This is a very good point. Back when I was applying to undergrad schools, financial aid offices were much less aggressive, but in today’s environment, it pays to play the schools against each other.

For business school, it matters less, since all the B-schools have loan programs (the banks figure that Harvard MBAs are a good credit risk).

As for Yale, I’m only half serious. Harvard and Yale are traditional rivals, so I’m obligated to do a little Yale-bashing. For undergrad, I’d actually rather send my kids to Stanford than to Harvard or Yale. Stanford is a much more supportive environment.

How about “would I pay $10,000 for this opportunity”? Why obfuscate it any more?

“I disagree on the applying part; applying to more schools often opens up scholarship money at the school you want to go to.”

Excellent point; this is external to Chris’s model.

“Personally I would rather go into business rather than law; but I have pretty much no business background/connections. Even supposing I could wrangle a good job at a financial institution somehow, there is in my opinion little chance of scoring a good business school.”

They say the most important thing you learn at business school is your classmates’ phone numbers. You don’t have to be well-connected to get in, but you do have to make an effort once they’ve set it all up for you. Getting an internship in the company or industry you want to work in is the best way to break in. And the best way to do that is to get into the right school (or already have the qualifications, which you don’t think is the case).