Commonly Perpetuated Myths of College Admissions

Thought you needed to volunteer to get into an elite college? You thought wrong.

Commonly Perpetuated Myths of College Admissions

There are lots of myths out there about the highly selective college admissions process. These myths are perpetuated by students, parents, school counselors, independent college counselors, admissions officers — you name it. So let’s devote today’s post to debunking some of the most commonly perpetuated myths about the college admissions process once and for all — ten to be precise. Ok, it probably won’t be “once and for all” since we find ourselves debunking these college admissions myths just about every day but we’re glass half full folks so here’s hoping!

Debunking College Admissions Myths

We’ve addressed some of the most commonly perpetuated myths of college admissions in our infographic above, which we hope you enjoy. From sending too many letters of recommendation to not recognizing the advantage of applying Early Decision or Early Action to believing that applying for Financial Aid won’t hurt your case for admission, we get these — and the others cited — quite a bit. We mostly hear them during free consultations when students (and particularly their parents!) think they know it all but soon find out that which they know isn’t exactly correct. In fact, it’s mostly just plain wrong.

We tend to hear this line a lot, said in an incredulous tone: “But an admissions officer said this during an info session.” Oh really? You mean a paid employee of an institution that is trying to get as many students to apply as possible so as to boost their application numbers, lower their admission rate, and positively impact their “US News & World Report” ranking didn’t tell you the truth? Good heavens. As but one example, an admissions officer is of course going to tell students and parents that applying for Financial Aid isn’t going to hurt a student’s case for admission. But of course, at just about every highly selective institution, it will. Colleges rely on tuition dollars. They’re need-aware, not need-blind.

Have a question about some of these commonly perpetuated college admissions myths? Let us know your question by posting it below!