<p>My sister turned down Princeton for Carleton (much to the chagrin of our headmaster) because of the atmosphere during her visits.</p>
<p>Carleton and Rice seem to inspire a lot of kids to turn down more prestigious schools.</p>
<p>I love this thread because I am learning about schools that were outside of S1 radar.</p>
<p>Your student has to be comfortable and enjoy being on the campus they select. My daughter turned down what are probably 3 more prestigious schools for the school she is attending…although she is still attending a very good school. We visited each of the schools and the school she selected “felt right” and that is not as subjective as it sounds. Besides the academics, she liked the size, location, the attitude of the administration and the students, and the extracurriculars offered to the students.</p>
<p>Daughter turned down Chicago, Georgetown, and full tuition to U. Maryland College Park (our flagship) for Pitt. Chicago and Georgetown would have be five times the cost for us. Last week I heard the words I’ve been waiting for: “Pitt is awesome [a word I was shocked to hear from MY DD]. I love it.” She loves the city and her current majors: Japanese and physics.</p>
<p>We know a few kids who turned down UMD for Pitt and were happy with their choice. One is now doing a PhD at CMU. We went to check out Pitt based on the good reports we heard, but S2 decided big schools were not this thing.</p>
<p>I turned down higher ranked universities because of scholarships. I was offered a basically full ride to the school I am at now. If I could do it again, I probably would choose a higher ranked school because I did have some partial scholarships. Still, graduating debt free is/will be a blessing.</p>
<p>My daughter turned down Emory, Boston College, Wisconsin and Wake Forest for the University of Richmond. The money was roughly the same. Boston College would have been
more. The school fit her and she loves it.</p>
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<p>As a Carleton alum, I think this is interesting. I’m not sure I’d have done the same. Carleton was a stretch for me and I went early admission. </p>
<p>The good thing about many of these smaller liberal arts schools is their excellent placement into grad school. Check out this list below about the undergrad institutions of PhD recipients in the US. Carleton and other small liberal arts schools do exceedingly well. For many students, these small liberal arts schools may be the better long term fit.</p>
<p>[REED</a> COLLEGE PHD PRODUCTIVITY](<a href=“http://www.reed.edu/ir/phd.html]REED”>Doctoral Degree Productivity - Institutional Research - Reed College)</p>
<p>The strange thing is that besides getting into grad school, I really have trouble seeing the actual benefit of the undergrad institution…at least in my life. Even for getting into grad school the actual prestige factor is hard to define and really debatable. Often these grad schools factor letters of recommendation and research opportunities as a huge part of the admissions decision. Small school like Carleton can excel at this.</p>
<p>10-20 years ago, the same discussion would probably have had a significant number of students mentioning USC or Vandenberg or other schools which are now very highly thought of. It’s interesting reading this thread to get a feel for schools that are comers.</p>
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<p>JHS, that’s hilarious. </p>
<p>Friend of the family took WUSTL over Harvard. The former offered a full ride, but I doubt money was an issue for the family. </p>
<p>Kids at D1’s school regularly turn down what some may regard as more prestigious private acceptance for UCs. They know that grad/med/law school are in their futures, and they are conserving their resources.</p>
<p>In a last minute, nail biting decision a friend of my oldest several years ago chose Colorado College over Harvard, he just didn’t want to be in Boston and couldn’t envision himself at Harvard when push came to shove. I had visions of our guidance office staff drinking heavily after that one.</p>
<p>I’ve known “warm-weather” kids who’ve turned down highly ranked NE schools because after visiting during the winter months, the kids realized what cold really means. LOL</p>
<p>Money and atmosphere and overall she was not impressed with the level of academics
(at one of the 7 sisters).</p>
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<p>Don’t kid yourself, new england isn’t cold. Check out Minnesota in January.</p>
<p>^^^
Ha, ha, my kid thought UC Berkeley was too cold.</p>
<p>I turned down Emory and Northwestern to go to Smith. Cost was a major factor, but so was the strong feeling that it would be easier for me to make friends at Smith. I’m sure I would’ve been happy enough wherever I went, but I LOVED college and feel like I made a great decision. </p>
<p>When it came time to choose a grad school, I again went with a place that was slightly lower-ranked but was cheaper and friendlier, and had a very good experience. It’s not necessarily the right decision for everyone, but since I’m pretty introverted and shy, I wanted to feel confident I’d be able to find a good ground of friends.</p>
<p>D turned down Harvard for Yale because she said that people at Yale seemed happier, friendlier, more enthusiastic about the school, and that Yale impressed her as being more supportive of the humanities. The scholarships were roughly the same at both schools.</p>
<p>I love how three of the most active threads on the Parents forum right now are about reasons why students rejected a college either by not applying or by turning down an admissions offer. Quite a change from all the usual threads about how hard it is to be accepted by a college!</p>
<p>Students seem to have all sorts of rational and irrational (but frequently unpredictable) reasons to reject a college. Why are we surprised then that colleges can also be really unpredictable, and yes, even irrational when it comes to rejecting applicants?</p>
<p>A neighbor’s son turned down Yale for a fourth tier state public because the sport he played was more competitive there. I was the only one around who raised eyebrows on that one. Everyone else thought it was a great idea.</p>
<p>I hope the neighbor’s son ended up going pro in that sport!</p>