<ul>
<li><p>Reach/match/safety can be assessed on admissions selectivity only, without needing to consider cost and financial aid likelihood.</p></li>
<li><p>One has to have reaches and matches in the application list.</p></li>
<li><p>Doing pre-med requires majoring in biology.</p></li>
<li><p>All STEM majors have good job and career prospects.</p></li>
<li><p>All liberal arts majors have poor job and career prospects.</p></li>
<li><p>Liberal arts includes only humanities and social studies, not math and science.</p></li>
<li><p>Private is always better than public.</p></li>
<li><p>Public is always cheaper than private.</p></li>
<li><p>Ivy League is always better than everything else for all subjects and students.</p></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><p>… and there are huge differences in both quality and prestige between schools ranked a few spots apart from one another</p></li>
<li><p>college perceptions in your area are universal – if you’ve not heard of a given college, there can’t possibly be any region of the country where it has a good name, and conversely all schools on the East Coast have the exact same reputation everywhere</p></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><p>You can’t prep for the SAT because it tests Aptitude only</p></li>
<li><p>The HS GC provides all the help a kid really needs</p></li>
<li><p>If the kid is smart, scholarships will pay the kid’s college costs</p></li>
<li><p>Legacy status trumps grades and scores</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Yes, momlive, and because if someone speaks with authority on a subject, and repeats it loudly enough, people don’t ask themselves if the person has (as Jon Stewart says) “the facts to back it up.” And because the idea that common sense is more reliable than research has become so rife: if something sounds right, then it is. Obviously rankings matter, because otherwise people wouldn’t rank, right? If the school costs more, you’ll earn more when you graduate, and if nine out of ten people on the street recognize your college’s name, the prospective employer will be more impressed, no matter what your record at that college might have been.</p>
<p>First big decision in kids’ lives and they trust…another hs kid to know the straight poop. As I often say:, another kid who hasn’t even ever submitted a college app. Compounded by certain adults, who insist they know universal truths because their son or daughter…</p>
<p>I hate “ECs don’t matter” and most posts with the word “passion.” Tell you something else: hate all the references (more than you can imagine) to wanting school X (the three tops right now seem to be Penn, Brown and Stanford) because the have dreamed of going to this college since they were barely out of diapers. Who cares how long you wanted it, if you can’t articulate some intelligent, relevant reason, you didn’t do the prep- and haven’t read the web pages? Ok, I’ll calm down now.</p>
<p>As far as the liberal arts thing goes, when some people mention liberal arts, they want to just be talking about the less practical, poor career outlook degrees.</p>
<p>No one would ever diss math, or physics or chem or something.</p>
<p>Actually, chemistry (and biology) majors’ job and career prospects are considerably worse than math and physics majors’ job and career prospects.</p>
<ol>
<li> Because people confuse what is fact and what is opinion all the time.<br></li>
<li> Because people have opinions, they seem to think they are facts that everyone should believe and adhere to.</li>
</ol>
<p>You can’t get thru a California public school in 4 years. I hear it ALL THE TIME!! A lot of the times it was their fancy private college counselor has told them that.</p>