The Foreign Service Journal, December 2014

72 DECEMBER 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT tion allow a student to delve deeper than simply perusing single lists of college rankings. On Prestige For better or for worse, in some circles there is still importance attached to pres- tige. Going to a “name” school, or at least one that most people have heard of, may open certain doors, and students need to consider that. Yes, we all know there are plenty of wonderful colleges out there where students get a fabulous education. But if prestige is important to a student, then the rankings do show what college administrators regard as the most elite institutions. Yet prestige isn’t everything. Loren Pope, author of Colleges at Change Lives , and Washington Post educa- tion columnist Jay Mathews, author of Harvard Schmarvard , have argued along with others that a college’s name is not enough to guarantee a good education, or at least, the right education for every individual. Pope’s very popular Colleges at Change Lives inspired the nonpro t organization by the same name. CTCL is dedicated to the advancement and support of a student-centered college search process. Founded in 1998, it hosts information sessions nationwide and coordinates outreach e orts with high school counselors and college coun- seling agencies to educate families on the importance of understanding an individual student’s needs and how they “ t” with the mission and identity of a particular college community. e CTCL website provides valuable information, news and resources on cur- rent issues in higher education, as well as common misperceptions about the college search process. Says one Foreign Service parent whose child went to a Virginia public university, “I went to a ‘name’ school, basically hated it, lived on bagels and ramen, worked 20-plus hours a week the entire time, and came out of it in debt.” And parent Victoria Hess, whose son Andrew attended the University of Wyo- ming (ranked #161 on the U.S. News list of national universities), says, “To gradu- ate, he had to pass a rigorous national