Myths about U.S. college admission abound and must be dispelled as students and parents are selecting schools to which to apply. Myths that must be accepted as myths rather than facts are:

Myth 1: “If I Work Hard Enough, I Will Get Admitted to the Most Selective Schools"

Admission to extremely selective colleges (i.e., Harvard, Stanford, Princeton) is based upon superior effort, achievement, and aptitude. Hard work will indeed result in admission to college but is not the only requirement for those highly, highly selective schools.

Myth 2: "The More 'Prestigious' the College, the Better; An Ivy League College Will Guarantee the Rich, Full, and Successful Life"

The most prestigious colleges in the U.S. are primarily large research universities where the emphasis is upon research, publishing, consulting, and graduate teaching. At some of these brand name schools up to 70% of the freshman and sophomore teaching can be done by teaching assistants (graduate assistants), many of who have marginal English language skills. Studies show that at research universities 90% of the faculty taught fewer than the normal teaching load of 12-14 hours per week (60% total teaching less than 4 hours) with 25% doing no teaching at all. At small liberal arts colleges only 3% do no teaching with 84% teaching at least 3 hours. Research has shown that a person's "success'' in life has to do with who they are and very little to with where they went to school.  That is, all research has shown that hardworking people with initiative and able to work well with others will earn just as much money and advance just as fast whether they went to an Ivy league school or another one. Don't a particular school being your 'ticket' to success in life!

Myth 3: "The More Selective the College, the Better"

The degree of selectivity tells more about the popularity of a school than it does about the quality of education. Extremely selective schools are many times known for their graduate programs rather than undergraduate education or popularity of athletic programs. Colleges sometimes do not include certain figures in order to appear more selective than they really are. For example, some schools may not include ‘jocks’ in their numbers as they typically do not score as well academically. Better measurements of quality are the percentage of students who graduate, the percentage of students who go on to graduate school, and attrition after the freshman year.

Myth 4: "High Class Rank Virtually Guarantees Admission to any Ivy League"

In just the U.S. alone, there are some 56,000 valedictorians and salutatorians each year for fewer than 10,000 total openings in the freshman classes of just the Ivy League schools. Keep in mind that all 1600 Harvard freshmen are not valedictorians.

Myth 5: "Eastern U.S. Schools are the Best and Most Desirable; Southern Schools are the Least Desirable; and Forget About that Dreary Siberian Plain Between Pennsylvania and the Colorado Ski Slopes Known as the Midwest"

The Midwest has 150 year-tradition of quality higher education and many of the recent innovations in higher education have come from this region. Student bodies in many Midwestern schools are more diverse than better known eastern schools. Quality and diversity are distributed institutionally, not geographically. Campuses "eastern-looking" and "ivy covered" are found throughout the Midwest and south.

Myth 6: “SAT Scores are the Most Important Thing; Good Ones Will Get you in the Good College and Poor Ones Will Keep You Out"

Wrong! The most important factors are good grades in a tough program and your rank in class. 25-33% of the very high test scorers are not admitted at the very selective schools. The flag of doom is raised on an application with high scores and mediocre or poor grades. When grades are higher than test scores the indication is one of high achievement on the part of the student and this is a plus for admission.

Myth 7: "An SAT Prep Course Will Improve Your SAT Scores"

No prep course is going to raise a 400 score to the 600's. A prep course is more likely to increase the math score but the verbal score is not going to be raised by any quick fix. A long-term habit of reading is going to have the greatest impact on a score. Facts show that non-readers seldom have a high verbal score nor do good readers have low verbal scores. The small score increases that can happen with a prep course are not statistically significant.

Myth 8: "Millions of Dollars in Unused Scholarships are Untouched"

At least 95% of all financial aid is channeled through college financial aid offices. There is, however, a plethora of books on unused scholarship money as well as consultants who, for a fee, will help you find it. Reality is that for a person with no U.S. veteran's benefits nor a parent working for a company with scholarship funds there is little available aid from these sources.

Myth 9: “A College You’ve Heard About Is Better, or at least Safer, Than One You Haven’t”

Magazine rankings or what your friends say are not good indicators on which to base your decision of which colleges to apply to. Magazine rankings of colleges are so flawed that it would be foolish to risk one’s future on their criteria. The name could be familiar for a lot of different reasons other than educational ones: good sports teams, having a lot of money for public relations and recruitment, or simply because a lot of students from your school have gone their in the past. There are plenty of good schools that aren’t well known.

• College catalogs tell you everything you need to know about the colleges
• You must make a definite career decision before entering college
• SAT scores are the most important thing in deciding college admission
• Junior colleges are not as good as four-year schools
• Autobiographical sketches on applications are not important
• Bigger colleges are better than smaller ones
• If you are in the top 10% of your class, you belong in an Ivy League school
• Rejection by the college of your choice is the end of the road
• You don't have to take notes in college
• Grades are not important in college
• Dorms are quiet places

• Colleges think that high school grades are important
• Colleges you have never "heard of" can be just as good as those you have heard
• Teacher/counselor recommendations are important
• Most college students get homesick
• You can cut classes in college
• Living with roommates can be a problem
• Freshman orientation is important
• Only about 50% of those who start college finish
• Most freshmen get lost at first
• Success in college requires good study habits