Duke, Baruch, or BUST

Where you get into college has become a winner-take-all proposition. At least, that's what certain schools would like you to think. But now some families are choosing to defy conventional wisdom and take their chips off the table.

- NICOLE LAPORTE

Clara is a mother whose son is a rising senior at an elite private school in Miami. For the past few years, as his peers have been beefing up on extracurriculars and thinking about how best to translate their "passions" into projects that will stand out to college admissions officers, Clara's son hasn't been doing any of those things. And Clara is thrilled.

Having watched acceptance rates plummet to the single digits as the cost of college has skyrocketed, Clara's family is happily resigned to not gunning for the Ivy League and the top 25 schools that most of her peer group sees as the crowning achievement of a gilded high school career. This means that her son is limiting the number of Advanced Placement courses he takes to five throughout high school (some kids take as many as 12), and "if he says he feels like he doesn't want to do soccer this term because there's too much on his plate? No problem," Clara says.

$90K Estimated cost of attendance, including tuition and room and board, for one year at Duke University.

"We decided his health and wellness are much more important than getting a weighted 5 GPA, having no social life, being stressed, and doing homework until two in the morning" she says. "We're filling our hearts with family memories, enjoying family dinners, and going on bike rides."

Clara (her name has been changed) admits her attitude is "counterculture, but she says it's the result of a landscape that, at least at highly selective universities, is more often than not about rejection. "So why kill ourselves to get into a school we can't get into?"

Instead, the family is exploring cheaper, less competitive state school options in places like Florida, Texas, and Illinois. "Some of the larger universities give merit aid and also have better research facilities. Think of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Some of its programs have very competitive admissions rates."