<p>I would give it a try and see what comes of it. You are in the situation that many are. The EFC comes out nearly the same no matter which way they go. We have close friends whose girls appllied to a range of school and it turned out that the state schools, private schools, any school came out to very close to the same cost after you threw in the merit, financial aid and sticker price. Still there are cases when there are unexpected surprises. I’ve known of cases where a nice package was offered from a totally unexpected source. If you have some good safeties on your list, and they are financial safeties as well, you will be fine and you can explore what other options may pan out.</p>