<p>Go to the school that is the best fit for you (academics, social life, athletics, campus, size, atmosphere, etc) that you can afford.</p>
<p>I didn’t go to the highest ranked school that accepted me, or even the best school for my intended major that accepted me. And I didn’t go to the school that gave me a full ride. I went to the school at which I felt I could be happiest, which was the right balance of everything I wanted. And I love it up here, even if its is 24 degrees out with 24 inches of snow, and a low of 0 at the moment. </p>
<p>Of course, I would argue there isn’t that much difference within the “top fifteen schools”…us news has to rearrange them every once in a while to keep people buying the thing. Is Yale less of a school when princeton gets ranked 1 instead? Is Chicago magically better for jumping over Brown? And then worse when Brown jumps it the next year? Seems unlikely. If the difference is b/w state school regional edition and “top twenty” private, that’s more significant, certainly. Within schools of similar quality of education though, go for fit, not number three over number 8 (or whatever) just because 3 is ranked higher.</p>