Many kids feel like it is BYU or bust. For the top academic schools the kids might feel pressure from their families, etc to get into a top school, but there are more than one Ivy League, Stanford type school. There may be some kids with a strong family tradition at a given school adding additional pressure, but this is probably more common at BYU. If anything, because it is harder to get in to an Ivy League some pressure is taken off because it is more understandable if you don’t get in.

For BYU, there are academic reasons, family reasons, religious reasons, etc. Many feel that is their best bet for finding a spouse. There is really only one BYU experience and kids are feeling enormous pressure to get in as a result.