torinoway

Or Yale or Princeton or another school like that?
And I don't mean turn it down because you got accepted to both Harvard and Yale and picked one over the other.
Also, you've got the money to pay for the tuition.
Would you turn down acceptance to a super prestigious school in favor of going to a state school or less prestigious private university or liberal arts college?
Just wondering.
It's interesting, you know?

I've heard o people passing up Stanford admission to go to Berekley, but to most, that seems more sensible than a person passing up Stanford admission to go to UC Santa Barbara or Cal State Long Beach or something.

estrat1

I would turn down Harvard for University of Chicago, but that's pretty much the limit :P.

torinoway

Well that one's understandable, like the Stanford for UC Berekley thing.

I'm talking more like turning down Harvard for Boston University, or saying no to Princeton for NYU

estrat1

Princeton to NYU I could do. Harvard for Boston, nope :P.

torinoway

What about... Dartmouth for Vanderbilt?
Or Brown for Amherst?
Or Stanford for Pomona?
U Penn for Penn State?

Sirensong

I would personally like to turn down Harvard for Pomona because there is much more undergraduate focus, but I'm really not sure whether I'd actually be able to go through with it. I mean it may not be the best school for undergrads, or for me, but it's HARVARD!

collegebound1717

No, I don't think I would turn down any of those acceptances listed for the other school.

spectravoid

If i got a full ride to lets say UNC-Chapel hill, I would

torinoway

Hm...
Well, let's say you had your heart set on Notre Dame, like you've wantedd to go there since freshman year and you think it's super cool and yadda yadda yadda... and you got accepted. So you're all stoked on going there.

But you also applied to Yale on a whim, just to see if you would get in... and you do!

Would you ditch your fighting irish dreams to go kick it in the ivy league?

mathgrad

I *did* turn down Harvard for UChicago - and this was 5 years ago, before they moved to the common ap, before their current big ranking boom, before - so it seemed - anyone but a bunch of stodgy old academics had ever heard of them. Everyone though I was insane, and about half of everyone though from the name that I was going to a state school. How could I turn away from having the word 'Harvard' on my resume for *this*?

UChicago's reputation has changed a lot in the last 5 years, but the school itself hasn't really - don't take from this that I saw whatever it was the raters were looking for in the school before they did, that I'm precognitive or whatever... I had no idea this was as good a university as everyone makes it out to be now, only that it was a plenty good one. What I did see in it was something the raters will never see - how it fit my personality. No one seemed happy when I visited Harvard - no one even seemed *interested* in anything. At UChicago students were having intense philosophical debates over dinner! What is the point of going to an uber-elite university and being miserable and out-of-place for four years, when you could be at a perfectly great school (of which there are probably over 100 in this country) at which you can really develop and shine? College is a lot more about personal growth than academics - if you've got somewhere you can learn adequately, and are really happy, you're much better off than somewhere with the name but not the fit (probably resulting in worse learning, as it's hard to be inspired when you're unhappy).

On the other end of things now, I have to say that even if UChicago was always an impressive name in academia, and even if there's high general recognition of it now, the branding has not been enough of a factor that I consider it would have made up for a lackluster experience, had I had one. UChicago was a good fit for me personally, and I attribute all my successes to the school's nature and its relation to mine over the last 4 years, not at all to whether someone else knows what it is at all. Not once my entire time there did I regret not picking Harvard. College was the best time of my life, and I'd encourage all of you to find a place where it can be the best of yours as well.

gadad

In terms of what a student experiences on a day-to-day basis, what does this mean?

bayvcroberts

i think a very strong argument could be made about choosing the next assortment of elite schools (columbia, chicago, dartmouth, etc.) over harvard based on fit, location, financial and academic needs based criteria. it's not that far-fetched.

torinoway

=)

Makes sense!
I agree.
Picking a school because of name doesn't make sense.
Not to me, at least.

I don't have ivy league grades. I don't even have top-twenty grades, haha,
but something has mysteriously convinced my parents that I will get into and am going to some stodgy, ivy league school where everyone's got a silver spoon shoved up their bottom. It's terrible; I'm not even allowed to VISIT anything below the top five. Even Brown, Colombia, Dartmouth, and Cornell are too lowly in my dad's mind. I've even got to complete my applications for the top five (which I'm 95% positive I won't get into) before I can apply anywhere else.

I posed this question because my parents have literally called me "stupid and borderline retarded" for saying that I'd much rather go to USC than Harvard or Princeton or Yale or whatever.

Not only does USC seem like a more befitting school for me personally, but I'm simply being realistic.

torinoway

that "makes sense" etc was to mathgrad, btw

SmallCollegesFTW

Any top 20 LAC pretty much. A few other LACs ranked lower then 20.