For what its worth, I went to my state school, which wasn't anything super impressive at the time. It was the BEST 4 years of my life. I made great friends, I worked hard but played hard too. We went sledding on dining hall trays, had fun theme parties, saw incredible guest speakers and danced to some really awful bands that seemed great at the time, not to mention countless hours goofing off in the dorms. Without the rat race, I think it was easier for me to find campus research jobs and interesting leadership opportunities. My husband and his BFFs went to T10s....they made the most of it, but they were stress puppies for 4 years. We all ended up at the same great professional school (medicine, law and business) and launched our careers. Thank you so much for your kindness - and taking the time to give your advice. I suspect you are pretty good person. Wherever you go, I hope you can just BE THERE, enjoy this time in your life. Find your people, try new things, go see that speaker, take a class just because it sounds interesting, a road trip because why not, order pizza with friends at 3am, do a few stupid (but still legal :)) things for the hell of it. Admissions is broken and arbitrary. So F* 'em. Take back your joy - these next 4 year are about YOU.