<p>I think that happiness seems to be more related to fitting in with family/friends. I’ve met families in rural areas who all work in the family business or farm. Some might attend the local CC or state college. They are not less intelligent than anyone else, nor are they less happy. I wonder though, if one member did go off to a top college, if he or she would feel like an outlier. I also know people who live in communities where most people have advanced degrees and the norm is to send a child off to a prestigious college. It could feel embarrassing to that child and family if a child is not able to. </p>
<p>Son #3 will meet a wider range of students than he might meet at an Ivy college. There are pros and cons to both, and that has been debated on CC already, so I don’t want to get into it. We know that the Ivy’s tend to accept the top percentiles of applicants, while most state colleges will accept a wider range of students. Perhaps one good thing about this is that Son #3 will meet other students who are happy to attend State U, and he will be happy too, regardless of how his college is perceived at home. </p>