Myth Documents

Frantic parents, stressed out students, overworked guidance counselors…welcome to the cutthroat world of college admission! Last year, 2.9 million students graduated from high school, and more than 60% of them chose to pursue a college degree. Admission rates to Ivy League and other highly selective schools have plummeted to new lows. Last year, for example, Yale admitted only 8.3% of its applicants, and Stanford only accepted 12% of the candidates who scored a perfect 800 on the SAT Math exam.

So you’ve seen all the movies and TV shows and know what to expect from college—frolicking on the lawn, jell-o wrestling, intellectual stimulation. But there’s more to college than what you see in the glossy catalogues and on Greek every week. Here are a few college clichés that don’t always deliver.