Did anyone else end up at a much lower ranked college than they could have gone to because of a fluke?

[Anonymous]

I’m from the Midwest and went to a small college there that is unknown to DCUM. Most students were from my state. A few from the east coast, and a handful from this area.

Now I have been living in the DMV for about 10 years and just went through the process with my senior. And I wonder how the f does anyone from this area end up at the college I went to? Something must have been off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m from the Midwest and went to a small college there that is unknown to DCUM. Most students were from my state. A few from the east coast, and a handful from this area.

Now I have been living in the DMV for about 10 years and just went through the process with my senior. And I wonder how the f does anyone from this area end up at the college I went to? Something must have been off.

High school college counselors sometimes come up with random colleges that you never heard of. You read about and it looks good.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure "fluke" is the term I'd use for a major family truama that meant we suddenly couldn't afford the top school I got in to, and so I had to go to the school that gave me the most money.

Doesn't matter though. I did very well there, and went to a top law school, did even better there, and ultimatley had a stellar career. No complaints.

[Anonymous]

I believe I ended up at Northwestern because besides GPA, classes, etc I was from Nevada! We had like 6 kids in the freshman class. Underrepresented geographically…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did. I think ultimately it doesn’t make that much of a difference in most fields, if you’re at a school that is on some level “too easy” for your intellectual gifts you should end up doing super well there, which positions you pretty well for the next step. In my case, I got a lot of attention from professors who enjoyed working with a student that was way more talented than usual for them, so my education didn’t suffer that much other than that my inherent laziness meant i could mail it in in classes that I wasn’t interested in. Grad school can clean up any prestige deficit, in fields where that matters. You can push yourself arbitrarily hard in the extracurriculars you have extra time for because the classes are easier. You take a bit of a networking hit because you aren’t surrounded by a bunch of high fliers, but there are smart and capable people even at lower tier schools, and you end up finding them. And if you are a bit of a late bloomer, being a large fish in a small pond can have some benefits from a developmental perspective.

The above is wise and true based on what I have seen.

You can also be a mediocre student and do very well if you have charisma.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know I can’t change the past, but I can’t stop thinking about how much more prestigious a college I could’ve gone to if I hadn’t made that one silly mistake.

Please tell your DC not to worry about this. I went to a no-name college no one's heard of, but then went to Penn for law school and now that is the only thing anyone in my field cares about. Conversely, my friend went to Princeton undergrad but Seton Hall for law, and everyone at her firm sees her as a Seton Hall grad. College is really not that important if you go onto grad or professional school so keep in mind that is where you need the prestige more.

This is so seriously uncool of you. You're not a "friend" of hers at all. There are very few Princeton grads at SH and they're easy to find on Google.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My "fluke" was finding out in my 40's that I'm severely dyslexic not stupid.

Mine was finding out I have adhd and dyscalculia and am also not actually dumb.

Despite meh grades and undiagnosed learning problems, I still managed to attend a R1 university and had good relationships with professors who wrote me recs for grad school.

I would not have known a T20 school if it had bit me.

My mom did not finish college. I did not get any assistance with career or college processes and figured it out before the internet without any adult help.

My friends all attended top schools—Emory, Rice, McGill, UC Berk, Stanford, Wash U, and various T20 SLACs. I had no idea back then that those were considered top schools.

I had ZERO knowledge. I definitely did NOT know merit aid existed.

[Anonymous]

No one told my mom that you had to have taken or be taking physics to apply to Stanford; her high school didn’t require it so she skipped it. She ended up the salutatorian at UCSB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to a much lower ranked law school than I could have because I wanted to be in a particular city that I had romanticized due to how it was portrayed in books.

No regrets at all. Glad I made the decision I did.

Where?