Trying to get into a Top School vs. Going to a school you think you'd be happy at?

Transfer Students
1

<p>Do you believe that if you have the grades to be competitive to a top 25 USNWR school you should go? Or do you think that if you have those kind of grades but would be happy at a particular school for whatever reason you should go there?</p>

<p>I'm just trying to get a feel for what everyone's philosophy about attending college is. I'd be perfectly happy getting into the best school and going there but other serious students consider factors other than academic prestige when it comes to college.</p>

2

<p>Can you afford the “Top School”, or will going there land you up past your eyeballs in student debt?</p>

<p>Is your major one that is significantly better at the “Top School” than at the other place?</p>

<p>Is job placement after graduation for students in your major in the part of the country where you want to live significantly better at the “Top School”? If you are headed to grad school or med school, does the “Top School” have significantly better placement than the other place?</p>

<p>When you stroll onto the campus and sit in on classes at the “Top School” and the other place, do you personally feel happier at one place or another?</p>

<p>There are many reasons for choosing a college/university. The position on the USNWR list is only one of them.</p>

3

<p>well, ideally you’ll find a balance of both that makes you happy. for me, that place is cornell. if you can, i’d say visit a bunch of places that you’re interested in. make plans to sit in on classes and spend a night with a student host and talk to some of the transfer advisors. you need to feel out places. you should be happy where you end up. as happymom said, there’s tons of reasons for choosing a school. you just need to find the right reasons for you.</p>

4

<p>I’m a firm believer in the idea that we create a lot of our happiness/satisfaction, so the idea that the two are mutually exclusive is fallacious. Barring extreme differences (e.g., Dartmouth or Williams versus a larger, metropolitan campus), you shouldn’t really dwell too much on where you think you will be happier, because those feelings/intuitions are usually based in pretty flimsy reasoning, IMHO.</p>