<p>My daughter is home from the holidays after completing her first semester. She loves her school and is doing quite well. Last night she made an off-the-cuff comment about a friend (current senior) who is seriously considering attending a school ranked quite a bit lower than one of her other acceptances. This friend doesn't qualify for FA and is not being offered a merit scholarship at either; in other words, the pricetag is comparable. My D did the exact same thing this past spring. The school she ultimately selected (still highly ranked) she felt simply offered the best "social fit". We wondered how many students are like her? Did your child select a lower ranked school for reasons other than financial?</p>
<p>The most interesting thing like this that I’ve seen was not my child(a UVa grad) but his childhood friend since kindergarten(just saw the friend a few hours ago as son is home for the holidays and went off to a New Year’s Eve party with the friend). This guy turned down William and Mary for James Madison (both instate so comparable price) because he felt JMU was the better fit. His dad was both an undergrad and law school alum of William and Mary but the parents supported his decision. UVa son was competitive for higher ranked schools but the financial and social fit there was great so he did not even apply elsewhere(Applied ED in 2005 when you could still do that). Have also seen kids in Virginia turn down UVa or William and Mary for Virginia Tech because it is the best fit. That is not uncommon here.</p>
<p>S2 turned down several much higher ranked schools for his current school. He just fell in love with the place when he visited and is now very very happy with his choice and is doing great. He did receive a very nice scholarship (he had similar offers from some of the others), but would have attended his current school if no scholarship was offered. Oddly, the stats for the student body are as high or higher than for some of the “higher ranked” schools.</p>
<p>D also chose a lower ranked school than many of the ones where she was admitted, and even rejected honors programs and scholarships. D liked the program for her major at the school she selected better than the programs for that major at higher ranked schools. She also liked the Professors and other students in the major that she met during admitted student days. She felt that they were supportive of each other and very welcoming. Her impression of the Professors that she met at her rejected higher-ranked schools was that they were focused on research or just weren’t as interested in getting to know the students. She believed that the students she met at her higher ranked schools were more competitive and tense. Some of them were arrogant, bragging about their own high school credentials and talking about how hard their schools were as if they were in some kind of private club that she’d be lucky to join. Obviously, this is very subjective and depended on the particular students and professors that D met during visits. </p>
<p>D felt that the lower ranked school’s facilities for her major were among the best, since it was a major that was given a lot of $ by that school. While D did prefer some of the other schools better for reasons unrelated to her major, her focus was on the program relating to her major. She might have selected a higher ranked school based on overall college experiences if her biggest factor was not the programs for her major.</p>
<p>Financially, the lower ranked school provided enough $ to make the cost equivalent. She liked the location of the school, which was also a signficant factor when considering possible networking from clinical/internship opportunities.</p>
<p>Another reason that she selected a lower ranked school was that she felt that she wanted to be on at least in the top quarter of her school’s admitted student profiles. She felt that doing very well academically would help her if she wanted to go to grad school. (Based upon siblings’ experiences applying to professional schools, she observed that GPA and grad test scores can be more significant admissions-factors than undergrad institutions for her major). D had also seen her MENSA sibling fight for points on curves when taking required science and math courses with other bright premed, engineering, prepharm, etc. peers at his school. D earned nearly a 4.0 her first semester and loves her chosen school. </p>
<p>D had argued with me that rankings were based on criteria that were less relevant to her or to her major, such as institutional research dollars and size of endowment. She asked me not to be so concerned about “prestige”, but to let her just evaluate schools on the merits that she felt were important to her. I finally agreed that rankings were less important than fit. I’m often tempted to clarify that D was accepted to higher ranked schools when I tell people where she’s attending college. I view this as a personal character deficiency that I’m trying to fix, although this thread invited me to revisit it… </p>
<p>D is not in a major where research opportunities, famous professors or alumni recruiting might make a difference to her academic resume or degree. Each student will have their own criteria, and obviously those criteria can have a huge impact on choice of school.</p>
