What happens to the worst students at top schools?
Inspired by this WSO post I came across.
Are the worst students at Harvard a success because they are a graduate of Harvard, or are they a failure because they underachieved relative to their peers? I didn't go to Harvard but I went to a T30. Like some of you, I have it on paper: prep school, top uni, prestigious firm, but beneath all that, I graduated bottom of the class and was a terrible student, and I don't work in the front office.
Part of me wishes I didn't grow up in such an environment. I feel like if I don't work in IB or end up somewhere like KKR, then I'm a failure and not ambitious enough even if I earn six figures. This reminds of a thread I stumbled upon online way back, probably College Confidential when I was looking into schools. In it, parents were scoffing at another parent for their child to only end up in a "lowly school" like Middlebury. I could never forget that and funnily enough experience bouts of it in my everyday life. I remember my coworkers discussing dating prospects and one of them said they can never date someone outside of top schools. I initially thought they were being elitist and classist (and probably are), but at the same time I thought it made sense as well: similar backgrounds, ambition, and culture.