So I am currently going back and forth between two colleges. Both are offering the same financial aid and both are ranked relatively well. School A is ranked about 30 spots better, is closer to home (which is a plus for me), and I have a few friends going there. School B is still ranked in the top 100, has a much nicer campus and surrounding area. For the specific major I am looking at they are both ranked really well. I am planning to go to graduate school so is it better to go to one ranked the best? Or is better to go to the other one, and have a better chance of standing out? Any advice appreciated!
If you are referring to the USNWR rankings, check the respective schools’ overall scores. That should give you a more meaningful indication of how widely they are separated.
If you are looking at USNWR, you probably can stop worrying about ranking. Grad schools and employers don’t care about that at all.
If the financial aid is merit-based, find out what you need to do to keep the scholarships in future years, and whether or not it adjusts upward as costs increase. If the aid is financial aid is need-based, find out what adjustments you can expect in future years - for example, some places will expect that students earn more in the summer and that they take on the larger loan federal loan amounts.
If the costs really do work out to be the same, you can make your decision based on whatever other random factor strikes your fancy.
Honestly it’d be easier if you just said what the colleges are. It’ll help in measuring the difference in academic quality, strength of major, reputation, etc, etc, since that’s what you want us to address;