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Most… state… You mean undergraduate research, I know, but it still sounds really weird.</p>
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Yeah, but this one was probably you, haha.</p>
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Yeah, it’s not like most major advances in, oh, say, physics have been made by religious people or anything. Or that all universities used to be religious.</p>
<p>Having transferred from a good school (top 35) to an Ivy (Columbia, specifically), I can honestly say that I did so because of the academic environment. Yes, you can find fantastic professors at schools that aren’t top 20, and you can find students who love learning, but as for the latter, their number is… less. The work load is geared towards students who may not be as academically driven as you, and you can wind up BSing things and still doing better than the majority, thus taking away some of the incentive to strive that pushes you to that higher level of thinking that college (in my opinion) is supposed to be about.</p>
<p>But that’s just me. Scoffing at non-top-20 schools is immature, and likely is a matter of prestige/ insecurity. You can get a great education elsewhere, but the top schools are more likely to practically guarantee one.</p>
<p>I’m not scoffing at top 20 schools, I’m scoffing at the kids who have the “Top 20 or bust” mindset.</p>
<p>My post wasn’t exactly clear, people don’t think I’m not smart, but they don’t think I have the work ethic to get into a good school that’s high caliber. And I know intelligence isn’t based on grades, but everyone at my school is scared to get out of my small town and away from life and experience things. I want to get out and see how everybody views the world beside the small town in GA.</p>
<p>It’s true that you shouldn’t choose just based on prestige, but CC has an excessive tendency to say that what school you go to is entirely irrelevant.</p>
<p>On average, schools with larger endowments can offer a lot more to their students (on average–there are obviously some exceptions, as it can be argued that Harvard doesn’t have a great undergrad program due to TAs/large classes etc.).</p>
<p>Some people on CC will say, “A smart kid should succeed anywhere. Really smart kids can succeed without tons of resources and professor attention.” This is usually said to justify sending kids to state flagships (which I’m not saying is bad). State flagships are still far above average schools in the US. But still, we don’t just give kids a pile of textbooks and say, “The best of you will read these and succeed. If you need help, you suck.” So the line is ambiguous, and people tend to draw it along a place that makes them comfortable (to combat the necessity of going to a, say, top-10 university, since not everyone can go to a top-10 university).</p>
<p>You can see examples of this in this very topic. It is utterly illogical that all schools are created and operated equal. Different statistics, different results. It may be that UCLA is more suited to your learning style than Princeton, and that’s fine, but according to our modern paradigm, we insist that everything has to be equal in quality.</p>
<p>If academic resources and small class sizes are meaningless to you, though, then I guess you don’t need to go to a top university.</p>
<p>Personally, I am obsessed with going to a top school because of the financial aid. As a low income applicant, I would receive a full ride to most of these top 20 schools. That, plus phenomenal resources and academics, makes me want these schools.</p>
<p>Sent from my Vortex using CC App</p>
<p>I don’t necessarily want to go to an Ivy, but I would like to go to a top-ranked school. Why? I want to be intellectually challenged. Some of you have said that students are just as intellectually stimulated at state schools, but I would have to disagree with this statement wholeheartedly. If one is attending a top-ranked school, one must have a desire to attend a top-ranked school and it’s more likely that the students at a top-ranked school are going to be open to intellectual discussion. If I tried to strike up a conversation about Gödel’s theorems or quantum theory, a good 85% of the people at my school would give me a blank stare and change the subject. I don’t want to say this is an accurate representation of the people that go to the most popular state school in my state, but sadly, it is. Of course I want money and I want people to be impressed by where I’m going. Mostly, though, I just want something better for myself, and I want to be intellectually stimulated by my peers.
