Why don’t we tell our kids the truth about success? We could start with the fact that only a third of adults hold degrees from four-year colleges. Or that you’ll do equally well in terms of income, job satisfaction and life satisfactionwhether you go to an elite private college or a less-selective state university. Or that there are there are many occupations through which Americans make a living, many of which do not require a college degree.
Does It Matter Where You Go To College? The Answer: It Depends (NPR)
A great conversation questioning the basic assumption that the more elite the university, the better your salary prospects are when you get out.
Failing College (Podcast: The Indicator/NPR)
Colleges have a problem: fewer people are applying every year. Universities are competing like crazy for any edge they can get. Some are offering more financial aid, others are building tiger habitats. But the economic impact of fewer universities could be large.
Those Who Can Do, Can’t Teach (NY Times)
Advice for college students: The best experts sometimes make the worst educators.
How to Get the Most Out of College (NY Times)
“We overwhelm teenagers with advice about choosing a college. Go big. Go small. Put prestige above cost. Do the opposite. We inundate them with tips for getting in. Spend summers this way. Write essays that way. Play a niche sport. Play an obscure instrument. And then? We go mum, mustering less urgency and fewer words for the subject of actually navigating the crucial college years to best effect. It’s strange. And it’s stupid, because how a student goes to school matters much, much more than where.”
Did I Choose the Wrong College? (NY Times)
I sometimes think I went to the wrong college. By many measures — most of them financial — my choice...was not the smartest one.
Stop Asking About My Kid’s College Plans
Everywhere I go, people want to talk about one thing: college.
Advice College Admissions Officers Give Their Own Kids (NY Times)
Admissions officers tell their own children that high school is far more than just a pathway to college — it’s a time for maturation, self-discovery, learning and fun. They encourage their teens to embrace activities and courses that reflect who they genuinely are, not who they think colleges want them to be. The NYTimes interviewed admissions officers, who all emphasized the importance of their child finding a college that fits, not the other way around; here is their advice.