<p>3 safeties sounds like too many if you're only applying to 1 match and 1 reach.</p>
<p>Wow, great advice dchow! Good criteria for anyone!</p>
<p>I concur. How will the OP indicate to the respective adcoms "I really want to go to this school" or "This school is a great match for me because..."</p>
<p>Currently your only criteria is that it's a stepping stone to med school. That surely is rather banal and shallow. You're dedicated to being a doctor (which you don't know what it'll be like) but can't research your undergraduate choice? The two just don't add up. I don't mean to be harsh but it's inadequate thinking.</p>
<p>My main concern as I said earlier is acceptance. I think a few people mentioned how bad it would suck if you got turned down from all 8. As for narrowing it down, I couldn't agree with you guys more. The other main criteria I have for narrowing my schools down is research/internship opportunities. Where can I find information on that?</p>
<p>Btw the colleges I have picked out are all top notch for my major (biomed), I hope to go to med school so I applied to many colleges that offer a BA/MD program even though I would probably not go to those if not for the program. I would say those are my long shots so should I drastically narrow those down or just go for it?</p>
<p>As long as you choose 2-3 safeties wisely, you shouldn't have to be worried about being rejected by all your colleges.</p>
<p>anoore: Don't just pick a college because it has a good premed program. That's just a horrible idea. Why don't you give us your list? That way we can give more specific help. For research/internship opportunities, you should look on the colleges' websites. Ask current students or alums about them. </p>
<p>You wouldn't go to a lot of the schools if not for the program!!!??? That's a BAD sign. Don't apply to a college you would hate if it didn't have a good biomed program.</p>
<p>Again, what's your list?</p>
<p>My cousin is applying to over 20 colleges. It's because he's so desperate to get into a top college. However, he does have the grades and the perfect test scores to do it.</p>
<p>I'm probably going to apply to 10-12 colleges. I have like 4-5 safeties and mostly matches, but even though they are matches, it doesn't guarantee me admission to those schools.</p>
<p>Am I the only one doing one safety? UT Austin, I'm in Texas so I'm safe no matter what =P</p>
<p>I think I'm doing...</p>
<p>1 Safety
1-2 Matches
3-5 Reaches</p>
<p>dchow, sorry let me clarify what I said. I meant to say that I would not apply to the college and go to their undergrad school if it wasn't for their BA/MD. I say this because some of the undergrad programs offered at those schools aren't great but their grad medicine is excellent. That is what I meant to say.</p>
<p>As for the list, I broke it up into undergrad and simple BA/MD programs (remember, I am just considering these so I need help cutting the list down :) </p>
<p>Undergrad bio med:
Johns Hopkins University (MD)
Duke University (NC)
Georgia Institute of Technology
University of Pennsylvania
Case Western Reserve Univ. (OH)
Boston University
Rice University (TX)
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor *
Northwestern University (IL)
Vanderbilt University (TN)
Washington University in St. Louis
University of Virginia *
West Virginia University</p>
<p>BA/MD Programs:
George Washington University
Baylor/Baylor
Baylor/Rice
Brown University
Boston University
Stony Brook University
Case Western Reserve University
Jefferson Medical College/Penn State University
University of Southern California (Keck School)
Northwestern University
Stony Brook University
UCLA
University of Cincinnati
University of Connecticut
University of Miami (Miller)
UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
University of Rochester</p>
<p>I don't think it's fair to say "20 is too many." People who need merit scholarships often apply to 15-20-- they're looking for not only admissions reaches, matches, and safeties, but also financial aid reaches, matches, and safeties. </p>
<p>Also, many schools are free to apply online, take the Common App, and don't require additional essays for their supplements. You can check out the supplements on the Common App website.</p>
<p>Twenty is, in my opinion, at least 12 too many. I applied to five, two safeties, two matches, one reach. One of the matches I applied to at the last minute, "just because". All four of the others I would be happy going to.</p>
<p>It's truly bizarre. Everyone complains about selectivity of colleges today, and you all are really why they've become to selective. If everyone applies to 20 schools, where do you think the state of admissions is going to be in another 5 or 10 years?</p>
