Top School vs. Best Fit. Is Prestige Worth Being in the Bottom Half?

[Anonymous]

People on here way overestimate the quality of students at Ivies. I have kids a year apart-one Ivy and one UVA and honestly the UVA kid works harder for their grades in the same types of classes (both kids are the same major) and I would say the UVA kid is smarter at baseline. The Ivy kid is an athletic admit.

Ivies are not filled with brilliant kids in 2026. There are very smart kids but there are plenty of pretty darn "normal smart" kids as well and even many very average kids.

DCUM worships the Ivies but the reality on the ground is much different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People on here way overestimate the quality of students at Ivies. I have kids a year apart-one Ivy and one UVA and honestly the UVA kid works harder for their grades in the same types of classes (both kids are the same major) and I would say the UVA kid is smarter at baseline. The Ivy kid is an athletic admit.

Ivies are not filled with brilliant kids in 2026. There are very smart kids but there are plenty of pretty darn "normal smart" kids as well and even many very average kids.

DCUM worships the Ivies but the reality on the ground is much different.

Completely disagree and that is not to say there aren’t very smart kids at UVA, but complete opposite experience. It puzzles me and makes me wonder what classes your athlete is taking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People on here way overestimate the quality of students at Ivies. I have kids a year apart-one Ivy and one UVA and honestly the UVA kid works harder for their grades in the same types of classes (both kids are the same major) and I would say the UVA kid is smarter at baseline. The Ivy kid is an athletic admit.

Ivies are not filled with brilliant kids in 2026. There are very smart kids but there are plenty of pretty darn "normal smart" kids as well and even many very average kids.

DCUM worships the Ivies but the reality on the ground is much different.

Completely disagree and that is not to say there aren’t very smart kids at UVA, but complete opposite experience. It puzzles me and makes me wonder what classes your athlete is taking.

Econ and math. You also have UVA and Ivy kids?

[Anonymous]

This thinking is the same as those who ask if they should send their kid to a top private or to a top public, where they assume their kid would be a standout student. All these schools have smart students. Same as in college, you’re not going to be at the bottom at Harvard but the top at Lehigh. The worst student at Harvard med school still becomes a doctor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thinking is the same as those who ask if they should send their kid to a top private or to a top public, where they assume their kid would be a standout student. All these schools have smart students. Same as in college, you’re not going to be at the bottom at Harvard but the top at Lehigh. The worst student at Harvard med school still becomes a doctor.

+1 I am surprised people dont realize there are smart kids everywhere. My kids have been in public school and private schools and no school or college has a monopoly over smart kids especially in this country with holistic admissions.

[Anonymous]

Your athletic admit is in the jock world. Imagine how much dumber the UVA athletic admits with test optional and lower standards. Your comment shows a lack of reasoning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your athletic admit is in the jock world. Imagine how much dumber the UVA athletic admits with test optional and lower standards. Your comment shows a lack of reasoning.

You're the one that makes no sense. my athletic kid is in a niche sport and has an almost perfect GPA at the Ivy with very little work. roommates are non-athletes, friends, classmates etc are almost all non-athletes. UVA kid works harder.

Go ahead and keep bowing to the Ivy gods. The system needs people like you to keep alive.

[Anonymous]

WTH do you mean? How do you even know before they even arrive on campus????

My kid is a college sophomore at an Ivy and he blew me away. He won a departmental award freshmen year and has been selected for numerous opportunities, e.g., paid internships, etc. The profs love him.

He is very smart and always obtained As easily, high test scores etc. growing up —but not a standout in anyway before college. He wasn’t the kid getting accolades and attention prior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP: what is your SAT score? Over and over again they found a high correlation between the SAT score and the academic performance in colleges, especially in T10 colleges. I think if you score above their 75% line, it’s unlikely you will be in the bottom half.

There will still be a bottom half scoring 1550 plus at top 10. How does that work then?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your athletic admit is in the jock world. Imagine how much dumber the UVA athletic admits with test optional and lower standards. Your comment shows a lack of reasoning.

You're the one that makes no sense. my athletic kid is in a niche sport and has an almost perfect GPA at the Ivy with very little work. roommates are non-athletes, friends, classmates etc are almost all non-athletes. UVA kid works harder.

Go ahead and keep bowing to the Ivy gods. The system needs people like you to keep alive.

I question the validity, you don’t sound like someone that has a kid at both and I take no issue with you boosting UVA as it is a great school.

[Anonymous]

What if it's cutthroat major, where they don't have any hooked kids? What happens if you end up in the bottom for that major?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People on here way overestimate the quality of students at Ivies. I have kids a year apart-one Ivy and one UVA and honestly the UVA kid works harder for their grades in the same types of classes (both kids are the same major) and I would say the UVA kid is smarter at baseline. The Ivy kid is an athletic admit.

Ivies are not filled with brilliant kids in 2026. There are very smart kids but there are plenty of pretty darn "normal smart" kids as well and even many very average kids.

DCUM worships the Ivies but the reality on the ground is much different.

Completely disagree and that is not to say there aren’t very smart kids at UVA, but complete opposite experience. It puzzles me and makes me wonder what classes your athlete is taking.

Agree. One at an ivy in the top 10 unhooked, another at UVA. Similar stem majors. Ivy is much much harder with regard to pace of the classes, the difficulty of Psets, labs, and the competition among peers to be the best of the best in an outside the classroom. Thankfully the ivy has many more research positions, more paid LA/ TA spots, much smaller classes (12-15 is common) and more connected professors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At places like top 10, half the class is going to be below the median, 25% of the class will be below top 75 percentile. That’s just how it works.

I get it that you’re still surrounded by smart people, big-name professors, and strong recruiting pipelines. But does that actually translate into good outcomes for students in the bottom half or bottom quartiel? Are they still landing solid jobs and grad school placements?

On the flip side, what if you went to a slightly less selective school and ended up in the top 10–20%? You might get more leadership roles, closer relationships with professors, stronger recommendation letters, and maybe just more confidence overall. Does standing out more beat having a big brand name on your resume?

How people think about this tradeoff. Is prestige worth it even if you’re below average there? Or is it smarter to pick the place where you’re more likely to shine?

Would love to hear from people who’ve actually seen this play out.

So it’s not the case for non-T10s? I don’t think you can get into T10s anyways with this kind of intelligence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your athletic admit is in the jock world. Imagine how much dumber the UVA athletic admits with test optional and lower standards. Your comment shows a lack of reasoning.

You're the one that makes no sense. my athletic kid is in a niche sport and has an almost perfect GPA at the Ivy with very little work. roommates are non-athletes, friends, classmates etc are almost all non-athletes. UVA kid works harder.

Go ahead and keep bowing to the Ivy gods. The system needs people like you to keep alive.

I question the validity, you don’t sound like someone that has a kid at both and I take no issue with you boosting UVA as it is a great school.

The ivy athlete is taking the cake classes or easy major like Urban Studies. All schools have them. The real students do not take that route

[Anonymous]

OP — it depends on the kid’s professional aspirations.

For medicine, go where you will do well. A 3.3 from Caltech will make it hard to get into medical school, which is absurd, but that’s the reality.

Tech, finance, consulting: prestige of school can carry a kid far, even if UG academic record is mediocre.