<p>Please look over my college list and tell me your thoughts. I'm not going to list my stats, except to tell you I have straight As, have taken my school's most challenging courses, and have very good (though imperfect) test scores.</p>
<p>Harvard
Brown
Yale
Swat
Haverford
Wesleyan
Amherst
Vassar
Princeton
Northwestern
Chicago
Georgetown
Emory
Penn
Stanford</p>
<p>and 4 UCs (Cal, LA, SD, and SB).</p>
<p>I'm worried that 1) I'll exhaust myself with so many applications and 2) since almost all these schools are reaches (for anybody), there's a chance I won't get into any of them (except of course the UCs, which I'm guaranteed to get into).</p>
<p>well
1) you're right, you'll be exhausted with them. i remember applying to six or seven.. and even that was exhausting.
2) maybe you should think about safety schools other than UCs?</p>
<p>applying to practically every ivy (except cornell i guess?)... seems like you're going overboard with the list. maybe you should research which schools are actually FOR you, and don't apply for the title.</p>
<p>You're going to have alot of fun writing all the essays. So long as you have all the time to do each and every app (or comman app suppplements) properly, then its fine. Just make sure you the best you can for each app.</p>
<p>Personally- I think 19 school mostly from that top range of reach schools for anyone is a bit overboard.</p>
<p>What are you looking for in a school? The size, location, atmosphere, and academic program (by which I mean strong core at one extreme, no distribution requirements at the other) seems to vary tremendously within your list.</p>
<p>I think you would do better to figure out the places that would be the best matches for you. Inevitably, you will be asked the "why us?" question from each college -- it would be useful to actually have an answer beyond the prestige factor (which won't impress them and may not be conducive to the best college experience for you either).</p>
<p>I know people thought it was strange when my daughter's final decision was between Brown and Chicago, both on your list, since the schools are so different. About the only thing they had in common seemed to be the particular, esoteric academic area she wished to pursue. Having a choice, modest research disclosed that one place was much better suited for her.</p>
<p>My advice would be to visit some schools and see what type of place suits you. Visit as many potential schools as possible (physically or through videotaped tours, <a href="http://www.collegiatechoice.com)%5B/url%5D">www.collegiatechoice.com)</a>. Read what the ratings are in assorted categories at princetonreview; read the opinions of students and alumni at studentsreview. Go to the bookstore and find yourself some of the "what these colleges are really like" books. Explore web sites and see what degree requirements are, the qualifications of professors or any special programs or facilities in your desired field, and what course offerings there are that interest you.</p>
<p>I think you will end up with less than 19 schools you are interested in. You may even find you have pared your list down enough to add in a match school or two.</p>
<p>my guidance counselor would kill me before she let me apply to nineteen schools.
I would try knock atleast five off the list, have you visited these places? That will definitely help you narrow down.</p>
<p>I would recommend applying EA to Chicago and Georgetown. When you get your decisions, you'll be able to see where you fit in the pool and judge which schools you should apply to. If you get into both, only apply to your hardest schools RD. If you get deferred, then take a few far reaches out. If you get rejected from both, apply to a few more safeties and matches. Oh and since the UC deadline is before December (I think November, right?), apply there anyway. And since they have the same app, they don't count at 4 different applications. So if you can pay the fee for four apps at once, go for it, but I think you only need three - choose between SD and SB. Btw the reason why I didn't recommend applying SCEA to Harvard, Yale, and Stanford is that (no offense, but) chances are you will get deferred, which would be a useless indicator of where you stand in the applicant pool and then you would still have 18 schools to apply to.</p>
<p>And yes, visit as many schools as possible. For example, I'm glad I visited William and Mary and Georgetown because I didn't like the schools at all and now I'm not applying to either. If I hadn't visited, they would undoubtedly still be on my list, and I would've had to to go through their apps and fees and deadlines, and then if I got in, I would have to visit anyway and find out I don't like it then. Save yourself some time and energy - visit schools beforehand.</p>
<p>I've visited every school on that list at some point or another. The list represents those schools out of the 25 or so I've visited that I liked best. And, frankly, I could really see myself thriving at any of those schools. I'm a very flexible person and I like trying different things.</p>
<p>Doesn't it make sense, based on simple statistics, that applying to a larger number of schools will result in a larger number of acceptances? My rationale had been that since all of those schools are so selective, I will be admitted to a few of them, and then proceed in making a choice from there. Why limit my options by cutting schools from my list before I've even been accepted or rejected?</p>
<p>i think 19 schools is a lot. of course you are adaptable, but you need to figure out which schools you would adapt to the best. they are all amazing schools and your pocketbook will feel a lot better if you don't apply to all of them. furthermore, some of these schools dont even take the common app so you would have to write original essays. on top of a rigorous senior year courseload, that could be too much.</p>
<p>Please keep in mind that because I am low income, my fees will be waived. Also, I have begun most of my essays already and think I'll be able to handle the workload. Mainly, I'm wondering if my strategy of casting a wide net will even be advantageous.</p>
<p>I am a low-income student too, but you also have to realize that is costs money to send the CSS profile. 17 dollars per school i believe and most people don't get it waived. Meaning I have friends whose families made around 10,000 dollars a year and they still had to pay.