<p>anoore: Group your schools into schools that you'll have a 25% chance of admission to, 50%, 75%, and 90%. Then find ways to differentiate the schools. That's how to eliminate colleges.</p>
<p>Look at the post that had a bunch of questions to ask students and yourself. That will help separate what you want from what you don't want.</p>
<p>Excellent advise dchow, I will do that...and for URichmond2010, think about it this way, just because people apply to more and more colleges, the right people still get into these colleges the only reason the acceptance rate goes down is b/c of the increased applicant. The same number of people usually still get picked. Also as more problems arise from people applying to a college, getting into that college and choosing a different college, the wait-listing process should help with that.</p>
<p>But what colleges from anyone's experience do you think I can eliminate due to lack of good research opportunities and internships?</p>
<p>I'll be applying to prob 15 or more. I'm cutting my work by applying to about 8 of them EA and depending on how that goes, another 8 or so Regular Decision. All the colleges on my list I've researched and would feel extremely happy at each, and after I see which I'm accepted at I'll have to do some deep soul-searching to find which one I believe is the best.</p>
<p>There could be very good reasons to apply to 15-20 colleges in the RD round. </p>
<p>1) You apply mostly to very selective colleges</p>
<p>2) You are dependent on financial aid </p>
<p>3) You have no particular hook </p>
<p>4) You care more about the quality of a program of study than size or location of the school </p>
<p>If you apply to most highly selective colleges (top 10 U or LAC) your chances of admission are very low even if you have very high SAT scores and are in the top 2% of your class. </p>
<p>After an SCEA deferral, My D ended up applying to 18 colleges RD, all with outstanding programs in neuroscience. Her stats were solid and according to the school counselor was qualified for all the colleges she applied to. (Just as 50,000 other applicants!). </p>
<p>We used a conservative approach and grouped colleges in three categories as follows:</p>
<p>Reaches: SAT scores between the 25% and 50% percentiles</p>
<p>Matches: SAT scores between the 50% and 75% percentiles</p>
<p>Safeties: SAT scores above the 75% percentile. </p>
<p>Of the 18 colleges, 8 were reaches, 8 were matches and 2 were safeties. </p>
<p>She ended up being accepted at 8 colleges , 2 reaches (25%), 4 matches (50%) and 2 safeties (100%). She was also waitlisted at 4 colleges (all matches) and rejected outright at 6 colleges (all reaches). The 2 reaches had great financial aid packages (mostly grant), the matches had generally poor packages (mostly loans) and one safety offered nothing, the other a full tuition scholarship (the only school with merit aid). </p>
<p>In the end only two reaches and one safety offered optimal packages. It was not clear she could have reduced her list of reaches as those that accepted her were not those she would have predicted based on perceived "fit". Among the matches, half waitlisted her, possibly because of the financial need, raising some doubt regarding the "need blind" admission policies of some colleges. Since the other matches had relatively poor packages, she would probably have had to enroll at her safety had she trimmed her list further. </p>
<p>Although the cost of multiple applications and the large number of college visits (16 out of 18) were concerns they were minimal compared to the potential benefits of an acceptance to a top school with a good finaid package. Most essays were recycled and most applications used the Common App.</p>
<p>So cutting your application list is easier said than done as you never know which college will accept you and which will reject you, even with your best efforts at finding the ideal fit.</p>
<p>Abosultely amazing story. Appreciate you sharing that, very informative. Do you know how she juggled all of those essays? Common App maybe (can you use the same essay for multiple colleges)? </p>
<p>Also what college did she end up choosing?</p>
<p>I completely agree with cellardweller. Now hypothetically imagine if the person had not applied to as many colleges, and then got rejected? Dont listen to ppl who say "TOO MANY APS OMG OGM OMG OMGOMG!!!!!" because all that will do is lessen your freedom of choice and possible success in your future. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by filling out more aps.</p>
<p>Nothing to lose except time and overall quality of your applications, and money too.</p>
