[quote=no_such_reality][quote=FlyerInHi]
Academic competition is like competing for sports. You get grades and degrees, like trophies or sports stats. Bragging rights and glory. Why not, if you can? BTW, sports is also a lot more competitive than in the past.
[/quote]
For 99.99%, they’ll be just as fine with a regular college degree. They’ll get in. Sports highlights my point. The kids are starting to have to commit like they’re going to train for the Olympics to just play highschool sports.
Texas A&M has just as many Fortune 100 CEOs as Harvard. It also has any average GPA 3.5, SAT scores of 1800 and a 71% admission rate.
The branding mantra of fighting to get into Ivy or ‘top tier’ is the big lie, just like the lie of sports.[/quote]
I completely agree with this. For many kids these days, high school is rigorous and competitive enough without striving for admission to a top tier school. Unless admission comes as a natural byproduct of the kid’s skills and accomplishments (even then, it’s like winning the lottery), why add unrealistic pressure to get there? Kids should know that their future success is not dependent on a degree from one of these schools. Not only is it not dependent, their future success will be unaffected by their choice of a top tier vs. middle tier school. It is affected by many other factors, such as drive and career track record, but not where the degree comes from.
FIH, if you’re still unconvinced, try reading Frank Bruni’s book, “Where You Go is Not Who You’ll Be” about this very topic.
