Originally Posted by HowlerKarma
The odds of finding a fellow HG+ student at a school with an average SAT score of 500/500/500 is lower than it is at an institution of the same size and focus whose SAT average is 750/750/750, basically. The students at the former school are going to be mostly average to MG, and the students at the latter are going to be mostly bright-to-MG+. It's a statistics game.

Yeah, but, the odds of meeting a LOT of maniacally prepped unhappy people is also much higher. So are the odds that a lot of people are there for reasons related to status and not actually wanting to, you know, learn stuff.

Originally Posted by HowlerKarma
The other thing that an elite institution does for PG people is provide lifelong opportunity. Choices, in other words. The ability to WALK AWAY from toxic situations by virtue of seldom having just the one choice.

Hmm. I went to an elite American college, and I honestly don't see how this idea applies. Getting a degree from a fancy college is great in many ways, but it doesn't provide a ticket out of toxic situations. It also doesn't provide lifelong opportunities as a given. TBH, I think that this idea has been pushed in spite of being untrue. Those lifelong opportunities come either from having connections or from being very good at what you do, including having really good interpersonal skills (the latter attribute being as important as the former (or more important) in many situations).

Maybe you were saying something else here?

Originally Posted by HowlerKarma
I'm well aware that HG+ kids can and do wind up at public universities whose stats would not suggest that they are there... and that one can find 'pockets' of those students, often in math and physics, at any post-secondary institution. But finding ENOUGH of them can be a problem, particularly for a polymath.

I am just so sorry to sound like such a bummer here, but this is reality. When you think very, very, differently than almost everyone else, your are simply not going to meet a lot of like souls on your journey.

Personally, I think that one big draw of this site (NOT the only one) is that many of us can interact with others who are, well, really smart.

Have you considered a top-tier college for women? They tend to be undergraduate-only, small, and not so loopy about the competition to get in (because of the niche thing). Yet the education is very good. Smith and Mount Holyoke are in a valley with 3 other colleges (the Five College valley), and students can take courses at all the colleges for free. So if you want to take a really exotic physics or whatever course, you can go to UMASS. Etc.