<p>Zephyr - As anyone that sees my posts from time to time (and time and another time, lol) knows, I 100% agree with you. What I really wanted to add was a concrete example of what you are saying.</p>
<p>My D was accepted to 2 Ivies and a couple of other higher ranked schools. She did not like the feel of either of the Ivies for different reasons. Did I think she was right in her reasons? Yes in one case, no (or at least most likely no) in the other, but of course that didn’t matter. One of the other highly ranked schools, WUSTL, she liked equally with Tulane, maybe even a bit more to be quite honest. But finances were hugely different between the two, completely swamping the infinitesimal difference she felt otherwise.</p>
<p>I have heard at least a couple dozen other anecdotes of students that turned down top 20 schools for Tulane, including Ivies and Stanford, and not always because of the merit money.</p>