<p>I’m a senior in HS so I can’t give you any personal experience stories but I do know some top students that chose somewhat lower schools for financial reasons, honor colleges, scholarships, etc. Most of them are happy. The key thing is to choose a school that you feel comfortable attending. Even if your a top student, you don’t have to go to HYPSM. However, you may not feel comfortable attending a school with like an 80% admit rate because you want to be among people that have the same high level of success as you do. (sorry if that came off wrong)…anyways, here are some schools that I know HYPSM level students go to that aren’t HYPSM level. </p>
<ol>
<li>UC Berkeley (this is the closest to HYPSM)</li>
<li>USC (for scholarships)</li>
<li>UCLA </li>
<li>UCSD</li>
<li>UC Irvine</li>
<li>Santa Clara University</li>
</ol>
<p>Make sure you find the school that fits you the best!</p>
<p>umm those are still really good schools… I don’t really think a harvard reach is a safety for cal /usc/ucla. Most people get too caught up in the prestige anyway, I’d rather not be surrounded by arrogant ******bags who think they know everything,</p>
<p>Truth. I’m so grateful to have Carolina as a fallback, and it also means my boyfriend (who is paying for college on his own, no parental contribution) can still get a great education.</p>
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<p>I’ve read approximately twelve thousand of these studies (recent debate topic on affirmative action), and the consensus is that the selectivity of the school attended has no significant affect on future earnings…except for low-income students, like because they can’t get business, etc connections on their own.</p>
<p>^^ I’m choosing my match school, UNC-Chapel Hill, over my reaches due to financial reasons. (UNC is/was a match because I don’t attend an in-state school, so my out-of-state GPA was “risky” for admissions). I also wasn’t able to apply ED to any of my reach dream schools (again, because of financial restraints), so it was a bit frustrating knowing that I could’ve gone to X school had I applied ED (according to my GC). </p>
<p>But, I am absolutely, completely grateful that I’m fortunate enough to live in NC and have access to UNC’s in-state tuition. Without it, I would doubtlessly have to attend a school that I wasn’t comfortable with (got a full-ride to a tiny school in Arkansas where I would be completely miserable).</p>
<p>My “S” has decided on UNC-Chapel Hill as his “safety” - mainly due to cost concerns. We’re very fortunate to be “in-state” with low tuition for Carolina. He was also accepted to BC, GWU, JHU, but not much aid and would have cost us ~50K/yr.</p>
<p>We also discussed the high probability he will need to go to graduate school given his interests. We negotiated Carolina and we will “help” with graduate school.</p>
<p>Main decision as everyone above - financial.</p>
<p>Son chose PSU Schreyers full ride over Ivy, Duke and Swarthmore etc. 4 yrs later has a number of nice PHD offers in hand. He applied to one phd. program of HYP and got accepted to that program. Safety worked for him. UG and PHd. at no cost other than hard, hard work.</p>
<p>Choosing a safety school over a reach is a great option. If you’re applying to (lets say: Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Cornell) and your safety is (lets say University of Michigan or Binghamton), in the end its worth going to your safeties over your reaches. Your safety happens to be a great public institution that is just as good as their private counterpart.</p>
<p>Got into Cal, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, & Cal Poly SLO (the only schools I applied to). It was between UCLA & Cal Poly SLO for Mechanical Engineering. I toured both schools and thought Cal Poly had a better program and curriculum. I selected Cal Poly for that reason (and partly because I didn’t want to go through the grinder that is UCLA Engineering).</p>
<p>Last laugh was on them, I suppose, Cal Poly has a good program because you work so hard and are juggling lots of lab work and project work with standard homework/tests/lectures.</p>
<p>I will attend NC State over UChicago, McGill, UNC, and any of the Ivies I get into (probably none haha). I am expecting no financial aid and received a full scholarship to NCSU.</p>
<p>My son has been offered a full-tuition scholarship to a small, Division 3 LAC where he would be one of the fastest runners on the team. He’s also been given a small amount of money to a VERY expensive, selective Division 3 school that he could run for. His third choice is a Division I school that is excellent and not too expensive, but he’s not fast enough to run on the team. It’s a very hard decision for him AND us!</p>
