My College Application Process Part 5

confirmation bias: seeking evidence that confirms our ideas, not information that refutes it

 

overconfidence: overestimation of the accuracy of our knowledge and judgment

belief bias: the tendency to judge the strength of evidence based on how well they fit your conclusion, not by their accuracy

belief perseverance: clinging to one's initial beliefs after their basis has been discredited

Whilst investigating colleges to apply to, I encountered many different types of bias that inhibited my ability to look into colleges without prior judgment clouding my opinions...

One of the ways that I narrowed down the number of colleges that I was going to apply to was by choosing colleges that I had a reasonable chance of being accepted to. As many people know, UC Berkeley is an extremely competitive, and it just so happens to be my first choice for college. Throughout my college researching, I had confirmation bias. I looked for examples of students being selected that had lower GPAs or less extracurricular activities in order to confirm that I had a good chance of getting into that college. This led to belief bias, in which I concluded that most people who were accepted to UC Berkeley weren't exactly "spectacular," because it fit my conclusion that I would be accepted if non-spectacular people were usually accepted.

 

Prior to my college researching, when asked questions regarding some colleges, I definitely experienced overconfidence. This overconfidence varied from knowledge of majors offered to the cost of tuition. Once I looked into the colleges in depth, I realized that I was vastly wrong about many aspects of the colleges that I was interested in previously.

Besides being accepted to college, paying for college is one of the most important parts of the college decision. It was in this aspect of college that I experienced belief perseverance. After researching the possibility of receiving great financial aid and/or scholarships, I became dejected when I realized that the possibility of me receiving financial aid based on my family's financial situation is very unlikely. This, therefore, eliminated my chances of attending private colleges, one of which I was interested in, St. Mary's College. For about three months, I was in denial about my financial aid situation, which was belief perseverance. I strongly believed that I would receive helpful aid for tuition. However, when I saw the struggles that my sister's private school education put upon my parents financially, my belief perseverance died out, and I decided to only look into public colleges and universities.