<p>My son attendeds Auburn as an Aerospace Engineering majob. He started last fall (2010). They gave him a full ride. Purdue, Georgia Tech and Cal Tech were among his other choices. He applied at Auburn on October 1 and was accepted by October 8th. He did not complete another application.</p>
<p>He made a great choice. The university is awesome in everyway. With the AP clases and high ACT marks he started college as a “Sophmore.”</p>
<p>The deciding factors considering that Auburn is not consider one of the “elites”, ie, MIT, CAL Tech, U of Michigan, U of Illionois (aerospace) are:</p>
<p>1) He had already decided on grad school and figures that he will go to one of the elite schools for grad schools minimizing the the advantage of having gone to undergrad there.
2) Quality of Life - We went to about a dozen schools all in all on official visits and none compared to Auburn. In fact, after being there for 1 hour, my son declared that he would spend the next 4 years of his life there. He loves it today.
3) Cost - Never got around to seeing what the others may have to offer but can tell you that whenever I see my son now, he springs for dinner or perhaps a tank of gas. He is making money!</p>
<p>So, I think that the most important factor is the long run and how a more prestigious school my be better for some student’s potential career. In our case, Auburn is perfect.</p>