<p>What's the best way to narrow down a huge list of schools? I currently have about 35-40 schools listed in which I'm interested. </p>
<p>What's the best, easiest, and quickest way to narrow the list down to 10ish?</p>
<p>Yeah I have 23 schools lol. And I like all of them :(</p>
<p>Filter by basic criteria like size, location, strength in possible majors, financial aid policies if that's an issue. If you're desperate, research residential life (study abroad if you're interested, quality of housing and food). When you get down to 20, you can start looking at "vibe" and other details.</p>
<p>My general attitude towards choosing schools was that I could only attend one of them, anyway, so I didn't feel too bad about slicing schools off my list when I didn't like their campus, didn't like the students I bumped into, etc</p>
<p>What I would probably do is put all of these schools into an excel spreadsheet, and, pulling data from their websites and from collegeboard.com, compile all the data in one place. I think once you start looking at all these schools as a whole, it will be easier for you to see which ones seem more ideal for you than others.</p>
<p>I think the best way to approach that is to ask yourself you want out of college, and then go from there. I'd be surprised if all of those schools offered everything you want lol.</p>
<p>First I would filter it into a list of matches, reaches, and safeties. </p>
<p>Then, look at the list of safeties and say to yourself, if I got into all these schools, and only these schools, which two would I end up choosing between?</p>
<p>I applied to WAY too many safeties (4 or 5) when I knew that I would have picked my in state safety (which I was basically guaranteed to get into with my stats) over any other safety. </p>
<p>Next, look at your matches. Are there any that, while they look nice, you can't really see yourself at? For some reason that I still don't know, I applied to UW-Seattle and UMich despite the fact that I know my parents would never let me go as far as Seattle (especially for a state school - no offense), and I've been a huge OSU fan my whole life and could never see myself at UMich. I also applied to Case Western, even though my mom is a grad student there and I could never be that close to home. </p>
<p>Then look at your list of reaches, but be realistic. While Harvard and Yale would be sweet schools to go to, if you don't have any hook and only have a 3.5 GPA and 1900 SAT, there's really no point in wasting the $75 dollars. </p>
<p>Mostly, your list should have 2 safeties, 3 or 4 matches, and 4 or 5 reaches.</p>
<p>The thing is, I don't want very much out of a college, other than solid academics and merit scholarships (even if the ones offered are long shots).</p>
<p>And other stuff that's too hard to quantify, like dorms and food that don't suck.</p>
<p>Also, here's the curse in disguise: a 35 composite ACT score. We don't have a ton of money to spend, and yet we won't qualify for much (if any) financial aid. </p>
<p>I've got my safety school--Louisiana State U w/ full tuition scholarship and $800/yr guaranteed... prob room and board and additional stipend as well.</p>
<p>Alright, how important is cost for you? Do you think you're eligible for financial aid?</p>
<p>Lol. I feel like you should be my little project since you remind me of how I was last year.</p>
<p>dartboard while blindfolded</p>
<p>
[quote]
dartboard while blindfolded
[/quote]
damn that sounds tempting.</p>
<p>and half of the equation is that the school will be affordable after gaining admittance. short of the ivies, that entails a merit scholarship</p>
<p>lol. well, I'd say you shouldn't really worry about finances just yet. I thought I'd get nothing from Duke, but I applied just to kinda see and they ended up giving me 30k for the first year.</p>
<p>duke is pretty much ivy level, though.
hm... maybe i need to start convincing my parents now that i need an $800 budget for application fees :)</p>
<p>and for the record, i'm almost definitely eligible for some financial aid, but i really don't know how much. i need to make my mom go use a fafsa calculator, i guess.</p>
<p>Lol. What is your list so far?</p>
<p>If you require significant merit aid, the picture changes drastically. Definitely have your parents do a FA calculator--Amherst's website has one, I know, with both federal and their institutional methodology. Then start researching merit aid on CC; there's tons of information out there. curmudgeon's posts/threads are a good start.</p>
<p>I made a spreadsheet of all the colleges I was considering and created about 5-7 categories (size, price, location, etc...) and filled out each category for every school. I then made a section of all the stuff I would ideally like in a school. Finally, I went back highlighted everything on each school that matched up with my ideal choices for each category. The ones that had 4+ categories highlighted made my list. lol hope that helps</p>
<p>sorry, didn't see that unalove already suggested what I did!</p>
<p>runforrun,
are you an international student?</p>
<p>Make decisions early on regarding geographic area. Do you want to have to spend several hundred dollars to get to an airport to fly home or do you want to be within 2 hour car drive? Are you comfortable being in a rural area hours from civilization or would you be happier going to college in a cosomopolitan metropolitan area like DC, Boston, NYC?</p>
<p>Will you learn more at a small school, be challenged more, and develop better skills in a class with a dozen other sharp students being taught by an experienced PhD professor than in an auditorium of 350 students being taught by a grad student which is frequently the case at large universities?</p>
<p>How does the school rank in USNWR? Is it in the top 30 or top 50 national universities or liberal arts colleges? How does Princeton Review rate the school's academic quality?</p>
<p>Determining what you prefer and comfortable with quickly eliminates many schools.</p>
<p>Cross check your list with this one :<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/444532-list-colleges-free-apply.html?highlight=free+to+apply%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/444532-list-colleges-free-apply.html?highlight=free+to+apply</a></p>
<p>And look for free applications.</p>
<p>That 35 act will get you into some great programs, especially if you have a gpa anywhere near it. Don't be afraid of an honors program like plan 2 at Texas or something.</p>
<p>Remember that free application doesn't necessarily mean no money out of pocket. You'll still have to pay for College Board score transcripts, unless the school is test-optional and you choose not to send.</p>