No thanks, Harvard

<p>Bye Lehigh (200k for 4 years)
Hi International University of Bremen (20k for 3 years)</p>

<p>turning down cornell for Mcgill</p>

<p>If i was gonna pay $200,000 education i really wanted the best (waitlisted at wharton)...oh well now i wont be in debt</p>

<p>i<em>want</em>lehigh,
Wow, you're going to Germany...how cool is that?! Do you spean any German?</p>

<p>dkm008 mcgill is really good! its totally on par with cornell... jus cuz its not an ivy.. its like.. the best in canada</p>

<p>I am currently in the process of deciding between Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Swarthmore, and Reed. What worries me about the Ivys is that it seems the individual can get very easily lost in the crowd. Is it easy to find your voice and your niche even at a larger school? Furthermore, I'm a little concerned about the pretentiousness, and namebrandness, of the Ivys. And is the academic evironment more or less intense, more or less competitive, at a smaller, but well-reputed small school like Swarthmore? Opinions? Experiences?</p>

<p>Just today I turned down NYU-Stern for BU-SMG Honors. Money was the only reason; BU gave me $16k/year and NYU said they would be glad to let me take out $80k in loans.</p>

<p>Macro, Princeton isnt too easy to get lost in, although it DOES have some pretentiousness. I even felt it when I visited. I think you are right that Swat is too intense, and I went to Columbia and felt like a number personally. Yale's college system will keep it small, and its not as pretentious as Princeton. Princeton would be my close second though depending on your ability to tolerate eating clubs, etc.</p>

<p>I have afriend who turned down Duke for UCLA (regents).</p>

<p>princeton isnt as pretentious as it seems to be, at all. the students there are very down-to-earth. and with just like 5000 to 6000 students and something like a 3:1 student-faculty ratio, you wont get lost. its more personalized than Columbia or Yale, but probably not Swat. and Princeton offers better science departments than Yale, making it more well-rounded (for undergrads).</p>

<p>P.S. way to hijack this thread</p>

<p>Princeton/ Yale for sure. You're choice is down to two...haha if you take our advice</p>

<p>i just read through all 11 pages so far... how interesting. and loyola marymount was even mentioned twice! (i applied from new york -no one knows what school it is here).
i turned down ucb, ucd, occidental, lmu, bc, and cuny honors for ucsb.</p>

<p>going to bu....turning down emory vandy and nyu</p>

<p>Turning down Northwestern, Purdue, UMich in BME for Case. simply because Case has the best personality out of all of those schools, and I really felt connected to the Case rather than the other schools.</p>

<p>I guess I'm the opposite, since I'm taking the offer and going to Harvard. I have to say that I never considered the school as much until I actually got in. After my interview, I figured it would be a rejection so I stopped thinking about it. When I did get in, I had just gotten waitlisted from GTown so it was my first of my top 5 schools I was accepted to. I was also accepted to Penn's Huntsman program and waitlisted at Gtown, Princeton and Columbia. I eventually decided on Harvard for several reasons...
1. I wanted to make a decision and be done
2. I did not want to lock myself into a certain program
3. I felt like I would be under too much pressure in Penn's program
Maybe these reasons are not entirely accurate, but they are how <em>I</em> felt based on my impressions. I do agree with the person, Northstarmom I think, who said that your view on choosing ________ over ___________ changes a lot when you see where you are actually admitted. I personally don't think either option is wrong; I would say to go where you can see yourself the happiest. After all, it is four years...</p>

<p>Chocoholic: no, the 1600-er who turned down Princeton for UChicago is not the one who now ones to attend another college..it's a different one.. the one who wants her deposit back is choosing a less prestigious school..in fact a LAC</p>

<p>thats unusual. into huntsman, and waitlisted at those places... lol i got into all ur waitlisted places and rejected from your acceptances (penn's fisher actually), hows that for irony.</p>

<p>thatwasfun- why are you going to BU? the people that go from my school...hm lets just say theyve never been near an honors course in their lives.</p>

<p>eri- why are you choosing case over northwestern? i have a friend at case, and i must say she is very unhappy there (she wants to be a veterinarian).</p>

<p>ATTENTION:</p>

<p>Ok, people.. Turning down a school of the equal/similiar prestige for another similar school is not that surprising... Let's keep it shocking!!</p>

<p>Good/ideal example
- Turning down Harvard, Yale, PRinceton, Stanford, and MIT for a community college... yea.. that might be too extreme..but get the point?</p>

<p>Poor examples
-turning down UVA for UNC.. so?
-turning down cornell for UMich .. so???
-turning down dartmouth for Swarthmore.. soo????
-turning down University of Miami for Fordham...sooooooo?</p>

<p>the thing i always remember about fordham is that donald trump transferred from there directly to wharton. cant be such a bad school.</p>

<p>yea...I turned down HYPSM for Bob Jones University...</p>

<p>j/k j/k...that would be a good example, though</p>

<p>Fun thread.</p>

<p>Many of you reference the $$ as the reason for the decision.</p>

<p>I find it interesting to put in perspective that my H and I both attended universities much further down the pecking order than any mentioned in this thread and somehow gave birth to progeny with the stats and the alchemy to be admitted to top-tier schools. We also somehow achieved sufficient success -- aberrant though it may seem -- to afford to send our child to one of these top-tier schools. No legacy. No trust fund. No financial aid.</p>

<p>I rarely see my husband's alma mater mentioned at all on CC. Mine is referred to as a "party school". Clearly there has been a mistake, right?</p>

<p>S "turned down" (was recruited by but didn't pursue) several wonderful schools. He's thrilled to be attending his first choice of Princeton. An education that will be paid for by parents whose pedigree shall remain nameless...</p>

<p>Instead of naming names of institutions, I'd be fascinated to see your thoughts on what truly, meaningfully constitutes "success" as far as you are concerned. The sooner you figure it out, the better, because many people spend years searching for it on a path that leads nowhere, and if you can avoid that painful experience of doubling back to find the road toward what matters, it's all to the good...</p>