<p>There are plenty of ambitious, smart people at every state flagship. Are they in the minority at most? Perhaps, if your only criteria for determining who’s smart and ambitious is standardized test scores and double-digit AP credits. Nonetheless, you won’t find many intellectually inferior students in most STEM majors. And there are plenty of very bright students in most majors.</p>
<p>There are lots of good reasons to choose an “elite” college or university, but this whole state-school-students-are-inferior meme is just ridiculous. Lots of smart and ambitious students are also practical and frugal, so they forgo a pricey elite school education for an excellent value at a flagship or other suitable public school.</p>
<p>@rebecca17, you sound a lot like another high-schooler who’s sported a lot of different names here on CC and seems to be very good at handing out advice on things you have no firsthand experience with. Remind us which colleges you’ve applied to and been accepted at, please! And who’s your inside source at Yale? Do tell!</p>
<p>OP, you sound like a very bright and level-headed young woman. By all means, apply to Yale and see what happens. Do this out of respect for your father. Apply early also to some schools that will offer you substantial merit money and entrance into an honors college and/or other elite programs for your stats, and then choose some schools YOU love to apply to. You’ll likely have a nice range of choices when the time comes to choose next spring. Good luck!</p>