<p>I never said or meant to imply that HPYS are the only great schools or that one can’t get a fabulous education in at least 20-30 other University/LAC. My point was that in real life almost all students end up choosing the best college for themselves among a group of closely matched(5-15 positions) schools. Now there are exceptions based on FA, D-1 sports, or specialty considerations for a small number of students. But if you go and talk to recent graduates at local high schools you will very rarely find one choosing a school ranked 50-60th if they were admitted to any top 20 school. I had a number of siblings and friends and I know of no one who made such a decision. Now to be fair a big part of the reason is that the payor(parents) usually want to get the most perceived value for their expensive investment.</p>