Outgrowing the 'Good Student' Mindset.
Prestige chasing is often a substitute for judgment. Real career decisions require standards beyond brand names.
Growing up in China, I saw many people trapped in the pressure to look like a 'good student': top schools, big-name internships, stable jobs, and socially approved outcomes.
In environments where people have limited exposure, prestige becomes the default scoring system. Many cannot confidently judge whether one path is truly better than another, so they use brand names as a proxy.
That is how talented people end up on the same track by default. At some point, you have to replace borrowed standards with your own and choose based on direction, not label.