<p>I'm wondering what people's different reasons are. So tell me. That is, if you want to.</p>
<p>The challenge of getting in, as well as doing the work and maintaining good grades</p>
<p>So I can brag about it. I mean, there are plenty of good and challenging colleges outside the top 20, but they’re less likely to be well-known.</p>
<p>It gives you a head start on life, and there’s more resources available during your time at the school.</p>
<p>So my asian mother can put a bumper sticker on her car. </p>
<p>So my grandparents can have bragging rights when they meet with their friends.</p>
<p>So I don’t feel bad when my cousin takes the gaokao and gets into Beida.</p>
<p>@MutaRiSC The Koreans call it gaokao as well? O_o fascinating.</p>
<p>I like the resources they have readily available, and I know I will meet many people with similar interests as me. Furthermore, the ones I am looking at are not very large and are known to provide pretty decent FA packages.</p>
<p>I know that I will be getting a quality education in a mentally stimulating atmosphere. </p>
<p>Nahhh…real reason? So I can give my teacher the flag. She’ll put it next to all the other state colleges and they’ll look mad iddy.</p>
<p>@chewydog</p>
<p>No lol, I’m not korean. Despite my username and my sig, I just like a game popular in korea and a certain korean celebrity. :)</p>
<p>And my whole prev post was a ■■■■■.</p>
<p>The school I want to attend I truly believe is a perfect fit for me. They have all the quarks/nerdy atmosphere/love of learning that I was looking for, if they were not a top school (in terms of ranking) I would still be applying there ED next year.</p>
<p>The academics are great, obviously… but all of the schools I’m looking at have good academics. What sets my #1 choice (MIT) apart, is that the school is pretty much my EXACT personality. They emphasize hard work and free time, which is kind of what I do now. Also, as my mother eloquently put: “This school is a bunch of smartasses!”… which I can also be at times.
It’s just the perfect fit for me, really. I can really imagine myself there more than I can any other school.</p>
<p>My dad told me the other day that I have dreams beyond that of a normal teenager. I wanna be around other kids like that. That’s why.</p>
<p>I mean… you honestly only live once, and when I’m 50 and am seeing my kids grow up and what not I dont want to sit back and think that I didnt do everything I couldve done. I personally believe I’m smart enough to get into an ivy league or top 20 school, and the only thing keeping me from it is myself. I dont want to slack off and not try my hardest when I could do my best and achieve my best. People say I’m wasting my life, but honestly if I wasnt involved in school stuff (homework, clubs, and student council) I would just be sitting at home playing video games or watching tv all the time.</p>
<p>Just be sure it’s a top 20 school in the area you want to study. Teaspoons, I AM 50, coincidentally, and I’m still quite happy with my decision to go to UT-Austin to study structural engineering. As a female valedictorian, I could have gone to MIT or any other school (it was easier to get in back then). But UT had (and has) amazing resources - its structural testing facility is one of the largest in the world. I worked under professors who were in the National Academy of Engineering. I also got to go to grad school there, with a fellowship that paid all my expenses, and I even had a generous monthly stipend.</p>
<p>I’m just saying, be sure you go to the best place for YOU, not just the biggest name school.</p>
<p>^ Good point there.</p>
<p>Good FA, good mentors, better chances for certain programs.</p>
<p>Professors hired at those schools are typically very renowned in their respective fields, and it’s truly an exciting experience to be taught by them. It’s also interesting to think that everybody else in those colleges worked as hard or harder than you to get accepted, and you can meet pretty awesome people.</p>
<p>I don’t. I used to. It was my dream from 9th-11th grade. It doesn’t really matter where you go for undergrad, it’s where you go to grad school that matters more.</p>
<p>My top choice is Brown. Im not applying to any other ivies except Dartmouth . The rest of the schools on my list are LACs. For me anyways, it’s the experience and independence offered at brown because of its open curriculum. Also, brown offers a concentration in pubic policy which is the are I want to study most and is hard to find at other schools at the undergrad level.</p>
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