Comments on the article by Marsh and Hau (see record 2003-06802-005), who tested the negative effects of attending academically selective schools; that is, a student will have lowered academic self-concept in a selective school than in a nonselective school, a big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE). The current author suggests that a major problem of the BFLPE model is that it makes self-appraisals of competencies and changes in self-concept a monotonic function of one's performance relative to a local norm and oversimplifies a more complex process suggested in the social comparison literature. He suggests that the theoretical basis of the BFLPE needs to be broadened in light of the extant social comparison literature. Specifically, it needs to take into account the complexity and multifaceted nature of social comparison and self-appraisal processes; the active, self-regulatory role individuals play; and the ensuing positive as well as negative consequences.