<p>Whatever you pick, for whatever reasons, once you are FINALIZED on May 1 and there is no turning back (unless you get into the waitlist school), then turn the page, close the book and don’t look back. BUY THE GEAR OF THE SCHOOL YOU ARE ATTENDING AND EMBRACE IT. I don’t care if its Fayetteville State. Do it.</p>
<p>Embrace your school. Attitude means everything to success in life and that includes the college of your choice. Don’t be bitter. Don’t look behind. Don’t say “what if.” Be proud of where you got in, but be prouder of where you are going. Then go there and slam it.</p>
<p>Agree with ghostbuster completely. I don’t understand those who are rejected from their reach and plan to transfer immediately. Accept the school that wants you there! Most end up happy at the places they choose anyway.</p>
<p>You are not alone freecycle. My son was so thrilled to get into BC. Then we realized no merit aid. He did get into Providence with 3/4 tuition and honors. IHe’s not crazy about Providence but does love Northeastearn. We always thought we would let him go wherever he wanted, he’s worked so hard. But we just can’t let him leave college with 100,000 in debt and then go to graduate school . The money is not real to him yet, but it will be when the bill comes. Its all so hard.</p>
<p>I’m a pharm major. I got into Northeastern (Honors) which is where I really wanted to go, and where my sister is (she’s a year older than me). However, my parents were reckless with their spending and never saved for our colleges (they built a carriage house only last year for 200,000$). My mom’s business has fallen, and both me and my sister need to take out sallie mae loans for the full amount. At Northeastern, before interest, I’d end up borrowing 240,000 over the 6 years. I pretty much have to go to URI, where I was given a 12k scholarship. I’ll end up owing about 140,000, which is still a lot but much more realistic.</p>
<p>I chose to go to the state university that is in the same city I’ve lived in for my entire life. I only applied to one other school, and that was a decent East Coast school. It’s not an Ivy League school, but it’s a good school with a certain amount of prestige. I was accepted to both. I chose to stay and go to the state university for a number of reasons…but mostly out of convenience and for financial reasons.</p>
<p>Overall I’m fairly happy with my decision. At first (and, well, to be honest at times it still feels this way) it felt like I was just settling, but I’m not really unhappy with my school. I don’t particularly like college, but I honestly don’t think that has anything to do with my school in particular. I’m a second-semester freshman, by the way…just to give you some perspective.</p>
<p>I guess all you can do is give it a shot. If you’re really unhappy, you can always try to transfer later.</p>
<p>@davematthew: Just from what I read on your post and knowing nothing else about your financial situation, seriously consider going to a SUNY or a CUNY.</p>
<p>I chose Texas over Cornell and Notre Dame because the business program is better, especially for accounting and finance, and it was much cheaper as well. I’ve met a lot of people here who turned down these, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, NYU, Georgetown and more, because the handful of programs that are actually better (and not by much) are all way more expensive.</p>
<p>Now I see why relatively few smart Texas students go out-of-state.</p>
<p>4 years ago, my d. chose Clark U over Tufts, Colby, and Wesleyan. Clark offered her a fantastic merit package and she recognized that the aide packages offered by the others were not guaranteed for 4 years. Choosing Clark meant that she could graduate debt-free. She did extremely well at Clark, garnering all kinds of honors, and graduated a semester early. Sophomore summer, she was offered a job doing research in a lab by a visiting professor, and after she graduated this past December, it turned into a FT position with benefits. She got lots of personal attention at Clark and got a great education. On the down side, she felt there were a lot of students who were a lot less serious than she was, sometimes Clark’s resources were limited – a function of it being a smaller school with not a huge endowment, and she did not get in to the PhD program she wanted (which may or may not be related to where she went to school). However, she is employed, debt-free, and intends to re-apply next year for graduate opportunities. I do not believe she regrets her decision. I think it is critical not to take on mountains of debt – it will haunt you for years. If you do well at your safety, things will work out. Lots of people make choices for financial reasons, and this is the responsible thing to do.</p>