<p>I submitted a thread like this before but I still need help. I'm a high school senior working on applications and trying to narrow my list from 14 schools to 12. The 14 are, in no particluar order...</p>
<p>Stanford
Dartmouth
Northwestern
Rice
Washington University in St. Louis
University of Rochester
Yale
MIT
Brown
Cal Berkeley
UCLA
UCSD
UC Davis
Williams</p>
<p>I am a southern California resident ideally looking for a change of scenery (Northern CA is good) but I would be willing to go to UCLA or UCSD just the same. Definitely top 4% at a competitive public school in a class of 400-450. 2250 overall SAT, straight A's with honors and AP, 5's on all 4 APs so far. Very challenging courses senior year. Secretary General of MUN, soccer 4 years with varsity this year, science club and awards, UCLA internship last summer, Boys' State delegate. Looking to be a science, engineering, or architecture major, but want a school with a broad-based education philosophy. Any help or tips are greatly appreciated! Thanks!</p>
<p>I think you have a good list - a good combination of reaches, matches, and safeties.</p>
<p>To try and narrow down that list, why don't you try writing out the pros and cons of each school? You can post that here, if you'd like. I think we could help you better then.</p>
<p>Seems like you could cut Dartmouth, Williams and Rochester. Would you really attend Rochester over your other safeties, considering the difference in tuition? Have you visited Dartmouth and Williams? Getting back and forth from Southern California would be an all-day excursion, and an expensive one.</p>
<p>Try this - group your high reaches, low reaches, matches and safeties. Try to eliminate one from each group. Keep the focus on your match and low reach schools- those are most likely to be on your final list in April. Then, think about an EA strategy. Where can you apply early that would benefit you the most? An early acceptance will probably knock several colleges off your list.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. In regards to teh questions...I have seen Brown, Williams, and Dartmouth, and really liked Williams and Dartmouth. Brown was OK, not my favorite...it's one of the ones that is on the bubble right now. As for Rochester...I added it because I feel it is a target school for me. Would I go there over UCs? Not sure...but I want to give myself the option. My worry right now is that my list is too top-heavy. This is how I would group them...</p>
<p>Obviously, my CA residency helps a lot with the UC admissions I think. Right now, the schools that are really on the fence are Rice (Houston location), Rochester (would I go there over a UC?), Brown (could I really see myself there?), and MIT (will it give me the broad-based education I want?). If anyone has any comments about this stuff (I know some of it is personal to me so you can't really help out) I'd appreciate it.</p>
<p>Also FYI...URochester is also on my list because it's the only one there that gives National Merit scholarships (15K/year for Finalists). Should I let that be affecting my list?</p>
<p>If money's going to be an issue for you, then yes, the National merit scholarship should affect your list, at least somewhat.</p>
<p>I suggest cutting out one of your High Reaches (or possibly 2?). Since you don't really seem to be over the top excited about Brown, I suggest cutting that one since even if you do make it in, you'll probably end up not choosing it anyways. </p>
<p>MIT should give you a broad-based education even as a tech school because the students there, while mostly interested in the sciences are generally strong in other areas as well and tend to have many diverse interests. You could always cross-register at Harvard for the humanities courses. However, if you are looking for a more broad based educational environment, MIT will not give that to you on the same level as say, Stanford or Yale. </p>
<p>For Rice, if you don't really like the location, then you may not be as happy there as you would otherwise be. So possibly consider cutting this one out as well. </p>
<p>** Princeton ** and ** Cornell ** are mysteriously missing from your list, despite both having great architecture and engineering schools. ** Lehigh University ** in Pennsylvania would also be a good low match/ safety. I don't know the other factors besides academics and a change of pace for choosing your schools, but I would swap out Brown and Williams for Princeton and Cornell, and then add Lehigh. </p>
<p>Just my opinion.</p>
<p>P.S. Just remembered, you should also consider ** Carnegie Mellon University ** in PA.</p>
<p>I have to agree with the addition of Cornell for someone who wants science, engineering and possibly architecture. However, you won't get into their architecture program without a high quality portfolio.</p>
<p>Is there a chance you could visit Rochester and Cornell this fall? They're two hours apart. You seem to like the rural settings, and Cornell really has to be visited to be appreciated. It would be a low reach for you, except for architecture, which is a high reach for everyone.</p>
<p>I would drop MIT and Brown, if they don't strike you. I remember my son's GF saying that her freshman English class at MIT was far worse than our high school's AP English.</p>