The Case for Lesser-Known Colleges

The relentless attacks on higher education from Donald Trump’s administration notwithstanding, many high school graduates of the class of 2026 are headed to college this fall. By now, most students have decided where they’ll attend. In some circles, given the frantic competitiveness of both students and parents to land coveted spots at our nation’s most elite institutions, more than a few students are disappointed not to be granted acceptance at their dream school.

Rejection always hurts. It can sting like a hornet. Many people internalize rejection, assuming that they are less than capable. Most adults can recall a moment(s) where they encountered negations that seemed cataclysmic. Thus, it’s totally rational for parents to want to protect their children from feelings of inadequacy or from being deprived of the acceptance letter they wanted. Reading the words “we regret to inform you that we are unable to” can conjure sadness, anger, or despair.

It shouldn’t. First, admission to more selective institutions has become dramatically more intense. Augmenting academic standards, ever-rising tuition costs, drastic cuts in state funding for higher education, and increasingly abrasive attacks coupled with fiercely acerbic debates about the value (or lack) of a college education have steadily increased in various segments of our society. Pockets of dissension aside, we should congratulate those young men and women who hit the jackpot, so to speak. Hopefully, their academic journey will be happy, fruitful, and productive. For those not as fortunate, it is not the end of the world, and this is where parents and adults need to intervene and reassure them that high-prestige schools don’t always deliver. Lesser-known ones can provide a great education at a reasonable cost, something the Washington Monthly has been touting for two decades in its annual College Guide.

Indeed, the fact is that:

There is no one pathway to success; a student’s first-choice school may not necessarily be the best one for them; Many successful people often fail along the way; and Things tend to have a way of working out.

There are several reasons a particular admissions committee/institution denied a student admission. Their SAT or ACT scores were strong but not exceptional (trust me, test scores will not predict your future success), or their transcript was solid but not outstanding. Working in an admissions office as a graduate student (not an actual admissions officer) in my mid-20s allowed me to hear stories from admissions officers. They described what stood out about applicants that led to the unpredictable decisions they often made. One student who gained admission was a first-rate violinist, another grew up on a pig farm in the Midwest, and a disabled student was an outstanding poet. Hearing such stories was revelatory. Geography played a factor as well. Are you a student from Mississippi applying to the University of Vermont? Are you from Delaware and applying to the University of Utah? Your odds of admission increased exponentially.

In his national best-selling book Where You Go Is Not Who You Will Be, Frank Bruni of The New York Times made a convincing case that too many people far too often overemphasize prestige when choosing a college, assuming this is the only factor that matters. Just because a particular institution is ideal for person A does not mean that it would be a good fit for person B. Published almost a decade ago, Bruni’s book is still relevant today. Additionally, I would argue that not everyone is cut out for or should even pursue a traditional path toward earning a college degree. The adage “no one size fits all” is certainly true regarding higher education. Vocational education, apprenticeships, and internships are just a few alternative paths that some students can or should pursue. That being said, anyone who desires to attend a traditional four-year college or university should have the opportunity to do so.

Consider the following list of significant achievers and where they attended college:

Stephen King — University of Maine Kenny Chesney — East Tennessee State University Oprah Winfrey — Tennessee State University Ronald Reagan — Eureka College Charles Blow — Grambling University William Macy — Goddard College

Get my point? Each of the individuals attended well-respected, quality schools but not elite institutions. Life doesn’t depend on which school you attend. Those of us who are well into adulthood know the hard reality that life will not always deliver what you want. You may not get that coveted job or promotion. You may lose a dear friend or parent(s) to an untimely death. You may endure a bitter divorce. You may become afflicted with a life-altering disease.

Granted, I am not a parent and have no disappointed teenager who did not attain their goal despite their hardest efforts. However, over the years, I have counseled and mentored several students who have experienced acute disappointment, be it academically related or otherwise. Moreover, I have endured misfortunes at various points in my life and can personally attest that bad luck and personal misfortune are beyond our control. There is nothing smooth about life.

Parents should embrace that dealing with adversity early in life can be a positive experience for their children because it can make them stronger and more resilient as they get older. People who have been knocked down early in life are often able to cope much better with the occasional roadblocks and curveballs that will undoubtedly come their way as they get older.

These are the sort of experiences that can make rejection from their first-choice school seem trivial. The reality is that, for the vast majority of these young people, they have probably moved on from any initial disappointment and by fall will likely be happily settled into the fabric of campus life at the institution they ultimately decided to attend. Life will indeed go on.

Take it from me. As a person who was primarily a mediocre student in high school and barely got into my state’s land grant institution by the skin of my teeth, I became what some people refer to as a “late bloomer.” Once I hit my early/mid-twenties, I began to thrive. I applied to and managed to get into graduate school, earn a Ph.D., and become a tenure-track college track professor by age 30! No one, least of all myself, would have predicted such an outcome when I was in my mid-to-late teens. Life has a strange way of turning out and taking us in new directions. For the mothers and fathers whose children are facing such a predicament, this would be sagacious advice to pass on.

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