<p>Being lucky with a few successful applications, the hardest US college for me to give up was Stanford. It had everything, a great cohort, amazing campus, one of the best faculties for all my options, great weather and well it's Stanford. And the fact that everyone on CC is in love with Stanford only kept making me feel bad about it.</p>
<p>The hardest non-US college for me was University of Melbourne. Simply because all my mates (about 600 of them) are there, and I was offered a free ride and 5K of allowance money each year for four years.</p>
<p>MIT always had been and still is my dream school. I only wrote original essays for MIT, and then changed them around to suit other schools. (which i suggest you dont do, as u will see why) However, the moment that resolved all my fear, removed all my doubts about MIT was when I realised that I had concluded my personal essay to each the other 11 schools with a *"...This is why I want to go to MIT" * - something that I had forgotten to alter since, well subconsciously, I knew it was the whole truth.</p>
<p>How about you? Many of you would have had a few options. What made you decide one over the other? Its quite ironic that before the results are out, most of us wish we make atleast one of our top 5 schools, and that once the results are out, we wish that our choices were more restricted and limited in number.</p>
<p>well it nearly killed me when i realised my mistake. Then i found it hilarious after Cornell was the only school that decided to reject me. My mum found it funny too, i only decided to tell her after my results were out..haha ;)</p>
<p>Three of my schools were very, very hard to give up.</p>
<p>1) Johns Hopkins. I had wanted to go to Johns Hopkins since I was 10. It’s beautiful and the weather is great - not too hot, not too cold. I even got into their BME and everything, but it would’ve cost me about 25,000/year to go there.</p>
<p>2) UChicago. I am in love with the people at this school. Honestly, it’s the only place that I’ve had a late night discussion about the philosophy of politics without feeling out of place. It would’ve cost me about 15,000/year, which was bearable. But I just couldn’t see myself living there. There weren’t many good running trails, the campus was kinda small, the dorms were iffy. Its reputation in the sciences is good, but not overwhelmingly great. And… the grade deflation could kill my GPA. </p>
<p>3) The last school that I had lots of trouble turning down was Ohio State. I had a full ride and more and I love everything about it. The people in honors are sweet, the campus is beautiful, and it’s close enough to home but far enough from home at the same time (about 2 hours). The reasons I turned it down: 87 people from my graduation class are going there, some of the people I need to get away from are going there, and it’s just not on the same level as Duke.</p>
<p>I think I made the right choice. Duke will cost about 15,000/year. While it may not have the same student body as UChicago, the price of Ohio State, or the weather of JHU, I think it is a nice combination of the three.</p>
<p>I got waitlisted or rejected at all of my reaches, so it was pretty much down to Macalester College or George Washington. I ended up choosing Macalester. I’m planning on studying International Studies, and the GW campus is right in the middle of DC, so it was hard to give up all the DC-type resources/opportunities that attending GW would provide me with.</p>
<p>S would say Harvey Mudd. It was the first school he fell in love with, and it was on the list with UChicago until the very end. It beat out MIT and a full ride w/stipend at the in-state flagship. He chose Chicago, but we all have a special place for Mudd in our hearts here.</p>
<p>It was between George Washington University and Michigan State University for me. But it truly came down to
GW gave me no need-based aid (40K a year to pay, even with a 15K scholarship!)
GW has no football team (and not a lot of school spirit in comparison).
GW doesn’t really have a traditional campus
They didn’t send me my acceptance letter until a week before may 1
I really just wanted to go to D.C., I didn’t care that much for the school itself. Then I ended up with an internship in DC staying at GW for the summer…so that just took away my desire to attend there (hence I’m attending MSU in the fall)</p>
<p>It was still really hard to give up because
Elliot school for international affairs. One of the best international relations programs in the country. Numerous concentrations and courses offered in my ideal major
Washington D.C. Internships…big city!!!
