<p>i would have to disagree with you taxguy</p>
<p>expensive schools with reputations of having rich snobbish "typical ivy league kids", seek diversity above all. I am pretty sure Harvard is not desperately looking for that 40k tuition payment, a miniscule amount for a school that has more money than many small countries, rather, as reflected by their new financial aid inititives, these schools seek to recruit more low-income kids thus improving the educational experience of all involved. </p>
<p>I personally am a shining example of that concept as i got into brown and georgetown over several incredibly smart and, in my opinion, more interesting kids with higher stats but also higher incomes. My need for most of these schools is 40000+ and working 25 hours a week for the last two years was by far my biggest Extracurricular Activity.</p>
<p>In addition, if you follow trends of students receiving financial aid at many elite private schools, you will see that the percentage of kids receiving aid is exceeding 50% at most, a number unheard of in the 90's</p>