But that is just what Andrea Lucido, Valedictorian of Oceanside High School's Class of 2008, did. She applied to and was accepted by both Harvard and Yale.
"Yale just felt like a place where I would be happy," she said.
Lucido was at lunch when Aaron Cohen was told he was the Class of 2008 Salutatorian. She came back to find the hallways buzzing with the news, so she wasn't very surprised when she, too, was called to the Principal's office. The first thing she did was text her parents with the news.
"[My parents] never pushed me," she said. "They trusted me to do my own thing and that was important."
High school was filled with accomplishments for Lucido. Last year, she was recognized for her perfect 2400 on the new SAT exam (which now includes a writing component). More recently, she was been named a Presidential Scholar, a National Merit Scholar and has won many awards for her participation in the World Interest Club and the World Languages Honor Society.
Lucido can't explain what drives her to work so hard at her studies.
"I've always been that way," she said. "Some of it is because I enjoy it. For example, I took AP Computer Science for the challenge."
Some of Andrea's best memories of high school are of her involvement with the World Interest Club, in which students prepare for and compete in model United Nations competitions.
"WIC was one of the biggest reasons that made me enjoy high school," she said. Despite the social pressure to fill one's high school resume with activities that may impress college admissions staff, she advises next year's ninth graders to "pick something you like to do." Taking her own advice, Andrea plans to major in Applied Mathematics and pursue a career on Wall Street.
Cohen, the Class of 2008 Salutatorian, is headed to Cornell University to study pre-medicine with hopes of becoming a surgeon. His interest in medicine began early, perhaps because his mother is a nursing director and there's a familial aptitude for medicine. As a child, Aaron and his sister enjoyed watching medical shows. More recently, he has volunteered in hospitals to learn more about his future career.
Cohen credits his parents with helping him develop good work habits early on, without being over-protective.
"My parents let me do my own thing," he said, "but they were there to read an assignment if I needed them. They trusted me."
Those work habits led to a grade point average over 98 percent, higher if you consider the weight of the 10 Advanced Placement courses he has taken. Cohen has also been a member of the World Languages Honor Society, the Science Club, the National Honor Society and, up until senior year, Orchestra, where he played the bass. Tennis was another bright spot, something that Cohen looked forward to every Spring, when he was a member of the Varsity tennis team.
He has very specific memories of growing up in the Oceanside District. In middle school, it was Mr. Davis, a science teacher who "gave a lot of work" and pushed students to excel. In high school, it was a calculus class in which the teacher, Mrs. Spector, who "created a family environment ... all of us [students] were very close."
