<p>I recently got into University of Pittsburgh, which is not only my safety school but also my favorite school of all the ones I applied to. I am absolutely thrilled and will probably attend there next year although I will of course wait to hear back from other schools anyway. My point is, when I told one of my friends, she said “Well, everyone gets in THERE!” Some of my other friends/family members feel that by going there I would be selling myself short. They think I should go for the “best” school I get in to (Boston U or Emory are my two reaches). But when i visited Pitt I felt so…at home! Would I be selling myself short by going there? I feel like I should go where I feel the most comfortable.</p>
<p>You should go where you feel happiest. Have you visited BU and Emory? If you like the University of Pittsburgh more, go there! And if you end up hating it, you always have the option to transfer in later years/semesters.</p>
<p>If you love the school you are absolutely not selling yourself short. You are going to be spending four years somewhere where you want to feel comfortable and happy. If you love University of Pittsburgh, that’s where you should end up. 
Good Luck!</p>
<p>i don’t think you’re selling yourself short. michael chabon graduated from pitt after transferring from carnegie mellon. his prof submitted his senior thesis(a novel) to a publisher and suddenly he had a six-figure contract with a publisher and had broken in to the industry. then the dude won the PULITZER PRIZE a few years later. </p>
<p>if he’d stayed at CMU, the “better school,” he never would have made it big. so anyone who says going to the school you like best is “selling yourself short” is a dumbass.</p>
<p>^that’s anecdotal evidence for a statement that is widely untrue.</p>
<p>convention goes that the “better” the school, the higher your wages will be after graduation. there is much more data to support that than simply random peoples’ stories. that being said, “loving” a lesser school (like pitt compared to emory) is a huge factor and should be weighed appropriately considering your major, the job field, location, and many other factors.</p>
<p>if you’re worried about selling yourself short, take the advice of vbplayer. apply to these higher ranked schools, visit, see if you still love pitt more, and make your decision. you may end up choosing emory or bu even if you don’t love them as much as pitt.</p>
<p>Trust your instincts, not your snotty friend</p>
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<p>You need to find a new friend, not a new school. ;)</p>
<p>Trust your instincts, and trust that you know yourself better than anybody else. Pitt’s a great place, and you should be thrilled that you’ve already figured that out. You are not selling yourself short; quite the contrary — you’ve gotten further, sooner, than most people going through the process right now. Give yourself a pat on the back!</p>
<p>And as an aside, I’m sure you’ve learned the proper response when one of your friends informs you of a school s/he was just admitted to: “That GREAT!! Congratulations!!!”</p>