Family dishonored because I didn't get into Ivy League

<p>Williams is well-known among educated people as being the #1 liberal arts college (with Amherst), and there are definitely people that would turn down Harvard for it for educational reasons.</p>

<p>I went to high school with plenty of prestige-conscious people, and I think they felt Williams was as much or more prestigious than most of the ivies. I think only Harvard/Yale/Princeton are definitely higher in prestige. However, as the OP stated, his parents are blue collar, so it is not surprising that they don’t know about Williams. But don’t let their limited ken ruin your sense of accomplishment.</p>

<p>Post #40, I vote for the phony part especially after looking at the GPA.</p>

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<p>The OP should consider being a student first and foremost in college, at least for the first couple of years. It sounds like the OP did so many ECs that it hurt his academics in high school.</p>

<p>Agree with other posters–show your parents some statistics re Williams. Just because THEY never heard of it doesnt mean anything.</p>

<p>And remember what the acceptance rate is at Harvard! Tiny! Lots of fantastic kids are in the same boat, and it’s a pretty big boat.</p>

<p>Unfortunately it seems that your parents are not well-informed or sophisticated about college admissions.</p>

<p>Williams is very, very tough to get into and a great school.</p>

<p>Harvard is well-known, even among people who do not know much about colleges, and sometimes parents are stuck on admission there so that, frankly, it can reflect on them.</p>

<p>What’s sad here is that, in many respects, Williams may very well be a better school than Ivies (I speak from experience).</p>

<p>Congratulations. You should be very proud and have a great option for college next fall!</p>

<p>As a parent of first generation, I totally understand where OP’s parents care coming from. I agreed with what most people said here but that cannot convince OP’s parents. As an immigrant myself, we are connected not just with people in this country but a lot of of network are from overseas. Harvard, Cornell, U Mich, etc are huge names overseas. The top ten LAC including Williams are rarely known to parents of immigrants, not to mention OP’s relatives overseas. To convince his parents, they need to see solid statistics such as SAT 25th to 7th percentiles, admission and yield rates, initial job placement %, average salary after graduation, and maybe after 10 years, etc. I believe Williams is a very good school, and its statictics should be good as well. Don’t tell them people choose Williams over Harvard if in fact the cross admit in a great favor of Harvard which I believe is the case.
OP’s problem is typical to immigrant parents as there are so many good but not internationally well known schools in US. Most of those parents may think BU is better than Williams, no pun instead!</p>

<p>You do realize this is a ■■■■■? Throw this away.</p>

<p>But, it’s good to know there is a lot of love for Williams out there. :)</p>