“I can’t go to that college, it has a high acceptance rate, what will people think”?
It’s fun for me to talk to students once they’re in college and remind them that they once said that.
Because at that point, they know that acceptance rate is not a measurement of whether a college is good or bad, challenging or easy.
They also know that it’s about more than the “name” of the college or how hard it was to get in, it’s what you do once you get there and how you maximize your experience that counts.
A high acceptance rate does not automatically equate to a less challenging experience. Let’s take high school, for example. A public high school pretty much has an acceptance rate of 100% if you live in the area. Yet within that high school every student has a different experience and outcome based on what they choose to do and how they choose to challenge themselves. Academically, some challenged themselves by taking as many AP classes as possible, and some may not have taken any at all. Some students got very involved in student government while others were all about playing a sport. And some may have directed their interests outside of high school.
The same is true with college.
That’s why when a student tells me that if they’d “known at the beginning of high school that it was this easy to get into college, they wouldn’t have worked that hard”, I call bull hockey.
I point out that they are the type of student who choose to challenge themselves no matter what the situation. Their desire to strive to get all A's, and study hard for the SAT, they did all of that because that's who they are. That's how they show up in most if not all the things they take on. And, even if they say they only did it to win the "prize" of getting into a "good college" (aka low acceptance rate), going to a college with a more generous acceptance rate doesn’t negate that.
It is the application of these qualities and characteristics that create a successful college outcome.
These are the same students in college who choose to take an academically rigorous curriculum, apply to and get into the Honors College and double-major. They participate in research projects, study abroad, play competitive club sports, and are involved in a wide variety of clubs and activities and leadership roles.
And according to Gallup, this is the stuff that matters. Their 2015 study talks about the “Big Six” College Experiences which are divided into those that provide support and those that are experiential. Being able to have the time to participate in research opportunities with professors, secure internships and building relationships with professors and mentors to support those experiences are what create student confidence and higher “workplace engagement and wellbeing”.
And continuing to challenge themselves, to look for the opportunities in every situation, that is what will support them to continue to “Gallup” their way to success throughout their lives.