#1     An Ivy League degree will assure you of a rich, full, and successful life.

Five years out of college, your success will depend much more on your skills and drive than on the name of your alma mater. Ivy League schools are full of extraordinarily intense, hard-working, competitive, high-achieving students who are quite successful on average, but consider carefully whether an academic pressure-cooker setting is a good match for you.

#2     If you go to a prestigious college, you've got it made!

An excellent academic record from a good liberal arts college trumps a mediocre record from a prestigious university. Many lesser-known liberal arts colleges have medical school admissions success rates that equal the Ivy League record.

#3     A big university will offer a richer academic experience because of more renowned faculty, better facilities, and more course offerings than a small college.

Liberal arts colleges offer small discussion-based classes with close professor contact and more course selection than most students can possibly take advantage of in 4 years. Students are able to get involved in a wide range of activities, not as spectators, but as participants. Large universities emphasize graduate programs and often have large classes taught by teaching assistants rather than full professors, and undergraduates may experience considerable difficulty getting the classes they want.

#4    Your college should be bigger than your high school.

A college with 1800 students is nothing like your high school of the same size. The college has far more resources, academic and extra-curricular, than your high school does. There is academic self-selection, geographical diversity, and less grade-level segregation at college and therefore a larger group of potentially interesting friends than you will ever have time to know.  Read about more ways that college is different from high school.

#5     There is one perfect college out there for me!

No college will be perfect. But some colleges will provide a much better fit than others, and careful research will allow you to discover which ones these are.

#6     I have to apply early decision if I want to get into a good college.

You should apply Early Decision only if you are very sure about your first choice. A great deal of maturing and learning takes place between November and May of the senior year, and applying early robs you of this extra time to consider your choices

.#7     A college that is not in a city is bound to be dull.

It’s true that attending college in a city will provide access to cultural events, night life, and the urban scene. But a non-urban school will be safer and more likely to foster the strong sense of college community that comes from having lots of on-campus activities.

More myths.....

CTCL: 
Colleges That Change Lives

Harvard Schmarvard: 
20 Gems

Tail Fins and Ivy Walls

Who Needs Harvard?

Don't Be Suckered By
These College Myths!

Large vs. Small

A Case for the
Liberal Arts College

The Selectivity
Illusion

What Makes a College Good?

How is College Different
from High School?

National Survey of Student Engagement