<p>I find this really interesting- Gladwell is advocating for your child to NOT attend their top 1st or 2nd choice but rather go with the choice where they can end up being at the top of their class because they will have a more of a competitive academic advantage. Only problem is, what if your child’s goal is not to graduate at the top of their class but just to attend the school they really like? Ultimately it might be a disadvantage but it just feels strange to me. Should I be thinking of this? My child, while smart and a great tester, is not destined to be the top 10% of where ever she ends up unless we specifically encourage her to go to a school where she is with students who typically don’t score as well or are not as academically motivated. Gladwell is dismissive of people being so impressed/ attracted to these top schools, he thinks they miss the advantages of going to the 2nd tier/ less brand name schools. He might be right, but isn’t that trading in brand-conscious for clear manipulation of the system? It’s perfectly fine to do either but isn’t it OK to simply not be the best but go to a great school? My children go to a school where they don’t receive grades. I assume they sort of know who is plugged in and who isn’t but I would venture to guess that my daughter does not particularly know where she lands in her class. If she were to get in to a top tier school and get B’s, is that not Ok anymore? Am I naive to think that she will be emotionally ok landing somewhere in the middle? This is not a rhetorical question. Perhaps I am naive. I have 4 children but my oldest is only 13 so we haven’t ventured into a particularly competitive world. Although she likes to compete in sports, she is not particularly competitive. She runs cross country and almost always places 2nd in the meet, right behind her classmate and good friend. She runs hard and always does well but clearly she never tries to beat her friend. I asked her why the other day and she simply said- it doesn’t matter- what is important is that the team have 1st and 2nd place runners and that her friend likes to beat her way more than she wants to beat her friend. She doesn’t want it to get “weird” and she is perfectly happy to get 2nd. This attitude makes me think she might just be OK with where ever she ends up ‘rank’ wise. Again- is this a big thing in BS? Forgive me if I am being ridiculously naive- go easy on me!</p>