Elite Universities and Their Impact on Self-Identity

The purpose of this research study is to understand how students perceive, interpret, and react to a sense of academic loss with regards to their identity in order to aid students in their transition to private, mid-sized, academically rigorous universities. Through the use of surveys, interviews, and a personal ethnography, I discovered how students felt when being placed in a setting where they were surrounded by students with similar academic backgrounds. The surveys enabled me to gain a much broader and more general understanding of how students feel when transitioning academically from high school to college. Whereas, the interviews and the personal ethnography enabled me to understand more clearly the feelings associated with this transition. After analyzing these three levels of data, I discovered that students progress and/ or digress through a pyramid, which I refer to as “The College Identity Pyramid,” similar to that of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The four levels in “The College Identity Pyramid” loosely correlate to the top four levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and are entitled “Social and Academic Security, Environment and Belonging, Self-Perception and Self Assessment, and Self-fulfillment.” Students’ emotions and feelings either assist or hinder them from progressing through this pyramid. Furthermore, all students studying at elite, private, academically rigorous universities, regardless of gender or major, experience this pyramid to some degree either consciously or subconsciously.Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2017.Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Departmental Honors.Discipline: Communication