same in the UK. If you get your grades, you can get into uni, provided there are the places available. The point I was making is that one cannot say that people live in bad areas because they are thick. If anything it is living in a bad area that makes them thick, because the opportunities are not there for them in terms of getting decent books, getting decent teachers, and environmental and cultural issues. Remember the prevelant attitude in many of these areas is an anti-intellectual one. Kids get beaten up for being smart, I know, it happened to me for a year after I moved towns.