My thoughts after going through this process again
I’m currently at a top school and applying to transfer, which feels crazy when I think about it. Getting a job at Goldman Sachs or top consulting firms from my current university is actually easier than getting admitted here in the first place.
The truth about elite education
Honestly, even Ivy League education might be overrated these days. You probably just need the brand name for a year or two, then you could leave and build the next big startup.
I remember my family friends getting into Harvard, Yale, and Princeton back in 2018 with just 3-4 extracurriculars and some research. Now the bar is impossibly high. One friend made it to HYP, worked at a top investment bank, led the finance club, and now puts in 14-hour days at an elite hedge fund.
The endless cycle looks like this:
Get into top 10 school → Summer internships → Investment banking recruitment → Private equity → MBA → Hedge fund
Or the pre-med track: Top university → Research and volunteering → Gap year → Fight for those 2% medical school spots
Most people at these exclusive companies went to elite high schools too, not just prestigious colleges.
My main message
Don’t sacrifice everything for this crazy competition. Do what you need to do, but remember to actually live. When you’re 80 and struggling to walk, you’ll regret spending all your time doing things you hated instead of being with family, friends, and exploring the world.
We’re only young once. Stop obsessing over school rankings and enjoy life more. The American dream still exists, it just looks different now. Before, anyone with hard work and good test scores could get into an Ivy. Things changed, but there’s still opportunity for those willing to work for it.
i feel ya - it’s super tough watching others with perfect scores get shut out. the whole college admissions thing is such a mess! sometimes it makes ya wonder if it’s all worth it. gotta focus on what really matters in the long run, not just the grades, ya know?
Dude, you made it to a top school and you’re STILL not happy enough to stay - that’s crazy but proves your point about this rat race being broken. My brother did something similar, picked a decent state school over chasing prestige. He’s doing fine now, probably happier than his high-achieving friends who are burnt out from constant pressure. It’s weird how we think missing these brand names means missing out on life.
lol you’re proof that reaching the ‘promised land’ doesn’t fix anything. Transferring from a top school? That’s peak education anxiety. The funniest part is everyone treating Goldman Sachs like some holy grail when half those guys are miserable workaholics making spreadsheets. Your friends grinding 14-hour days at hedge funds make bank, but when do they actually enjoy it? The whole system keeps you chasing the next shiny thing forever.
Your transfer perspective is really interesting - you’re seeing both sides of this mess. What gets me is how the goalposts never stop moving. Even when you hit that ‘top school,’ it’s still not enough.
The numbers prove it too. Elite schools went from 10-15% acceptance rates in the early 2000s to under 5% now, while applications doubled. You nailed it about needing elite high schools first - this pipeline starts way before college, and most people don’t get that.
The hedge fund thing is the perfect example. Every achievement just becomes another stepping stone instead of actually getting you anywhere.