<p>It's my senior year and we're beginning to hear back from schools. The problem is kids at my school are so set on the prestige of schools that they're forgetting where they want to go to be happy.</p>
<p>I've gotten into a school that's ranked in the 50s (in US News) and a school that's in the 110s. I want to go to the lower ranked school because that's where I can see myself and I know I'll be happy there. </p>
<p>How can I "justify" my choice? All they care about is prestige and whether it's ranked or not. The last thing they care about is being happy there and picturing yourself there.</p>
<p>In my opinion, if I'm happy at a school. I know I will do well there. Am I wrong?</p>
<p>It's really hard on me when people put down one of your top choices, based on rankings. In my opinion, the campus is great, the environment is great, and the professors were awesome, when I visited last April.</p>
<p>The reason I'm asking this in the Parents Forum is because I want a mature approach to this problem.</p>
<p>Thanks for reading this and thanks for your help.</p>
<p>Make sure you've considered all the pros and cons, and then do what's best for you.</p>
<p>If this is not what your classmates consider best for them, that's their problem.</p>
<p>The issue is a temporary one, anyway. When you get to the college you have chosen, you will be surrounded by other people who have chosen to be at the same college. Your prestige-obsessed friends will be elsewhere, and their opinions will not longer seem very important.</p>
<p>YOU are the one who will be attending which ever college you choose, not your friends, correct? So go with your gut and ignore the "prestige whores" if the "lower ranked" school is the right one for you!
Here is my son's story: he was accepted at 12 colleges and U's, including 2 Ivy's and 10 other top ranked[ US News ranked 25 or lower] colleges. For various reasons [ nice weather, closer to home, lots of HS friends in area, breadth of program he was interested in majoring in & full tuition scholarship] he decided to go to the U that was his safety and was in his friends eyes a "mistake". After his freshman year, even though he was happy, he thought maybe he had made a mistake by not going to one of the more "prestigious" U's he had been accepted at. So he transfered to one of the top ranked colleges which had accepted him the year before, quickly realized he had made a mistake, and is now happily back at his safety.
Botton line- You know yourself better than your friends do ,so trust your instincts and go to the college that is best for you.</p>
<p>is there any reason for you to think that the school is "crap"? Perhaps that's why you're responding so negatively to your friends comments. If it's just the ranking, then think of it this way: if you go to the school that you think will be the best match for you, you'll certainly do better and feel happier. (The money is also a plus.) Although when you look for a job later on, you might be at a slight disadvantage to your friends if they went to a more prestigious college, the fact that you learned more and discovered yourself at your college will help you do better in life. If you really find that the college you want to go to is exactly where you want to live in for the next 4 years, that's something wonderful you don't want to pass up. Very few people find a school that they really want to go to and are miserable throughout the next 4 years of their life. 4 years is a lot of time :) Also if this college is more of a match for you, you'll probably discover many things about yourself (such as what you really want to be when you grow up) that will change your life forever and make you a lot happier. </p>
<p>Besides, your friends can't laugh at you because you didn't get into a very good college; you did, and just decided not to go. I see absolutely nothing wrong with that and I don't see why your friends would even put you down for it. It seems very illogical. Perhaps they are jealous that you have a choice, and that you've found a college that you really love?</p>
<p>Hmmm, the prestige stuff irks me to no end....when they say "oh its crap", they really don't know what they are talking about and are just displaining ignorance...</p>
<p>How to react...don't...just think about how shallow they are being and how sad that is....if they say it more than once, say, you know, I like my college and I would hope my friends would trust my judgement...for the other kids, igrnore them, I know its hard, but if you truely are happy, don't give them any power to make you feel bad...</p>
<p>One thing you can do is when you here anyone disparaging any other school, not just yours, call them on it...</p>
<p>My D had a friend who put down other schools- CC, States, whatever, my D just would say, Oh I have a friend, a cousin, my Uncle, whatever (making it up) who went there and loved it...she just hated when schools were put down becuase they weren't "prestigious" (you know what, her friend HATES her "better" school!!)</p>
<p>So, all I can say is just stay strong, don['t let the turkeys get you down, know in your heart you are going to a place that you love, and let the people who are label snots (and that is how you need to think of them) know that you like your school, and they are just talking out their behinds</p>
<p>
[quote]
The reason I'm asking this in the Parents Forum is because I want a mature approach to this problem.
