Читать книгу Accepted!. Secrets to Gaining Admission to the World's Top Universities онлайн

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As a young person, you can tell yourself that college doesn't matter or that high school has nothing to do with your career, but the reality is, in virtually all scenarios, the easiest and most effective path to success is getting into an elite college and making the most of that opportunity.

Many critics have asked why these elite colleges are important. Does Harvard have the best teachers? A lot of classes are taught by graduate students. Do the endless laboratories and resources really change the experience of the average student? I never set foot in one in my time there. Does Harvard have the best career advice? I never went into the on-campus career services—not a single time.

The answer to why these colleges are so important sits with a Nobel Prize–winning, human capital theorist, Gary Becker. Becker coined the phrase “signaling,”ssss1 which refers to the power of a student's education credentials to act as a signaling device to future employers or postgraduate admissions officers as to their superior innate abilities. In a busy world, no one has the time, money, or knowledge to be able to actually audit people's real ability. As a result, they rely on signals of quality in order to proxy real ability. The college degree is the ultimate signal of ability. How many times have we come across an Ivy League “genius” in a Hollywood movie like the Yale-educated data scientist played by Jonah Hill in Moneyball? Or the aspiring diplomat who happens to be a Rhodes Scholar (check out Charlize Theron in Long Shot)? Or as the ferocious corporate lawyer from Harvard Law School (Harvey Specter in Suits)? Nothing is a faster proxy for ability, skill, and academic firepower in mainstream media than your university education.