- Are you a (parent of) HS Senior considering whether to apply Early Action/Early Decision vs. Regular Decision and to what schools?
- Are you a (parent of) HS Junior working on your college list?
- How important is prestige vs. fit or cost when choosing your school? Which is more important?
- Are you interested in discovering your new “Dream School?”
We are excited to welcome back best-selling author and college admissions expert @Jeff_Selingo for an exclusive written Q&A on Thursday, October 30th in which share insights from his New York Times bestseller Dream School: Finding the College That’s Right for You —including how he built his list of “Dream Schools” and how you can create your own based on fit, cost, and outcomes, not just prestige. He’ll reveal some names of Dream Schools, but also answer your questions about the admissions process, college search, or the changing definition of what makes a school truly great.
@Jeff_Selingo has written about higher education for more than two decades and is a New York Times bestselling author of three books. His latest book, Dream School: Finding the College That’s Right for You is currently a New York Times best-seller. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic. Jeff is a special advisor to the president and professor of practice at Arizona State University, co-hosts the podcast, Future U. and writes a twice-monthly newsletter, Next.
About Jeff’s book
The companion book to Who Gets In and Why shifts the spotlight from how colleges pick students to how students can better pick colleges.
Getting into prestigious schools has become a kind of lottery. “Plan A” may work out, but increasingly it doesn’t. In Dream School: Finding the College That’s Right for You , Jeff urges families to ditch the “Top 25 or bust” mindset and look beyond the usual suspects. Hidden-gem schools with incredible value and rich opportunities are waiting to be discovered.
Backed by unparalleled research—and an eye-opening survey of more than 3,000 parents—Dream School reveals what really matters in a college: strong job prospects after graduation, hands-on learning experiences, and a sense of belonging.
To help students find their perfect match, Jeff highlights 75 accessible and affordable colleges that will satisfy those priorities.
Subscribe to Jeff’s twice-monthly newsletter on what’s next for higher ed here.
Do you believe that less prestigious universities like UW Madison or Ohio State will become more selective in the future and become out of reach for top students? Universities like Florida State or UC Santa Barbara have been extremely selective recently and regularly deny straight A students.
In your book, you mentioned one of the benefits of going to a less prestigious university is having more confidence and less cutthroat competition, giving you a better chance of taking advantage of the opportunities available. Yet for high school, you argue that going to a less competitive high school has the drawback of not preparing you well for college. Do you believe these two points are contradictory?
I have read both your books now and found them both very enlightening. My husband and I have had a lot of conversations with our current Junior about the importance of fit over prestige. She is completely on board with the idea of fit over prestige and so far has found three schools she loves, that offer the possibility of good merit aid for a student with her STATS. There are a few more we will be visiting this year.
She has a 4.0 unweighted GPA, rigorous classes, excellent ECs, a 1580 SAT, and is a probable National Merit Scholar. None of the schools she is considering are Ivies or schools with single digit acceptance rates. Many of them are actually listed in your new book (which was very validating to read).
But, especially with her high SAT score, I am worried the schools she likes might think she is the type of student gunning for the highly rejective schools and unlikely to enroll in their schools.
So my question is, how does a student like mine, who is fully embracing the college search philosophy in “Dream School,” avoid the dreaded “yield protection?”
She will have visited each school in person, and plans to do their optional interviews, write detailed and specific “why us” essays, etc. (all the common demonstrated interest advice). Is there anything more she can do? She will not be able to apply ED anywhere because we will have to compare merit scholarships since we will not qualify for need based aid at most schools.
Edited to add that of her current top 3 schools, 2 are LACs with admit rates of 52% and 31%, and a smaller public at 34% OOS admit rate. According to Niche, her GPA/SAT score puts her in the top 95% or higher for these three school, in case this matters at all in regards to this question.
Between the full ride and higher ranking/ prestigious colleges what factors you should consider while making decision? How much of your college ranking affect your job prospects/ salary after graduation?
