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<p>Can you elaborate on “such”?</p>
<p>Just asking out of curiosity.</p>
<p>I settled for full ride at my safety over full tuition at several reaches. Not going to be disappointed in the least!</p>
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Well, I am one going to an admissions safety school for primarily financial reasons, but I think I can answer why one would choose Michigan State- a clear safety- over UChicago- anybody’s reach. (UVA versus VT is trickier in terms of admissions categorization, so I’m leaving that out for now.)
At Michigan State, or similar lower-tier state schools, bright students have a world of opportunities. The school really wants top students, so they’ll offer unique programs- honors, research opportunities, etc- to attract them. Plus, their GPA will probably be higher for grad school.
At UChicago, or similar elites, there’s more competition for the few research positions, honors, etc. that are available. Additionally, one’s GPA will be lower, hurting grad school opportunities, and causing more stress. Plus, they won’t stand out for intelligence anymore- being a bright student just makes you one of the crowd there, not anybody special.
Plus, there’s the whole “fit” concept- maybe a large school simply fits the student better.</p>
<p>VA Tech has better parties? Do the parties at UVA suck or something?</p>
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<p>I don’t feel bad for you. UNC is a top five public nationally. I’d feel bad for you if you were forced to go to say, UWyoming.</p>
<p>John117: I think the choice of choosing a safety over a dream school will be because of financial reasons most of the time. I also feel students who are thinking about saving some money during the UG years are looking down the road and not right in front of them. </p>
<p>Long term school debt is a well-known issue among many and it is wisely advised to avoid. This economy has opened a lot of eyes and costs are a major factor in many college decisions. Look at the thread “Top student” at a 3rd tier school… Four years later and you will see that an overwhelming number of posters support saving money for a safety.</p>
<p>If money is not one of your concerns consider yourself very fortunate.</p>
<p>My friend’s family makes less than $80000 (he told me) and is probably going to go to BYU in Utah (he’s Mormon). I feel bad for him because he’s a natural genius who got a 32 on the ACT and every hard subject comes naturally for him (He has an A in AP Chem).</p>
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<p>Ivies, Stanford, MIT, Chicago, Hopkins, Carnegie-Mellon, Rice. Case-Western maybe. Maybe a handful of others, but not many.</p>
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<p>I agree to a certain extent, on the other hand, where is the intellectual stimulation? How much will you improve if you are that much smarter than everyone else? It will be hard to find people on your level and it will be easy to be dragged down by people who are just very, very average and mainly there to party unless you get into a small (brainy) niche for yourself and have very strong discipline.</p>
<p>joe - that statement is ridiculous.</p>
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<p>Sorry, didn’t mean to offend you. But just like buying name-brand shoes, you pay more for the name than the actual footwear.</p>
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Don’t be hatin’ on Wyoming. They’re flush with cash and have some decent programs.</p>
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<p>It is likely that the author of the original statement knows nothing of the University of Wyoming and just chose some school at random, further validating the point that people are influenced by name recognition and perception more than actual facts about the schools.</p>
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<p>Hey, at least Carolina’s a great school. They’ll give you money for research, study abroad opportunities, etcetc–really a top notch institution. But I do feel your pain to some extent. I’m an NC junior, and I would feel somewhat disheartened if I ended up at the same school my laid-back, frisbee golf playing friends (not to hate on frisbee golf–I play with them a bit, but they do it almost every day instead of homework) did. But there’s a lot to be happy about, not the least of which is in-state tuition! And the fact that your less motivated peers are attending doesn’t do anything to diminish the school itself.</p>
<p>Heh…I’ll be going to Duke. Watch out for John117. He’ll haunt you UNCers.</p>
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<p>I don’t know much about Wyoming, but I do know that it is not in the same caliber as UNC. Simple facts back that up.</p>
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<p>If you don’t know much about Wyoming, why would you feel bad if someone were forced to go there?</p>
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<p>I suspect you were just making a funny quip, but it fact that people deal more in generalities and “conventional wisdom” than actual facts when it comes to ranking schools.</p>
<p>The other question is this… how MUCH better is UNC than the University of Wyoming? I believe you would agree that that would be hard to quantify.</p>
<p>So if UNC ends up costing someone $25K per year but University of Wyoming would be $12K per year, is UNC worth the extra $50K for a 4 year degree? If so, what would be the basis of that?</p>
<p>joe - I’m hardly offended. Your opinion of my future college is of no consequence to me. But your statements are patently ridiculous. You assert that there is a measurable difference between Harvard and, say, Northwestern, but no measurable difference between Northwestern and Southwest Missouri State. That’s just obviously incorrect. Normally I would use logical proof to back up my reasoning, but I don’t feel like I even need to in this case.</p>
<p>Going back to the medical school issue. Med Schools don’t really care what college you come to unless you come from a college that the med school deems prestigious. As long as your GPA and MCAT are high then you can get into a dream med school.</p>
<p>Source - my brother just got into medical schools after a long application process. His friend got into Columbia Med coming from a state unranked (by US News) school.</p>
<p>“Hey, at least Carolina’s a great school. They’ll give you money for research, study abroad opportunities, etcetc–really a top notch institution. But I do feel your pain to some extent. I’m an NC junior, and I would feel somewhat disheartened if I ended up at the same school my laid-back, frisbee golf playing friends (not to hate on frisbee golf–I play with them a bit, but they do it almost every day instead of homework) did. But there’s a lot to be happy about, not the least of which is in-state tuition! And the fact that your less motivated peers are attending doesn’t do anything to diminish the school itself.”</p>
<p>@knights09: glassesarechic is right. it’s not that UNC is not a great school, it’s just because some people have worked so hard and really are ivy-caliber and they still have to attend the same school as their slacker classmates. getting into UNC from out of state is extremely difficult, but if you’re a good in-state student from a good public school, it’s literally a joke to get in.</p>