Pressure to Attend a Prestigious College: High School Students and Parents’ Differing Definitions of Success

Existing empirical literature indicates high school students’ definitions of success, and associated perceptions of academics, careers and values, are influenced by their parents and community. There is an emerging understanding of the hyper-competitive and college-focused nature of private high school environments. This study aimed to parse through private high school student and parent definitions of success, as well as the assumptions about community definitions, to investigate perception differences. From a private high school, 200 students aged 14 to 16 and 142 parents were surveyed, in two cohorts divided by grade. Though student and parent values revealed traditional associations of success to material/career accomplishments, hard work and happiness were also highly appraised. Significant emphasis upon the importance of prestigious college attendance to success was found in assumed community values, suggesting potential college pressure and stress despite contrasting student and parent values.