<p>Anitaw,
you made me laugh…most definitely not trying to sound clubby…nor was I trying to put a large cart in front of a small horse… I picked the most obvious graduate program off the top of my head… I view geographic diversity as a wonderful component of a kids decision matrix, frankly. I do know a child who went to college at Williams, did a few years of work out of Wash DC and is now doing an architecture graduate pgm at Berkeley… and I think they will have a definite advantage in life having those disparate adventures. I was also “assuming” that a kid who gets to choose btwn HYP most likely will not have an issue attending a top graduate school if they apply themselves or have the same focus as they did in HS. </p>
<p>I also find all the responses about academic calendars to be interesting… which is why I mentioned it…might be a factor, might not. My girlfriend’s daughter refused to get out of the car at one school…after a 3 hr drive!! Don’t think she ever found out what the concern was…but that LAC was off the list before it was even really on…</p>
<p>“just” a state school grad myself!! and as I have been known to cite, NONE of my college friends are divorced…not one… that statistic is not part of US News & World Reports criteria…but I can’t help wondering if there is an inverse correlation as one moves up the top colleges/universities list…</p>