High Schools Are Posting Their College Lists. Don’t Be Misled.

Once the first of May comes and goes, eagle-eyed observers in communities across the country await the list. Who is going where? How does it compare with last year — and other schools nearby? And what will it mean for private school applications next year, or real estate values or the college counselor’s standing?

Maybe this isn’t your town. But in hundreds of places where the upper classes (and those who aspire to place their children in them) dwell, the list of colleges that high school seniors will attend is often as closely watched as the homecoming score and the police blotter. It’s true in private schools, and it’s equally so in high-achieving public systems.

It probably shouldn’t be. With each passing year, these lists become ever more misleading, owing to their fundamental financial ambiguity. When college can cost over $300,000 and discounts are legion, we can’t know why any given teenager attended one over another. Publishing these lists without any context about who is paying what (and why and how) is to pretend that we can.

Before we outline why that is, let’s be clear on what we are quite specifically not talking about here. If yours is a community that publishes a college list as a form of celebration, complete with names, that can be lovely. And if yours is one where continuing education is not a given, then acceptances and subsequent college matriculation (or graduates headed for trade school or an apprenticeship) may well be an outright triumph. 

Read More:  NYTimes.com

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