Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be summary

So, how many applicants are accepted to Ivy League schools? Well, in 2015, only 5.05 percent of the total applicants were accepted into Stanford, which marked their lowest acceptance rate in history at the time. As for Yale, their acceptance rate dropped from 20 percent in the late-1980s to just 6.5 percent in 2015. 

But before you assume that this is just another sign of how elite and prestigious these schools are, let’s take a closer look at the great lengths to which these schools go to arrive at these numbers.

Since the applicant pool for colleges is continually growing, the traditional advantages like good test scores and grades just won’t cut it anymore. 

At least, that’s what most applicants are sensing these days. And that’s why, to stand out from an increasingly competitive crowd, many are turning to expensive college prep courses.

With students feeling so pressured to get into the “best” school, that is, the one they think will give them the greatest advantage in life, all eyes are on the college rankings to reveal which school really is the crème de la crème.

But as it turns out, even those working for the best-ranked schools will admit that these rankings aren’t helpful.

When you take a close look at the rankings, it raises an important question: What do we really gain from our time at a university? Is it all about the career advantages or the quality of education? Is it about what goes on in the classroom or outside of it?

Former Starbucks Coffee CEO Howard Schultz says the real opportunity provided by college was the chance for him to expand his horizons and get out of his comfort zone. Many would agree.

Have you ever been stuck in a conversation with someone who goes on and on about his prestigious education, detailing every last academic achievement seeming intent on impressing you with his intelligence?

While they may believe that a fancy alma mater and intelligence may add up to being an impressive success, this isn’t always the case.

For most college students, their period of higher education is also a transitional one, as it serves in many ways as a bridge between childhood and adulthood. Traditionally, someone’s college years are a time for discovering their interests and finding a career to pursue.

These days, however, there’s an increasing amount of people who see college as being of value for one specific thing: money.

John Green, the bestselling novelist of The Fault in Our Stars, has fond memories of his time at Kenyon College, a relatively small school in Ohio, which he attended in the late 1990s. Green was especially appreciative of the way he was able to connect with his professors – something that would have been far more difficult with a larger student body.

In particular, Green valued the experience he had with Fred Kluge, the professor for his Intro to Fiction Writing class. At one point, Green was disheartened after being rejected by one of the more advanced writing classes. So Kluge took the time to invite Green to his house, sit him down, and give him a thorough and personal assessment of his potential as a writer.