I am a QuestBridge Finalist and I have 4 free commonapp waivers from collegeboard so I can apply to all 17 for free. Basically I just have to pay for ACT/SAT/CSS Profile fees. Totals up to around $550 for all, which isn’t that bad.
This is my list:
Stanford
Princeton
MIT
Harvey Mudd
Caltech
Columbia
Cornell
Harvard
UPenn
Brown
USC
Duke
Northwestern
John Hopkins
Rice
Vanderbilt
Dartmouth
I looked over all the supplements and I’m trying to narrow down my list but I notice a lot of these colleges don’t have very long supplements. Most I can just copy and paste some essays I’ve already written then edit the ending to tailor towards the school. I can probably complete supplements for half of the schools on this list in a few days.
Also this list is in order of which school I prefer, Stanford being 1. So if I were to cut some off I would cut out schools from the bottom up. Should I go with this plan or should I still try to narrow? I was thinking of cutting out Duke all the way down to Dartmouth but then I looked at the supplements and they were pretty easy so I just decided to leave it on the list. I’ll be working on supplements for the schools on the top of the list first then I’ll probably rush the ones on the bottom.
Oh, I didn’t list the ones I already applied to. I applied to 6 UCs and 2 state schools already, I just didn’t include in this list because I don’t have to worry about completing those apps anymore I have a chance thread from way back, but I think I’m qualified for these schools. Some of my stats is 4.0 unweighted rank 1, 35 ACT.
I’m pretty sure I’ll get good financial aid for any of these schools. My family makes 50k for family 6.
In another thread, you mention mechanical engineering. You may want to prune the list to eliminate schools which are not as good for that major, like Dartmouth (where ABET accredited engineering degrees typically take more than 4 years). You may also want to consider academic and social aspects unique to each school to see if they are desirable or undesirable. For example:
Caltech, Harvey Mudd: academics are said to be like "drinking from a fire hose".
Caltech, Harvey Mudd, MIT, Columbia: heavy core curricula.
Harvard, Harvey Mudd: general engineering major; check course offerings to see if your mechanical interests will be satisfied.
Princeton, Harvard, Penn, MIT: heavy Wall Street / consulting recruiting.
Dartmouth: most students join fraternities and sororities.
Various different sizes and urban/suburban/rural settings.
Do most students live on campus all four years, versus just the first and maybe second year?
UCs, CSUs: much higher representation of lower and middle income students than the private schools you list. The private schools you list skew very heavily toward those from upper income families (even many of the financial aid recipients are from upper income families; typically, about half of students at these private schools come from families wealthy enough to pay list price without financial aid), though Columbia and USC somewhat less so than the others.
If you want to maintain that long of a list, consider colleges which are free to apply to.
If you’re not willing to budge, consider:
Who you are (GPA, test scores, ability to fit within the student body, what the colleges are aiming for in their admitted student body, the bases of their curricula/liberal arts or something more cutthroat? what is their aid/your budget like?)
Who you want to be in college (do you like rural or urban areas? do you want to party all night or study all night? do you prefer quieter areas? do you want a smaller student body or do you not care? what do you want to major in and how are their departments?)
Who you want to be post-undergrad (career? masters? internship opportunities, or can you live without? do you want to make tons of money or don’t really care?)
I would get that list down to at most 10 unis.
and… the most important… S A F T I E S. Imagine getting rejected from all of those and not having any university to go. Put in two-three state schools.
All are free to apply but what about test scores? I think it is too many. I don’t mind applying widely to UCs with the single app either. He has safeties and state schools @okon2122 but good idea to try to imagine the environment you prefer.
OP surely has some chances for the most of the schools he listed. But still, if he applies all the schools he listed, he’s going to trade-off his essay quality to number of applications. I am not sure that is a good idea.
Where does a QB student get $550 for fees? $50,000 per year is around $1,000 per week before taxes, so that is taking one week of salary away from your family after taxes.
Please think about WHY you are doing this. It just does not make sense.
Do you know if you would be happy at any and all of those colleges? Is this just about ego - you want the NYT to know if you get accepted to all of them?
At some point you are going to have to narrow this down. What do you really want in a school, other than a prestigious name? Do you want a school in CA, then apply to those. Do you want a large school or small school, city or country, etc.? Pick the ones you like the most and can really see yourself attending and then apply to those. 17 is way too many, and $550 is way too much to spend on applications.
Copying and pasting essays shows a lack of passion towards many of these schools. The question is, why are you applying to _____ school? Just to show you can get in? 26 is excessive! Even your # of state schools seems excessive. What do you want?
I’m of two minds on this. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with it - your scores are within range, you have fee waivers, and you have safeties. I can understand the desire to apply widely, particularly to schools with a reputation for good financial aid.
That being said, it seems likely that your chances will be weakened by copy and pasting essays. If they’re generic enough that you can do that, they probably aren’t strong enough to really impress adcoms. For that reason, I would suggest culling the list. Additionally, it looks very much like you’re just applying to top schools without much discretion. Do you really think you’d be at happy at Brown as you would be at Columbia? The schools vary so much in academic structure and social environments. It’s not impossible that you do genuinely like them all for their own merits, but it does seem unlikely.
Ultimately, it’s up to you, but I would say don’t sacrifice the quality of your supplements for the quantity of schools you’re applying to.
The number of instate schools is not excessive given the UCs do encourage that students apply widely and Lat year was really really tough, many did not get in where expected. Anyway those apps are closed and done. If you are lucky you will get some no loan offers from the privates.
I have a chance thread from way back, but I think I’m qualified for these schools. Some of my stats is 4.0 unweighted rank 1, 35 ACT.