Whenever I see a question about how cutthroat ______ college is, the answer always is that everyone is very friendly and competition isn’t actually cutthroat. I have yet to see someone claim that a certain college is cutthroat, so I’m curious: is there such a thing?
Also, has anyone went to a cutthroat high school? My school is ranked nationally, and the students here focus more on besting their classes rather than their peers, so I’m having a hard time imagining how a school could become cutthroat at all. .
My high school is INSANELY competitive (for a public one at least). It’s so well-known for how tough the classes are and how high the standardized scores are that most colleges know about us and hence give our students a little slack when it comes to lower GPA’s (because the classes are so intense). However, I wouldn’t really call it “cutthroat”; it’s not the Hunger Games in here, and while it’s really competitive, no one is attacking other students just to claw their own way to the top.
Wow. Your high school seems hard.
Do you guys compare GPAs by any chance? We don’t at my school since the the guidance counselors don’t disclose that info unless you ask them privately. The few people who have asked make a big deal out of it though, and I feel like if we all knew our GPAs, we would become slightly more competitive with each other.
Yes, there are schools that are “cutthroat”, particularly in programs like Pre-Med or Engineering. I don’t want to start bashing specific schools, since much of this type of thing is purely anecdotal, but sabotaging experiments and projects, giving misleading information about due dates or assignments, etc., does happen. Quite sad, really.
That’s crazy! 
Can you give any insight on how it has come to that? Although my school is pretty competitive, many of the top students are best friends (myself inc.), and we only ever help each other out, so I can’t imagine how some places can become cutthroat at all.
Young people that either put too much pressure on themselves, or are getting pressured by parents or peers to get the very best grades, whatever the cost.
I think this type of culture can be picked up with a campus visit, particularly an overnight.
There are many fine schools that do NOT have this atmosphere.