<p>ericat, you make some very good points. As I am the poster mentioned in citygirlsmom’s OP, whose son isn’t happy about going to Berkeley after turning down good offers at other schools, I can say that in his case it was not a matter of applying to schools he “had no intention of going to.” He applied to schools based on research in a guidebook and information in the schools’ catalogs and websites, and the advice of his parents and GC. He thought they would be schools he would like but as they were on the other side of the country, he couldn’t visit them. The only two he had visited and knew he liked were Yale and Brown, and he didn’t get in to either. He was quite familiar with west coast schools, and Berkeley was his favorite of the options out here. He applied to a couple of others on the west coast knowing a lot about them, but only as safeties so that he wouldn’t end up with nowhere to go - not that he WOULDN’T go, but they were clearly last resorts. In total, he applied to 7 schools (not a “ton” by today’s standards), any of which he believed at the time he’d be willing to attend. In April he made the trip to visit the two schools he’d been accepted to back east - not a small matter for us, due to the expense and the time off work involved - and unfortunately discovered that he did not feel that he would fit in at either school. There was no way he could have discerned that through either more research or more soul-searching; he had to go there and meet the students, visit classes, and stay in the housing to find out. It wasn’t because they were big or small, rural or urban, or the other usual factors that people cite as important in a school. Personally, I felt sure he’d love UChicago. I was wrong. There are indeed hundreds if not thousands of schools in the country to choose from but I guess some people are pretty picky. How can you possibly research that many schools? And how can you see them all first-hand (especially if you live in the boondocks)?</p>