# Is my son's school behaving shamefully, or is it me? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 17, 2008, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-sons-school-behaving-shamefully-or-is-it-me/477537 "2008-12-17T10:26:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-sons-school-behaving-shamefully-or-is-it-me/477537/21 "2008-12-18T21:18:48Z")
> [@sachertorte](#): > > Even if he’s already in High School, MIT is not going to reject your son because he went to School B instead of School A. Admissions are not perfect and tons of qualified students have to be turned away each year, but minor differences in which school someone went to isn’t going to be a deal-breaker. Who’s to say that the differences are “minor.” If school A offers courses equivalent to AP Physics and AP Math, and school B doesn’t, that’s a major difference, and can certainly affect someone’s admission to and performance at an elite school. > [@](#): > > Furthermore, simply having gone to international schools at all already puts your son at an admissions advantage. California? New York? Yawn. Oh! You went to school in Indonesia! Colleges eat that shit up. They do, and that will be a major advantage for him. But his academic background will be more important. If he’s significantly less qualified than other candidates, it won’t matter. > [@](#): > > Third, your son doesn’t have to to go MIT to be a physicist. Nope, but it sure would help. I’m sure that **CairoCarol** , being a sensible sort of person, will try to make sure that her son doesn’t pin all his hopes on MIT. But she should (and is trying) to do what she can to ensure that he has the best chance possible at getting in there, or another great school of his choice. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-sons-school-behaving-shamefully-or-is-it-me/477537.md?page=1)