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I get easily frustrated with people who force complex interpretations of everything. This is particularly true at certain universities, where professors appear to worship complexity.  As much as I appreciate a really substantive cerebral experience, I also realize that Piranha 3D doesn’t have an elaborate subtext to illustrate the perils of the socio-industrial complex’s influence on the global environment.  It’s about a bunch of really mean fish that eat really attractive people, purely for audience entertainment purposes. 

One of the reasons I started writing about college admissions is that at times it seems everyone who writes on the topic has an attitude consistent with those colleges that seem to pride themselves on their disconnect from the “real world.”  So-called college admissions experts appear determined to make the topic seem complex, defying understanding by anyone without decades of experience in the field. This leads to the obvious conclusion that an applicant needs enormous expertise to have any chance of success. 

I disagree.

Those efforts to make the relatively simple obscure have led to the 3 Great Myths of College Admissions:

• College admissions are fair
• College admissions are predictable
• College admissions are complicated

In reality, college admissions decisions often give unfair advantages, are unpredictable to the point of often appearing random and are based on a system that is simple to the point of absurdity. 

The biggest myth of all, however, is that there is a SECRET to college admissions. People believe there is some special trick, gimmick, or shtick, which, if only they had knowledge of, would all but guarantee their admission to some particular college or university.

Not.

These bogus stunts often include some special college essay topic or some special club you can join, or — worst of all — some company that charges a fortune for claims of inside advantages. There’s never any evidence that any of that works, other than that story about somebody who got in at some point by writing that essay, joining that club, or forking over that fortune.

The reality, unfortunately, is really boring. Here it is — you might want to sit down for this:

College Admissions Is (Nearly, Mostly, Almost Completely) All About Your Grades

Better grades are the BEST way to increase your chances of admission to your college of choice.  That’s really about it — except that when I say “grades,” I really mean your whole academic record: the high school you attend, the quality/rigor of your courses, the trends of your grades (up, of course, is better), and the comparison of you to other students and applicants from your school.  All of that is factored, to one degree or another, by college admissions officers to get an idea of what kind of student you are and likely will be in college. That simple, clear-cut, transparent evaluation accounts for the VAST majority of an admissions decision.

I’ll get into more detail about how all of those issues factor into academic records in the college admissions process in some future posts, but in the meantime, here is a really simple piece of advice that is sure to help you in any admission process: Get good grades.  Also, when you go swimming, watch out for the piranha, especially if you’re particularly attractive.

Be seeing you.

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