Neither of my kids attended the highest ranked school they got into. One picked her safety partly for financial reasons, but she also thought it was as good a fit as the top ranked school she got into. Second kid picked a school that was ranked 4th out of the 8 she applied to. She got into all 8. The fourth ranked one one was ranked the most expensive one, too. Sigh, But it was great for her.
A friend’s son just picked a school that wasn’t the highest ranked of his acceptances because that school gave him more of what he wanted. Direct admit to engineering, honors housing, a club sport he wants to play. The school was more of a ‘safety’ than some of the others. Several cost about the same so finances weren’t a deciding factor.
A few years ago there was an article about a kid who had been accepted to all the Ivies but picked Alabama because he felt it gave him the best deal. He could have afforded any school, but wanted the scholarships. I guess that is based on finances, but not in the ‘I have to settle for State U because that’s all I can afford’ way. How much a school costs is a factor in determining fit too.
so fit and cost is much more important than presitge right?
In a perfect world, all of the schools you apply to would be in the running for your top choice, even the ones that are affordable and a guaranteed admit (the definition of safety).
LOTS of schools with great reputations can be poor choices for undergrads. You need to know why they have the reputations they do.
Big state schools like Berkeley typically have great reputations because of the research they do. In fact, and I’m sorry to pick on UCB, but it’s a school you brought up and is thus germane, UCB doesn’t have a great reputation for providing a great undergraduate experience. Class sizes are huge. Intro to CS is the largest lecture in the nation with over 1000 students. Since the biggest lecture hall on campus is Wheeler (holds 750), more than 250 students have to sit in overflow classrooms on other parts of campus and watch on video. There’s administrative bloat too. One student referred to it as “like going to school at the DMV.”
Hopefully you’d figure out all that before applying when vetting your candidates.
“so fit and cost is much more important than presitge right?”
Yes, absolutely. Prestige gets old rather quickly once the first exam arrives and the problem sets pile up.
Neither of my daughters went to the most “prestigious” school that they could get into. They both went to schools that for a variety of reasons were great fits for them.
There are a LOT of schools where a strong student can do well and get a very good education. There are usually fewer (but still multiple) schools where any one particular strong student is going to be happy in addition to getting a very good education.
Don’t forget that there are schools that have prestige but not the program you want.
And don’t lose sight of the fact that reach schools favor kids who did well at everything. For the kid who is a brilliant writer or has done great film work, picking a school that can nurture that is more important than a school that favors all-rounders. And that kid may not be the one who knocked it out of the park in calculus or chemistry…
@gardenstategal makes a useful point- if you have a particularly strong area of interest there are quite a lot of ‘average competitive’ colleges with a department or two with a national reputation that is greater than that of the college itself.
I turned down an Ivy that had been my #1 choice for a state school ranked in the mid 20s. After I got into my dream reach, I visited and realized that my “dream” was more of an illusion. For me, it came down to the students. The place was filled with kids congratulating each other on being awesome enough to get in. My overnight host and his friends were insufferable. They talked trash about lower-ranked schools and even about classmates they felt didn’t “deserve” to be there. I just couldn’t see myself putting up with that crp for 4 years simply to get the school on my CV. So I went to an extremely well-regarded state school instead, where the kids were equally as intelligent and confident but nowhere near as full of themselves. To this day when I meet alums of that Ivy, they never fail to annoy the s*t out of me.
On another thread here on CC, one parent was talking about their son who is a National Merit Semi-Finalist and has decided Univ of Texas - Dallas is his #1 pick…not entirely because of financial reasons. The student really likes the school. The student’s stats & ECs are such that he could have applied at any number of other “high ranked/prestigious” schools, but he chose that one because he liked it the best.
Don’t go to a particular college just because of other people’s opinions or because of societal pressure to attend the one with the most prestige or name recognition. Make up your own mind. Pick the best school for YOU. There are lots of flavors of ice cream out there in the college market…not everybody wants chocolate. Maybe you’re a raspberry sorbet sort of person. If you are, just ignore all of the chocolate lovers who hate on you for not picking chocolate. 
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