For students at the School, the process often includes personalized college counseling, campus visits across the country, and direct interactions with admissions representatives. However, the majority of American high schoolers do not have access to this level of support. Many receive little to no guidance from their schools and face financial limitations that prevent them from traveling, which narrows the scope of their overall college search experience.
For many students, even if they have the desire to explore colleges in person, the cost makes it unrealistic. Flights, hotels, and other travel expenses quickly add up, especially for families already struggling to cover basic needs. At Life Academy, a public school in Oakland, the administration attempts to bridge this gap through programs that allow students to visit select campuses within California. Alykahn Boolani, the principal of Life Academy, explained, “Every eleventh grader here at Life Academy does a California college visit trip, so they can see UCs (University of California) and CSUs (California State Universities) across the state. But we don’t have anything for the East Coast.”
Meanwhile, at the School, top colleges from across the country reach out every year, requesting to schedule in-person visits on campus. This gives students direct access to admissions officers and insights into the application process that many others never receive. Boolani described the opposite experience at Life Academy: “The expectation is, we are going to them as opposed to they are coming to us. . . Honestly, I can’t think of a time in the eight years I’ve been here where we’ve actually had a private college come and give a presentation about their school.”
The imbalance in how colleges approach high schools highlights how colleges often prioritize visiting wealthier, private institutions, places where they expect to find more competitive applicants and families who can afford their tuition. As a result, students at schools like Life Academy are left with fewer chances to build connections or feel encouraged to apply to selective universities.
Boolani added that many of his students instead pursue trade schools or community colleges: “Now, increasingly, we’ve had students interested in trade school. And then we have a pretty high number of students who go to community college on the path to do two years, then transfer to UCs or CSUs.” The contrast in paths between students at the School and those at Life Academy reflects both differences in academic preparation and unequal access. While private school students may appear more attractive to colleges because of stronger academic resources, the imbalance is also largely driven by opportunity. Colleges visit schools where they already have connections and expect interest, leaving capable students at public schools overlooked, not because they lack potential, but because they lack access.