<p>Worst decision ever? There are plenty of worse choices someone could make. You could take up smoking crack, decide to cut off your legs, or jump in front of a train. There are plenty of things worse than going to UVa over Columbia. </p>
<p>When you account for instate tuition, picking UVa instead of Columbia does make sense for some people.</p>
<p>Columbia is undeniable the better school. Is it worth going into debt for when you’re in-state? No.</p>
<p>Agreed with Wahoomb and the others. I know somebody who turned down Columbia for UVA Echols in-state. If you’re planning on something like medical or law school you want as little debt as possible coming out of undergraduate.</p>
<p>Yes, tuition was the issue for my wife and me. At first, it was a hard decision for her to turn down Columbia. Sometimes, a hard decision can become the best decision. After all these years, upon retrospections, we both view this as a blessing from God: First, had she attended Columbia or had I not declined Cornell’s offer, my wife and I wouldn’t have met each other at UVA and there would be no happy ending (i.e., our marriage). Second, academically, whether Columbia was/is that much better than UVA is debatable, but choosing to attend UVA turned out to be the best thing for us both financially and academically. After settling down in Charlottesville, we became so in love with UVA that we then decided to go all the way in our respective areas: Modeling for me and Education for my wife. With scholarships (research grants) offered by UVA, we were debt-free and both ended up with multi-job offers at graduation. Those hard decisions we made earlier changed our lives. For all these years, we’ve been very thankful for and appreciative of the excellent quality of education that we received from UVA.</p>
<p>I turned down Columbia, along with JHU, Georgetown (off of the waitlist), and Notre Dame to be an Echols Scholar at UVA. I guess I am crazy…?</p>
<p>In light of the thread that was recently posted about the young TJHSST man who chose UVA over Harvard, Dartmouth, Brown, and others, I thought if resurrect this thread to see where the class of 2017 applied and turned down in favor of UVA.</p>
<p>^He also got the Jefferson Scholarship. Don’t omit that detail. I wouldn’t pick UVA Echols over Harvard. (although UVA is a fantastic school)</p>
<p>i someone years ago from TJ that turned down UVA and Jefferson Scholarship for Princeton. And know of a student at UVA who turned down Harvard for UVA Jefferson Scholarship (and the parent is an alumni of Harvard)</p>
<p>I think if all comes down to fit. As a parent of a TJ alumni, it is a great school, but sometimes the kids do turn down better schools or even UVA for lesser schools, because of the fit and also money.</p>
<p>OOS Son turned down Cornell, JHU, Northwestern, BC, Colby, Wake Forest, Richmond etc for UVA. Math and science kid, so some of those were tough to pass up. Money wasn’t a determining factor. Chose UVA based on his feeling that he fit well and could be a well rounded person there. He has great work habits, not a partier and loves sports. Felt he would have time for more than just grinding out grades.</p>
<p>Wisconsin, Indiana and michigan. waitlisted at UVA prior to acceptance. Came off wait list at Wash U, Emory</p>