Bruni wants to get their attention by the experiences of two students whom went to the same high school and had different expectations and another student whose parents made him realize that the college doesn't really matter that it is what you get out of it that matters the most. He uses these three stories to show that students can get were they want to without having to go to those colleges they desire and that they can end up in different situations from what they expected.
The two students were different, Jenna was one of the top students while Peter was in the top third, yet they ended up both working at the office of the Boston Consultation Group. Peter was rejected by the two colleges he wanted to attend and he ended up attending Indiana University where he became vice president of a business fraternity on campus, he started a small estate enterprise to fix up and rent houses to students and after working in the Boston Consulting Group he decided to get his masters' degree and is now at Harvard. While Jane was accepted to her dream school Yale, and had not struggled to get in had a harder time getting into another college due to her SAT scores, she applied for more than half a dozen schools where she got rejected and ended up going to Scripps college where she realized that she was better there. After going trough that experience she realized that she had to take risks without fearing the consequences and now she has developed a charter school for low-income families in Phoenix. This shows that no matter where you attend college you can end up where you want.
The second story he uses is about the boy and his parents, where the parents help their son understand that getting into a high level college is not going to change what he is or can accomplish. Matt Levin was waiting to hear back from the colleges he had a pplied to when their parents decided to write him a letter, he didn't read it right away. Matt like many others decided to strive high and work hard to get into one of the best colleges, his options were Yale, Princeton and Brown. When he received the news he was very upset, he had been turned down by all three colleges. The next day he wore the shirt of his fourth option that had accepted him: the Lehigh University. He had already read the letter his parents had given him more than once, the letter said:
"Dear Matt,
On the night before you receive your first college response, we wanted to let you know that we could not be any prouder of you than we are today. Whether or not you get accepted does not determine how proud we are of everything you have accomplished and the wonderful person you have become. That will not change based on what admissions officers decide about your future. We will celebrate with joy wherever you get accepted — and the happier you are with those responses, the happier we will be. But your worth as a person, a student and our son is not diminished or influenced in the least by what these colleges have decided.
If it does not go your way, you’ll take a different route to get where you want. There is not a single college in this country that would not be lucky to have you, and you are capable of succeeding at any of them.
We love you as deep as the ocean, as high as the sky, all the way around the world and back again — and to wherever you are headed.
Mom and Dad "
Just like Peter and Jenna, Matt's parents helped him realize that all that truly matters is what he can get out of the college he attends not what the college's reputation is.
This is an important message Bruni wants college students and their parents to know and understand, that no matter how good the school you attend to it will not change what you get out of it and the effort you put into it to get what you want without having to acquire a big debt.
