<p>I've seen a lot of debate on this site over why people want to go to top schools. I'm curious of people's reasons for going to a top school beyond "it's the best" or "I'll get a better job."</p>
<p>My personal reason is that I want to be surrounded by more intellectual, driven people that I won't find at the typical State U (obviously, there are intelligent, driven people at any school, but not close to the same amount).</p>
<p>What about you?</p>
<p>But these days all state univ have honors programs where the best and brightest congregate. Top schools though on average have the brighter kids, who will be the next generation's tops in business and gov't. The connections thru one of these schools can be invaluable. In addition, we only go thru life once and you can always sometimes later impress folks w/ your nice car ot house, but undergrad is a one time deal and that school name is forever stamped on your head. Many people want the best name they can get, which means that often students are shooting for the best school instead of the best school for them.</p>
<p>Pssh...everyone acts the same when they're drunk. </p>
<p>No one in college cares about what you did in HS.</p>
<p>I'm in medical school (talk about your high achievers congregating) and most of the time we purposefully avoid talking about intellectual stuff. My class actually has a rule that if you talk about medical school during a party you have to take a shot of the nearest hard liquor.</p>
<p>ebigredmed- more questions whose answers might be enlightening to salpert (and hopefully many others): what % of your classmates attended "high-end" undergrad schools vs. State U's and other less prestigious places? Is the latter group of students at any practical disadvantage vs. the elites? In fact does anyone really care about this (other than bragging rights regarding sports?) And, what do your fellow med students generally think about someone who is inclined to talk about his/her superior undergrad college?
I think I know at least some of these answers, but how about your take?</p>
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No one in college cares about what you did in HS.</p>
<p>I'm in medical school (talk about your high achievers congregating) and most of the time we purposefully avoid talking about intellectual stuff.
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<p>Talking about what you did in high school is not what I'd call intellectual. And everyone does not act the same when they're drunk. I have fond memories of two college friends getting quite drunk and having a screaming argument over the merits of Scheme vs C. :D Admittedly I'm not sure how intellectual I'd call that, either, but it was more entertaining than "normal" drunk behavior.</p>
<p>I went to a top school because I wanted to be challenged and surrounded by other smart kids (and I didn't want to be at a school within a school, like state school honors programs, where the honors kids are put on a pedestal - I wanted that environment to be the default). I wanted to be around people who could talk about things that interested me (and yes, Bigredmed, we did talk about school during our free time). I wanted the advantage that a big name would give me right out of college (and I got it). I wanted the resources that a lot of big names have (and always asked about them during my college interviews).</p>
<p>I wanted to stop being PUT on a pedestal. I didn't want to be the kid that everyone respects but nobody is really friends with anymore. I didn't want to have other people's parents bugging me to find out "how you do it" or putting their kids down by using me as the point of comparison anymore. I didn't want to be the kid where everyone tries to see her test grade and then crows for the rest of the day if they did better, the one that people secretly want to see fail, anymore.</p>
<p>To answer the questions: Only about 10% of my medical school class went to places that would make CCers excited - Penn, Harvard, Columbia, BC, UCLA, UT-Austin, WashU, Loyola in Chicago...that's about it. The class below mine is a little higher - 15% maybe. The largest % of students went to the flagship state public. My results may be a little skewed, because I go to state medical school. But my ex-girlfriend is the same year as me (3rd) and goes to a private medical school in the same city, and her class is probably 30% from schools that would get CCer's excited. The largest group at her school are kids who completed their undergrad at the same school as they are attending medical school. </p>
<p>Even then, I'd argue that those numbers don't mean anything. "top schools" have better success rates of putting kids in medical school because the things it takes to get into those schools are similar to the things it takes to get into medical school. High test scores, good grades, good time management, lots of involvement - medical schools covet the same qualities. Therefore it has nothing to do with the undergrad institutions. Students aren't getting in because they went to HPYS. They're getting in because they're successful students, which you can be anywhere.</p>
<p>Is there any disadvantage from being a State U person? Absolutely not. The top kids in my class are all from public schools - top 5 all from tiny, rural public schools, and out of the 6 people who had to repeat the first year in my class, one was from Harvard, one was from UT-Austin, and one was from Columbia.</p>
<p>Do people care about where you went? nope. I suspect this is how it is throughout much of the real world.</p>
<p>Do we ever talk about how wonderful our colleges are? Not really. Most of the time I ever talk about my undergrad days are to reminisce about things I did with my friends, road trips, and so on. I don't think I've heard anyone, outside of the first week of classes ever brag about their undergrad saying it was a phenomenal school and that kid no one likes anyways. He doesn't make those comments any more.</p>