<p>To add to MWFM’s clarification - I certainly would not advise any student to struggle to pay for a top university even if they got into one when they have another good college or university with opportunities for them for far less cost. I never have and never will regret turning down a top 20 university for my #68 college, which I attended on a full scholarship. I still ended up at Columbia, and honestly I don’t think I would’ve gone on to go to a doctoral program if I had gone to the T20 university for undergrad. The environment at my alma mater was so nurturing and helped me grow.</p>
<p>I don’t know if I agree with the statement that top colleges mentor students better at the undergraduate level. The level of mentoring and interaction I got with my professors at my good but not top-ranked LAC is far better than what I’ve observed students getting here. For example, the undergraduate students here in my lab at Columbia don’t even get their letters of recommendation authored by my advisor, who spends most of his time with us graduate students. The lab manager writes them. They don’t even work with my advisor for the most part; they work with the graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. Research is a multi-million dollar endeavor for professors at these schools, and they are going to be far more preoccupied with it than a professor at a lower-tier school or a great LAC where it’s not worth as much to the college. I look at some of the things that the undergraduates do in my lab here at Columbia and while they’re getting experience, some of the juniors and seniors are doing what I was doing when I was a sophomore doing research. And it’s not just because they’re just starting.</p>
<p>I think the level of mentorship that undergraduates get varies from school to school. And I think a student interested in grad school shouldn’t assume that a school will have great research opportunities simply because it’s a top school - or vice versa, that a school will have bad ones because it’s NOT a top school. Ask around and talk to current students and faculty members first.</p>