<p>D got into Harvard, Yale and Georgetown. Yale financials are poor, but G'town and Harvard are both very good. D's excited about Harvard, but loves G'town and has family in the area. Do you know of applicants who've chosen G'town over Harvard?</p>
<p>Eh, I know of someone who passed on Harvard for the Foundation Fellows scholarship at UGA. Im sure it has been done before, but this is Harvard! I think its too good of an opportunity to turn down.</p>
<p>I know of people who have, anecdotally. The "where would you be happiest" metric is probably the most important one, because: Hey, it's 4 years of your life, you want to spend them at the best place for you. You can (and in this day and age probably will) go on to get other degrees, but you can't get that time and experience back, so it's not worth it to go to a place simply for the name value.</p>
<p>Having said that, Harvard's programs and resources are obviously hard to top. One big question would be: what is your daughter interested in? If it's between Harvard and SFS, the latter may win out based on the fact that it's an entire undergraduate (and graduate) school devoted to IR, the opportunities of Washington, etc. The metrics vary in each field.</p>