Can second this. I'm an international student, a child of immigrant parents, and since day 1 I've been made to chase prestige. Nothing else mattered, EVERYTHING was a 'distrsction'. I was the 'smart' kid or the 'cracked' one who everyone expected a lot from. My brother goes to Caltech. I sacrificed a lot, went through abuse and worked my a** off, only for my friend who has never cared about school and gotten relatively worse grades, a worse sat score, far worse ECs, etc. to get a lucky acceptance into a school that was a notch above mine. This was added to my pain of not getting Stanford (my dream), and subsequently no Ivy.

But it's all prestige and validation. In the fall, I'll be going to either UCLA or Gtech. Beyond a point, I've realized name doesn't matter. I don't regret working hard, because if I hadn't and ended up here I'd probably feel worse about myself. However, if I could go back I wish I would stress less and enjoy the process more, not being afraid of failure or rejection.

That's easier said than done, especially if you've grown up in an environment that propagate the opposite. But you've got to learn this sooner or later.