<p>More people then ever are doing this, and not all because of money or college life reasons. And in most cases, the results many years later showed that they didn’t make the wrong choice. An individual at a college a little less than a match is not going to compromise his life chances. </p>
<p>Person A
Knew him for years. He turned down UC Berkeley to go to the local community college. He wanted to continue volunteering for his church. After two years, he transferred to Berkeley, and is now employed at an investment bank.</p>
<p>Person B
Turned down Berkeley and UCLA for UCSD. She wanted to stay with her friends. Unfortunately, old adages often have more truth than many expect. Best friends in high school become enemies in college. That’s what happened to her, and her life is now going nowhere. </p>
<p>Person C
Turned down Harvard and Stanford for Berkeley because she liked the campus scenery better. Graduated after 3 years and went to med school at Stanford.</p>
<p>Not sure that turning down Cal for UCLA is much of a drop off. (Bad example.)</p>
<p>Example A is also not spot-on. “A” did not turn down Cal, but rather just delayed admissions for two years (which many folks do, since transferring is not that difficult).</p>
<p>There are only a ~handful of people who turn down Stanford for Cal each year. In most cases, it has to do with money, including a Regent’s, (which folks are generally loathe to admit).</p>
<p>I would guess that choosing Berkeley over Stanford for money reasons is due to either (a) student comes from an in-state full-pay family which cannot really afford Stanford costs, or (b) student gets something like the Drake scholarship (full ride) at Berkeley. Stanford’s current need-based financial aid policy appears to outcompete just about everyone else (other than full-ride-for-everyone schools) in terms of need-based aid (although this may not have been true in the past).</p>
<p>Regarding the original question, it did not seem to be that unusual when I was in high school and college for students who did not get into a desired UC or CSU (but did get into one that they were not too enthused about) to go to community college and aim to transfer to the ones that were originally their higher choices.</p>
<p>A few anecdotal reports like this aren’t useful. Even as anecdotal reports go, these aren’t very telling (for the reasons bluebayou mentions).</p>
<p>What would be meaningful would be large data samples showing outcomes of people who turned down more selective for less selective colleges. This has been done for earnings outcomes by several researchers (e.g. Krueger & Dale 1999, showing no significant earnings difference in most cases).</p>
<p>a better example maybe some one who turns to harvard ( a brand name school) for college of wooster (a really amazing school) I think I get what the op is saying I just think the examples are not the best.</p>
<p>yeah, I get the PA scores ucb. But this thread is about admissions, and both schools are similarly selective. Perhaps Cal is a wee bit harder, but not significantly so for the typical high school senior.</p>
<p>However, given his stated criteria, Florida A&M was obviously a better fit:</p>
<ul>
<li>Lower cost (full ride at Florida A&M versus not full ride at Harvard).</li>
<li>Mechanical engineering major.</li>
<li>Closer to home (he was 16 at the time).</li>
</ul>
<p>A few other schools mentioned in the article met two out of three of the above, but apparently Florida A&M was the only that met all three.</p>
<p>The strange thing is applying to Harvard in the first place, given the mediocre fit. Or a total of 45 schools, given that Florida A&M was originally the 4th choice.</p>
<p>On FB, over 600 people turned down the Ivies for Berkeley. There are a lot of Berkeley peeps who are Ivy material. Not necessarily HYPSM material, but Ivy material, nonetheless. I was surprised many of them are pre-Haas students.</p>
<p>Folks like to ahem boast (aka ‘lie’) as well. </p>
<p>But I have no doubt, that finances are a significant factor in such decisions. A girl in my son’s class turned down Wharton for UCLA biz-econ, supposedly for the $, but my guess is that the 'rents just didn’t want her to “go away”.</p>
<p>I also think staying close to home is a big draw that leads students to choose the less prestigious school. See for example the girl from Arkansas with the 32 ACT being profiled in the NYT Choice section.</p>
<p>Chose less prestigious Pomona over far more prestigious Yale, Stanford, U’Chicago, Columbia, Rice, Amherst, Williams, Northwestern, and USC, and have no regrets at all! :)</p>
<p>Daughter of a friend turned down U Chicago for a LAC ranked in the mid- 50s by USNWR, for about the same net cost. Liked the campus better, liked the spiritual life better, liked the neighborhood better, liked the people she met better - it was a real no-Brainer. For other people, UChicago would have been a better choice. There is no one college that’s best for everyone.</p>
<p>I had many friends in hs who turned down University of Washington for the smaller in-state Western Washington University. UW is a fairly well known research school, where western is hardly known out of state, but many liked that it is smaller and the environment it offers. I knew one girl who is pre-med and a national merit finalist who went there. She chose it because she got so much money and thought she could remain at the top of the class easier for med school than at a bigger/more competitive school.</p>