group of students who will benefit from applying ED as it will get them into their first choice college and they can spend the rest of their senior year focusing on their studies.  These students have done their research and set their sites on a particular college.  Most high school seniors, however, will apply to many colleges and choose their final destination by a process of elimination.  Both systems work, but ultimately, it is up to the individual student to decide if ED is the best option for them specifically when applying to college.  

In the college admissions process, there are many opportunities to portray our diversity. Some students question whether this is favorable or not for them. The decision on whether or not to show our diversity certainly impacts our college admissions process results. Here is our take on the topic.

We are all different, but we are not all equal. This inequality becomes glaringly apparent when you look at the statistics for many U.S. colleges and universities. According to the College Prowler website, 47% of Harvard students are white in contrast to a mere 7% African Americans, 6% Hispanic and 1% Native American. The same website gives slightly better statistics for African Americans (9%) and Hispanics (8%) attending Yale, but the percentage of white students also increases to 51%.1

It is a similar story in most U.S. colleges, despite concerted efforts to create a more diverse student body. Most universities understand the pros of attracting students from different backgrounds. In their Diversity & Inclusion Statement, John Hopkins University explains, “We firmly believe that we can best promote excellence by recruiting and retaining a diverse group of students, faculty and staff and by creating a climate of respect that is supportive of their success.” 2

It is not unusual for universities to have a clear policy on diversity and inclusion on their websites where they state their commitment to creating a community that is welcoming and tolerant of all students regardless of race, religion, gender, socio-economic background or sexual preference. Colleges, specifically faculty and students directly benefit from having a diverse student body that allows students from different backgrounds to learn from each other’s experiences. College Professors call students from diverse origins and geographic locations to gather different opinions and share their experiences when discussing topics. To meet this goal of a truly diverse campus, schools ensure that more applicants from under-represented groups are accepted.

Admissions offices need to know about your ethnic diversity if they are going to take that into account when reviewing your college application. For this reason don’t hesitate to use every opportunity to highlight your racial status in the application process, and you will find colleges that will accept you for who you are, and celebrate your diversity with you.

References:

1 “Harvard University – Diversity”. Collegeprowler.com. (9/08/11)

http://collegeprowler.com/harvard-university/diversity/

2 Diversity & Inclusion Statement. John Hopkins University. Jhu.edu (9/08/11)

http://webapps.jhu.edu/jhuniverse/administration/minutes_policies_reports/policies/diversity/

Here are our latest opinions on transferring when you are in college, published by Forbes.

Read Forbes article by Allison Cheston