The Best College In America
I was driving with my fifteen-year-old son, and he asked, “Dad- what really is the best college in America?” I gathered my strength and said (in what I’m sure was an intensely annoying tone):
“Well, Finn, it’s apples and oranges. The US News ranking system is really a terrible metric, and anyway, the real question is, the best college for WHAT or for WHOM?”
“Okay, Dad, but really, which one IS it?”
This is more or less the same response I get from parents and students when they ask me what the best college in America REALLY IS. They think I am some keeper of an elusive, time immemorial ranking system, which outranks all others in omniscience and objectivity. I genuinely mean it when I say THERE IS NO ANSWER. The question itself doesn’t make sense. What’s the best tree? What’s the best breed of dog? What does “best” mean to you?
I love guitars. I’ve played them for forty-four years. I have owned a LOT of guitars. When I first started playing, my friends and I would have deep discussions about the “best” guitars.
”Stevie Ray plays a Strat.”
“Yeah, but Peter Frampton plays Les Pauls.”
We combed through guitar magazines to lend weight to our arguments and dreamed of the day we would own one of these holy grails. As the years passed, I owned Stratocasters (but they never sounded just like Stevie Ray) and Les Pauls (but these never sounded quite like Peter Frampton). What I did notice, though, is that some very respected and expensive guitars felt wrong, and some cheaper guitars felt, sounded, and played, well, right! So how was it that the Gibson topping the Guitar Player reader’s poll made my shoulder hurt and sounded muffled, but the Tokai cheap imitation of a Fender rang clear and true and fit like a glove?
The best guitar I have isn’t from a famous company or a model played by a legendary shredder. It’s a guitar made for me by Creston Lea in Vermont. We discussed what kind of music I play, whether I had a light or heavy touch, did I prefer a maple or rosewood fingerboard, what amplifiers would I use, what recordings did I like guitar sounds the best on, and more. We picked a one-piece plank of Adirondack spruce salvaged from a 130-year-old Vermont cabin for the body, Lollar gold-foil pickups, and a neck as chunky as a baseball bat. It wasn’t cheap, but it was cheaper than a lot of Gibsons, some Fenders, and any guitar from the custom shop of either of those companies. And it was made by hand, to my specifications, and is the only one of its kind.
“You’re smart enough to see where this is going…
That guitar is my “best guitar” because it fits me.”
You’re smart enough to see where this is going... That guitar is my “best guitar” because it fits me. “What’s the best college?” is a question that only makes sense if you append the words “for me.” Is Harvard a great college for you? Maybe. It has great facilities and world-renowned faculty. It also has an army of graduate students that get first dibs on the labs, classrooms, and professors. On the other hand, have you heard of Santa Clara University? It’s in Silicon Valley, has primarily undergraduate students, offers inroads to internships and jobs with the best tech companies in America, and has an ethical and social justice center with its Jesuit foundation. How about Warren Wilson College? In Asheville, North Carolina, Warren Wilson is a premier liberal arts college that, in addition to offering majors in ecological forestry and neuroscience, requires students to be part of the labor of the college in exchange for part of their tuition; you might enjoy working on the farm growing food for the cafeteria, making pottery, tending stables, or in IT.
If none of these colleges sound right for you, good news! You have 5,000 more to choose from! What I strongly encourage, however, is that you not use the US News and World Report rankings as your sole criterion. The rankings themselves are currently in shambles after a couple of scandals, but even pre-scandal, they were a terrible guide for a first year undergraduate looking for a college home.
A college admissions consultant helps you do many things (write college essays, assemble activities lists, maintain a workflow, etc.), but perhaps the most important thing is to help you build your college list. Private college consultants have researched and visited many colleges, and once they get to know you they can make recommendations that will get you close to your perfect fit.
Contact David Parker, of Parker Educational Consulting, today for a free phone or video consultation. We’ll talk about your plans and what you’re looking for in a college. There’s no cost for the initial consultation.