[/quote]
SHS, you already have a mature approach to this problem. It's your own approach. You are thinking about what's best for you, you are evaluating the information you have gathered (including the information about prestige), and you are making your own decision without being bullied by your peers or worrying (too much) about what they think. </p>
<p>Congratulations, that's mature.</p>
<p>And how can you "justify" your choice? How about this: "The campus is great, the environment is great, and the professors were awesome, when I visited last April. Dude, I want to be happy."</p>
<p>There's something in human nature - or at least in the natures of most humans - that craves status. You can see it everywhere you look - handbags, cars, tables at restaurants, bath towels, whatever. But you don't have to accept your friends' opinions as fact, and you'd be foolish if you allowed them to diminish the enthusiasm you have for the school you've chosen.</p>
<p>If you read CC for more than a day or two, you realize that success isn't inextricably linked to where someone went to school. And you realize that many students who get into top-ranked schools, as you did, choose lower-ranked schools for a variety of reasons and wind up happy, productive, and well-educated.</p>
<p>At least your friends, being young, can excuse their ignorance on the grounds that life hasn't taught them much yet. I don't know how some of my acquaintances can excuse theirs. ;)</p>
<p>The reality is you probably can't do anything about your "friends." Wait it out and celebrate with those who are truly happy for you and understand what your are looking for.</p>
<p>Don't sweat it, though. </p>
<p>It's always very disarming to thank them for their opinions.</p>
<p>SHS: some folks just can't seem to help themselves!!! (Including some parents who really should know better)</p>
<p>Your approach to your decision is great. The fact that others are dissing your choice really does say something about them! Mob mentality? They want to feel bigger by making someone else feel smaller? They are simply echoing what they have heard elsewhere? Whatever "it" is, "it" isn't about the right school for you. </p>
<p>Smile and blow them off if you can. You really have nothing to gain by arguing with them. Just say something to the effect of "I know it's the right place for me," and then let it go! </p>
<p>You get to choose your next group of friends.</p>
<p>Remember that after you graduate this spring, odds are these prestige minded people won't really be much of a part of your life. You, however, will always be in your life ;-) You sound like you have your priorities in order. Let it roll off you and rejoice in knowing you are making a decision based on what would work the best for you.</p>
<p>Stay with your heart here. I have to admit that I get spasms of some weird feelings when other people get into the prestige mode--it's hard to deal with. My son chose a school that very few people around here have heard of (Grinnell, in IA). It is a wonderful school and he loves it. It is pretty high on the USNews ratings, but he never looked at them. He chose it over higher ranked schools that he got into and he preferred, for example, Lewis & Clark to Wesleyan, also a great school. The top 300 or more schools in this country are all so good that it becomes a matter of fit.</p>
<p>Stay with your heart. And stay away from most of the student sites here where the Ivy-frenzy could gag a rabbit. You know your match--would you let your friends choose a life partner for you based on prestige?</p>
<p>Go to zazzle.com (a website where you can design you own tee-shirts) and create one that says:
I don't CARE what you think
and one that says:
Rankings are overated</p>
<p>Go to the school where you think you'll be happiest. SOunds like you applied to all very good schools - 50 versus 100th - I don't think it matters that much - you're not choosing between Ivy League and community college. Plus you want to do well in the college you choose to go to. I agree with bethievt's post above - stay with your heart. Good luck.</p>
<p>SHS,
You have a terrific attitude about this whole process. I would guuess that the folks who are giving you the most grief applied to some of those prestige schools and haven't heard yet. The stress of waiting for decisions and FA packages is going to start getting intense over the next month or so -- and it may result in friends saying/doing things they may not really mean as they try to justify their own decisions.</p>
<p>Go with your heart. If this school has what you want, go for it!</p>
<p>"I did get a lot of money from this school"
Jealousy maybe another reason they are dissing the school that gave YOU $$[ but not them]. The green eyed monster is know to rear it's ugly head when college acceptances start to come in. Just rise above it and enjoy your college years at the school that is the best fit for YOU.</p>