If you were recently admitted to a highly selective university, we congratulate you. In a year in which applications surged at most — though not all — highly selective universities across America, you managed to earn a coveted slot at a renowned institution. Yet today’s post is not designed to give you another pat on the back. Rather, it’s to encourage you to be humble — starting with not wearing the gear of the elite university to which you earned admission to your high school. We know, we know. You’re excited. You’re proud. You’ve got school spirit. But wear the t-shirt at home. Wear it this summer once school lets out. Don’t put a bumper sticker on your car. Have you ever seen a Porsche or a Ferrari with a bumper sticker on the rear bumper? We didn’t think so.

In fact, we encourage you to take a lesson from child actor Oscar Novak. Oscar recently starred as the young Bruce Wayne in The Batman. He also appears in the freshly released The Northman starring Ethan Hawke after his tour de force performance in Showtime’s The Good Lord Bird. Writes Chris Gardner in a piece in The Hollywood Reporter entitled “Why This 12-Year-Old Actor Kept Role as Young Bruce Wayne in ‘The Batman’ a Secret From Classmates,” “Following the March release of Matt Reeves’ The Batman, some of Oscar Novak’s friends cornered him at school with a pressing question: Was that you on the big-screen? The 12-year-old admitted that, yes, it was him starring as a young Bruce Wayne in the Warner Bros. film, a confirmation that also revealed an occupation he’d kept to himself. ‘They had no clue that I was in The Batman or even an actor,’ Novak told The Hollywood Reporter…’Then I had to go through the whole thing of explaining it to them. So, it’s a little bit awkward but yeah, it’s very cool.’ Novak, 12, offered up a simple reason for why he kept his big-screen debut a secret: ‘I thought it would be too much hassle.'”

And, so, to every high school senior who earned admission to the college of their dreams, take a page from the playbook of young Oscar Novak. Keep the t-shirts, the bumper stickers, the hoodies, and all the rest of the gear at home. For every student who is so very happy with their college decisions, there are more students who are disappointed. There’s no need to rub it in their faces. They’ll appreciate it and you’ll feel good about your decision, we promise.