<p>Safety?</p>
<p>lol ask that to all the kids who got into top 20/ivies and were rejected from Villanova’s bs/md proigram.</p>
<p>Look, although your account says you’re 57 years old, you’re acting like you’re 7… Penn is a good school and so is Villanova, but each school has its different strengths and caters to students with different preferences.</p>
<p>If you are “57” years old, did you even graduate from college?</p>
<p>There are people that could easily go to Ivy schools and chose to go to Nova instead. Rankings are not everything. There is much more to a college experience than just how highly ranked is this school.</p>
<p>Yes safety!!!.Who cares how old I am? Your laughable contention that admittess accepted to both would pick Nova over Penn tells me all I need to know.It’s possible you’d find an outlier making that choice but the vast majority with the choice would pick Penn.In all reality very few( NOT 0) Penn admitees would even bother applying to Nova.</p>
<p>Rebel11, my son’s choice wasn’t based on financial aid. When choosing a school, a student has to look at the bigger picture than just financial aid or the “Ivy prestige”. Nova appeared to be a much better fit for him than the other schools. His second choice was Lehigh, then U Penn.
At Nova he has met other students that chose not to attend an ivy, and their decision wasn’t based on Finances either. In fact U Penn as well as Princeton will meet the students demonstrable financial need resulting in no loans for the student.
So, if you like the ivy, go for it…My kid is really happy that he chose Nova.</p>
<p>Hey Dadzo, Did you son get admitted to Penn? If yes are you saying he chose Nova over Penn even if they were same cost? & you’d assume if he applied he’d actually like to go?? As far as kids at Nova choosing not to attend an Ivy, No doubt. There are not many( I didn’t say 0) kids at Nova that can get admitted to an Ivy.Lets be honest here,Villanova is a very good school, but it’s not even a top 35 school.Most people would rank it somewhere north of a # 40 school</p>
<p>Again with the obsession over rankings on USNWR. From looking at your posts, your son goes to penn is that correct? If so, why are you spending your time on the Villanova thread if you no longer have children in the application cycle. </p>
<p>Was one of your children denied from Villanova? Is that the explanation for the incessant trolling on the Nova boards?</p>
<p>Rebel, I have 2 sons who turned down instate Cornell, one for a small southwester LAC, the other for a non ivy university. Cost us more with their choices. Yeah, my DH wasn’t thrilled, still shakes his head, and asks, “what the heck is wrong with Cornell?” i wasn’t thrilled either. But it was their choices. They did not like the feel of the school. The one who went the LAC had a wonderful ideal 4 years at his college. One could not ask for better. </p>
<p>I turned down UPenn many years ago for a non Ivy school for a foolish reason, but, yes, turned it down nonetheless. And my alma mater had a number of us who had turned down ivy league schools for non financial reasons. The visit clinched the deal for some of us. </p>
<p>I don’t know anyone specifically turned who turned down Penn for Villanova, but I know a number of them who did so for BC and GT. It’s not all the rankings.</p>
<p>There are always outliers and exceptions,but that doesn’t change the fact that rankings do matter. Most people when given the opportunity to pick between a Chevy and a Mercedes pick the Benz. It’s pretty silly when partisans deny these facts. Most anyone that applies to Penn & Nova is praying they get into Penn.If they don’t than they go to Nova. It’s not complicated.</p>
<p>Rebel11 : Your skepticism is well reasoned but in real life students / families make decisions that those outside their circle may not understand. But it happens. </p>
<p>Regarding : would you still pick VU over a better school? </p>
<p>Answer : yes it happens for many reasons , but mostly because kids feel like they “fit in” better at Villanova. I know kids that attend Nova and chose over BC , G’town, Lehigh , Vanderbilt. I am sure there are others. I know a kid who attended Amherst over Harvard and another who picked Delaware over BC based on “fit”.</p>
<p>May not make sense to Rebel11 , but it happens with positive outcomes.</p>
<p>Now , Back to to the original question please. Skeptics , please start a new thread.</p>
<p>Yes, rankings matter, particularly to those who don’t enough to go into more of the particulars of a school. Many will pick the Chevy over the Mercedes, too, even being able to afford either, for good reason. To pick the Mercedes just because of the label is not a good idea. There are many times when the Cheyve is the better choice.</p>
