Honest answers

lostaccount
Mon, 18 Jul 2016 17:58:57 +0000

I noticed in your other thread that you said “I know statistically it can’t be proven but I am much smarter than what the numbers depict”

That may be true and if it is true,your grades will improve. But here is something else I know to be true:

Schools that are not on your list of elite schools are much better than what you imagine them to be.

Your earlier thread delineated other reasons your grades are not as high as you think they should be. A problem for you is that there will always be factors that could be barriers to success. In fact, some of the most elite schools are those where professors are not very attentive to undergrads and who expect a high level of independence and fortitude from them. That is true about family issues too. There are kids for whom school is a refuge from horrendous home situations. There are kids in college who continue to have horrid home lives. It isn’t fair but it is the case. The issue is whether or not they can achieve in the situation they find themselves in. Many do and some don’t.

My advice to you is to put all concerns about your choice of college off for a while. Put your focus and energy into the activities and classes you find most meaningful to you. Then, 2nd semester junior year, critically evaluate how well you are doing. Have you been able to focus and apply yourself successfully? What are your grades like at that point. Then, choose a college that will have other students like you. If your grades are not vastly improved, don’t expend a lot of energy to try to get yourself a slot in a school where all the other students are highly competitive. Why would you want to do that? You’d struggle with a low likelihood of success. On the other hand, you could find some excellent schools known as places that nurture the interests of their students. If so, you will be more likely to succeed. And that means you may be more likely to go on for further education-at which point you could choose a more competitive school for advanced education. If higher motivation next academic year is enough to allow your grades to soar, then you might consider a more competitive school.

There are a lot of great schools out there. Not all are ones that you see on bumper stickers. Many are better for students who are not in the top 5% of their class. But if I were to put you on that campus and told you it was an Ivy League school, I bet you’d believe me. That’s because most students have misconceptions about higher education and glom onto what their peers or their parents (who often know little about higher education) talk about. Focus on being the best student you can be and then find a school that is a good match to where you are academically-not where you wish you were.