Hello everyone!! I am currently a senior in high school and I plan on officially submitting my first college application tomorrow!!!
We had a senior assembly today on what we were planning on doing after high school, which sparked a discussion at my lunch group about colleges. I asked my friends where they were applying to colleges and it seems I’m applying to a lot more than everyone else. I’ve been working on my applications since they opened on August 1st, and of course I’ve been working on the common app essay since April and my teacher recommendations are already submitted to naviance connections, so I’m not too concerned about the workload of applications being overwhelming (it will be a lot of work, but nothing I can’t handle) but I’m still worried Im applying to too many.
So I’m currently planning on applying to 14 different universities.
Here is what they are:
Notre Dame (top choice)
Yale (an obvious reach,but hey, why not?)
Vanderbilt (second choice)
Boston College (third choice)
Duke (reach)
Emory (I would like to say match but these days you never know)
University of Maryland (my state school)
Elon (safety)
Indiana bloomington (safety)
Illinois Urbana campaign (safety)
Pepperdine (safety)
Wake Forest (safety)
Villanova (somewhere between a match and a safety)
Pennstate (safety)
Can you afford the reaches, if you happen to get into one?
I would like to see a couple of choices that you would be thrilled to attend if the reaches don’t work out, either admissions-wise or financially. Would that be your state school, Maryland? Any others? Don’t apply to any safety that you wouldn’t be happy to attend. Safeties/matches are better bets for many reasons, and they require more of your attention.
That seems like a lot and they seem to be different type of colleges. A suggestion is to write down what you are looking for in a college and then compare what you are looking for to the list. Maybe you’ll find that you won’t need to apply to all 14.
Can you give us some of your stats? Test scores, GPA,class rank. Also, please tell us if finances are a concern for you and your family. You don’t have to give details, but if you know you will be full pay and can only afford $10K/year for college, that changes the answers that you will get here.
If you know your intended major, or that you want to go to med school or law school, mention that as well. Undergrad student loan debt is especially bad if you know going in you will have such large grad school loans.
I’m applying to 8-10. I would try and cut at least 4 off the list. 14 is not CRAZY but it will be a lot of work and money that probably is not necessary!
Just apply to schools you would actually attend if you got in, whether your list is 10 or 20 doesn’t matter (if you can afford it and have time to do apps) as much as only spending time on a school you see yourself at. You don’t want to regret not applying to a school come April, but don’t apply to so many that your application quality goes down across the board.
Do not compare what you are doing to what your friends are doing. Frankly, I wouldn’t discuss details…if asked how many, answer something like, “a bunch or pretty many” or other vague term. Keep your college application process private - this is your future, doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing.
14 would make sense if you need competitive merit scholarships or a large financial aid package. However, if you’re applying to Penn State and uiuc where you’re likely to be full pay, either you can afford 50k a year or you haven’t run the NPC 's yet.
According to the NPC, is each school affordable?
Agree, Wake isn’t a safety. You only need a couple of safeties if you are being honest about your stats. You have one mega reach, four high reaches. Of course we don’t know your stats, but I think this list is easy to whittle down. Get rid of two safeties and two reaches. Done.
IU Bloomington does rolling admission, so you should hear within 4 weeks of application. If you were applying as a direct admit to Kelley School of Business at IU, I don’t know if those decisions come out at the same time or not. But a quick acceptance to IU, particularly if you are thinking B school at some on those list, could remove some of your extra safeties.
Wake not a safety for anyone.
If ND is your top choice and IF you have super high stats (like 34+), then you might consider applying EA to ND. However, mere mortals should not apply EA to ND because the pool is much more competitive and students are rejected. If ND really is your top choice, then you should be in contact with your regional admissions counselor to get advice about whether you are a good candidate for EA at ND.
Instead of 6 safeties, apply to one safety and five reaches. Apply to as many colleges as your parents will give you application money for. You only apply to college once, and you don’t want to end up going to your safety and regret not applying to more schools. I myself am applying to 18 schools. 1 safety, 3 matches, and 14 reaches.
Please totally ignore the advice of @hhjjlala above. It’s ridiculous to apply to 14 reaches, because it is very obvious that person is treating it like a lottery. Guess what? Most people don’t win the lottery. Most of those colleges will have supplemental essays. They all have to be different, they all involve research, they all have to demonstrate why you are a good fit for that school. If you can’t do some research to see what differentiates one college from another, and why you belong at that college, there is a very high chance that it will be obvious in your essay and that adcoms will see it. They don’t use a “one size fits all approach,” and neither should you, OP.
And remember, you have a hidden class, “College Essays 101.” It’s a time consuming class that no one tells you you will be taking. Do well in this class, and you will do well in admissions.
Did I ever say that you have to use the same essays for every college you apply to?
The only essay you need to spend time on is the “why college x” essay. You have four months to write as many “why college x” essays, and you probably wrote your Common App and some essays that fit generic topics for writing supplements. If you look at the Common Data Sets for many reach schools, they mark student’s level of interest “not considered.” Your character and you will come before the 100 word “why college x” essay. If the supplement essays you wrote for a particular school don’t fit the general topics of other schools, then take the time to write that 200~400 word essay. It’s not difficult, and you have time to leave it alone for a while and come back to it. Again, four more months.
Believe it or not, college admissions is a lottery. If you’re planning on applying to the University of Alabama, great. Expect a full scholarship and an acceptance letter. But when you’re dealing with colleges that reject 90% of qualified applicants because ADMISSIONS OFFICERS PICK AND CHOOSE, you’ll be better off applying to twenty reaches that will improve your career and life prospects. The old professor on the adcom at Yale might like you a lot and push for your acceptance. Your personality might not resonate with any admissions officer at Vanderbilt.
If you don’t have the time, you don’t have to write all the applications.
I don’t know what authority @Lindagaf thinks he/she has, but nobody on this forum, including parents who have sent their kids off to college, have no expertise whatsoever, and to put down others’ advice is disrespectful and presumptuous.
You don’t have to take my advice, but I hope you don’t regret being that guy who applied to just the Ivies and UArk and was forced to attend UArk because he only applied to eight colleges.