This past Wednesday I attended the Rose Café by Dan Schwartz about his new book, How to Succeed in College and Beyond: The Art of Learning, as well as the college experience in general. Professor Schwartz covered a lot of topics through the course of his talk, but one that stood out to me the most was his discussion of some of the myths surrounding the college process. He mentioned that despite the anxiety surrounding college admissions and the declining admissions rates of some of the top U.S. colleges, the nationwide average for college admissions rates has remained steady at around 65% and most students get in to a school that suits their ability relatively well. Furthermore, he added that most of the declining admissions rates are due to a simple increase in the number of applications students can send out using the common application. He also dispelled some of the fear around rising college cost, mentioning that students nowadays are able to pay back their loans faster than ever before and that the financial rewards of a college education continue to increase every year. Additionally, he noted that although the demographics for most colleges are still skewed towards the wealthy, the rising tuition costs have largely help to reduce the imbalance by acting as a progressive taxation on wealthy students to provide for poor students. Overall I found that Professor Schwartz’s insights to be very revealing of the overhype created by the media around about colleges and was glad to hear a measured voice of reason discuss the topic.