<p>Is it better to go to a great school where you are the average student, or a school a little lesser presitgious and be on the top? (Math major desiring med school)</p>
<p>I think we'll need to have good GPAs if we want to go to grad school of any sort. I am thinking that I should be above the 75th percentile for ACT/SAT at whatever college I go to so that I have a fighting chance for A's. I think people who are at the 25th percentile at Harvard are kissing their grad school chances good-bye.</p>
<p>reach for the stars!</p>
<p>you don't get better by being around idiots. You get better by being around people who are better than you...so you can learn from them</p>
<p>bump(10char)</p>
<p>From what I've gathered, Med school is extremely numbers oriented, and thus being top of your class would be preferable--though many of the hardest schools to get in to have the highest grade inflation, so you might still be able to get a good GPA.
For PhD programs, though, GPA is less significant, and it would be better to have a decent GPA with recs from top professors and good research experience (which you'll find at top colleges), than <em>just</em> a perfect GPA. Though obviously you do want your GPA to be as good as possible.</p>
<p>If you value good relationships with professors, which often gives you many advantages, it's better if you are at the top of the class because you will stand out more. It's kind of a teacher's pet effect.</p>
<p>what do u mean by average student?
if you're an average student, then you probably wont get into a prestigious school.....(of course, unlese if you're urm, athlete, legacy...etc)</p>
<p>No, what I meant was, somebody who is more than the average student. Is it better for them to be in the top few people at more of like a state u than being the average student at a top prestigious school</p>
<p>Something to consider; a lot of top schools have grade inflation whereas most state schools do not. So the difference in gpa will not be as pronounced as you may think. But if your looking at med school, I say go to the school where you will be at the top of the class.</p>
<p>Your peer group is really what you are buying in college. You can get an education almost anywhere but the group of people you are surrounded by influences how high you set the bar in life. </p>
<p>Surround yourself with kids that will push you higher. You dont want to be the biggest house in the neighborhood and you dont want to be king of the avg students. </p>
<p>Challenge yourself. You never can tell where it may lead.</p>
<p>It is better to go to the most selective school you can even if you are average or even a little below average. Once you get in, you will probably do alright as long as you do the work. Going to a school where you are in the top 20% of the class means that you could have gotten into a better school.</p>
<p>I would also pick a college where I'm in the top 25% because that equals merit money. I personally can't afford $50k per year, no matter how brilliant my peers are. That's almost my family's income, and though you all will says "oh, financial aid this and financial aid that", I don't want $200k in loans either, so I'll settle for being smarter than everyone else.</p>
<p>I don't know if I'd trust that my grades will be inflated at a highly selective school. It sounds like some of these schools, like Swarthmore, make A's impossible. Can you get into med school with a prestigious 3.0 or would a less prestigious 4.0 be better? It's a big gamble to think that you can pull off a 3.5 in an environment where everyone has 2350+ on their SATS.</p>