In many countries, school prestige is very important. You may be able to get away with a “to hell with them” attitude in the US, but not in a place like India.
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I really do hope you come to realize what a privilege it is to be accepted and attend Amherst College. I think once you land on campus and engage in the academics and the community you will see it, but I wonder if that will even be enough to settle your heart? I would recommend you do some work this summer by connecting with alumni in your country. Search the Amherst College website and social media for leads on these networks that will be most helpful to you now and in the future.
I do want to say that the burden you carry of trying to please others, or as @simba9 suggests, an entire country, will never be possible and will never allow you to live your very best life. You will always seem to fall short in someone’s eyes.
Don’t let anyone stop you from seizing one of the best opportunities available to a student. I wish you the very best!
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Another true story. A pretentious professor in the '80s, who nowadays would have been tossed out on his rear for serial predation on students, didn’t get tenure at an Ivy, and wound up at UMass Amherst. He only ever called it “Amherst”, lest people should realize that he was teaching at a state U, instead of at the very prestigious Amherst college.
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[quote=“simba9, post:41, topic:3526424, full:true”]
Then your logic suggests that Indians should not apply to Amherst. The OP did apply and was lamenting his acceptance.
That is a truly bizarre comment. Why, exactly, is India different than the rest of the world? You do get the point that basically every poster on this thread is saying that it really doesn’t matter what anyone thinks?
There have been many comments here over the years by people from India talking about how important prestige is when selecting an American university. I thought it was a strange, silly attitude when I first started reading those comments, but it is what it is. Anyone who thinks the name of your university doesn’t matter in many places overseas is taking a very provincial, American perspective.
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“Provincial”? Wow!
Caring about the “prestige” associated with a university or college is silly no matter where one is from, whether the US, India, etc. That was the point of my post, and several others.
Not all cultures and values are the same in different parts of the world. What an American might think about a school doesn’t really matter to someone hiring for a job in India.
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I honestly have no idea where you are going with this. Please again read my post.
I will never comprehend a culture that encourages parents to force academic perfection on their children from a young age where the only “acceptable result” is admittance to one of maybe 10 colleges in the entire world that have less than a 5% acceptance rate. I hate that intelligent, bright, curious children are belittled and shunned by their parents and their culture because they don’t meet a ridiculous almost unachievable goal.
I do understand wanting your children to be financially stable and contributing members of society. However, this can be achieved by doing many things beyond attending Ivy League schools. To think otherwise is disgusting.
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This is getting silly. I don’t care where you are in the world, a resume with solid job experience - even summer job experience - trumps where you got your bachelor’s.
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OP congratulations on both your acceptance to a top school and displaying the capacity to have your thoughts evolve.
I agree with not allowing others views to shape your self worth but empathize with your situation.
I would respond if asked that Amherst is one of only 5 US schools that has the resources and commitment to global access to elite education to be need blind for international students. You can then describe a peer group of MIT,HYP. If you need a knock out punch end with every kid globally that needs financial support to go to a US college applied to these 5 and I am attending Amherst which offers the fewest admission spots given it’s class size.
Look forward good things are to come.
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At Amherst now
It slaps
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It slaps? What does that mean?
ETA, this old timer looked it up. It means great, correct?
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I think it would depend on your goals in education, especially if you intend on applying to grad school. Amherst is an extremely powerful and known college. So if you can do well there you’ll do VERY well in grad school applications.
Thank you for the well-written post, you have a good sense of how you come across to people.
The OP is now at Amherst.
Correct. Amherst is awesome!
Thanks to @Jovan888777 for the update. We’re glad to hear that Amherst slaps. It’s always fun for us to hear how a student feels about their school. Best of luck!
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