<p>Cost is the first factor. If I can’t afford to go, I can’t go. I have a younger sibling and I’m not upper class. I fI don’t get the aid, i can’t go.</p>
<p>I know a lot of you look down on people who “whore” after prestige, but here’s my reasoning. You go to college for 4 years. However, that degree follows you around for the rest of your life. A princeton man will always have more doors open to him than a Podunk man.</p>
<p>A (not funny) joke I’ve heard is this:</p>
<p>What do you call the guy who graduates from Harvard dead last in his class?
A: A harvard graduate</p>
<p>Alternate versions include:
What do you call the guy who graduated from navy 894 out of 899 in his class?
A: John McCain</p>
<p>What do you call the guy who graduates with a 1.0 from the worst med school in the country?
A. A doctor</p>
<p>Of course, location matters too. If harvard where in say, Idaho, I would never apply there. I need stimulation (read: NYC), so location definetly is important.</p>
<p>Academic strength in my intended major - WITH the idea that they have my majors at all! I mean honestly, what am I going to do at a school that doesn’t have my majors? Or be strong in them?</p>
<p>Varies for everybody but for me it was just going to a school that was going to give me a solid education and where I was going to be happy with my surrounding community and social life</p>
<p>Prestige can nt be that important. Its hard to get into those school because people think they’re the best if everyyonethought a different school was the best it would have more prestige.</p>
<p>I chose good vibes…feel at home. It might sound like an unimportant factor but if I’m unhappy it will definitely show in my grades. Even if it didn’t, I would feel like I was cheated out of the full college experience if I weren’t happy.</p>
<p>I heard that the president of the college where my daughter will start this fall (Coe College, Iowa) is “retiring.” Should we be worried at a small college?</p>
<p>Reputation–I don’t neccessarily need “prestige,” I just would like a college that has attracted positive attention for the programs I am interested in. While it would be nice to attend an ivy, it really doesn’t affect my education if the school has a top-notch engineering, biology, English, AND Celtic Studies program if I will not major in these areas. </p>
<p>Affordability–I have friends who were admitted to well-known privates but turned them down for state schools. I’m a firm believer that no matter where you go, you can make the most of the opportunities given, and have a postive experience. For me, graduating from a state college with little or know debt demonstrates greater success than graduating from a Top 100 $150,000+ in debt. </p>
<p>Location–I live in an area with many well-known universities. While I would like to get “the college experience,” I’d like to save money commuting. I would much rather use my savings towards studying abroad in Paris than living in a quad dorm a half hour from my house.</p>
<p>@soccerguy315 If the academic program is top-notch, then I think that for many students social setting can be overlooked. Chances are, if you are qualified to go to an incredibly prestigious school, you must have worked incredibly hard to get there. It doesn’t make sense to sacrifice the learning opportunity for something as trivial as say “leaky dorms”.</p>
<p>How much the school is and how much finacial aid they give is really important for me. Prestige, of course, those who say otherwise are probably lieing How good there program is for my major is uber, superduper important…</p>
<p>I went to the #1 school in my state for 4 years, and quite honestly… I had a miserable experience. There was absolutely NO school spirit, drinking and drugs were EVERYWHERE, and there were visible class and racial distinctions- the majority of the people getting good grades were from a nearby private school that costs about 30k a year, and they had their own clique. A lot of the “C students” and “potheads” got corrupted in school, and would have been straight A kids at a school that wasn’t #1 but was a bit lower in the ranks… Me personally, I got really involved with the schools my best friends went to, so I found myself going to all of their dances and school events… Plus, starting fresh year, the older kids / graduates [who I liked more- my class COMPLETELY lacked maturity and common sense] started letting me hang out with them so I was in over my head… I was at more college events my sophomore year than high school events all 4 years.</p>
<p>Point here being, even though I let rank affect my choice, it’s not THE deciding factor. Program rank and tuition are my top two concerns, but vibes are also a HUGE issue. It’s really not worth going to an institution you absolutely despise for 4 years, and you’re probably a better fit somewhere else. Yeah it’s good to have the name of the institution down, but you don’t want to go 4 years thinking “god I hate this place”… Everyone has a bad experience, but when you start having 20 or 30, it might be time to transfer. Just my opinion.</p>
<p>When I was deciding which colleges to apply to, my first criterium was that the school had to be in Boston. I am absolutely in love with the city, and could not imagine studying anywhere else. I am American, but I have been living in Germany for 12 years now. Although I have never actually lived in Boston, I have family there and spend about 2 weeks a year there and it is the only place in America where I feel at home.</p>
<p>To narrow it down, I excluded all schools with any religious affiliation, simply because I don’t want any of that to influence my life on campus or my education. I am not a religious person, but I don’t mind if others are, as long as they don’t try to force their religion on me, and I was afraid I would feel uncomfortable if I was surrounded by religious people.</p>
<p>Then I just checked that they all have a few programs I’m interested in (although I’m pretty sure I’m going to stick with Psychology of some sort, I just wanted to make sure there were a few other options, so that if I decided to change my major, I wouldn’t have to transfer to a whole new school), visited the campuses and narrowed my list down to:</p>
<p>Harvard
Tufts
Northeastern
Boston University
Simmons (yeah, I know, an all-women-school. not exactly what I was looking for, but they have a Psychobiology program that sounds interesting, and let’s face it, if you’re in the middle of Boston, it doesn’t really make a huge difference)</p>
<p>Since I don’t have a guidance counselor who is familiar with American colleges, it’s hard to find out which colleges are really good and have strong programs. Of course all of them are going to say on their websites, that they’re great in all departments.</p>
How good there program is for my major is uber, superduper important…</p>