<p>I’ve been on this board for a while, and I’ve seen some of the parents here whose children picked CMU over Harvard, for good reason. Another young woman I know picked CMU over MIT, again for a good reason. It’s not always the name recognition over all. I know a number of kids who ipicked CMU over Penn. My youngest whose numbers look pretty good is not even going to have Penn on his list, but will have Nova. And I have no problems with it. One of my best friends has a daughter at Penn who loves it there, but a son who hated it and transferred to Emory after a year there. The school is going to be home to the student for the next four years, and if it doesn’t feel right, it may not work out. After 15 years of seeing these cycles, I can tell you that finding a school that fits your child, one that he loves is more important than the rankings or the prestige. </p>
<p>For my purposes, by the way, I’d buy the Chevy right now. I don’t want to be driving a Mercedes. Wouldn’t keep one if it were given to me.</p>
<p>Rebel11, regarding your comment “did my son actually want to go to Penn?” Well No, not exactly. Two years ago we went to U Penn to watch my daughter run in the Penn relays and while there we toured the campus, spoke with students, etc. I thought it might be cool to apply to an ivy so I was actually the person pushing U Penn. My son wasn’t all that impressed with it and after lots of visits, tours and engineering open houses, he chose Nova. He was probably right, Nova fits him like a glove or should I say he fits in perfectly there.
He entered nova with 27 credits earned in high school and aced his first semester there. He is on target for a 5 year masters.
On a side note, we looked at Princeton as well as U Penn and it seemed that their Engineering programs were more geared toward graduate students and not the undergrads. Perhaps my son will go to grad school at an ivy. You never know.
As far as your Chevy/Benz analogy, believe me, I could easily easily afford his and her Lexus or Benz…but I love my Subaru Forester!!
Good luck to your student wherever they attend.</p>
<p>^ You still don’t say whether he was admitted to Penn.?? Are you also saying that he got into Princeton but chose Nova? As for does it happen that someone would pick Nova over Penn? Obviously in a rare case it may. It certainly wouldn’t happen often because to most people the choice would be easy. Go Penn. I still believe that unless it’s about the money the chances someone picks Nova over Penn when accepted to both are so small it’s hard to calculate. Why?? Because to put it nicely, it doesn’t make much sense.</p>
<p>CPT, I just need to clarify. Are you saying that if you were offered a Chevy or a Mercedes for the same price you’d pick the Chevy? Really???</p>
<p>Hi Rebel, accepted at U Penn. Didn’t apply to Princeton. As far as yor car analogy, I misread it. I thought you were talking about affordability.
Back to the original premise of this thread, yes some kids choose what might be considered lesser schools over better schools (higher ranked) if they are more confortable with that choice. I can’t figure out why this concerns you or upsets you so much. Again, best of luck to your student.
The End.</p>
<p>It doesn’t concern or upset me. I just find it hilarious that people actually try selling the notion that given the choice on apples to apples comparison there are more than a tiny minority of people who would pick Nova over a top or Ivy school.It’s silly.</p>
<p>@rebel11 - it may be silly to you based on your standards, but for others, and as many have already posted, their standards may be different than yours. It seems your focus is on “branding,” which is fine for you, but a substantial majority of successful college graduates do not go to Ivy League schools or specifically Penn. A student’s success in and beyond college involves many factors which are different for many, the same for some. It is nice you find humor with those who disagree with you, but we, thankfully, all cannot be the same.</p>
<p>^ Do you even bother reading the OP ? before commenting. If you did you’d see that what’s being discussed. Are you trying to tell me that you think any significant amount of people who were accepted to Penn and Nova for the same cost would pick Nova??? I know there’s always a contrarion out there, but let’s not make pretend what choice most would pick. They were already predisposed to going to Penn. They applied didn’t they??? OMG!!!</p>