It seems like as a college student, you should spend a lot of time thinking about the future. Trust me I do, but I also spend a lot of time reflecting on the past. I am a Midwesterner and I go to a Big Ten school. In high school I had dreams of attending so-called “elite” universities on the east and west coast. I applied to schools all over the country, only to get into a handful of safety/match Big Ten schools along with a school in the SEC. They weren’t my dream schools by any means. I honestly asked many times why I even applied to these schools if I didn’t want to go to them. I guess it gave me validation and pride which shows how flawed this process has become.

Now that I am attending a Big Ten school in my home state, I still feel a little sad that I didn’t get into my top schools. I’ve met a lot of smart kids in my school, many of them who are smarter than me. I know some people and I’m sure that there are many more out there that go to my school even though they got into some of these “elite” and higher-ranked institutions. I know you’re probably thinking why this kid cares so much about attending a top-ranked university. Like there are plenty of people who are alumni from my school and lower-ranked schools that have done better in life than many of the people who attended these top schools. We’ve all probably been told that the school we go to doesn’t define us and we can do anything as long as we work hard.

So why do I care so much? I care because I’ve been thinking about college for as long as I can remember. I mean I remember watching college decision reactions videos on YouTube and reading articles on how to get into a good college in elementary school. I was so obsessed with attending a top school. It wasn’t like my parents were pushing to attend an Ivy league school. They just wanted me to go to a fairly decent school. Now they still wanted me to do very well (meaning get straight A’s) in my classes. I guess I cared so much because I was caught up in the idea of prestige and status. I wanted to be a part of the 1 percent and own a mansion. I wanted to be included in that crowd. I grew up in a middle-class town, so I thought attending these schools was the first step in my dream. I know it’s naive but I mean come on, so many of us want this.

What made things even worse was the college admissions scandal. These people who were already filthy rich resorted to using their big bucks to get their children into top schools. These kids don’t even need to be attending college from where they are coming and many of them will end up getting a so-called “useless” degree. So these parents know that it doesn’t matter which school you go to because some of them attended lower ranked schools or didn’t even go to college at all. Yet, they still care where their kids go.

It’s okay not to attend a prestigious school. Yet I know there are still going to be plenty of kids and parents like me who thought it was everything to attend one of these top schools. It represents everything wrong with our society (me included). We are too concerned about how other people see us. We always want to either fit in or be better. We never want to be worse. But we need to wake up and realize that not attending an “elite” school doesn’t make us worse and that it truly doesn’t matter.