<p>This is what I'm not sure about. If you apply early decision and everything to get into one of those really great schools, but even so you still had to push to go in. Is it better to go there where it'll be really tough to keep up with your classmates but you're going to a great school, or go to a school below your abilities where you'll outcompete everyone else</p>
<p>which school should you go to</p>
<p>This is a great question. I’m not sure myself lol.</p>
<p>I personally would like to go to a school that pushes you. I don’t want to cost on cruise control, I want to challenge myself.</p>
<p>I actually made this decision myself, State School that would not be nearly as difficult for me, or an Ivy League that is definitely going to push me. Long Story short, I chose Dartmouth. Why? Well for one is the stronger network, if you’re surrounded by highly motivated people, they’ll go places, and you’ll know them. Also, being surrounded by highly motivated people will cause you to work harder yourself to “keep up” which will ultimately make you a stronger student.</p>
<p>This is not to say you won’t be challenged at all at the state school, however. There is little doubt you would still encounter many classes that would push you there as well. </p>
<p>So you could take an ‘easier’ option, but in my opinion the extra work is rewarding in the end.</p>
<p>The politically correct answer is “Of course I would rather be challenged to be the best I can be. I’ll be bored sitting at the top of the class with easy As, surrounded by mediocre students.” But we all know that isn’t really the choice. It’s more subtle and depends on who you are. </p>
<p>1) Will you be constantly stressed out if you are not making the top grade in every (or most) classes? Or are you willing to give up some important ECs because you just don’t have time to do them and make top grades too?</p>
<p>2) Will you get discouraged and lose enthusiasm for your studies if no one on the faculty notices you because the superstars are getting all the attention? Or can you stay motivated and enthusiastic without the external reinforcement? </p>
<p>3) Will you be comfortable visiting a professor when you aren’t doing well in the course (rather than going in to discuss some interesting point that was raised in the reading or lectures?) </p>
<p>4) Are you going to need letters of recommendation and faculty mentoring to move ahead in your field or is that just not important given where you plan to go? You may not get what you want if you aren’t a stand-out.</p>
<p>It’s easy to tell ourselves that we want to be challenged-but the truth is, we want to be admired and respected too. Just being challenged isn’t fun, as many students at HYPS discover to their dismay. There are always tears after mid-terms the first semester when people realize that they aren’t the superstars they used to be. Some of them work harder-or smarter. Some redefine themselves. A few can’t handle it and leave.</p>
<p>I went to the easy college, gained self-confidence and have been kicking butt ever since. YMMV of course.</p>
<p>I have little to no respect for people who only care to be the big fish in the puddle, instead of daring to take that leap into the ocean where challenges and life-changing experiences await.</p>
<p>Hope2getrice, you shouldn’t scorn those fish who choose to make a bigger impact in the puddle they have chosen for their homes. Life experiences are everywhere, not just in the ocean. (I’m tired of this metaphor.) And every single once of us has reason to be thankful that someone decided not to go for the glory and chose to be a hometown hero instead. It isn’t necessarily cowardice or lack of drive that creates that decision: Just self-knowledge about what motivates us to do our best in life and makes us happy.</p>
<p>Your undergraduate university should be a training ground for serious self development. Idleness, complacency, and sense of security means nothing if you don’t have the work ethic to back it up.</p>
<p>M’s Mom: So do you find happiness and seek approval from others via “pwning classes” and “getting A’s in the class”. Well, you need to find better ways to step outside of your comfort zone.</p>
<p>My advice: Seek to be challenged, seek to be pushed beyond your comfort zone. Honestly, if college is like high school again, then there is no point on going to college. College should be a place where you can fail and fail again and learn from your mistakes. Not be buttressed by a bunch of lame-os who you clearly are dominant and superior over… Nothing hits you harder than when reality comes (oh wow… I didn’t know there are ppl actually smarter than me!) It is discouraging, but you get the opportunity to FEED energy from the best and brightest around you. You will have the urgency to catch up or out compete your peers!</p>
<p>The GPA from your undergraduate university means nothing after your first job. The skills and work ethic you learn during your undergraduate years will follow you DECADES after you graduate from college. There will be NO OTHER TIME for you to work your butt off as a full time student and dedicate 100% of your time towards studying and improving your work ethic than NOW.</p>
<p>I cannot stress this enough, srry! 
