Nearly 3,000 four-year colleges and universities enroll students in America. Only about 25 of them have an admittance rate of 10% or less, which means that we’re effectively letting the 1% dominate the conversation around higher education – and not for the better.
A narrative has taken hold in the public imagination that if you want a good future, you have to get into one of these highly selective schools. A recent New York Times focus group of 11 graduating high school seniors addressed this point: 10 said attending a highly ranked college would lead to them making more money in their career.