Does it Really Matter Where You Go to College?

Short answer:

Yes.  But maybe not for the reason you think.

Long answer:

I often hear from parents how important the prestige or reputation of a college is when we are curating their student’s college list.  Sometimes they end up unimpressed with our first draft, wondering where all the top-ranked schools are or the colleges that they’ve heard such good things about.  But that’s not what this process is about, or what I’m here for. This process is about learning where your student will thrive, learn, and grow during one of the most adaptable times in their life.  (Late adolescence is the best time to try something new!)

There are so many factors when choosing a school: location, size, finances, academic offerings, extracurricular offerings, social climate, and more.  Rankings often get lumped in that list, but it’s not as important as you might think. It matters where you go to college, not because of rankings, but because of the experience and community that your student will have.

You might ask, then why do schools tout rankings, put them in brochures, and have posters with their ranking in their admissions offices?  Because people still care! As long as students and families care about rankings, colleges and universities will continue to share their rankings and be proud of them, regardless of how they really feel about them.  Rankings often end up being circular in that the highly ranked schools are at the top of the list because of their reputation. They have such positive reputations, to some extent, because they’ve had a top ranking in the past.

Many of the U.S.’s self-made billionaires went to highly-ranked colleges or didn’t graduate with a degree.  These top-ranked schools can tout their handful of billionaires - but lower-ranked schools like the Claremont consortium have shared that their graduates earn salaries over $60k on average right out of college.  Schools like Harvey Mudd who routinely graduate students with high earning potential should not be discounted simply because they do not have billionaire alumni or the reputation of the Ivy League schools. (On a side note - the experience that students at the Claremont schools have is unrivaled, thereby supporting my point.)

The possibility of students being admitted to the top-ranked schools is low, with the Ivy League colleges admitting just 7.25% of applicants on average in fall 2018.  The average rate of acceptance at other universities in the U.S. was approximately 65% in the same term.

So - rankings aside - let’s talk experience and community.  Where your student goes to school matters because of the experience they will have once they’re there.  This includes where they will live - how far away from home, the weather, the style of living - and essentially starting a new life.  While never easy to start over, this age is one of the easiest times to do so. Late adolescence is a time when we are the most malleable and available to new experiences.  The community piece includes the existing community at the school - professors, the types of students the school attracts, social opportunities - as well as the community that your student will build.  All of these things will mold your student for adulthood! Understanding that your child will surround themselves with new people for four years is absolutely a huge reason why it matters where your student goes to school.

Prestige and reputation can play a part in the college admissions and decision process, but there are so many other factors that are much more important in finding the right school for your student.  Know that the experience your student will have and the community they will find and build are far more critical to their success and future than numbers.