<p>I think some of the original posters need to realise that what the OP is thinking, does go through most teens’ minds. I mean, we do spend a lot of time thinking about what we’ll do once we;re accepted before we’re even accepted. I, for one, remember deciding Cornell vs Cambridge before my senior year. I was accepted at both places, but even if I hadn’t I wouldn’t say its a waste of time. Its human to do that and i’m cent percent sure most your kids would have started thinking abt future college days aleast a year before they even applied. </p>
<p>OP, people at Ivies and othe great places do have a lot of fun ad there many oppertunities for the same. It’s not like your sacrificing your 4yrs of life if you goto an Ivy. The important thing is time-management and learning this 4yrs early just helps you more.
Surprisingly, girls at Ivies are not as bad as you make it seem. I say this after seeing the profiles at Cornell, so don’t fret over it.
To get into Harvard PG, you must have a good academic perfomance from a good institution. A Topper from above-average college will certainly not be out of the race.
And, lastly…let me split ur 80-20 further as 50% GPA, 30-35% Academic,Research and Extra-Curricular oppertunities and 15-20% Fun.</p>
<p>(preface: I’m most likely going to be biased towards HYPS)
In my opinion, you shouldn’t go to college where you’ll be unchallenged. Let’s ASSUME you would excel at a less competitive/prestigious institution. It might just be me, but I don’t think that’d be the ideal college environment. As I see it, college is a place where you challenge yourself and really grow. Sure, you might have more fun if you have less work, but ask yourself: is that what you REALLY want?
If it is, then no, don’t go to an Ivy. The allure the Ivies, I think, comes not from the prestige or the professors or the campuses, but from the student body. Sure, the education that an Ivy offers might not be the absolute best, but you’ll be surrounded by countless other intelligent peers, which, in my opinion, is just as valuable.
If you think cruising through college would be better, then stop considering HYPS.</p>
<p>I think the Op raises important questions. People enter the top colleges having been the top students in their classes all their lives, often effrotlessly. Being the best student has become part of their identities and suddenly being average or worse is a shock. If you know yourself well enough to know that you like being on top, and have no interest in being average, then perhaps the elites are not the place for you.</p>
<p>Long term, you are probably right that being in the upper reaches at a less competitve college will put you in about the same place as being an average Harvard student. So you should probably look at the lifestyle, the details of the college experience, urban vs rural, big vs small, etc. Back to fit. For some people being an average Yale student is great. For others it is a big mistake. No single correct answer for everyone.</p>
<p>For those who complained about this individual’s prospects for getting in HY, subsitute Berkeley, or Vassar, or whatever for the higher end college, and some less competitive place for the alternative. The questions are the same.</p>
<p>and I would argue that the same student could very likely get a higher GPA at HYPS (excluding Cornell, Dartmouth and CalTech/MIT) than at some of the schools slightly lower on the rankings list. I have friends at those schools, and it has been reported directly from some of them that “it’s almost impossible to get lower than a B”</p>