<p>a guy in our high school turned down Princeton for a full ride to The U of Minn</p>
<p>One reason for S was the size of the program. He chose a larger school (not too big) over a smaller one because the size of the faculty and the breadth of offerings within his expected major(s) were of some concern at the smaller one.</p>
<ul>
<li>scholly??? ha ha, that’s a new one for me, mom2collegekids.</li>
</ul>
<p>there are a lot of great stories and important pieces of information in this thread. but i don’t think i have the heart to take anyone who abbreviates “scholarship” as “scholly” seriously in any capacity.</p>
<p>My mom really pushed for Colgate and William and Mary. I chose U of Del. I drove my parents insane. Stated I would only consider schools in FL. Toured my couple options but wasn’t crazy about either. Driving back to NJ, I told my father to pull off when I saw the sign for U Del. He refused to get out of the car. I toured it and announced that’s where I’d go. Just a better fit for me (based purely on misguided impressions probably. I assumed everyone at those private schools would be rich, snobby preps.) So here many years later, I toured Colgate with my son and our tour guide showed up in a golf shirt and pink dockers (a navy belt with dolphins). I literally burst out laughing. It was just what I had expected. My son was had it with me and the guide. She drove him nuts, saying “like” every three words… My mother had high hopes he would attend but he took it off his list upon returning. Truly, I think it had more to do with the rural location and he decided he preferred a city location.</p>
<p>If we’re talking about “rankings”, my son turned down Yale and Duke for Brown. He liked all 3 but Brown’s acceptance came with a guaranteed med school acceptance. That was a huge bonus. Brown does cost us (a bit) more than Yale and definitely more than the free ride at Rutgers but applying to med school/flying all over for interviews has a high cost too. So now as a junior pre-med, he’s studying abroad, taking no major or pre-med requirements, off sightseeing/traveling Friday-Monday. Although many of the ADULTS gave him a hard time about passing up Yale, I think he’s very happy with how it’s worked out. Prior to senior year of HS, he was ignorant of how difficult and time consuming the med school application process has become. He initially had no plans to even apply to combined programs. I encouraged him to consider a few. He now considers himself lucky. Many of his pre-med friends are stressed out about every grade and they’re working hard to complete their required classes, gearing up for med school apps, MCATs, etc. </p>
<p>BTW, he says he would have turned down those schools for UMiami’s med school program as well. He was offered a full tuition scholarship there, but not the med school program, so he didn’t consider it. But prestige wasn’t the important factor for him.</p>
<p>Maybe a change in heart is in order, Jax. If the information is truly good, to ignore it because you don’t like someone’s whimsical abbreviation, is folly, in my opinion.</p>
<p>It’s very british, scholly. They’d take her seriously at Oxbridge.</p>
<p>My DD also turned down higher ranked schools when she decided she only wanted a BFA program in Graphic Design. She wanted a Design School within a university. That decision totally changed her thinking and her options. But it all worked out. She graduated with Highest Honors from RIT, with her BFA and a minor in Communications. She took almost 200 credits (qtr system), including a study abroad term in Florence. RIT offered her both Merit $ and FA, costing us less than if she attended our state U. More importantly, she visited them 5 times (twice in winter) to be sure. Every time they showed her love. She definitely felt welcomed there, even til the day she left. In fact, she was one of five GD students (out of almost 90) who were given awards by her dept faculty at graduation. Important in my view, she graduated with 3 job offers in hand, two of which she was interested in. She began work two weeks after graduation and she just announced she’s made enough to pay off her school loans. </p>
<p>So, while some teachers and friends shook their heads that she didn’t choose a higher ranked school, I think she did quite well for herself and she is now free to go wherever and do whatever she wishes.</p>
<p>My son wanted a Musical Theatre program. Not drama, not theater, not a BA but a BFA, and it really made his choices very lean, as these programs do not accept many kids. He turned down some highly desirable schools because he was not accepted to the BFA MT programs at the schools, and went to a state school where he was accepted to the program.</p>
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<p>Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the winner of the Unprovoked Bile Award for jerkiest post of the day. (This is award is customarily presented by a past winner, by the way. 
)</p>
<p>^^ <em>claps for winner</em></p>
<p>I am so proud of them… :,)</p>
<p>DD1 turned down Cornell for Carnegie Mellon because she felt that CMU was a better fit for her. Spent four productive years there, graduated with honors, and she’s now in grad school. Her decision and it was the right one for her. Cost was not a factor. Neither was Ivy vs. not.</p>
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<p>Since I’m the one who wrote “scholly,” I thought I’d let you know…</p>
<p>I don’t think I have the heart to take anyone who doesn’t capitalize the word “I” seriously in any capacity.</p>
<p>D2 chose Amherst over MIT though both were recruiting her. Not sure Amherst counts as being ranked lower than MIT. Amherst is a much better fit for her - she knew that after visiting both.</p>
<p>I am not sure how much influence cost had in my son’s decision. He chose the lowest ranked school that accepted him-- it was also the lowest cost (although Tulane was very close). Once the acceptances were in, he/we looked at the “base cost” as the cost of the lowest cost school and then asked about each of the others: Does he prefer it to the base school and if so, why? Some, like UVA were tossed immediately as they were perceived by son as being much less desirable (some of this was a mystery to me, such as his flat refusal to even go look at USC). He quickly narrowed it down to just WashU and American. I think, but am not sure, that cost was his reason for choosing American, although location also played a big role.</p>
<p>Sister’s friend turned down Yale for URochester. Cost was probably a pretty big factor, but Rochester gave her a $5000 research grant, and supposedly even the Yale adcom told her that Rochester would probably work better for her as a physics major.</p>
<p>son was accepted to a top 10 and a top 20 USNWR ranked school, but we could not justify paying the $53K/yr, he went to in state flagship school at $20K/yr. If he had been accepted to HYP (wasn’t), we would have paid for this, but not for the other “top” twenty private schools.</p>
<p>My daughter turned down several more highly ranked universities to attend Kansas State University. Her reasons:</p>
<ol>
<li> One of the best animal science departments (her major) in the U.S.;</li>
<li> Offered admission to K-State’s veterinary scholars program which guarantees her a seat in K-State’s College of Veterinary Medicine conditioned upon her successful completion of the undergraduate prerequisite courses and a minimum cumulative GPA;</li>
<li> Great merit scholarship offer, and she’ll have very little, if any, undergraduate debt.</li>
<li> She really liked the school upon visiting.</li>
</ol>
<p>Turned out to be a great choice. She’s really happy there, doing well, and will be entering vet school in less than two years.</p>
<p>thanks guys, award well received.</p>
<p>maybe i should try to contribute to this thread in order to repent.</p>
<p>this application season im probably going to be deciding between UIUC and Indiana for business. I am in-state for UIUC, but Indiana is going to end up being cheaper because of scholarships. Across the board, UIUC is the higher ranked school, but in business it is pretty even (arguably?). i just got back from a visit at Indiana and am much more impressed by its campus and overall feel of the student body, so right now that’s where im leaning. i do plan to visit both schools at least one more time this year before making the final decision, though.</p>
<p>Someone from my high school turned down Yale for an in-state community college, so he could attend the same school as his girlfriend. They’ve since broken up.</p>