<p>I chose Rice over Dartmouth & Cornell, for purely financial reasons. If you go into it thinking like “I got an opportunity to be here and I’m going to make the absolute most of it”, you will have the time of your life. I absolutely love Rice’s atmosphere/attitude and am happier than I’ve ever been. </p>
<p>You might find that your safety school actually has better resources, in certain areas, than a more prestigious school with a more limited set of resources.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say that USC was a safety school AT ALL for me, as it was basically a match (or a high match, if that makes sense). But I am choosing to attend USC over Cornell and Northwestern because it’s the best school for my major and my personal career goals. A lot of people have looked at me as if I’m making a mistake (esp. my high school counselor), but in my heart I know that USC is the best fit and will give me the best job prospects in the entertainment industry.</p>
<p>I think that a lot of times, students get preoccupied with names and the opinions of others when really they’re overlooking the true strength of a university’s individual program. Many specific programs at Ivies and other top schools just don’t stack up to what some of the competitive, but lower-ranked schools can. It’s important not to get caught up in what’s just going to give you bragging rights for the rest of your life (say, a Cornell degree) but not going to get you your dream job in the long run. </p>
<p>Hope that made sense, I kinda rambled.</p>
<p>Those last two posts are spot on. The only reason overall prestige matters is because most kids change their major. Really, if you get into Yale, and their program for what you want to do sucks (in comparison), and you get into a top school for your program, picking the other school isn’t dumb. </p>
<p>Of course, to do this, you have to KNOW what you want to do going in, which the vast majority of people do not.</p>
<p>IE, you have to be a person that is already very, very into the field that you are studying (think, already have done research, already have done a campaign internship, etc, etc) and want to do it for your own reasons.</p>
<p>
QFT. “Safety” schools definitely have some hidden gem programs/majors, but if you aren’t absolutely set on that field, you may find yourself regretting it. Same goes for accelerated med programs.</p>
<p>At this point, I mostly likely will choose Rutgers over Colgate, partially for financial reasons (even though Colgate gave me good financial aid, Rutgers gave me a free ride. Hard to ignore, especially since I probably won’t be going into a high-paying career.) Plus… Colgate’s kinda in the middle of nowhere, and apparently it’s freezing cold and snowy for the majority of the time. I love the idea of the small high-quality private liberal arts school and all of the advantages that go with that, but I don’t know if I can justify turning down the free ride, particularly since I do like Rutgers as well. Then again, I am visiting Colgate soon, so hopefully that will give me a clearer picture.</p>
<p>*most </p>
<p>10char</p>
<p>Although i’m not 100% sure yet, I may choose University of Rochester over NYU and Cornell only because i’m getting a full ride to URoch :]</p>
<p>I picked Indiana University over Georgia Tech and USC.</p>
<p>so do full rides generally mean full tuition? or do some actually pay for housing?</p>
<p>Full ride means everything-tuition, housing, etc.</p>
<p>
Care to share why? USC is very prestigous.</p>