<p>I teach in Virginia, and I have had several former students turn down one school for another, because of fit. My son had a friend turn down William & Mary for VT and another turn down VT for JMU. Again, those students felt more comfortable with the other school.</p>
<p>Yes. S1 had his heart set on going to big state u. Nothing could have changed his mind. He went for free but would have still chosen it if it were full pay. He also turned down the honors college.</p>
<p>NeonZeus is accurate. Students should look for departments and faculty rather than a particular school. Furthermore, W & M is living off an “image” that enables it to continue to receive boatloads of applicants. Discerning students must look beyond hype. I visited W & M some time ago and when strolling through Williamsburg felt as if I was a board piece in Candyland.</p>
<p>Consider also students who apply Early Decision to a single school they like even though they have sufficiently competitive stats to stand a good chance at top ranked schools.</p>
<p>I know a friend of my daughter’s - a top student - was just accepted ED to Carleton, for example.</p>
<p>D is in second year at a school which could be considered “ranked” as a second tier school when she had some pretty high level tier one acceptances. She chose based on fit and has been incredibly content and happy. I highly doubt she’ll be moving back home after school ends, seems to be planning on migrating to the mountain west…</p>
<p>It’s an odd situation, though, because, really, there aren’t all that many “highly ranked” colleges in the mountain west, though she seems to be getting a phenonmenal education with tremendous opportunities. </p>
<p>Which schools are actually highly ranked which are not on the east or west coast? I mean, I think there’s a certain amount of bias when it comes to the “peer review” section of the rankings, anyway.</p>
<p>Poet has it figured out. There are tremendous professors and schools everywhere. Some prefer to travel and frolic in a world of rankings. Others choose not to be driven by hype and marketing. In the immortal words of Dorothy Gayle: “When I go out looking for my heart’s desire, I really don’t need to look any further than my own back yard.” Not always true, but more true than some would ever admit.</p>
<p>My oldest d turned down Cornell for W & M, even though the costs, way back in 2001, were comparable - I think it was 22K for W & M OOS, and 23K at Cornell’s statutory colleges (as they were then known). Her reason: she wanted to go farther away from home than 45 minutes. Her hs is also a feeder school for Cornell and, by her count, there were 50 alums from her hs enrolled as undergrads when she was deciding; she thought that would be too many familiar faces, even though they’d have been pretty spread out in such a large student body. </p>
<p>No regrets - she thought her W & M degree was of approximately equal value when she was looking for her first jobs, because she stayed in VA.</p>
<p>While my son ended up in a very fine school, we couldn’t get him to take the tours at certain top schools because he didn’t like the attitude of the students. (I believe “stick up their butts” came into play a few times.) Where he is is a perfect fit – great academics plus a student body and student life that fit him to a T. He’s never been happier.</p>
<p>As Cornell is the armpit of the Ivy League, I would not regard its undergraduate degree of greater importance than a degree from W & M and many other places.</p>
<p>Yes. For major and fit.</p>
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<p>Cornell-bashing is a popular sport on CC, but “armpit of the Ivy League” is going a bit far. Outside of CC, Cornell is respected. When you show up for a job interview with a Cornell degree on your resume, nobody ever asks you “So, how did you end up at such an inferior college?” Trust me. I have had that degree on my resume since 1976. It has opened doors for me rather than closing them.</p>
<p>My daughter applied to both Cornell (ED) and William and Mary (RD), as well as several other colleges known for their good academics. She withdrew the W&M application when she was accepted by Cornell. Both are fine schools, and I would have been happy to see her at either of them. Cornell is ranked higher, but I can see why a student might prefer W&M for its geographic location and smaller, more personal atmosphere.</p>
<p>Madame…I would take your Cornell remark and put it in the circular file where it belongs. The “armpit of the ivy league”…you must be kidding.</p>
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Really - what an unhelpful and unnecessary statement. My point was not to equate Cornell with W & M. The question was, “did your child choose a lesser-ranked school for reasons other than financial?” Mine did.</p>
<p>I know no one in real life who would ever use the phrase “armpit of the Ivy League” to describe Cornell, for which I’m grateful.</p>
<p>We used to call Poughkeepsie the armpit of Dutchess county-- but that title was well deserved 
I agree wit the others here that using that phrasiology in reference to Cornell is out of line and inappropriate.</p>
<p>My D turned down several higher ranked schools to go to an art college. She even turned down a more prestigious art college to attend the one she’s at. She met with several professors at her chosen school, and liked the department of her major best there. After one semester and loads of work, there are no regrets!</p>
<p>Isn’t Cornell a public institution vis a vis the real Ivies?</p>