<p>Here's the thing: it'll really do you no good to apply to a lot of colleges thinking that, statistically, you have a better shot (unless you're a borderline applicant). If you're not good enough for college A, then you're probably not good enough for colleges B, C, D and E either, assuming they're all of the same caliber. If you're a borderline applicant, then theoretically applying to more will boost your chances of getting in.</p>
<p>Likewise, if you're good enough for college V, you're also probably going to get into colleges W, X, Y and Z (give or take), assuming they're of the same caliber.</p>
<p>I agree with you goldshadow, however the variability of acceptance these days is driving kids like me and others on this thread to go overboard on college selections b/c nothing is guarenteed. </p>
<p>As for time, I can manage. I am worried about quality though as you mentioned which leads me to this question. For the common app can you use your essay multiple times for colleges and then just do their suplemental? And is the essays on the common app the same as the college app essays?</p>
<p>I know from personal experience that 20 is WAYYYY too much. Take it down to 10. I wish I could turn back time and do that.. Quality goes down when you get into that level of tedium. There are too many supplemental essays, and it comes to a point when every school looks the same. Heed my advice, DO NOT APPLY TO 20 SCHOOLS. </p>
<p>good luck!</p>
<p>
[quote]
If you're not good enough for college A, then you're probably not good enough for colleges B, C, D and E either, assuming they're all of the same caliber.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That is simply false. Among the most selective schools, candidates are routinely rejected at one college and accepted at another of equal or higher caliber. Some colleges do want to admit too many students whose stats are much average as they believe (often rightly so) that they are targeted as safeties. </p>
<p>Few students are ever accepted by all HYPSM or among LACs at all WASP. Student can be accepted at Harvard and rejected at Penn, Duke or Brown even though Harvard may be statistically more difficult to get into. There are just too many qualified applicants that in the end so that chance plays a significant role. Deans of top colleges all claim they could easily fill two or three classes with exactly the same caliber of student. Because of this large pool of qualified applicants, probabilities do play a role. The more applications you file the greater your chances of being accepted to at least ONE school, of course assuming you are a qualified applicant to all schools. </p>
<p>There also appears to be no consistent pattern of admission that would help you make a better assessment of your a priori chances of admission and shorten your list. At our D's high school, they go sometimes for several years without anybody being admitted at Harvard and then suddently 4 are admitted the same year for no obvious reason. For Yale it can vary betwen 1 and 8. Columbia has become very unpredictable. So has Brown. Yourchances could behigher or lower depending on facts outside of your control: in some years some profiles of applicants are more common or the adcoms want to attract more students from other parts of the country. </p>
<p>The last situation you want to be in is second guess yourself, fail to get into any of your reasonable reaches and possibly leave out a school of equal caliber and interest where you could well have been admitted. We never found that the extra work involved with a few applications was a deterrent. Most supplemental essays are only a few paragraphs. You also find your essays get better over time. Same thing with interviews as you learn what to expect and are much less nervous and more natural. So in our case we actually felt quality of the application went up as we added schools. </p>
<p>Especially if you ask for financial aid do not ever believe the admissions process is completely need blind. Only a very small group of colleges with huge endowments can freely admit anybody without consideration for their need. All colleges have a target financial aid budget and as the admissions process advances colleges monitor where they stand relative to their budget at any point in time. So even if you are an admissible candidate, the college could well reject or waitlist you if it believes it is getting above its target.</p>
<p>So again, it would be nice to have a short list of colleges with reasonable chances of admission for each. The experience at our HS is that kids with too short a list often failed to get into any of their reaches, while students sometimes signficantly lower ranked did get admitted to top colleges. Many parents were very upset with school counselors whom they felt had misled them about their real chances of admission in the crazy current cycle. Old rules simply no longer apply.</p>