[lordnacho]

> I believe I would be admitted to an Ivy school if I were American, based on my professional experience with people that studied there.

The admission rates are very, very low. I have no problem believing you could follow the studies there, but so could most people who applied. In the US the advertised admission rates are in the single digit percents, and that is after people who have a leg up from having parents who attended the school and various others.

So you end up with a bunch of kids who need to have absolutely top grades, with ridiculous extracurricular activities like publishing research or starting a business. You end up having to give up your entire childhood to do things to have a chance at one of these schools.

Where does self-motivation go? Well if you already know you're going to be a programmer, your motivation is to code, that's how you get good at it. But you also need to be doing your other classes like literature and French plus running your charity. You'll be reminded of this by helpful teachers and parents.