I don't think the cast a wide net thing works. Yes you are more likely to get into schools, but you can't just use straight statistics for college applications. Two examples, I know two people with almost the exact same stats apply to high level schools. One got into 7/8 and when got into half the schools. If you have the stats, you will get in to at least a few. I would just suggest trying to hone down your list. But if you really want to apply to all of these schools, shoot for it.</p>
<p>with a list that long, i'm surprised your not exhausted just thinking about all the work you have to do in the next 2-4 months. I got tired just reading...haha. Anyways, a couple of months ago I had a list just as long as yours. It read as follows:
- UC's (SD, LA, SB, Davis, Irvine, Santa Cruz)
- Georgetown (SFS)
- All the Ivies except HYP
- Northwestern
- U Chigago
- NYU
- BU
- Tufts
- USC
- Duke
Total: 19</p>
<p>But then I got realistic and cut out schools I knew I wouldnt end up at, have the money to go or just not get in. That's when I cut out Columbia & Brown, BU, Tufts, USC, Duke, Georgetown, Santa Cruz, and U Chicago. So right now Im down to 10 schools and I plan on cutting out more too. Just research and you'll know where you dont want to end up or pay for.</p>
<p>Some people think 19 is a little overboard.</p>
<p>I think it's a LOT overboard. 19=more acceptances . . . but you can only go to one. And you're perpetuating the decreasing yield of colleges, because you're increasing the potential colleges that you'll turn down (and by your stats, it'll probably be a lot). I think that you could bear to part with at least 5 of them.</p>
<p>Throughout my career I wanted to go to:</p>
<p>Stanford (kept)
Princeton (kept)
Cornell (kept)
Cal Tech (cut-environment/majors)
Columbia Fu Foundation (cut-environment)
Rice (cut, size+location)
UMich (kept)
UCSC (cut, better options)
UCB (might cut, yet another reach)
USC (kept)
Vanderbilt (kept)
Embry-Riddle (cut, too few on campus)
GATech (kept)
UMiami (potential cut, money)
MIT (environment)
BU (environment)
UPenn (would be a 10th choice, my least favorite reach)
Harvard (already applying to enough reaches, and not particularly keen on, I cut it)</p>
<p>If you have that many schools on your list, you can kick some out for even the slightest reason.</p>
<p>Besides, think of the kid that applies to, say, Yale and 3 other schools, but really wants to go to Yale. Suppose you happen to be the one that takes his spot? You'll probably have a lot of potential options, as opposed to the 4-school guy that had his heart set on Yale. I think that 6-12 schools is a good number.</p>
<p>TG I would only caution you that these are all reaches for 99% of college applicants. There are thousands more students with top grades, SAT's like you than there are spots for at all the colleges on your list combined. Applying more reach schools does not increase your chances of being accepted by any of them. Please read past ccposts from Andi re what happened to her Hi Stat, extraordinarily talented son who only applied to top schools- resulting in rejections and wait lists that never cleared. It can happen, and you need to have some colleges on your list that have better than 10-20% acceptance rates. If you are not a Calif resident, then, depending on the major of the school you are applying to, the UC's can be as much of a long shot for OOS residents as Ivy league schools. You need to add some matches and safeties.</p>
<p>Hmm, I too took Georgetown off my list after a visit. I was also worried when I heard the enormous number of kids from my school who go there and ended up transferring out in :( --though I only heard that after I had already taken it off my list. Too rule-centric seeming, a little bit, for me...</p>
<p>Anyways I'm halfway between OP and alex right now. I'm trying to trim down to maybe 10 or something like that. I just counted them up and realized that I'm not really there yet... but at the same time I don't know what else I can cut--obsessive research to no avail. We'll see.</p>
<p>I am a Cal. resident and am guaranteed admission to all UCs but Cal and LA, both of which I have a very good chance of getting into. They are my safetys.</p>
<p>How strong is your high school? All As means a lot at top schools and much less at non competitive schools. How imperfect are your test scores?</p>
<p>Unless you really like the lower UCs, rethink your strategy. Unless you're the val at Exeter you risk a lot. It's also unlikely you'll be convincing in the Why Harvard essay when you're doing 19 of them.</p>
<p>My SATs 1 and 2 are all in the 700s. My school is not the best, but we do have a strong AP program and I've gotten 5s on 4 of my tests so far, and one 4.</p>
<p>Okay thegreatcosby, I'm confused. How are you guaranteed admission to all UCs? Do you mean you are in the ELC pool? If so that means that you are guaranteed admission to at least one UC and you don't get to pick which one. Also, 19 apps does NOT equal more admissions. When all the schools are the top tier your chances are the same for each one. In fact, if you list on each application that you are applying to that many schools, you will probably face a lot of rejections. Please rethink this plan.</p>