Let’s be honest, everyone has a dream school. No matter where you are in the world, you’ve likely been influenced at some point to believe there’s an “it” school. Maybe it’s the beautiful campus, the famous alumni, or the excitement of a good basketball game. Whatever the reason, most people have a favorite.
The thing about dream schools, though, is that they’re just that: a dream. It’s okay to have one, but it’s also important to remember that there are thousands of excellent colleges and universities throughout the U.S. and around the world. For many majors, the curriculum is quite similar across institutions and differences in educational quality are often smaller than you’d expect. Also, outside of a few specific fields or graduate programs, most employers and graduate schools place far less weight on the name of a school than students often assume.
You can see this play out on campuses all the time. I’ve known of cases where students spend years focused on a dream school like Princeton, only not to get in. Those same students, though, end up at fantastic universities like Rutgers. At first, the disappointment can feel overwhelming. But once they arrive, many begin to realize that they’re exactly where they’re supposed to be.