<p>the students at my school are completely obsessed with colleges, admissions, college rankings, etc. They are willing to rip each other apart and renounce friendships and social life just to take as many APs as possible. That often ends up in cheating, copying, and so on, because they only care about maintaining As, instead of the actual quality of education.</p>
<p>So CC, give it your best shot. Is it true that where you go for college is directly proportional to the level of your success? How much of an impact does it make on your overall life? Your job? Your level of happiness? </p>
<p>Hoping that this will be a good food-for-thought question :)</p>
<p>Sure, where you go for college has a huge outcome to your success. Now, that doesn’t mean the schools prestige or ranking has a role in your success, just the school. A lot of it depends on what your goals are. If you want to be a high school teacher, and you turn out the win all types of national awards and prizes for being the best high school teacher out there, does it matter if you went to Tufts or Berkley? Doubt it. </p>
<p>School, and life, is what you make out of it. Your connections will only go so far to get you that interview. If you aren’t bright enough, quick enough, or creative enough, it doesn’t matter where you went. You won’t get that job or promotion. </p>
<p>Also, there is something to be said for not going to the “best” school you can get into. One, if you go to an elite school, the expectations on you from employers will always be at the highest level, and failure to meet them may be hard to do consistently. The other is that it is harder to rise to the top. For example, is it better to get a research opportunity or be student body president at UCSD than it is at Berkley? That is for each of you to think about, but I’m not so certain that it’s always a slam dunk to go to the “best” school possible. (Of course there are lots of good reasons to go to said “best” school, I just wanted to present another view)</p>
<p>The students at your school know what’s up. Going to a better college obviously doesn’t mean you are guaranteed more success. But it certainly increases your chances of becoming successful, financially. There’s a lot a luck involved in success. But going to a better school can help push the odds in your favor. It’s in your future’s best interest to push your way to the top of your highschool, as long as you enjoy the ride.</p>
<p>Kids who go to top colleges were already go getters. They have accomplished much already which bodes well for their futures. It has more to do with the kids than the college.</p>
<p>I believe Princeton did a survey in which they tracked career earnings of Ivy League Students against career earnings of Students admitted to Ivy League Schools but who attended elsewhere for whatever reason. </p>
<p>The result – they found no statistically valid difference in the two groups. This would suggest that its the student rather than the college.</p>