Good college counselors, and I on this blog, routinely beat the drum that all the headlines about the absurd selectivity of American colleges are only news because they are anomalies. We remind families that highly selective colleges make up only a tiny portion of available schools, that happy and successful adults hail from hundreds of less selective colleges, and that the vast majority of schools accept many more applicants than do the highly selective ones. Good news doesn’t always make for good headlines. But in this case, the good news is where the reality is.

If you’re still not convinced and would like to see some data around this argument, here’s a recent Atlantic article, “College-Admissions Hysteria Is Not the Norm.” This may not turn out to be my most viral post this year, but it’s worth it to keep beating the reality drum.