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College admissions expert sends shocking message about Ivy League prestige: 'Is it worth the investment?'

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It's an age-old question that resonates among a slew of ambitious soon-to-be college students and their aspirational parents caught in the fervor of the rankings race, pursuing the dream of "going Ivy" – or having some other elite university's name stamped on their resume – with unrelenting zeal.

But Kaplan warns that such tunnel vision can obscure what truly matters in the search for success. 

Ivy League architecture at Princeton University. (Loop Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

"We really have to ask ourselves, ‘what are we getting in return for this? And are they going to be able to do what they want to do?’ It's okay to spend less on college because guess what? That allows you to invest more in their futures, so I think when someone says, 'I'm going to community college, I'm going to transfer,' that's fantastic. You're increasing the return on investment."

The California-based expert works with families to help students gain admission to colleges of their choice – looking beyond recognizable names to help students get accepted to schools that are great matches for them.

In the process, he encourages applicants to weigh long-term success over short-term prestige.

"I wholeheartedly reject the notion that where you go is who you'll become," he said.

College admissions strategist Greg Kaplan encourages students to consider long-term success over short-term prestige. (Fox News Digital)

Kaplan defines "long-term success" as helping young people become "healthy, happy and financially independent adults."

Short-term prestige contrarily homes in on a university's name, image and how earning a degree from that institution might translate to prospective employers – think the Ivy Leagues, Vanderbilt, Duke, Stanford, or even big-name public universities like the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Florida, UCLA (the University of California, Los Angeles) or the University of Michigan, among others.

Kaplan's advice to students? Focus, instead, on the three traits college admissions officers are looking for – grit, passion and leadership. 

"With grit, admissions officers are really trying to understand and if a young person has the skills to deal with life's day-to-day problems. In my book, I document the skyrocketing statistics that are showing that young people are just ill-equipped to deal with life's day-to-day problems. And what admissions officers are looking for to demonstrate this is whether or not a young person's had a part-time job because it's the only thing that mom and dad can't help them do… so we tell all of our students, you have to get a part-time job. Why? Because college admissions officers are looking for that, but also, it prepares you to deal with just the unpleasant circumstances that we face every day of our lives, whether we want to or not."

In terms of passion, he said college admissions officers want to learn more about what applicants hope to do with their college degree, and the leadership quality lets admissions officers know which applicants are likely to bring out the best in others.

"It's really about making this process work for you. This is not a hood ornament for a car. This is not a label on a handbag. This is an investment in your future, and it's about ‘how does it set you up for success?’" he said.