I don't think it's realistic to buy and live in the Bay Area or Boston. As others of said, unless you're rich, forget about it. Even if you are, you're probably looking at a break even return on investment (if you're lucky) within a four year period. Rental costs will be far lower than an equivalent mortage payment for the same property in these high cost of living cities.

Some alternative schools:

Cornell (in a small town, ivy league school)
UNC/Duke (Raleigh-Durham is a reasonably priced area and both of these schools are very good)

There are others...a lot of the Big 10 schools are good depending on what your area of study is. It's difficult to recommend schools/areas of the country without an idea of what you're studying.

-dustyn