>I'd argue it's mostly self-imposed. Could you explain why you think that? Is there evidence that shows that students who don't work as hard have an equal cha

>I'd argue it's mostly self-imposed. Could you explain why you think that? Is there evidence that shows that students who don't work as hard have an equal chance of getting into top schools? >"Non-stop competition" against what? Most of the students in the harder courses care more about helping each-other understand difficult material than about competing. I've had that experience at Stanford, though I've heard it's not like that at some places (e.g. Berkeley, and I was told so by someone who did his undergrad there). But he's talking about competition to get in, not competition once there.