<p>“In-state public schools have a large cost advantage for residents of that state; for someone whose preferences on size, out of state location, etc. are not particularly strong, the in-state public school’s low cost may override those preferences compared to other schools of comparable selectivity.”</p>
<p>That’s exactly what I’m talking about…when you “settle” for an in-state public over your preferred more-elite and smaller private schools, you are saying that a non-academic factor (i.e., lower cost) compensates for the lack of your first-choice type of school’s features. All I’m saying is that it might be useful to add non-academic factors OTHER than cost (like name recognition; weather;bigtime sports; & proximity to a good city, skiing, or beaches) to the list of things that might compensate for not getting into your first-choice type of school.</p>