My siblings and I have been virtually inseparable for our entire lives.
With my brother being accepted to USC a few days ago and me being accepted to UCLA earlier this month, my sister (who was waitlisted by USC, rejected by UCLA, and is deciding between Washington and UCSB) is now stressed because she feels like her options don’t compare to those of my brother and me. She is really happy for my brother and me for getting into our schools, but when we tell family members or people at school, she feels like people are going to judge her because she didn’t get into as “prestigious” of schools as my brother and me.
While she has some great options that she may be devaluing due to the common tendency to compare schools based on rankings, I also understand her concerns. I don’t want her to feel inferior because of the future name on her sweatshirt, but I feel like nothing I can say is going to convince her that she should be just as proud of her accomplishments as my brother’s and mine. I also agree with her point that people’s “oohs” and “aahs” can’t be controlled when someone mentions a school with an under 15% acceptance rate, as obnoxious as that may be.
Does anyone have any thoughts about my sister’s current options/situation that could comfort her? I don’t want her to feel as if she isn’t good enough because of a set of rankings or reactions, and it pains me to see her so down about this.
@collegiate65 I’m really sorry…that’s a tough situation. I’m not sure if this will help, but I went to USC my freshman year and transferred to UCSB and found UCSB to surpass my experience in almost every way (academics, socially, location, housing, food options, cost etc). I still root for USC and made some great friends there, but the experiences were vastly different. UCSB is very collaborative and living in a walkable college town is so, so fun! Best of luck to you, your brother and sister!
If she states with a positive attitude that she’s going to Washington or SB, others will accept that she’s happy with her options. I’d pick UCSB over both USC and UCLA.
Your sister is going to get over it pretty quickly once she is on a beautiful campus like UW or UCSB. I actually envy her, not you and your brother. You couldn’t pay me to attend USC or Ucla. I grew up in LA, so I’m allowed to say that:-)
Are you in a set of triplets? Multiples always have their own challenges. My DD18 is a girl coming 3 years behind G/G twins so she feels the pressure of creating her own “path.”
As for your sister, you can’t fix this for her. She needs to come to the place where she doesn’t care what others think and is ready for an adventure that’s just for her. I know it’s easier said than done, but I would stop trying to convince her and just be there for her.