On Early Decision Denials
This is the time of year when I offer the following thoughts and rants about Early Decision, and, what happens if you don't get in?
First, the whole ED thing is a scam that benefits colleges, not applicants. How can something that restricts your choices be beneficial? Not just a trivial choice, obviously. A choice that can impact the trajectory of a kid's life, not to mention the enormous financial impact of that choice on the whole family.
Here's the dirty little secret: Early Decision was invented to help colleges lock up their incoming class for the following year. To reduce stress on THEM, not students.
Putting that aside, who cares if you don't get into your top choice college? Dumb question, except that there is not much evidence to suggest that it matters where you go to college (See Dale and Krueger). Sure, there's anecdotal evidence that going to an Ivy League or Ivy Plus college can quote unquote open doors. I don't dismiss that thought outright.
But there's ample anecdotal evidence on the contra side, proven by hugely successful people who went to community colleges or "regular" colleges. Or dropped out of college, or never went to college at all. I personally know or have met a couple dozen millionaires and even a handful of billionaires who fall into one or more of these categories.
Again, anecdotally, how many people do you know who went to Ivies back in the day, decades ago -- who aren't particularly successful or productive members of society currently -- yet still manage to reference their alma maters in 95% of the conversations you have with them? ("When I was at a little college in Cambridge, we blah blah blah.").
It's easy to pick on those d-bags who wear their alma mater's ball caps and hoodies well into their 50's, but that's not the point I'm trying to make today. If you don't get into your top choice college, there's a 99.999% chance that it will have zero impact on your future success. If this happens, you'll join the ranks of Warren Buffett, Tina Fey, Barack Obama, Antonin Scalia and plenty of others who managed to bounce back from their crushing blows.
What makes a young man or woman successful is their character, reputation, work ethic, motivation, ability to get along with others, impact and other traits. Not where they went to college.
So if your kiddo threw themselves into the arena, only to be marred by dust, sweat, blood and a deferral or rejection, it's far from game over. It's ok to sulk temporarily, but then it's onward and upward. A rejection is just a short blip that won't matter 10, 20 or more years thereafter.
Financial Aid Loopholes and Landmines "Encore" Performance
We ran this webinar at the end of November, 600+ signed up but 200+ couldn't make it. And now we have another 2,000 new folks on our email list. So Pearl and I are going to return to the interwebs this Wednesday, 12/13 one last time. You will discover hidden, "secret" loopholes on the FAFSA and CSS Profile that are concealed in plain sight. Plus 10 deadly, money-losing college financial aid mistakes to avoid at all costs. (You will NOT hear this at your high school's "college night"). Here's where to get more details and sign up:
Learn More
See ya!
- Andy Lockwood
P.S. We've already heard from a couple of kids who managed to GET IN to their ED colleges. Congrats to them!
But, same advice: don't get complacent. Getting into college is a beginning, not the be all and end all. Now it's up to you to get squeeze every last bit of juice out of the next four years.
