Is A College's Name the Only Thing that Matters? Should Young People Choose By Perception? Will Quality, Offerings, Location, Cost, and Return on Investment Ever Matter More than A University's Brand?

The Best Paragraph I've Read: The Best Paragraph I've Read: Did they plan to study specifically with one of us? Was our institution particularly strong in the academic disciplines that interested them? Most of them couldn’t really tell me why they wanted Duke. They just knew that they should want it. It would validate them. It would impress their friends. Translation: It was highly ranked — currently tied for the 10th-best university in the country, ahead of half of the Ivy League, according to the justly embattled but perversely enduring bible for such matters, U.S. News & World Report. To many anxious teenagers making what feels like the most important decision of their lives, that marker must mean something, so they let it mean almost everything. They come to believe that the luster of the institution they attend, as established by its ranking and its exclusivity, will not only define their place in the world but also determine their professional success and contentment. And they minimize other, better criteria for choosing a college. This essay comes from the New York Times. The essay is titled: There's Only One College Rankings List That Matters. The essay is written by Frank Bruni. You can read the full story here: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/27/opinion/problem-college-rankings.html Zac and Don discuss the realities of choosing a college. Should young people spend more time thinking about what a college has to offer rather than just the brand name? Will The New York Time's new college choosing system actually make a difference? --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bestparagraph/message