Schmaltz

IB Class06, just because those students got into their first choice, it doesn't mean that was the "best" college they could have gotten into. The very topic we're discussing here is when the best college you could have gotten into is NOT your first choice, and no doubt some students don't see the logic in applying to schools that are more difficult to get into than their first choice school. For example, if a straight-A, 2300 SAT student in Wisconsin grew up bleeding Badger red, and was dying to go to U of Wisconsin, he probably wouldn't even bother applying to Northwestern, Wash U., or U of Chicago. That sort of midset is heresy in the Northeast and in California. But what so many people on collegeconfidential can't grasp is that a huge % of people in the USA DON'T chase prestige thru their choice of college. I recall when somebody from the midwest started a thread saying he/she was having a tough time deciding between Dartmouth and Notre Dame, and many posters were in shock at the mere question.


Heck, I'd guess that at least half of the students in the country west of Pittsburgh and east of California don't even APPLY to be best colleges they could get into.