In some ways, I hated HS because I was a big fish. I refused to study and took up lots of time consuming activities so my grades wouldn't stand out. I couldn't wait to get to college where other people cared about academics. Unfortunately, because my grades didn't stand out, I ended up in a state school where I stood out and hated it. On the other hand, as we have seen in this thread, there are also lots of people who really thrive on being a big fish.

My suggestion is that an important part of an education is learning to be comfortable as both a big and a small fish.

If you look at the issue in terms of MS, HS, college and grad school, you might not be able to steer a path that has your DC being a big fish in MS and college and a small fish in HS and grad school or the other way around. But I would suggest that you encourage your DC to pick activities and/or majors that allow them to be both. So if you are in a STEM magnet you might join the debate team or ride the bench on the field hockey team or go to a foreign language immersion program in the summer. If you win creative writing prizes, you might join the robotics club or run track or take a college math class over the summer.

I went from big fish to little fish for undergrad, and I had a terrible experience. Lots of factors of course, but my university was so damn big, it was difficult to distinguish myself. I ended up transferring out to a smaller school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD briefly considered this. She ended up going more of the "little fish, big pond" route and is so happy with it. She loves being surrounded by this active, engaging, challenging environment. She definitely does thrive off of being challenged and collaborating/learning from others, so I knew she'd go this route. She's at a school that is academically challenging and collaborative, engaged with the community and campus, but not cutthroat or high stress. Btw - she is pre-med as well.

Hideous grammatical error. You either thrive on something or off something. Never do two prepositions go together side by side in a sentence. Never.

Cool, thanks. This is an informal written blurb. I can use colloquial language if I wish to do so.

It doesn't qualify as colloquial, just ignorant.

I would hesitate to judge if your child is a big or a little fish, personally.

My best friend went to Harvard and practically had a nervous breakdown on the basis that she was no longer the "star of the show" but rather, one of many, many incredibly intelligent and talented students. She did not stand out any more and it crushed her.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no easy way to get to med school.

Some ways are infinitely easier than others. Kids need to be strategic. I have seen very good but not brilliant kids who were highly strategic make it to places like Harvard, Penn, Hopkins Med and extremely smart but not-so-strategic students fail to make it to med school altogether.

An example i have seen over and over again: Very good student attends a very grade-inflated top school (think Harvard, Brown, UVA). Picks an easy major like psychology, government, sociology etc. Benefits from the rampant grade inflation and the good academic reputations of these schools and the GPA boost from the easy major in order to get into a top med school.

Med and Law schools admissions policies are not ideal. They encourage students to chase grades and be strategic instead of challenging themselves academically. Why is an engineering major from Cornell or Hopkins with a 3.4 GPA automatically excluded from consideration at top med schools, and a Harvard, Brown, UVA government or psych major with a 3.6-3.7 is considered on target? The former is very likely stronger academically than the latter.

easier =\= easy

Eh a good URM student that manages to get into Harvard or Brown has it pretty easy for med school.

I don't even know what that means. What are you trying to say?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no easy way to get to med school.

Some ways are infinitely easier than others. Kids need to be strategic. I have seen very good but not brilliant kids who were highly strategic make it to places like Harvard, Penn, Hopkins Med and extremely smart but not-so-strategic students fail to make it to med school altogether.

An example i have seen over and over again: Very good student attends a very grade-inflated top school (think Harvard, Brown, UVA). Picks an easy major like psychology, government, sociology etc. Benefits from the rampant grade inflation and the good academic reputations of these schools and the GPA boost from the easy major in order to get into a top med school.

Med and Law schools admissions policies are not ideal. They encourage students to chase grades and be strategic instead of challenging themselves academically. Why is an engineering major from Cornell or Hopkins with a 3.4 GPA automatically excluded from consideration at top med schools, and a Harvard, Brown, UVA government or psych major with a 3.6-3.7 is considered on target? The former is very likely stronger academically than the latter.

easier =\= easy

Eh a good URM student that manages to get into Harvard or Brown has it pretty easy for med school.

Pathetic.

If that person is reading this, please tell us where YOU went to college. You are a strike against that institution!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD briefly considered this. She ended up going more of the "little fish, big pond" route and is so happy with it. She loves being surrounded by this active, engaging, challenging environment. She definitely does thrive off of being challenged and collaborating/learning from others, so I knew she'd go this route. She's at a school that is academically challenging and collaborative, engaged with the community and campus, but not cutthroat or high stress. Btw - she is pre-med as well.

