The key to success in college is so simple its almost never mentioned

For Emily Zurek Small, college did what its supposed to do. Growing up in a small town in Pennsylvania, she had career and intellectual ambitions for which college is the clearest pathway. I just kind of always wanted to learn, she told me recently. I wanted to be able to have intelligent conversations with people and know about the world.

She enrolled at a small nearby Catholic college, majored in neuroscience, and in 2016 became the first person in her family to earn a bachelors degree and later, a masters. She now works as a school psychologist in Virginia.

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