<p>I must caution against being overly flippant, though.</p>
<p>There are opportunities that going to a better school will provide that are hard or impossible to find at a no-name university. It's much easier to get involved with interesting research as an undergrad at "Top 50 U" than it is at "Podunk U." It's also going to USUALLY be the case that "Top 50 U" will have better resources for things like study abroad, internships, etc. Those resources do seem to increase on the way to the top, but the gap between Berkeley and Harvard is much smaller than the gap between Berkeley and UCSC.</p>
<p>Once you get into an interview, though, people only care about how you interview. Talking about how wonderful at HYPMSC usually won't take you very far.</p>
<p>Berkeley is a fantastic school with really strong positive name recognition, it's hard to imagine that anyone would think that it is a step down from anything. </p>
<p>People can fill this thread with a zillion stories about highly successful and prosperous people who went to less known places and were wildly successful. There is not going to be a link between attending a HYP type place and life success unless that person was going to be successful wherever they went to college. Those who have done well for themselves at Podunk U would have done well no matter what. It's about the person, not the place.</p>
<p>When places are filled with lots of highly achieving focused students they tend to continue being highly achieving and focused. If they are intellectually curious, they don't shed this once they are in college. If they are multi-talented, this does not dissipate once they move into the dorm. It's great to be part of that type of energy and it can be inspiring as well. But it's not essential to success. And while you will get many "great school" nods when people look at your resume, it will not take you far if there's nothing behind the name.</p>
<p>And what is success anyway? Lots of people are equating it with more $$ or a high-powered job. High school students want to think of their lives in linear terms--but life is not linear. You can try to plan it all out, but life has other ideas. What you want to do is be a sponge and soak up all of the experiences inside and outside of the classroom you can. So go to a school that you love that doesn't leave you in mind-numbing debt. There is no such thing as a perfect school, but there are such things as learning how to extract what makes you happy from any situation.</p>
<p>Is this thread a joke? Or do I just hate what Asian parents are doing to the educational system of the US to fill folks up with the notion that going to 5 schools is the only worthwhile path and that one's possibilities are entirely determined by this one success -- or failure...? I lived in Asia for several years and I understand the mentality; in parts of North Asia at least, it's built around an exam system that places one entirely according to one's test score and without any or with little regard to one's preferences or fit. There was a Korean guy on CC complaining that he couldn't get his parents to understand, for instance, that Williams was a better fit for him than a big name university.... What a shame! He had to go to Williams!</p>
<p>First of all, at Berkeley which on the graduate level has more highly ranked programs than probably all of the other schools you named, you can get a tremendous education.</p>
<p>Secondly, all the people who have said it won't matter to you in the long run are absolutely right -- unless you keep letting your parents tell you you've failed. Your intelligence and decisions and achievements at whatever school you attend will determine a lot more of your future than whether you go to Harvard or Berkeley or Ill. State, in the long run.</p>
<p>One of my friends who went to Penn is now a secondary school teacher and loving it. On this site, that might be considered "unsuccessful," but he doesn't give a hoot because he loves what he does.</p>
<p>UCLAri--yes, that's exactly what I mean. I went to Penn myself many moons ago and one of the moments I remember best is one worth sharing. I was having a small gathering of a dozen students with a gentleman who was, at the time an esteemed professor and administrator, as well as my academic mentor. Years later, he later went on to become the head of a hugely important non-profit as well as the President of another top school. He went around the room and asked all of the students about themselves and their dreams and aspirations. One of the students--a freshman in Wharton--related how he was in Wharton was planning on a degree in this, followed by an advanced degree in that, leading to a job in X and a career in Y. The fellow looked at him kindly for a few moments and said, very gently, "You know, if someone had told me when I was young that I would move away from my country to America, go to a wonderful American university, earn my Phd in History, become a college administrator and scholar, I would have looked at them in stunned disbelief." </p>
<p>My path in life has been equally unpredictable and interesting. It has been successful for me, although hardly a textbook example for anyone else. When you go to your 25th reunion, some people will share business cards, but most share wisdom of a life well-lived earned in unexpected ways.</p>
<h2>"Secondly, all the people who have said it won't matter to you in the long run are absolutely right -- unless you keep letting your parents tell you you've failed. Your intelligence and decisions and achievements at whatever school you attend will determine a lot more of your future than whether you go to Harvard or Berkeley or Ill. State, in the long run."</h2>
<p>I agree. I would say the biggest danger of the OP failing in future life because he/she has to go to Berkeley is this one: if the OP is completely deflated and unmotivated because they feel Berkeley "shames his/her family," then he/she won't be able to do well there.</p>
<p>"To each Clinton you pull out of the bag, I can drag out 100's of nameless people who went to average colleges and then lived 'unsignificant' lives."</p>
<p>In the west, among the mildly well-informed (and I include myself in this group), the status schools are: HYP, Stanford and BERKELEY. The rest of the Ivies are sort of a blur. Especially if you plan to stay in the west or return to the west to practice your profession, you can't do better than Berkeley. Put your head up, kid. You're golden. Mom and Dad will be wearing CAL sweatshirts before you know it.</p>
<p>In George W. Bush's Case it was because he was a hooked candidate, (A TRUE hook), since at the them of his application his dad, George H.W. Bush, was CIA Director I believe. Imagine that when filling out the common app or a app - "Parental Occupation: CIA Director"</p>
<p>why is this whole post about HYPSMC......are we just blatantly disregarding how invaluable having a degree from the rest of the ivies is as well?</p>
<p>Well, I made my post about HYPSMC because those are usually considered to be the best schools.</p>
<p>My high achieving friends and parents put the rest of the ivies in the same category as Berkeley. A decent school...for "people who are a dime a dozen".</p>
<p>Someone asked where my parents went to school. My dad went to MIT. My mom went to...get ready for it...Berkeley! What a hypocrite. But she keeps saying that she came to the country with nothing and in addition to classes at berkeley had to work 20+ hours a week at various minimum wage jobs. If she was born with the "privileges" that I have she said she'd probably have gone to Princeton or some place like that.</p>
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My high achieving friends and parents put the rest of the ivies in the same category as Berkeley. A decent school...for "people who are a dime a dozen".
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<p>Look, I'm really sorry about this. I know parents can be difficult to deal with sometimes, but this is just ludicrous. It is now so hard to get into these places that many people who are extremely well qualified fail to do so, and it's not as though the schools are right about their choices. I have had more than one of them freely admit to me that they might be able to throw out the class they chose, take the next class from the ones they didn't choose, and end up with a better class.</p>