Is it better to be a top outstanding student at an average college or be an ordinary student at a top college?
It depends on which situation you prefer.
A convincing (though not final) argument for the former is made in Malcolm Gladwell’s recent book David and Goliath.
I’d go with outstanding student at an average school (assuming we are talking about a reputable alternative here). Many ‘average’ schools are pretty strong to begin with and have excellent honors programs. The faculty attention and accompanying excellent letters of rec, access competitive grants and scholarships, and preferential access to research and other academic resources come to mind.
Of course, the typical fallacy in the thinking here is that a student assumes that just because the school is ‘average’ in their mind, that they are actually going to be an outstanding student at that school. When they show up, they realize that there are lots of other outstanding students even if there is a wider distribution on the academic ability curve. They may not stand out as much as they’d hoped or expected. State Unis are a perfect example of this: The top students are every bit as smart and accomplished as those at the most selective schools in the country.
On the other hand, top colleges sometimes have resources and can provide access that a middling school can’t, even to their middle of the pack students.
You have to dig deeper to figure out exactly what you are getting in either circumstance - and which is a better fit for you personally. And I second reading Gladwell’s book - the chapter on Caroline Sacks.
I enjoy Gladwell’s ideas and his style–but a good candidate for highly selective schools will be able to discern the ways in which Gladwell oversimplifies things in support of a preconceived conclusion.
Hard to say. There’s no question that top colleges offer way more resources and opportunities than “average” colleges or state schools, not to mention top colleges generally have a smaller amount of students to devote their funding to. I think students at top colleges definitely benefit/push themselves to exceed because of the competition and the wide range of opportunities available.
That being said, that doesn’t mean students at middling colleges can’t achieve just as much or get as much out of their education. There are plenty of honors programs and courses offered at state universities that may be similar to what a top private college might offer; the challenge that these students have is beating out the huge pool of competitors to get into those programs/courses, because there are certainly a huge amount of outstanding students who have chosen to attend state universities (just going to use state unis as an example since they’re commonly perceived to be more “average”).
Honestly though, whether you’re in a top or average college, you will have to fight to be “outstanding”. I think being an outstanding student in either a top or average college is roughly equal in difficulty and accomplishment. I do agree with @N’s Mom about how top colleges offer more resources to their “middling” students. Middling students at selective colleges are most likely seen as having more prestige than their counterparts in public/average schools.
But in regards to an outstanding student at an average school vs a middling student at a top college; very very difficult to judge, and I doubt there’s a concrete answer.
Are you planning on going to graduate school? If so, I think going to a school that has a rigorous and well-known program in that field and being “average” will speak better than being outstanding at a school that isn’t really known for it. Admissions folks for grad schools definitely consider the “name” of the school you come from. Getting a 3.9GPA in a major at a “weak” school isn’t as good as a 3.3-3.5GPA at a tough school for that program.