<p>Stop hijacking my thread!!!</p>
<p>Actualy most LAC’s are the ones that offer the most amount of aid to intels and rankings are BS. Please tell me how UofT (ranked in the top 30) and many of the other “highly ranked” unis offers a better education than a LAC like Williams, Amherst, Reed or the many others.</p>
<p>Simple.</p>
<p>Breadth of upper level coursework (the first two years are almost always the same for any major aside from seminars).</p>
<p>Breadth of research opportunities.</p>
<p>Because you have more professors with more niche research interests that are capable of teaching such courses and have the facilities to undertake that research.</p>
<p>That’s why you might get a better education. Most learning occurs through those means (talking, seminars, etc.). The fact that the texts might be the same does nothing.</p>
<p>^ what about professors who are too busy with their research work to care about undergrad students?</p>
<p>I’d rather go to a small school for undergrad anyway, regardless of prestige it IS the right choice IMO. More attention, more research opportunities, better grades = better grad school. And grad school is what matters in the real world.</p>
<p>I completely agree with S33D. Undergrad is the time for you to get your basics right. The rest, I guess is for grad school.</p>
<p>The problem is, if you dont have the money to pay the tuition, you definetly need financial aid…and where do you find good financial aid packages for international students? Ivies and other renown, and therefore competitive universities.</p>
<p>I think that ‘safeties’ are very different for int’ls (especially those who need LOTS of FinAid… like me), since int’l’s parents (especially asian parents) are crazy for prestige. I myself have barely a 2000 on my SAT (1st try as a junior), but my parents don’t want me to apply anywhere “below” schools like Emory, Vanderbilt. Heck, they even thought Middlebury was a safety-sort-of-school, and they won’t be convinced by my talks that its GRAD SCHOOL that really matters.</p>
<p>Wow, sorry, that was a bit rant-ish, but you get my point. About the public schools, I think there are a few like UVa, UCs, UMich, UT-Austin that are ivy-notch schools. However, it is true that, for int’ls needing FinAid, private schools are normally a much better choice, since you can get more FinAid, smaller student:faculty ratio.</p>
<p>^ I agree that Asian parent are obsessed with prestige but you know its your life so you should decide where you want to go.</p>
<p>Exactly tanveer, exactly.</p>
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<p>well you had it easy…my mum didnt even know about yale/princeton before I educated her (master degree holder in mechanical eng from paderbonn uni germany), she used to say “son its either harvard, oxbridge or NUS”, u’re not getting a cent from me if you enroll in one of the “unknowns” ROFL</p>