<p>Anyone who is so obsessed with just-the-Ivies or HYPSM-or-bust deserves to be called out on it, IMO. </p>
<p>It’s at least understandable if it comes from people who may be new to the country and haven’t spent any time here. </p>
<p>But if you’ve lived here for a while? And you haven’t figured out that career success in the United States is not inextricably linked to where you can go to school, and that many many people go on to high-achieving lives from any number of universities? And that those few universities are not the Only Path to life success and are no guarantee of anything?</p>
<p>Part of being smart is having the ability to look around you and see what reality is around you. And if someone has grown up here or has lived here for a while, and hasn’t figured that out, then guess what? They aren’t as smart as they think they are. There is more to smartness than GPA’s and SAT’s. </p>
<p>If I moved to another country where college selection was done primarily on test scores, and acted as though extracurricular activities and volunteer work were meaningful in college selection, I’d be – rightly – chastised as not being very bright! Because I would have demonstrated a complete lack of ability to look around me and see what’s what!</p>
<p>Yet, when people act as though life success is predicated on HYPSM acceptance, even though that’s clearly not the case in the US, we’re not supposed to call them on it? We’re supposed to act as though they are correct in their assumptions? What on earth for?</p>