Does anyone else feel "inferior" about their choice university?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>Lately, I've been feeling really down about my choice of university. Not because I think it's a bad school, I just feel like it doesn't live up to the name of the schools my friends are going to. I live in SC, so we only know "big name" schools. </p>

<p>In my group of friends, literally everyone is going to such nice schools! 3 of my friends are going to MIT, one is going to Harvard, another Yale, 2 to Johns Hopkins, one to Stanford, and one to Wellesley.</p>

<p>To be honest, it's making me feel like my schools sucks. I got accepted into Northeastern, BU, BC, Wellesley, and the school I'm going to now(I don't want to name it for security... I'm weird like that). I visited all of them, and the one I am going to now just felt so right! I loved everyone there, all the professors I met, I hung out with all different types of people for 3 days in my preview sort of weekend thing, and I seriously thought that I couldn't go to any other school. It's a small private school in Boston.</p>

<p>Now I feel like i should have picked one of the other schools I got accepted to. I know I'm being stupid, but they are ranked higher on US News and Forbes, and they are names people know. When I tell people where my school is, they go "Oh, are you going to that school because so and so is going?"</p>

<p>Well no, considering I applied early and got accepted before everyone else...</p>

<p>It's just hard, I feel like I
A) have failed in life not going to a big name school
B) shamed my family for not giving them the opportunity to say "oh yeah she's going to (insert nice name here) </p>

<p>It's also not helping that the one's that got accepted into MIT and the Ivies are literally being singled out all over the place, by teachers, administration, and it makes me feel like I'm living a huge, poo filled shadow of bad college decision for picking a "lesser known" school.</p>

2

<p>Those are all great schools…really! Not Ivies, but who cares? Don’t worry about it. Not every person has to go to HYPSM to make be a great person. </p>

<p>Some kids can’t/don’t even go to college, so stop being selfish. </p>

<p>Yeah, I said it.</p>

3

<p>I chose to go to UCLA. I was happy with it, not just because it is very highly regarded in what I was studying, but because I saw promise in it for me personally. I fell in love with the research they do and with the way they connect students to the workforce and I wanted to be part of that.</p>

<p>Then I wanted to change my major. UCLA is regarded even more highly in my new major than in my old major. My family was also thinking of moving from southern California to Oregon and I really had to wrestle with going with them (the part of Oregon in question is gorgeous, and I didn’t really feel independent enough to stay in California) vs. staying at UCLA (good school, but laden with bureaucratic obstacles to doing what I wanted to do).</p>

<p>I left UCLA to study at the local community college and I plan on continuing at the community college by our new house. I have no idea what I’ll do next. Do I feel inferior about it? I hardly know the meaning of that. I originally felt like I was giving up a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but I never felt like I’d be a better person for going to UCLA instead of Portland State (or wherever I’d end up). These days, I actually feel smarter for thinking things through.</p>

4

<p>I see the look on people’s faces when I tell them my school. I see it. They automatically assume I’m too dumb for the better instate universities. Little do they know. >:] </p>

<p>The other day I told my doctor I was going to USF and he looked off into space and looked back at me. Gave a straining smile and said, “That’s a good school. I’m sure you’ll have fun”. Deep down inside I think he’s just sad that I didn’t go to the University of Miami :p</p>

<p>Ranks aren’t all that. (I turned down a school ranked #44 for a school that is #170!)Name schools aren’t all that. In the end, you have to do what’s best for you. That’s all that matters. Live your life to the fullest. Where you go to college, in the end, does not matter. </p>

<p>Go BULLS!</p>

5

<p>You give honest voice to what is a not uncommon feeling. I understand what you mean when you note that adults—administrators, teachers, etc.—single out those feather-in-the-cap acceptances, even when they either don’t realize they’re doing so or don’t mean to. Those lucky kids’ names are tallied and read again and again in a process of ego-boost-by-association; Ivy and other acceptances are seen as reflecting well on schools, particular teachers, parents, the mayor, the local elected officials, the lunch ladies, etc. Everyone complicitly takes credit for the brass ring.</p>

<p>Ultimately, though, this passes. I think it shows maturity and individualism and self-confidence that you chose your school based on your OWN criteria, not everyone else’s. And these traits will serve you far better in life than any concern over the “brand name value” of your school. </p>

<p>You will do splendidly!</p>

6

<p>You are the person you are regardless of where you end up going to college. A hard working, intelligent person will be in the same place whether they went to the #10 school or the #50 school - in the real world, you will be judged on competence and skill.</p>

7

<p>“I visited all of them, and the one I am going to now just felt so right! I loved everyone there, all the professors I met, I hung out with all different types of people for 3 days in my preview sort of weekend thing” - charlavail</p>

<p>You choose the right place. If you truly felt more happy at the college you choose then then will enjoy it :slight_smile: </p>

<p>College is the combined experience of academics, social life, trying new things, and learning how to be independent. Let you define you. Don’t let the college define you. </p>

<p>Lastly, keep in mind this is only your undergraduate. Many people travel to/from big name schools for graduate schools.</p>

8

<p>Yea, I wanna go to Dartmouth, and no one in my town has even heard of it.</p>

9

<p>This is great. You are going to a place you love rather than the prestigous place you may hate. So why are you felling inferior? Your inferior if you went to say Stanford just because everybody knows about stanford yet you hate it. When it comes to your rducation please yourself and other peoples unless you wish to be inferior</p>

10

<p>Neither the Ivies nor the other “top schools” have a lock on a great education. Plenty of schools offer just what they do and even better. Your focus should be attending the school that fits you best, not the one that’s ranked the highest or the most well known. Who cares what these prestige whores think? The opinions of such superficial people don’t mean much at all.
The obsession with these top schools is actually disgusting. Don’t buy into it pls.</p>

11

<p>If you feel like the school is the school for you as it seems like you have, then don’t let anyone tell you otherwise! Honestly, you’re the one who will be spending 4 years of your life at the school, not them. And if your family needs to be able to say that you went to a big name school in order to be proud, then that’s kind of sad. One of my friends is in a situation like that. Her mom forced her to apply to the private school that I’m attending right now, and she hates it because of all the pressure. She’s an amazing person and student, but she’s being suffocated by my school. In all honesty, she would have likely been better off at a different (perhaps less “prestigious” school). But her mom won’t let her leave, and is forcing her brother (who really doesn’t want to go) to apply as well (he’s resorting to purposely failing the entrance exam so that he doesn’t make it in). Anyway, what I’m basically trying to say is that prestigious does not equal right for you.</p>

<p>I’m sure that you’ll do amazing at the school you chose to attend, and you’ll have the time of your life :)</p>

12

<p>There are people who get into the schools that your friends are going to and choose something like you did because it feels right for them.</p>

<p>I know a couple of kids this year who are choosing a combined medical program in Texas over Stanford because they feel it is right for them.</p>

13

<p>My D just picked a college that hardly anyone has heard of. It is strong in her field of study and she really likes it. But she had a hard time turning down the prestige of a couple of “bigger name” schools she got into. I was really proud of her ability to cut through the marketing and ranking hype to choose a school that is great for HER. Don’t let “name branding” of other schools make you feel bad about something you chose deliberately and thoughfully, and that feels right to you.</p>

14

<p>I’m sure I’ve said this before and I’m sure I’ll say it again, the single most important sentence I’ve read in the college selection process is “College is a match to be made, not a prize to be won”. Believe in your choice! Once you get there and everyone has already forgotten who is going where, you will be happy you made the right choice. Good luck!</p>