<p>Does anyone turn down Princeton for a non-Ivy? If so, why?</p>
<p>I can think of one reason to turn Princeton down that is not crazy at all. That reason is cost. Yes, I hear all of the time that there are plenty of financial aid, etc. However, that isn’t necessarily true above certain income ranges where families are too rich to qualify for financial aid but too poor to sustain a $240,000 education. Thus, given the choice of borrowing a lot of money to attend Princeton vs. a non-Ivy for little to no money, it wouldn’t be crazy at all to pick the non-Ivy.</p>
<p>Stanford, MIT, Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, UChicago to name a few</p>
<p>My kid got a full ride scholarship to our state university. If she is a accepted by ivy and I have to pay 55k per year. I do notI know where she should go.</p>
<p>Some kids at my D’s school (here in the deep south) are lured away from Princeton and its peers by the UVA Jefferson scholarship and the UNC Morehead scholarship - both full rides with many perks. We had one boy last year turn down Princeton for UVA, and we have a girl this year was accepted at Stanford, but a finalist for the Morehead.</p>
<p>Like Repede said, there are a bunch of non-Ivies that I’d put at the same or similar level as Princeton. </p>
<p>Just as there are many reasons to attend Princeton, there are also many reasons to attend schools other than Princeton. </p>
<p>I know some people who had the stats to try for an ivy but decided to apply to small liberal arts schools instead. Just because a person could/does get into an ivy does not mean that they should. A person might be happier somewhere else. And like everyone is saying, it can be hard to turn down a huge merit scholarship and other perks. </p>
<p>The main reason I wouldn’t attend an Ivy is because of the cost. My family does well enough where I would receive little to no financial aid, but it still takes a huge chunk out of their salary (times two, because my sister is also in college with no need-based financial aid).</p>
<p>@perridot: colleges take into account multiple children in college at the same time. Have you run the Net Price Calculators? Good luck</p>
<p>Hi! I’m a middle-class freshman at Princeton and I would just like to say that Princeton was my cheapest offer from a private school, even though I also won a full tuition scholarship from Vanderbilt University. Princeton was also only a few thousand dollars more expensive than my state school, which gave me a full tuition scholarship but would have asked for several thousands for room and board. I’m confident that in most cases, Princeton will outmatch competitors (i.e. Ivy and non-Ivy schools of similar caliber and reputation), and that its fees will be essentially comparable to lower-ranked schools so that its value makes it worth the small (or nonexistent) additional cost.</p>
<p>The only exception would be if you’re very wealthy, enough to expect to pay full tuition at Princeton, and are able to win full merit scholarships from non-Ivy schools, in which case you could be looking at a difference of some $200,000 over four years. But I think that in this case, if the cost would not be prohibitive to my family, I would still choose Princeton, because it’s a wonderful school and I honestly couldn’t imagine a better place to be :)</p>
<p>My daughter just had to turn down an Ivy due to cost. With no financial aid and a sister entering college the next year, it was not feasible. We are in the awful position of not qualifying for aid due to savings, but don’t have the income to cover two kids in a private college and still have money to live on, much less send the second child to any school. Reality. Not everyone gets to go to the dream school to which they were accepted.</p>
<p>I know many people who have turned down Princeton (as well as other competitive private institutions) to go to their state schools. As others have mentioned, the reason is cost. For people who come from middle or higher income households, Princeton’s financial aid will often not match up to a public university’s merit scholarships.</p>
<p>No… it would not be crazy. One reason would be the educational experience you could receive somewhere else: Stanford, Chicago for instance, have very different undergraduate programs. Or you might want a smaller environment (Swarthmore, Amherst). Or something in a different country: Cambridge, London. Cost could be a reason – Princeton has excellent financial aid, but it can still be a lot of money, and some non-ivy schools offer fantastic scholarships and fellowships to some of their admitted students. You should ask yourself what you want from college, and why you applied to the institutions you did… and listen carefully to what your heart and head tell you. </p>
<p>3 of my friends at Pomona turned down Princeton. Both schools are academically distinguished, but they have very different fits. </p>
<p>If it’s Stanford, MIT and possibly UChicago, then yes. Otherwise, students do it for financial reasons most of the time. </p>
<p>bradybest is trolling HARD for Chicago. </p>