You mention in your books that it is the number of applications that has been going up drastically, not necessarily the number of applicants. Many students seem to be applying to more than 10 schools in essentially a “lottery” approach. This is one leading cause of the current unpredictability of the admissions process. How can this be addressed nationwide?
Wondering if you anticipate that certain factors will increase acceptance rates for high school seniors who are applying for Fall 2026 college admission, including the fact that last year’s cohort belonged to a “baby boom” birth year (2007) and fewer international students will be likely to apply to U.S. universities, due to Trump administration policies and hostility to foreigners.
In looking at the participating NSSE schools, there is a range in the frequency of participation, from yearly, every 2, 3, or 4 years, or on some irregular interval. Based on your experience and knowledge of the schools, do you think there might be a relationship with the level of engagement that students report and the frequency of the school’s participation in the survey? If so, what do you think that relationship might be?
I know there isn’t one easy answer here, but can you discuss any tips for how to go about assessing the teaching quality of a school? (short of visiting and getting to see your classes of interest in session!). Are there any useful publicly available metrics that could help ferret this out?
Is it a naive assumption that LACs will generally have better teaching due to their explicit focus on undergrads? Is “# of classes with < 20 students” a meaningful proxy, or could that just be a sign of TA-taught classes? Thank you!
I think “fit” becomes a confusing topic for consideration (and discussion) because there are really 2 kinds of fit.
There are the tangible elements of fit; I would never want to live in the cold, I hate big cities, I have significant financial limitations, I must live at home with my parents, I won’t go to school in a state with ____ political leanings, I hate the idea of a core curriculum, etc.
Then, there are the intangible elements of fit; I’ve heard bad things about the vibe of __, I have heard __ is a pressure cooker, the students seem to be too quirky or too snooty at __, I just wasn’t feeling it when I visited ___, etc.
Once you get past the tangible elements of fit, I think most students would end up being fine at most colleges and universities. Do you agree?
What do you think colleges are doing RIGHT today? We’ve heard a lot of the negatives that colleges are pushing for more applications and locking more students in through ED programs. Are there things that you think colleges are doing better today than they did in the past 10 years? This is both from the admissions side and from the actual “in college experience” side.
Welcome everyone, excited to host another exclusive Q&A w/ @Jeff_Selingo who will answer your questions about the admissions process, college search, or the changing definition of what makes a school truly great.
Jeff will start with the questions that were submitted prior to the event.
@Bluesky_99, this is a great question and you’re doing many of the right things. I understand you can’t apply ED, but do they offer EA? Maybe that’s a route (if they will yield protect, more likely to defer than deny). Might be too late for this – but if they come to your school or a school fair in the area, go see their regional rep. Also, mention this mindset to your counselor and teacher recs. Not everyone practices yield protection the same way, so one of these schools should work for you.
@FrodosMom, yes, but I think we’ll see the biggest changes at colleges deeper in the rankings. Remember, the number of applications to the 67 most selective colleges in the nation has tripled since 2000, to nearly 2 million a year, while their enrollments have barely budged upward. So, it might get a little bit easier to get into these schools — but it will still be difficult.
@jlgUC, I think that’s a good assumption about LACs based on the results of research from Corbin Campbell in my book. As for what to look for from home, here are a few thoughts:
Check out the course catalog. Are requirements framed as “ways of thinking” (ethical reasoning, science & society) with engaging options—or just box-checking?
Look over department web pages for sample syllabi, labs/studios, community projects, capstones.
Lightly scan student reviews for patterns (ignore one-off rants).
@Jeff_Selingo, in the intro for this Q&A we teased that you will reveal how you built your “Dream Schools.” Do you want to share a bit of your process?
@j_t_03, not sure there’s a way to address it without the government getting involved. Colleges can’t really talk to each other about admissions and financial aid without running afoul of anti-trust laws. I’ve suggested in the past that perhaps we lower the limit on number of schools students can apply to through the Common App, but then it’s pointed out that colleges usually have their own app and might have other apps as well (the Coalition App). So students would just go to those apps. Maybe high schools can put limits on number of apps, but then again it would be unfair if some did and others didn’t. So unfortunately, I think we’re stuck with what we have.
