<p>I'll admit it, I would only be happy going to a top 20 school.</p>
<p>I fell as though I wouldn't be academically pressed going to a school any "lower," and I would be generally dissatisfied with my college choice.</p>
<p>Anyone else?</p>
<p>Don’t worry, you’ll likely develop your identity enough in college to get over the magazine ranking of wherever you do land…</p>
<p>Uhh, I know exactly how you feel. It motivates me to work harder so that I can actually get into a top 20 school but then again its often a toss up no matter how impressive your stats are.</p>
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<p>Toss up? If your application is even somewhat legit, you should get in to multiple top 20 schools. Admissions committees don’t make random decisions. They decide based on the strength of the application. Even HYPSM aren’t random, they just have really high standards for all aspects of the application.</p>
<p>yeah I know kids who had safeties within the top 25 colleges, it isn’t a toss up. Getting into WUSTL with top top stats might be a toss up for yeild protection reasons, but otherwise lots of kids have match schools within the top 20.</p>
<p>I know how you feel. Sometimes when I think about going to college I worry a lot about what others will think about the school I choose to attend. Unlike you though I’ve casted my net at the top 50 schools. However I have so many stipulations that many of those places are eliminated. (For example: needs to be D1, non rural location, diverse) My obsession with prestige has led me to work harder though I will admit. The sad thing is I know that in the end money is going to be the deciding factor for me considering my family will have 3 kids in college and we are in the dreaded “upper middle class.” Well that’s all I’m going to vent about right now. :)</p>
<p>Your desire for prestige isn’t too far out as you’re making it seem like it is. Heck, you’ve worked hard the past 4 years in high school, maintaining high grades, getting good test scores, and doing meaningful extracurricular activities…why shouldn’t you want all your efforts to pay off?</p>
<p>The only problem I suppose is sacrificing happiness for prestige. However, HYP etc. are all amazing schools, and I could see anyone happy at any of them (give or take a few people).</p>
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<p>I think both of my kids felt this way to one degree or another. They weren’t interested so much in prestige for the sake of what others would think or be impressed with, but they did want to be accepted by at least some high-end schools because they felt they had earned it - that working so hard for so long should have some sort of special reward at the end of it.</p>
<p>Hey, at least HYPhoper admits it.</p>
<p>HYPhoper,</p>
<p>Will you list down the top 20 schools?</p>
<p>I don’t know that it’s just “prestige” anyway. There are REASONS one wants these schools…not just as a name.</p>
<p>There are a LOT of “haters” on here who say NO ONE should apply to all the top Ivies. They complain that these kids haven’t properly researched, etc. I say…of course…do whatever you WANT. But, the “prestige” factor of HYP is there for a REASON. </p>
<p>Say what you will negatively about anyone one of them. They have survived the test of time. Their impact has not decreased. They educated some of the finest and brightest in the country. They are “prestigious” BECAUSE they accept only the best. They are elite because they CAN be. And they CAN be because they deliver. It’s a great education, an incredible network (it’s all in who you know!..SURELY even you kids know this by now). So there are very legitimate reasons for wanting HYP. You go into a job interview and they say “you went to Harvard, eh?!” Or…you go into the interview and hear “Umm…where is this little college you went to, I’ve never heard of it?”</p>
<p>No shame in wanting “it all”. I’m guessing most kids, who are applying to HYP, will be “disappointed” in their options if they don’t get into one of them. Even if one KNOWS there is virtually no chance. You wouldn’t have applied if you didn’t have that tiny glimmer of hope. Snuffing it out will be hard fact of life for many. And, let’s face it…that’s about 9 out of every 10 applicants. Good luck to y’all.</p>
<p>Perhaps the primary reason that prestigious schools have prestige is because of the quality of students that they attract. Wanting to attend college among the most accomplished set of peers that you can is not only OK, it’s a pretty reasonable strategy.</p>
<p>Apply to McGill as a safety so that you have one. It’s all numbers based and if you are competitive for the top schools, it’s automatic for McGill. Some people think McGill is prestigious.</p>
<p>No, McGill University cannot possibly be prestigious. The process ClassicRockerDad has described is not mysterious enough.</p>
<p>@RML I wasn’t referring to a specific list, but rather the set of schools thought of as “the best”</p>
<p>Worse things have been done for the sake of ego.</p>
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<p>True, their decisions are not exactly “random”. However, the use by ad coms of so-called “holistic criteria” means that the most academically gifted and, hence, better prepared students don’t always get in. Putting in other words, there are tons of examples of applicants with perfect SAT scores, great GPA and class rank, 10+ AP classes, several scientific or merit awards, and even pretty solid non-academic ECs (community service, music, etc.) who are either rejected or deferred by HYPSM, while other applicants with not-so-stellar qualifications (relatively speaking of course) get in based on other criteria (e.g. race, gender, legacy status, athletic skills, etc.).</p>
<p>^A better term than random would subjective. And the subjective aspects of the decision makes it look random to people outside the admissions committee.</p>
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This. Every year for about a week, incoming freshmen brag/gossip about what other schools they considered and so on, and then they quickly settle in…and promptly forget about every school other than their own. </p>
<p>By the time they graduate, you can cut them and see them bleed orange/maroon/blue/crimson/etc.</p>
<p>At times like these, I always love digging up this gem of a post by a Harvard student.
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