Hideous grammatical error. You either thrive on something or off something. Never do two prepositions go together side by side in a sentence. Never.

Cool, thanks. This is an informal written blurb. I can use colloquial language if I wish to do so.

I will never understand why some people get a kick out of being a grammar nazi at an informal anonymous forum

+1

Ridiculous.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD briefly considered this. She ended up going more of the "little fish, big pond" route and is so happy with it. She loves being surrounded by this active, engaging, challenging environment. She definitely does thrive off of being challenged and collaborating/learning from others, so I knew she'd go this route. She's at a school that is academically challenging and collaborative, engaged with the community and campus, but not cutthroat or high stress. Btw - she is pre-med as well.

Hideous grammatical error. You either thrive on something or off something. Never do two prepositions go together side by side in a sentence. Never.

Cool, thanks. This is an informal written blurb. I can use colloquial language if I wish to do so.

I will never understand why some people get a kick out of being a grammar nazi at an informal anonymous forum

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD briefly considered this. She ended up going more of the "little fish, big pond" route and is so happy with it. She loves being surrounded by this active, engaging, challenging environment. She definitely does thrive off of being challenged and collaborating/learning from others, so I knew she'd go this route. She's at a school that is academically challenging and collaborative, engaged with the community and campus, but not cutthroat or high stress. Btw - she is pre-med as well.

Hideous grammatical error. You either thrive on something or off something. Never do two prepositions go together side by side in a sentence. Never.

Cool, thanks. This is an informal written blurb. I can use colloquial language if I wish to do so.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no easy way to get to med school.

Some ways are infinitely easier than others. Kids need to be strategic. I have seen very good but not brilliant kids who were highly strategic make it to places like Harvard, Penn, Hopkins Med and extremely smart but not-so-strategic students fail to make it to med school altogether.

An example i have seen over and over again: Very good student attends a very grade-inflated top school (think Harvard, Brown, UVA). Picks an easy major like psychology, government, sociology etc. Benefits from the rampant grade inflation and the good academic reputations of these schools and the GPA boost from the easy major in order to get into a top med school.

Med and Law schools admissions policies are not ideal. They encourage students to chase grades and be strategic instead of challenging themselves academically. Why is an engineering major from Cornell or Hopkins with a 3.4 GPA automatically excluded from consideration at top med schools, and a Harvard, Brown, UVA government or psych major with a 3.6-3.7 is considered on target? The former is very likely stronger academically than the latter.

easier =\= easy

^ they do not make such fine distinctions. Top med schools do not bother considering anything under a 3.6 or so regardless of the difficulty of the major or the school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no easy way to get to med school.

Some ways are infinitely easier than others. Kids need to be strategic. I have seen very good but not brilliant kids who were highly strategic make it to places like Harvard, Penn, Hopkins Med and extremely smart but not-so-strategic students fail to make it to med school altogether.

An example i have seen over and over again: Very good student attends a very grade-inflated top school (think Harvard, Brown, UVA). Picks an easy major like psychology, government, sociology etc. Benefits from the rampant grade inflation and the good academic reputations of these schools and the GPA boost from the easy major in order to get into a top med school.

Med and Law schools admissions policies are not ideal. They encourage students to chase grades and be strategic instead of challenging themselves academically. Why is an engineering major from Cornell or Hopkins with a 3.4 GPA automatically excluded from consideration at top med schools, and a Harvard, Brown, UVA government or psych major with a 3.6-3.7 is considered on target? The former is very likely stronger academically than the latter.

Good point!
Don’t law schools and med schools weight GPAs based on the difficulty of the school or are there too many applicants from too many colleges for them to make such fine distinctions?

Anonymous wrote:There is no easy way to get to med school.

Some ways are infinitely easier than others. Kids need to be strategic. I have seen very good but not brilliant kids who were highly strategic make it to places like Harvard, Penn, Hopkins Med and extremely smart but not-so-strategic students fail to make it to med school altogether.

An example i have seen over and over again: Very good student attends a very grade-inflated top school (think Harvard, Brown, UVA). Picks an easy major like psychology, government, sociology etc. Benefits from the rampant grade inflation and the good academic reputations of these schools and the GPA boost from the easy major in order to get into a top med school.

Med and Law schools admissions policies are not ideal. They encourage students to chase grades and be strategic instead of challenging themselves academically. Why is an engineering major from Cornell or Hopkins with a 3.4 GPA automatically excluded from consideration at top med schools, and a Harvard, Brown, UVA government or psych major with a 3.6-3.7 is considered on target? The former is very likely stronger academically than the latter.