<p>tsdad: I definitely agree with that. That’s the point of my sarcasm lol. I also claim that many people in a situation allowing them to acquire such abilities (regardless of the school) blow it by half-assing. I also said that people at HPY and other top schools do it. I see it all around me at Emory. We’re no better than anyone else. Some of us just had higher SAT scores than those at many other schools. My observation is that we are, as a student-body, just as disengaged in favorable aspects of an education, as youth in general (Today that is. I hear that older generations were much more engaged in general). Many of these people will get good grades (inflated or not) and get no real value from their education. Happens at all institutions. I’d imagine most people at top schools (including HPY) would avoid learning those skills if they had the choice as it would incur more academic rigor. Again, even they could avoid learning or improving such skills (they just need to get high grades by any means and then perform well on entrance exams). I’m trying to make mines worth it (even though I’m on fin.aid/scholarship) and would have done the same elsewhere. By the way, your experience gives me hope that I’m taking the right approach. Thanks. Those are the same things I am trying to get (and have gotten) from my college education.</p>
<p>Yes, the OP could end up at a “meaningful lesser” place than Vandy and Harvard like Emory or Rutgers (aren’t they good in sciences ts? As in really good?).This is me being facetious when I throw in Emory. Eversince we dropped to number 20 like a year ago, we are apparently on the decline and are suddenly inferior to the other top 20s including Vandy and Rice, in the eyes of prestige whores. People legit act as if our physical plant or teaching suddenly got worse as opposed to the change in USNWR methodology and its increased emphasis on the grad. rate and perception of guidance counselors. Measures which reward lack of rigor(seriously, imagine the grad. rate at a place w/a 3.5ish+ grad. gpa) and prestige respectively (I mean, notice how MIT got screwed. I think their academics are amazing and far more rigorous than almost all of the top 10, but rigorous in a good way. Oh well, they aren’t graduating enough people. And apparently Harvard is so darned popular among guidance counselors, with their infinite influence on our college choices). Sherman might as well come back from the dead and burn us down :p</p>