(I go to Hopkins… and while the course load is ridiculously here, I feel like I have grown so much over the past two years. I feel like I can take on any challenge once I graduate and that everything should be a breeze after JHU. There is only couple of times in a student’s life where they can experience 3 successive nights of all nighters in a row. It builds character. :D)</p>
<p>Did you ever consider a lot of top students become the “big fish” in a small pond, metaphorically speaking, at their state schools because they can’t afford to go to top schools? It’s not as if this is entirely all by voluntary choice.</p>
<p>I think there are a few things to consider. First of all, if a top school will accept you, you probably won’t be fighting and struggling all the time there, unless you don’t choose your courses wisely. You’ll be doing challenging work, sure, but it won’t be like an academic boot camp.</p>
<p>But there is another side to this, and that’s the issue of personality that M’s Mom brings up: some people are smart but not very competitive. They might flourish better in a place that’s less competitive. There’s nothing wrong with picking a school environment that fits your personality the best.</p>
<p>First, pay little attention to the posts of 18-20 year olds. How would they possibly have the experience to answer this question? This subject requires a lot of life experience. It’s easy to be gung-ho when you’ve not yet “hit the wall”. Good coaches in sports know how hard to push each athlete… a different answer for each one. Push too hard and you can break a person’s will. Don’t push hard enough and you get stagnation. Knowing just the right balance is an art that takes YEARS of experience.</p>
<p>Now- the right answer for a person has nothing to do with ego, comfort, or laziness. </p>
<p>Every person has a zone in which they perform best. Some do NOT perform best when in the bottom half of a group. They’re just built that way. Others do NOT perform if they’re in the top half… they DO get lazy and stop pushing. They’re just built that way.</p>
<p>There really are big fish/small pond people, and small fish/big pond people. It wouldn’t be a cliche phrase if there weren’t so many that fit both environments. Just as there are people who are energized by a large party, there are others energized by a discussion with three others around a table.</p>
<p>There needs be no value judgement about which environment best fits a person’s temperament.</p>
<p>All has do with what sort of person you are…</p>
<p>Are you disciplined enough to push yourself even if you’re already at the top of the heap? Or will you do just enough to keep yourself at a level (relative to the competition)that you find acceptable?</p>
<p>Being at a school where you’re easily one of the smartest students is something in which almost nobody on collegeconfidential sees any merit. They all seem to strive for the very best school they can possibly get into. But if you think about it, that means that in most cases they will be among “dumbest” students at the school.</p>
<p>If you’re going to apply to law, med, or dental school, a gaudy gpa from a lesser school is probably going to help you more than a decent gpa from a hard school.</p>
<p>I found that I always did enough to be on the dean’s list and graduate cum laude wherever I was. But I was never going to put in the effort needed to be at the top of any list or graduate summa cum laude.</p>
<p>Can you find a school that’s in the middle? I definitely want a school in which I’m challenged. I want to be surrounded by bright, motivated people. But I don’t want to drown in work and never have time to do anything but study just for a 3.0. I want to be the average student at a university - maybe a little above average or a little below, but definitely near the middle. It really sucks to be around people who don’t work as hard / are not as dedicated / are not as smart as you (well, I think so). But it sucks even more to drown in the work.</p>
<p>^^great answer, applicannot…right on target!!</p>
<p>Agreed with Applicannot.</p>
<p>Strike a balance between gaining social skills and developing good work ethic. </p>
<p>DunningLA: Some ppl are just built to be inferior huh? It’s all in the mind. Napoleon Hill said it best… “What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” </p>
<p>It’s too early to be comfortable in a “zone” that you have yet cultivated thoroughly. It makes learning via a rigorous education even more important because change doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time to grow, which is what college is all about. The more outside your comfort zone, the faster things will come at you. You just have to be good at not slashing your wrist that’s all :D</p>
<p>I personally believe gaining social skills is even more crucial than having strong study/work habits. If you can go to a university that can offer both… That would be perfect…</p>
<p>I don’t care as long as I have the tools to succeed when I’m outta there.</p>
<p>In the beginning of the college search I considered going to a less competative and lower ranked school for many reasons. Then after I took about 20 credits at a local university and got A’s in all of them without putting in too much effort, I realized I couldn’t stand another four years of coasting through school work (my high school is easy). It depends, but I think challenging yourself is the best way to go.</p>