Most likely, yes. For certain majors almost certainly.
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Not my D -
S - not geographically desirable to her (she refused to go W of the Mississippi or further south than the mid Atlantic)
H and Y - not strong enough in engineering and too urban
P - too country clubbish
M - too intense and too urban (although if she was forced to pick amongst the 5, that would probably have been her choice).
Please note that I’m not trying to disparage any of these wonderful institutions but answering the question posed. We toured a lot of heavy hitters with my D and she didn’t like any of them. We joked that it seemed like the higher the school rank, the more our D didn’t like it. And since she was the driver of the process, the decision was hers.
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Same for my son. None of them interested him. None offered the experience he was seeking.
He did apply to Stanford, but had already eliminated it as an option before acceptances came out. A double legacy in his class who had good qualifications was accepted and they’ve never taken more than one, so that was moot anyway. He passed it over for his MS. It didn’t make financial or academic sense, as it was course based only and twice as long.
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My kid considered only one of those and didn’t apply to any.
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I would take the money and run.
At least I’m honest enough to admit it- unlike my fellow posters. I had educational loans- paid them off early due to thrifty living and a good salary, but I’m not so far away from those days to claim that there is something virtuous in attending Hofstra, Quinnipiac, Pace, Lake Forest, Stonehill, Lawrence-- all of which could be “optimal fit” schools- with loans-- vs. a free Harvard education. I think I’ could suck it up for four years and be miserable in Cambridge…
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I believe them. My son felt the exact same way, like boilermom’s daughter, almost to a “T” with the details. 
Had he been interested, I don’t see why I would be motivated to pretend otherwise. They are great schools, and it’s hardly controversial that most people would be thrilled to attend there.
They also would have come in within budget, due to our financial need. He just had absolutely no interest in even applying because he didn’t want to attend.
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My S24 would take that in a hot minute - probably Yale, although that is a guess. While he has an aggressive college list, he isn’t actually applying to any of those schools for a variety of reasons but if it was on offer - free, no less - he’d definitely take it (and so would his parents - we can, and will, pay, but I wouldn’t turn up my nose at the freebie).
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I think the “zero cost” factor in the question skews the answer, given that cost is a huge factor for most families. Budget will always override fit.
If that was instead replaced by “assume cost is not a factor at any school”, people might be more introspective about where they’d actually go.
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Neither of our kids chose the least costly option for college…so budget actually didn’t factor in to their decisions…at all. We are very fortunate and we know that.
One of our kids went to SCU and the other BU. The SCU kid and DH went to visit Stanford and the kid hated the campus size. Kid had zero interest in the school.
The BU kid felt the same way about Harvard and MIT. They weren’t on his radar screen anyway, but he just didn’t like the campuses.
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I understand. Cost wasn’t a factor for us either.
What I meant is, for a lot of people cost is an issue. So when you offer “A” for free vs “B” (not free), those not having the privilege of disregarding cost will choose A.
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Yes, to a point, but mostly for major rankings. As an engineering major the highly ranked schools are not necessarily the same as those ranked high overall. But it wasn’t the deciding factor. She had some very good safetly/likely options so I think her “reach” list might have started by looking at the rankings for her major. But some she didn’t consider at all for various reasons and some she ruled out after touring. A few ended up making the list but I don’t think ranking was a deciding factor when making her final decisions. She definitely chose more by fit.
We didnt apply to HYPSM - HYP was never in consideration and SM would have been cost prohibitive and unnecessry in lieu of the instate UC options. I posed this question to S22, and he basically said he would absolutely go to Stanford if there is zero cost.
Personally I would find it impossiblle to look past a free SM education.
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For general overall excellence; absolutely not. Just looking at the qualifications of the student populations there is no significant difference between the T20 (and T20 LACs) and there is far less difference between the top and bottom of the T50 than people who are rankings obsessed believe.
For certain majors definitely but that is because of institutional focus and specialization and has nothing to do with rankings that are 10-15 spots apart based on subjective weights and factors. If you want to major in Public Affairs you should have Syracuse and the Newhouse school on your short list. It has been one of the very best in this area for decades though it is not a “T20”.
If you want to study CS at a top school you should have UIUC on your short list though it’s overall acceptance rate of 45% is far from what would be considered highly rejective. However, it is highly rejective in CS where it is a leader.
People need to think beyond generic rankings to find the best at what they want to do.
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My position was based on research during the college searches for my two kids. We’ve toured at some time most of the top 10 and several others in the 30-50 range. There is a define difference in quality based on what our kids were looking for - academics and environment.
UIUC for CS is one of the reasons why I’ve always argued for ranking based on major - not school 
I didn’t read that into the question. My presumption was any school, including those would be free. If it’s free HYPSM, or pay elsewhere…free everyday is my answer too.
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Free is fabulous. But think about how many faculty kids have the option of free tuition at their parents’ institution who go elsewhere. Or the residents of Georgia, Florida, etc, who walk away from free in-state tuition. People have preferences and they follow them, if they have the financial means to do so.
That said, if SHYMP was offering a free full ride, you can bet your bippy that I would take my kid to visit each and every one of them in the hopes that one of them would catch my kid’s fancy and be a good fit. But then again, living in a state where my kid will likely get free in-state tuition, we will also be visiting every single in-state school in the hopes that one of them will catch my kid’s fancy and be a good fit, too.
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Its hard to beat free. Graduating without debt is awesome.
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Proximity to skiing 70%
Major 20%
Rankings 10%
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It’s so interesting to see student priorities. I’ve seen skiing several times. Tanks once. Nothing west of the Mississippi a couple of times. Too hot, too cold. There are even some that prioritize academics 
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Tanks on the streets? Tanks in the barracks?