@CaliCash makes good points, but OTOH I don’t think it’s wrong to have a large list on Jan. 4 of junior year, as long as the list is thoughtfully pared down by Sept/October as the deadline approaches for early applications. It took some time and a bunch of visits for my D to recognize that she would be a better fit at a LAC. She figured that out after visiting a range of schools from small LAC’s to mid-size universities (Northwestern, Georgetown) to large (UCLA, USC). Plus life is full of trade-offs and sometimes “fit” has to give way to affordability and admittance. But I agree the list needs work.
@hscruiser, are you able to pay for the top colleges if you get in? You might want to go for NMF just to have a good (and relatively easy) option for full-ride scholarships at safeties just in case things don’t work out at those other colleges. You don’t have to do that well on the SAT to get to Finalist - just getting above 1960 will usually cut it.
@Corinthian It’s okay to have a long list of diverse schools. But it really just seems like the OP just grabbed the schools from the US News rankings for top Liberal Arts Colleges and National Universities and then put them together in Naviance.
OP, I would recommend going on the College Board website and doing the big future search, and then narrowing your list down from there. Start searching by the size you want, and then major, and then add in other things you are interested in for your college experience.
I think if you read between the lines, the OP is signalling that financial need is not a concern. He says he’s from a highly ranked, ultra high performing public high school in suburban upstate NY with two college professor parents. He’s not going to bother with the SAT despite a 228 PSAT. I suspect that he is more familiar with the schools on his list than the average CC’er. I’m really not too worried about the OP ending up someplace good and suspect that between the GC at the ultra high performing public high school and the two college professor parents, he’ll be steered in the right direction.
Thank you to everyone who has responded so far. I really appreciate the “reality check.” At this early stage in planning, I’m still thinking over a lot of things and this kind of input is unbelievably helpful. 