<p>27 schools and they are all over the map. Literally and figuratively. Since you have no clear preferences for size, geographic setting, climate, intellectual atmosphere, or major, I suggest you just pick the one with the lowest out-of-pocket cost.</p>
<p>In case you don’t like that advice, try to analyze the distinctive features of your top 5. Chicago and Dartmouth are the two most selective. I’d eliminate Chicago because there is more than a little seriousness in the “Where fun goes to die” phrase. Dartmouth offers something closer to what I think you mean by a “true college experience.” But are you o.k. with the “animal house” reputation? (<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/825174-dartmouths-offensive-behavior-dartmouth-harvard-squash-game.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/825174-dartmouths-offensive-behavior-dartmouth-harvard-squash-game.html</a>). If you have reservations, but want another very selective school with some similar characteristics (New England location, small, old, prestigious), then reach into your bench and go with Amherst.</p>
<p>Otherwise, of the remaining 3 among your top 5, USC probably is the strongest academically, has the best weather, and is one of the schools that gave you scholarship money. If you don’t care about the money, and want an even more selective school with some similar characteristics (warm weather, big sports scene), then reach back past your top 5 and go with Duke.</p>
<p>Another approach is to divide your original 27 into several subsets (which is what you should have done last fall, not in the last week of April). There are at least 4 relatively coherent sets among them. LACs (Amherst, Colgate, Vassar, Occidental); Northern, urban universities (Chicago, NYU, GWU, BU); Warm-weather universities (Duke, USC, Vanderbilt, Emory, UMiami) overlapping with Sports Powerhouse universities (Duke, USC, OSU …) etc. Once you get these sets organized, choose which set best represents the features most important to you. Then rank schools within that one set (just go with US News rankings). Eliminate any with strong negatives. Then go with the highest ranking of the remaining schools.</p>