torinoway

Yeah... not much has been mentioned about the liberal arts world. What about like, Brown for Sarah Lawrence? Emory for Whitman?

coureur

Harvard's admissions yield is the highest among major universities, but it's not 100%. It's closer to 80%, which means that about 400 accepted applicants turn down Harvard every year.

1sokkermom

Don't forget that many applicants "turn down" a school by not even submitting an application.

torinoway

Hmm, I wonder how many of those 400 chose "lesser" schools and how many chose other top-ranking universities. From what I've noticed, the really smart kids get into both Harvard and Stanford, and then have to make a choice between the two. I've actually never known anyone personally who's declined an ivy acceptance in favor of a non-ivy.

shuaishuaishuai

coureur- but those 400 people most likely turned down Harvard for Yale or Princeton. So if you like at HYPSMC as one, the yield would probably be 100%

breaker746

Personally, I would turn down Harvard for 6 or 7 year medical programs which give you BA/MD in 6 or 7 years, which is really cool. You situation with your parents is pretty unfortunate because USC is decent. Apply to the ones your parents want and get a couple others that you're sure you'll get in to. By the way, Amherst is an amazing college (now #2 liberal arts college.) You mentioned Upenn for PennState; PennState has an honors program which is basically as prestigious as UPenn. I probably still woul stick with UPenn although it is wrong to choose a college based on prestige.

torinoway

Haha, I can't get away with not applying- my parents do have to pay the application fees and fees to send those schools my SAT scores and whatnot. I was originally going to fill my essay with grammatical errors and throw in a last paragraph about how I only want to go there because "it's in the ivy league, that's like the MAJOR league, and that makes it like famous!" And then for Stanford write about how it was in the movie Orange County and how funny Jack Black is, and about how I want to be a gambling major like in 21 for my MIT app, and tell Harvard that I'm actually applying for a janitorial position so that I can be a math genius, like in Good Will Hunting, and for Yale I was going to type in all caps about how upset I was that they did not admit Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl, and for Princeton I was going to ask if it really was where the princes were, and if the school was a castle- because that's what Hilary Duff told me in A Cinderella Story.

I had this brilliant, genius plan to just mess with the admissions people and bother them, but now I can't because my mom says she's going to read all of my submissions. Oh well.

But anyway, I know right? USC really isn't a bad school. It's ranked like, 26th I think, and it's got basically everything that I want in a college! I do need to research more schools though. What's extra ridiculous about my parents though is that I'm being forced to apply to schools that don't even offer one of the majors I want- it's insane!

teamfrangela92

Haha I would totallly turn down the acceptance if they gave me NO financial aid =]

torinoway

Yes but in this hypothetical situation you have the money. your grandparents left you a trust specifically for college and the exact amount you need for tuition, books, the meal plan, housing, and whatever else is in there.

pandem

Yeah I wouldn't go to an Ivy League school. Too elite and upper class for me. I can't handle those people.

Personally, I'd go with Stanford/MIT/CalTech if I was technically inclined, UCLA or one of the top public schools if I wasn't.

coureur

>>coureur- but those 400 people most likely turned down Harvard for Yale or Princeton. So if you like at HYPSMC as one, the yield would probably be 100%<<

It's true that many turn down Harvard to go to peer institutions, but not all do. Every year on CC we see kids agonizing over the Harvard decision. And every year we see some choose "lesser" schools. Sometimes for financial reasons, sometimes for regional preference or religious reasons, sometimes they've been scared off by all the CC exaggerations and falsehoods about how Harvard is cut-throat or doesn't care about undergrads, and sometimes they just fell in love with another school.

Tyler09

It's true.

This past year I declined HYPS for a scholarship to Michigan, based on a combination of fit and money. My roommate also declined Stanford, one of my hall-mates Dartmouth, one of my great friends Cornell and Wharton, and another hall-mate Columbia; I know of all of these people who turned down Ivy or Ivy-level prestige already and I haven't even arrived on campus yet.

I think that for students who don't receive much need based financial aid and for students who like bigger schools and more complete college towns, choosing a top public over an ivy league school isn't as rare as one would think. Granted, in the cases of Michigan and Cal, the difference in prestige between the non HYPS top privates is pretty small.

Gordon_Gekko

Maybe for Wharton, Princeton, or Oxford.

allemanau

I know a gal at school who turned down Stanford, and not for monetary reasons. All it takes removal of oneself from the rankings, that's not so hard.

rchhay

Assuming that I had the resources to pay for the tuition, I can't imagine myself doing that.