- 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?