My top two are Johns Hopkins and University of Rochester, but I’m also looking at a few liberal arts schools.</p>
<p>i guess another thread should be made titled “Why All the Hate Towards People Who Want to Go to Top Ranked Colleges”?</p>
<p>Personally I don’t have the best of grades normally carry solid A- / B+ throughout the years. I have desires to go to a school with a sound engineering program and something I can get decent financial aid from.</p>
<p>I have to say though I am the smartest kid when looking at common sense and decision making. Grades don’t mean everything and its not my fault I get bored while filling in the 100th bubble on a scantron. I have always outperformed the elitist with the grades on hands on projects in engineering electives. I feel elitist kids scoff at t1 or t2 colleges because all they have for them is school and grades and if they dont get ivy league their life to right now has been a waste. But to have them proclaim themselves as the smartest because they can memorize a lot and enjoy reading boring textbooks doesn’t sound like the smartest to me.</p>
<p>A wise woman once said
“If I was a teacher, I’d give all the children who got every question right a decent grade for being good parrots. But I’d give the children who missed questions but asked about them and learned from them the highest grades.”</p>
<p>There are a few reasons that I, personally, tend to like top 20 schools over others. But if a non-top 20 school fits, I’d be perfectly fine with going there:
<p>An example of a school outside of the top 20 that I’ve seen that meets most of this criteria is RPI. I’ve visited, and it looks like a great school, and one that is relatively safe for me. The only problem is that they might not give me enough money. It is certainly high on my list of schools that I’m interested in because of my visit, though (I pretty much know two things. First, I’ll definitely apply. Second, if I’m admitted and given enough aid, I’d be happy to attend).</p>
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So if you have learned all of the material, the trick is to answer wrong intentionally so that you can justify asking questions?</p>
<p>I want to go to a school with the best academic environment and that’s at the forefront with the best/most visionary professors out there. I don’t want to settle for mediocrity at a regular school. I’ve lived my whole life never being intellectually stimulated by the people around me. It’s an elitist sentiment, I know but living in Idaho does that to you. </p>
<p>Too bad my GPA is awful (3.3 cumulative, weighted. without freshman year it’s 3.9) and my SAT scores are lacking (2060). I have no EC’s. I suppose that’s what transferring is for.</p>
<p>Ehh… I’m not necessarily looking at a top ranked college, but I’d probably like it since most of the students there would be more serious and willing to learn than your average state college. Just personal preference (kind of the same reason why I pick all honors/AP classes in high school; it’s just a better environment to learn).</p>
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<p>This makes no sense. You shouldn’t punish people for learning the material and getting every question right. </p>
<p>I chose to go to a top 20 school (although I think any school in the top 30-35 would have been fine) because I want to be at a school with a lot of motivated, smart students and smaller classes. 3 of my classes out of 5 are 20 people or less for my first semester; I don’t think I would get that at SUNY Binghamton.</p>
<p>I discussed it with my parents before even applying though and they said that they were able to pay for me to go to whatever school I wanted to as long as it seemed like a wise decision (I.E. No paying $60,000/year for me to go to a party school). If you can’t afford it and don’t get the financial aid you need, it’s a different story.</p>
<p>I mean who gets to say that they graduated from Caltech? Not many people. I mean mention that to an engineer, you get brownie points on the spot.</p>
<p>^ I’m pretty sure if you mentioned that you came from Caltech I wouldn’t give a darn.</p>
<p>I’d look at how good you are at your job. Not what college you came from.</p>
<p>^You seem mad that you will never get into a top ranked college.</p>
<p>No I’m not. I have great stats and I am a rising senior. I haven’t even applied yet.</p>
<p>I know I can’t change your opinion on me. But I could care less about getting into a top ranked college.</p>
<p>Like I said, I am perfectly contempt with the University of Iowa.</p>
<p>My happiness is not tied to college choice. My happiness is tied to my writing.</p>
<p>I regret making some poor choices in my Junior year. But life is too short to be upset over the past.</p>
<p>There are far more important things in life than worrying about getting into Harvard. And if you don’t think so, well, you need to get enlightened.</p>
<p>I believe one should strive for the best and that everyone should strive to get into a great college. But to stress over it? To do things just to impress said colleges? That’s being obsessive and that’s no way to live life.</p>
<p>Congrats to you if you do get into a great college. I am proud of you. But you are no more intelligent than I if I choose a lesser known school.</p>