As someone who is new to CC but has read it occasionally in the past, I am struck by how obsessed people on this board are with the Ivy League and Top Tier universities. From reading most posts, you'd think that your child's life will be forever blighted if they don't go to Harvard, Berkeley, Michigan, Georgetown, Pomona or one of perhaps 30 other colleges. In reality, 95% of Americans go to their local university or one of their state's public institutions. Most are not insanely competitive or prohibitively expensive. The vast majority of students who go to these universities love them.
When I was in college, I was astonished how many parents pressured their children into going to any Ivy or equivalent university. This then translated into their children telling their classmates that it was an elite university or nothing. My parents discouraged me from applying to more than one or two "stretches" and while I wound up going to Brown, I had classmates who frankly had even better college experiences at other colleges.
I just think we need to maintain perspective. The vast majority of Americans, including highly successful Americans, did not go to "elite" colleges and universities. This obsession with elite colleges is frankly ruining the high school and college experiences of thousands of students.
↧
