<p>Collegekid, Hanna was quoting me. I am the one who got into 10 of the 11 schools I applied to and then, ultimately, opted for Michigan. Like her friend who chose Michigan over Columbia, I too wouldn't change a thing. Michigan were the best years of my life. </p>
<p>Hanna's undergraduate experience is well documented. She started her undergraduate studies at Bryn Mawr and then transfered to Harvard because she did not feel Bryn Mawr fit her academic needs.</p>
<p>I do agree that if you can afford the cost, Michigan is an ideal safety for top students.</p>
<p>Stan- Maybe this is too anecdotal, but every top student from my area applies to Michigan. One friend did get a large scholarship from Michigan. He went there. Great choice. Many others, including some admitted to Cornell, brown, Amherst, and other top schools got very little money from Michigan. It seems to me that unless you're at the very top of the academic totem pole, you won't get enough to make that tuition price anything significantly lower and at that point, I'd pick HYPSM etc (when you're that academically competitive)</p>
<p>In response to Alexandre- I agree with a lot of what you said. In my case, I went to Wisconsin out of state over Michigan because I felt that the 35K difference over 4 years (a year of law school) was not worth the academic advantage for my social science majors. While I'd agree that Michigan is better than a lot of the flagships you mentioned, in a cost comparison to some, it will not come out on top. This is a highly subjective point, however. I <em>DO</em> agree, that Michigan is cheaper out of state than some privates in which I'd go there over say... Boston College or NYU. I feel though, that many of the top privates will have the cash to bring down the cost of tuition to be comparable or better than Michigan. If you're from Michigan, then I'd apply to nothing but Michigan and ivys. Outstanding choice for in staters.</p>
<p>Transfer i see your point. I myself got a full scholarship to Michigan but I chose to decide between Stanford and Yale instead, while ultimately deciding to go to Stanford. All of the top students I know who were rejected from HYPSM, didnt get the money that I got. But i guess for the surprise rejects of those schools, there is still a possibility of a large scholarship</p>
<p>Boston College was a safety for me when I was applying to schools. Georgetown was my top choice and I got into a few "better ranked" schools (Hopkins, Northwestern, CMU), though in the end I'm glad I chose BC. I got about the same aid everywhere so finances weren't much of an issue. I actually just posted about this on the BC thread (Does "BC"="Backup College") in more detail, if you're interested.</p>
<p>a few of my high school's valedictorians have ended up at pitt after being accepted to/attending other more "highly ranked" schools (CMU, UVA, ND)... the honors college is actually pretty good, and as far as science opportunities go, the UPMC program and hospitals continually rank well nationally.</p>
<p><em>shrug</em> they all seem happy, at least.</p>
<p>Transfer, Wisconsin is one of those State schools that is certainly worth going to over any other university in the nation, if one is an in-state student and does not get substantial aid from other universities. Why pay $35,000-$50,000/year to attend Cal or Harvard when one can attend a top 25 university like Wisconsin for $15,000/year? </p>
<p>As for Michigan residents, I agree, if a student can get in H,M,P,S and Y and does not get aid from Michigan, one is better off going to one of those 5 universities. But if Michigan costs as much as any other private university (including the reamining Ivy League, Cal, Chicago, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Rice etc...), I would recommend the schools equally and advise the student to go with whatever is the better fit. </p>
<p>My point was this. you seem to think $35,000 for Michigan is too much. And yet, most of Michigan's peers (Chicago, Cornell, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Penn) charge anywhere from $40,000-$50,000/year. Are they not outrageously overpriced too?</p>
<p>Since my D is interested in LACs--anyone with experience in attending an LAC -safety, rather than a large state university?</p>
<p>It really depends on your D's credentials. If she is a top student, I recommend the following LACs as safeties:</p>
<p>Beloit College
Centre College
College of Wooster
Denison University
Earlham College
Gustavus Adolphus College
Kalamazoo College
Rhodes College
St. Olaf College
University of the South (Sewanee)</p>
<p>To get back to the original poster's question, choosing NYU was the best decision of my college life. But not for the reasons you probably think. I started out in one program and then transferred programs but I ended up flourishing in their music performance program and now am doing just what I want in their Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.</p>
<p>My brother who had a 1600 on the SAT, 790 SAT II Chem, 770 SAT II Writing, 800 SAT II Bio, was rejected to Harvard, Yale, MIT (waitlisted and deferred technically) and enrolled at NYU with a full scholarship. He doesn't regret it at all since he gets to be in a lab with graduate students and take graduate Chemistry classes as a junior! He also wins the department chemistry award every year!</p>
<p>I was thinking about this the other day. Going to a school whose grad program is well known and highly regarded is a great decision. For instance, a top student at Michigan might be one of the best undergrads a professor has ever seen. This would translate into an awesome recommendation for graduate school, job, etc and probably lead to a relatively high GPA amongst one's peers.</p>
<p>I'm curious what others think.</p>
<p>Jonathan</p>
<p>other safeties for above average students include Georgia and Florida...consider St Mary's of Maryland for LAC</p>
<p>Alexandre- I think we have a misunderstanding. As I've said I think Michigan is better than any school not in the top 25. While we disagree on some specific schools (which is irrelevent to this discussion) my argument is that I believe many PEER INSTITUTIONS that you list (JHU NU whatever) as privates have more money as grants to give to students who would have gotten into both Michigan and "x". Further, I make the claim that many top students I know who got into top privates and Michigan recieved little to no scholarship money from Michigan, but grants that made Michigan vs Northwestern a non issue financially. This is anecdotal yes, but I'll stand by it. </p>
<p>If you get into Michigan and recieve no money from those PEER INSTITUTIONS, then you have a much closer issue. However I'm willing to bet if you're getting no money from many private schools, you can afford Michigan in the first place and this entire conversation is irrelevent. I was referring to the people like me, who had parents able to afford 20-25K a year which is still an incredibly large amount.</p>
<p>I am not too sure about that Transfer. This year for example, 16 students from the UAE decided to attend Michigan. 3 of those are US citizens living in the UAE. 2 of of those 3 students got close $15,000 in pure scholarship. I am not saying that two thirds of students get such generous aid, but it is not uncommon. Those students will pay $20,000 to attend Michigan. Michigan's peers have to give $25,000 of aid to compete with that because Michigan is $10,000 cheaper than its peers. So even if its peers give students $10,000 more in aid than Michigan, they still come to the same price, and at that point (within a small variance of say $5,000), students should chose according to fit rather than according to money.</p>
<p>Thanks, Alexandre, problem is my D cannot be persuaded to go outside Northeast between Maine and D.C., within about 4 hrs of NYC.</p>
<p>If your D wants to apply to small LAC located within 4 hours of NYC, then she should consider TCNJ, Skidmore, St. Mary's College of Maryland or Muhlenberg. They are small LAC located within 4 hours of NYC. i hope this will help.</p>
<p>Depending on her qualifications, possible NE LAC safeties could also be Bard, Connecticut College, Lafayette, and Franklin and Marshall.</p>
<p>Pyewacket, did your daughter stress the mode of transportation? hehe By plane, you can pretty much traverse all of the continental USA in 4 hours. Talk about technicality! LOL</p>