It’s a LOT warmer than Alaska (and Michigan, for that matter)</p>
<p>Was my second choice, was cheaper and warmer than my first choice, really liked it when I visited it, and was very sure I was going their till I found out I had gotten into Cornell, which was a complete surprise since I was expecting a rejection.</p>
<p>Even though when I read the acceptance letter to Cornell, I pretty much knew I was going to choose Cornell since it was my first choice and I did like it a bit better, I still put off making a final decision for 3 weeks as I didn’t want to lose the option of Georgia Tech.</p>
<p>1) Washington Univ Of St. Louis + Danforth Scholarship: Wash U Was A Great Universities. I Got A Full Ride To Go There Basically. It Is Good For Pre-med. However, The Location Of The Campus (st. Louis) Didn’t Suit Me.</p>
<p>2) Johns Hopkins: Didn’t Get Into Bme. But Got Into Their School</p>
<p>3) Tufts: Excellent School But Not Enough Aid</p>
<p>4) Princeton: Too Rich Classy</p>
<p>5) Harvard: Dream School But Didn’t Pull Through With The Aid</p>
<p>I Ended Up Choosing Duke B/c Duke Has Eveyrthing. Sports,social Life, And Academics.</p>
<p>Bates College in Maine was the toughest for me. Got waitlisted and wound up taking the scholarship money to Providence. Don’t regret it at all anymore but it was tough at the time.</p>
<p>It was tough to turn down Boston University. I probably wouldn’t have been as academically challenged there (I’m in the honors program at UConn, where I’m headed, but I wouldn’t be an honors kid at BU), and I’d be out an extra several thousand dollars each year…but damn, I love the city of Boston so much. I had to pick UConn- it’s the better school for me, no doubt- but Storrs just can’t compete in the location department.</p>
<p>Sarah Lawrence. It boiled down to Mount Holyoke v Sarah Lawrence during the month of April. Scripps had accepted me but didn’t send me a financial aid offer until a few days before the May 1st deadline. Among other reasons, this kind of booted them out of the decision although the idea of the 5 Colleges and California weather made this a depressing end to a lovely prospect.</p>
<p>I ended up choosing Mount Holyoke but felt for a short time as if I were losing out on an AMAZING academic opportunity at Sarah Lawrence. My overnight host described it as “intellectual spoiling - you don’t realize how good you have it until you take a class elsewhere or talk to someone who goes to another school.”</p>
<p>As I register for classes and have in the back of my mind all of the requirements I will eventually have to meet, I wonder if I am truly missing out on true academic freedom. I know that I am completely happy with MHC and couldn’t be more excited for the fall, but Sarah Lawrence will always have a fond place in my heart.</p>
<p>Well, I applied ED to Wesleyan, so I don’t know what other schools I would have actually gotten into. But when it came to deciding to apply ED (and therefore give up any other potential options) the hardest school to give up was Brown, which, before I visited Wes overnight I was sure was my #1 choice. I’ll admit part of it was that it was hard to give up the chance at the Ivy league label. But there was also the gorgeous campus, the larger number of creative writing classes, the possibility of taking classes at RISD, and the city location.</p>
<p>Given the acceptances and rejects for other applicants at Brown from my school that year, I probably wouldn’t have gotten in (the only people who did were male legacies), but when it came down to choosing between Brown and Wes for ED, it felt like I was giving a lot up by not taking a shot at Brown. I’m still 100% happy with my choice (in fact, I’m probably even happier than I was at the time!), but it was definitely hard.</p>
<p>cornell: gave me a scholarship and made me a national scholar</p>
<p>northwestern: evanston is just a great area and a beautiful place</p>
<p>georgia tech: originally was a president’s scholarship semifinalist and was almost certain i would end up there… ended up getting one bad recommendation</p>
<p>clemson: raised here… and they gave me a full ride plus honors college… very tough to turn down</p>
<p>but i’m going to duke and happier than ever</p>