What is the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect? And how does it affect me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect is the theory that we compare ourselves to the students around us. When you’re a high-achieving student in a low-achieving school (a big fish in a little pond), you’re likely to have more confidence in your intelligence and academic ability than a student with the same IQ in a high-achieving school (a big pond).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Learn why it’s so important to understand the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect, especially if you’re a student (or the parent of one!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Would you rather be a \u201cLittle Fish in a Big Pond\u201d or a \u201cBig Fish in a Little Pond\u201d of your own choosing?
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When applying to college, we want to attend the most prestigious university possible (and, therefore, be Little Fish in a Big Pond). Most would agree, when given a choice between two universities, you should choose the \u201cbest\u201d one–the one with the most resources, the most accomplished faculty, the smartest students, and the prestige. But what if attending a \u201cbetter\u201d school could be a dis<\/em>advantage? The theory of relative deprivation says we compare ourselves to the people around us. Our feelings of happiness or deprivation, success or failure, are not absolute, but rather relative to how happy and successful our neighbors are<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In education, we call this the \u201cBig-Fish-Little-Pond Effect<\/strong>.\u201d When assessing their own academic abilities, students don\u2019t compare themselves to every other student in the world. They compare themselves to the students in their class. The more elite the school, the more negatively students perceive their own academic abilities.<\/strong> For example, <\/strong>students who would be at the top of the class at School B (and would feel pretty good about themselves and their skills) might be in the middle or bottom of the class at the more prestigious School A (and feel bad because they compare themselves to students more skilled than they are). Why Does How We View Our Abilities Matter?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect, our perceptions have real-world consequences. Let\u2019s take a look at the drop-out rates at Hartwick College and Harvard<\/strong> to see the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect influences graduation rates in STEM fields. In America, more than 50% of all students majoring in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math) drop out before receiving a degree. The majority of those who drop out are in the middle or bottom third of the class (ranked by SAT scores). This is true regardless of the university.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fact that dropout-rate distribution is roughly consistent across colleges is surprising. Let\u2019s say you score 569 (out of 800) on the SAT and you\u2019re offered the choice between attending Hartwick College in upstate New York (Little Pond) and attending Harvard (Big Pond).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect and the Relative Deprivation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\nSTEM and the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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