@Ohiodad51 Like you, we took our older D to many of the same schools mentioned on this thread beginning the summer before junior year. She was interested in music and theatre and was a top student. So our initial trips included Vassar, Tufts, Brandeis, Wesleyan, Skidmore, Yale and Brown. Vassar, Tufts and Brown stood out as initial favorites.
Then we ran our EFC and it changed everything. We were in the category of parents whose EFC showed we would be full pay, yet we did not feel comfortable paying upwards of $60k per year especially with a second child who would enter college right after older D graduates. We realized then that there was no use continuing to tour schools until we had more of a financial plan.
My word of advice is that all parents do the same. Use financial calculators and figure out a realistic college budget before you continue touring. If you have financial need, concentrate on schools who meet full need or close to that. If you are paying a lot out of pocket, begin to look at the price tag of certain schools. Do your research on merit aid schools.
For us, our final list included Brandeis (15k in merit), GW (15k talent award), American (22k in combined talent/ merit), Muhlenberg (19.5k in academic/ talent merit), NYU (11k in talent merit). She was also accepted into Barnard and a SUNY school (financial safety). Off the list were all schools that would have been full pay except Barnard (which is commuting distance if she chose to go there and we could no longer afford room and board.)
She chose to attend NYU and was very happy with her choice. She graduated with a BM in vocal performance with a concentration in musical theatre (Steinhardt). She had a minor in the Business of Entertainment, Media and Technology and another in English lit. It was not an inexpensive option, but less than the schools on our initial tour when finances didn’t enter into the equation.
Good luck!