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<p>I get that, but you’ve got 4 years of college ahead of you, and you never know how your plans are going to change. Mine changed, drastically, twice, in the 3 years I’ve been in college so far. You don’t know yet whether you want to get a job after your undergrad, go to grad school for a masters/phd, if you want to teach, etc. So aiming for rank in undergrad is kind of a gamble (especially if you’re taking out a bunch of loans/etc to pay for it). I think that’s what a lot of us are trying to warn you about-- you don’t know what your life or goals will be like 4 years from now (heck, you may transfer out of engineering) so don’t put too much emphasis on that far into the future.</p>