Good point - also, at a smaller school, it’s easier to stand out in terms of being a student leader.
Couple of points - do NOT trust the NPC from schools; either schools default to the federal NPC which is a piece of junk or use a 3rd party where they tweak the algorithm to of course make it seem affordable (and then asterisk with the your results may not be anywhere near reality) and use it to mine your data as pre-screening.
Check College Navigator and look at the net price (although remember that net price is ONLY if you get aid) and the % who get aid; ie. Babson is super affordable…if you are one of the only 4 in 10 who get aid…
Also, remember anywhere you go…name doesn’t mean much if you don’t keep your grades, do the internships, get involved, make the connections, etc. and ask yourself what you want your college experience to be…at any of the schools mentioned, if you do the first items (grades, internships, etc.), you’ll get a good job - but at (school I won’t mention on your list), a neighbor’s child with incredible stats was miserable most of the time…and while he got a great job, he works with people on your safety list who paid less, had more fun, and ended up in the same spot…
@BizWhiz Thank you for the good advice! Regarding urban vs. rural, I guess I could be happy with either setting. For me, it is more of how far away the school is. The farthest I would go away would probably be Pennsylvania.
@2inSchool2 I guess my stats are good, but I would not consider them to the level of calling Northeastern a safety. After all, my scores reflect the new format in which there is a debate on how these scores relate to the old format
@Chardo @MurphyBrown @MYOS1634 @guitar321 @happy1 @yikesyikesyikes Sorry for all tagging you in the same message, but I didn’t want to spam the thread with more than a couple replies. Anyways, yes, I am looking into applying to Upenn, but not Early Decision. Costs are a factor as well. I believe I could do 30-35, possibly 40, but if a college comes back with sticker price or close to it, then it is not a very realistic option as I will graduate with too much debt.
Of course, as some of you mentioned, job placement is very important, and I agree with that. I believe most of the schools on my list whether you consider them “elite” or not, have excellent job placement. I think it would be a fantastic opportunity to attend a top school such as Penn or Harvard with the connections and funding they have for study abroad programs and research, but it is not the end of the world for me if I don’t make it to a USNWR Top 25 school because I know that I will work hard and connect myself to the college and the industry. Coming from a fairly uncompetitive public high school in MA, I know that if you really want an opportunity, you can go seek it out. I was never encouraged or helped to start a tutoring program or do research, I just went out and did it because I felt it would be a good opportunity to learn and to make an impact on my small community. While many of my colleges are not necessarily elite, they certainly provide far more opportunities than my high school ever did, and I’m excited for it.
@MurphyBrown - maybe in your case; I ran a 3 income, 3 family (traditional, just changed sibling numbers) scenarios through the Federal and CB NPCs - came back different between the two and different when I ran it through different schools. Bottom line is I wouldn’t trust it, yes especially if you have atypical income/family structure, and instead would look at Navigator and the school’s common data set Section on Fin aid.
^ The NPC results SHOULD be different between schools. It depends on the costs of the school as well as the amount of money the school will provide (usually based on the strength of the endowment). And unless the colleges linked you to the CB calculators, those are generic. Use the NPCs on the school’s web sites.