Myth #4: Colleges that cost more are of higher quality

Why would this be true?  A college education is expensive even at a state university.  That one college costs double or triple what another school costs says a lot about the size of it state subsidies and its endowment, very little about quality of the undergraduate program, and nothing about whether the college fits you!  Many factors go into determining the fee structure of colleges.  Students should look at how well a school matches their own college selection criteria and make few judgments about quality on the basis of cost.  If you find a college that offers the right environment for you and costs a bit less, hooray!  You are a good researcher of colleges.

Source: "College Match" by Steve Antonoff

Myth #3: Colleges always choose the "best" students

"Nope, it's not true.  College admission staffs work long and hard to choose students, but no foolproof or magic formula exists.  Furthermore, what does 'best' mean?  Their decisions are human and, hence, open to interpretation and judgment.  Colleges consider so many variables as they decide on admissions: courses taken, scores, grades, extracurricular activities, as well as geography, athletics, kids of faculty members and a host of other variables.  Admission directors often say that in any given year, if they had o go back and make their decisions all over again with the same candidate pool. they would  then choose different students to receive letters of admission.  So students should be certain their final college list is well balanced in terms of admission difficulty.  (In other words, students should apply to some colleges where their admission chances are so-so, and some colleges where their chances are quite good.)"


Source: "College Match" by Steve Antonoff