The conventional perception of the college admission process is steeped in high drama. Folks usually consider it a white-knuckle affair. Ambitious high schoolers grinding through standardized exams, running themselves ragged with extracurricular activities, coaxing letters of recommendation from reluctant teachers, anxiously crafting the perfect personal statement -- such are the images commonly associated with this process, images that, incidentally, popular media only serve to reinforce.

You'll be relieved to learn, then, that the reality which these popular representations serve only to distort, is a bit less histrionic than you've been led to believe. This is not to say that college admission isn't a high-stakes proposition. Rather, the picture is a bit more nuanced and sophisticated than television programs and movies would have it be.

"In reality ... most students attend schools that welcome the vast majority of applicants," reports a September 2, 2011 CBS MoneyWatch article. "Very few students include Ivy League institutions on their wish lists and the schools that attract the most interest are community colleges."

To support this fact against the current of popular perception the MoneyWatch article goes on to list 12 interesting findings presented recently by The Chronicle of Higher Education:

1. Percentage-wise, as many students attend Miami Dade College as attend all of the 8 Ivy League institutions (0.4 percent).
2. The California community college system enrolls nearly 10 percent of all postsecondary learners in the U.S.
3. Only 13 percent of public universities have an applicant rejection rate of higher than 50 percent.
4. Only 18 percent of nonprofit private universities have an applicant rejection rate of higher than 50 percent.
5. Students whose parents earn $100,000 or more a year earn bachelor's degrees in the highest numbers (55 percent).
6. Students whose parents rank among the nation's top earners earn bachelor's degrees at a rate of 82 percent.
7. Some 39 percent of postsecondary learners are enrolled in community colleges.
8. Students whose parents rank among the nation's lowest earners attend community colleges at a rate of 50 percent, private sector colleges and universities at a rate of 15.3 percent, and less selective 4-year state schools at a rate of 15.9 percent.
9. Among entering college freshmen, 10 percent hope to earn an M.D. and 19 percent a Ph.D.
10. Among those students professing a religious affiliation "Catholic" was the most common designation, commanding 26.6 percent of postsecondary learners.
11. Some 38 percent of state-school and 28 percent of nonprofit private school students manage to exit college without student loan debt.
12. Some 12 percent of state-school and 25 percent of nonprofit private school students leave school with a debt burden of $30,000 or more.

The facts compiled by The Chronicle paints a picture of higher education that in many respects differs quite dramatically from that promoted in popular media. It appears that a postsecondary education is more easily had than you'd imagine. There'll always be overachievers and glory hounds who will pant after the Ivies and other elite institutions as a hart pants after fresh water, but the fact remains that college is about as universally accessible as it can be without being completely tuition free.