College Brochures

College Brochures October 25, 2012 Did you (or your child) recently receive a ton of college brochures? Maybe they got one from Stanford, another from Yale, and a couple from Dartmouth, Penn, and Duke. So youre all excited, right? You (or your child) is being recruited by these highly selective colleges, right? Wrong. Sorry to burst your bubble. Enjoy the bit of excitement that these college brochures bring to you, but were here to give it to you straight. Those brochures arent worth the paper theyre written on. Those brochures werent sent to your home because Stanford believes youre the perfect fit for their university. Those brochures were sent to you because schools like Stanford simply want you to apply. College brochures are not an indication that a university thinks you will get in. Not in the least. Whys that? Because by applying, theyll have more applicants. And the more applicants they get, the more selective they will be. Picking 5 out of 10 is not as selective as picking 5 out of 50. Get our point? A school like Stanford cares about its ranking in US News World Report. The more selective the school is in its admissions decisions, the better odds the university has at being at the top of the rankings. Its that simple. If this deflates you, were sorry. But were not in the business of boosting your ego. Were in the business of debunking myths and misconceptions so that you (or your child) can improve your odds of getting into one of these highly selective colleges like Stanford. So the next time that you receive a brochure, look through it. Savor it for a second. But then understand that this doesnt mean the school thinks you have a great shot of actually getting in. It just means theyre trying to get you to apply. And thats all there is to it. You scored above a certain mark on your SAT or ACT, so your name was on a list given to the college. Youre just a name on a list. Accept it and move on. While youre here, check out this post on College Athletic Recruiting.