<p>I want to make it clear that I am in no way dissing Northwestern, nor am I saying that got7th should go to Harvard instead. I’m not sure if it came out that way. My daughter is happy happy happy. I still believe that the atmosphere at the two schools is different, but not because one is more cutthroat than the other. As for Chicago beating the pants off of Cambridge/Boston, that is really a matter of taste. I LOVE visiting Chicago - it’s an amazing city, and I like it more than NYC (where I was raised). However, its flatness drives me nuts. For someone who likes hiking and nature, I think Boston is fabulous; being near the ocean, the White Mountains, and the Berkshires (and skiing) can’t be beat, except maybe by California, with its range of terrain. </p>
<p>arbiter213, your parents must have been real wizards at filling out the FAFSA (or they are in business for themselves so they can hide stuff, which people with a salary can’t do). Or they have an amazing accountant. There is, however, another possible factor that might have hurt us in terms of financial aid. Harvard looks at where you live when they consider your real estate holdings as a part of your assets. The housing market in the Boston area is very expensive, so even though we live in a modest 3-bedroom house with about 7000 sq. feet of property, our house valuation is very high, so it looks like we have a ton of money. Northwestern considers that an asset, whereas Harvard took our location into account when figuring out an aid package. Anyway, I’m glad that you got some money out of Northwestern. We did last year because we had two kids in college, but not this year. </p>
<p>Anyway, got7th, try to visit both!!! My kids’ guidance counselor said, “I’ll let you apply anywhere you want to, but I won’t let you go to any school that you haven’t visited.” I thought that was good advice.</p>