<p>is apparently a good thing, says my asian parents. why? because "you never know what will happen"</p>
<p>so all in all, i have about 10+schools i am forcefully encouraged to apply to this coming year. I am split between the two choices: 1] apply to all the super duper reach schools, and hope for the best, 2] apply to schools of my original balanced list. I personally favor the 2] option, since it will give me more time to spend quality time with my apps (o joy). what do you think?</p>
<p>Hmmm, same thing happened to me, over half of the schools I applied to I definitely did not think I was going to get in, so I definitely know where you're coming from on this one, so hmmm, I would just recommend that you get a nice balance between the two, all of your favorites and some of their favorites, and if your parents won't cover the enormous amount of fees then just say that you won't apply to said school and trust me they'll break in two seconds.</p>
<p>If your parent wont mind paying the app fees go wild! if you have to narrow your list to 10: 3 reach's 2 safeties and 5 surebets</p>
<p>What's the point of 5 surebets?</p>
<p>whats the point of 10 super-reaches? dunno</p>
<p>YA10, you read my mind.
gellino, i think YA10 is referring to surebets as matches. i personally like that ratio, 3 reach, 5 match, 2 safety. </p>
<p>now, what my parents are hoping I would do, is 6 reach, 3 match, and 1 safety. and by their safety I mean colleges like Harvey mudd and carnegie mellon. now do you see my parents point?</p>
<p>Yeah, I totally no where you're coming from, my parents had me do eight reaches which was seen as crazy talk and my matches were apparently Tufts, BC, and Harvey Mudd, so hmm, basically just make sure you get in some of the schools that you like or else it'll never work out for you and you need to tell them that</p>
<p>I guess applying to reaches would be ok as long as you really like them and don't mind spending (and probably in some cases wasting) a lot of money on application fees.</p>
<p>Yeah, luckily my parents were spending the money or else I would have probably applied to 6/7.</p>
<p>God, I'm so glad my parents know absolutely nothing about college and college admissions (they applied to one and two schools respectively, haha). Basically they're letting me pick any/all schools I want. Well, they're forcing me to apply to the state uni, but that's it.</p>
<p>I have a friend whose dad is pressuring her to apply to a lot of colleges she won't get into. Honestly, that's not a smart way of looking at it. Take them to a site like princetonreview.com where they can see the average GPA and SAT scores of accepted students, and show them why you'd rather spend time on schools you like and have a chance at, than be rejected not only from a ton of reaches, but also from schools that you could have gotten into had you put more time into /those/ apps.</p>
<p>It really just shows maturity on your part. Agree to apply to a few reaches, but to spend most of your time on those schools that are the best fit for you, socially AND academically.</p>
<p>Whoa,Tonyt88: Is that true that you gave a shot to 8 reaches last year ? This year's my turn, and I'm up the same creek now. My initial colleges list includes 8/9 reaches, a couple of matches and safeties. Trust me, I've done my utmost but still can't leave off any reaches (all of them are truly the light of my life :D). Should I continue to cut down the number of reaches ?
Thanx in advance ! :)</p>
<p>Ummm, well originally I had about 30 on my list [a number which even I will admit will be beyond the realm of sanity], but I cut it down to the 12 I felt most comfortable with and I felt fine with not moving from there. So I say if you'd be happy in every choice and your parents [or perhaps you] are ready to cough up all the money [ let's see I spent $750 on apps, let alone score reports and such] then definitely go ahead with it, the way I see it more applications more chances though even this statement isn't necessarily true, but aggghhhh, I think you know what I mean, and good luck with everything :D</p>
<p>Here's my plan:
Apply to University of Michigan as early as possible with rolling admissions. If I am rejected (unlikely considering their instate admissions rate) I apply to the general structure of 2 safeties, 5 matches, 3 reaches. If I get accepted, yay! I have that as my backup school and can apply to reaches to my heart's content.</p>
<p>Good plan, I did that with TCNJ considering they're one of the top schools in NJ plus they have a real good master's program and as an in-state it was a snap.</p>
<p>I have the simplest plan ever:
9 reaches, 1 safety (ucsd)</p>
<p>Thanks 4 your prompt response, Tonyt88 :). Anyway, 750$ for the app fees only, huh ? My parents will certainly hit the roof and disown me then if I ask for that bloody big amount (j/k). In fact, this is too huge an amount for my family specifically as well as my country generally. So, I will have to make use of the so-called "fee waiver". Did you get into Harvard with full fin aid ? I absolutely love Harvard's need-blind policy :)</p>
<p>Still, I have a question: How did you know that this or that school is a perfect match for you ( in other words: the place you most contend with ) ? You know, I live in a foreign country, so the only source I can glean information from is the school's website. Yeah, the site covers everything there's to know, but honestly speaking, visiting the website alone doesn't give much personal feeling. So what did you do ?</p>
<p>Well, we're pretty poor, so take whatever you want from that statement. Hmm, as to knowing what your perfect match is supposed to be, that's really hard to say. I don't even know if where I'm going is the best place for me, but I just went with my gut and chose the college I know I would be happiest with. And I was just the same as you, with no money or time to really travel to colleges, I had to pick my choices based of what I could read and what I could see in pictures, and then when letters came did I actually get down to traveling and seeing the atmospheres of the campuses because I knew what place I could be in but after those visits I knew where I could see myself in. So hmmm, perhaps you might not even have the opportunity to visit colleges, I know I didn't visit some of the ones I was accepted to, but I think I made the best decision I could. and hell, the odds of finding your true match I think are quite difficult, so if you find where you want to be, congrats that you know, but if not just wait it out in the water and hope you trust yourself.</p>
<p>dont worry about it. im the same as lostincode. i have 7 reaches and 1 safety (state school)</p>
<p>Looking at PR to see avg GPA and SAT doesn't even tell the full story because for, at least the top 15-20 schools, 75% of applicants with the specific college's avg GPA and SAT will be rejected just because of the sheer number of well qualified applicants.</p>
<p>yah i have about 8 reaches, brown, dartmouth, upenn, wustl, duke, harvard, cornell, johns hopkins, and 1 safety, university of washinggton</p>