College Admissions vs. Rocket Science

The response to the blog has been very positive. “Cool!” “Awesome!” “It’s so funny!” Literally every morning, I say to myself, “Today is the day that I stop posting on the blog.” Then I think about the fans of the blog, and I change my mind and keep writing. LGR fans are the best in the world. I do it all for my fans. You are the greatest. Thanks a million.

Today's Post:

Applying to college is not rocket science. Physics is tough. Understanding Shakespeare is challenging (doth what?). But in comparison, applying to colleges is really not that hard. It's a short essay and some paperwork and forms. Yet the consequences of the college application process are so big. If an 11th grader writes a poor paper about The Civil War in his/her American History class, he or she will get a C instead of an A or B. The student hasn’t demonstrated complete knowledge of the Civil War, and his/her grade is a disappointment, but it is not the end of the world. College admissions, by contrast, is high stakes. If the same student doesn’t research colleges and visit them, he/she may not go to college, and if he/she does go, it might not be to a college that fits with his/her interests and abilities. If the student doesn’t learn about financial aid, he/she may not think that college is accessible to him/her, or he/she may not complete the financial aid forms correctly or early enough to secure the most advantageous financial aid packages.

(For all the LGR-ers at Harvard and Princeton, if your application package was not so well done, you might now be attending a lesser institution, like Brown, where I went.)

College Choice activities, when they are done well, are an incredibly valuable part of LGR. I will continue to write about College Choice. That is, if the blog survives.