The Student Room Group

Inferiority complex after choosing my university

I'm a guy that's just about to go to university this autumn.
I'm not really sure where to begin; I guess I've always been prone to stress and anxiety, particularly with regards to school and academic achievement, but I think the university application process over the past year or so has pushed me over a certain limit.
This is probably going to be a rather long post, so please bear with me (or not, it's definitely up to you!). Part of this is simply about putting my thoughts into writing. For simple reasons I'm going to be ambiguous in some of the details; I doubt these are really necessary to get the discussion going. Smaller text is optional reading - I only really realized it was unnecessary after writing it all down. Sorry (!)

I went to a competitive and well-known secondary school for five years. For the first couple of years, I couldn't have been more satisfied with how I did. My end of year exam results were amongst the best in the year group.
Unfortunately I can't look back on the last few years as proudly as I can recall my earlier years. Maybe it was being placed in "triple-science" classes, where I was exposed to some real geniuses, or just simple conceit from overachieving during the first couple of years, but my performance at school steadily worsened. Thankfully my GCSEs didn't seem to be affected; although I thought I hardly prepared enough for them, I managed to get grades that were essentially perfect.
My luck didn't continue for the AS year. I got gradually lazier, and I simply wasn't working as much as I was supposed to be. My exam results obviously suffered.
Shortly after this the university application process began. I'd decided early on to apply to both UK and US universities, but constantly fell behind schedule in both. Most aspects of both application were rushed. I think my UCAS application was OK: I got into all my universities bar one (it begins with C-a-m..., and I'm sure my exam results played a part) and generally I feel satisfied with this - I don't think I could have done that much better, and was not too bothered with the rejection.
But I still regret the lack of effort I put into my US application. Admittedly, I thought I was content with my second or third choice in the UK at the time, and was only really applying because of my parents. Ultimately I ended up applying to a mere three universities - at least six is usually the norm.


Skip forward a couple of months - I managed to get into one of my US choices. The decision boiled down to a top 5 uni in the UK and a top 20 uni in the US. It was difficult to ignore "prestige" in my decision. I was at a school that was obsessed with Oxbridge, and "brand" quality (i.e classmates asking me if my university in the US is Ivy League, bull**** like that), and was brought up in an East Asian community in which the parents seem to enjoy above anything else gossiping about their children's universities. Somehow I managed to see the wider picture and ultimately chose the less "prestigious" uni in the US. I still stand by my decision.
But somehow, the whole process has led to me being obsessed with university rankings and all of this sort of crap. After months of research I am probably one of the most knowledgeable people in the world with regard to this pathetic subject of comparing universities. Whenever I find out where one of my peers is going for uni, I'll immediately try and compare it with the one I've chosen and try to "validate" which one is better. I realize that this is a completely pointless activity but still seem to be obsessed by it. Whenever I hear the name of a good university (i.e one that I suspect is better than mine) I shudder, and immediately get reminded of my anxiety.
I know that I should just try and accept that I'm not as good as I thought I was, and be grateful that I'm going to the uni that I've chosen. But I can't help feeling unsatisfied with the "prestige" of my uni and the idea that people that I meet might be going to a better uni than my one. Reapplying, particularly in view of my rushed US application this year, is something that I am somewhat considering so that I can try and get into a "better" uni. This is in spite of me knowing that I could wind up at a worse uni, and that my current uni is more than satisfactory for my needs.
I suspect it all boils down to the fact that I went to a respectable, well-known secondary school. I have to admit that I savoured the moments in the past when people realized that I went to this school, and responded positively. I guess that I'm scared that I won't really experience this anymore. I know this is incredibly childish, and that it might be better for me to go ahead with this uni so as to burst my arrogant (I admit) bubble, but I still can't help thinking about it.
Does anyone have any advice?
Thanks.
Forget elitism, really.
tl;dr
I would read but Luther will have started (bbc1) by the time I've read

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