<p>It really depends on how much your parents are willing to pay and how much prestige means to you.
Personally, knowing that I had a decent public school as a safety which would cost about 20k, I applied only to match and reach schools regardless of the sticker price knowing full well that if financial aid didn’t work out I had a good backup.
All said and done I was accepted at JHU with a 30k merit scholarship -which is more than I would’ve gotten from any private school in aid (based on NPCs). </p>