Extremely Similar Applications / Timing?

Applying to College
1

Hi!

I’m currently an incoming senior based in Seattle. I have a question I am not sure can be answered till the actual admissions process, but I figured, why not give it a shot anyway :slight_smile:

Essentially, I have a friend with whom I did everything together (academically, extracurriculars, etc;) throughout my high school career — not only this, we both have nearly identical grades and GPA’s (~4.6 weighted, 4.0 unweighted). We are both looking at applying to HYPSM, which obviously raises some concerns about how admission officers will receive these applications.

The question: is there an optimal way to go about applying to our top schools? We obviously shouldn’t early to the same place, but can other minuscule details such as who sends in the application first, etc; play any significance in this process?

Again, I realize this isn’t a typical question, so I appreciate all answers, suggestions, and opinions. Thanks!

2

I don’t see any problem with you both applying to the same schools. However, for HYPSM, be aware that all are a long shot for pretty much everyone. You definitely need to have match and safety schools. I will also note that you have some great choices in Washington (the state), as well as across the border in BC. All of HYPSM are pretty far from Seattle, but also these schools are somewhat different from each other.

Also, IMHO you need to have a very good reason to try to go to HYPSM. You shouldn’t apply just because of the name. As one example, MIT is very academically challenging. It will be a LOT of work if you go there, and can get to be a grind after four years. You should NOT go there UNLESS YOU WANT TO DO IT. Given how different say Princeton is from MIT, I am concerned that if you are thinking of applying to both it might be largely because of the name and not because you actually know what you would be getting yourself into if you went to either of them.

3

You and your friend are two different people and your apps, essays, and recs will be different. Where or when two individuals apply is irrelevant to either of your chances. They will not compare you to one another.

4

It sounds like you both are top students and will do fine in the end.

I mostly want to echo a comment above. “Prestige” is one factor in the college selection process. And it’s one that, to me anyway, gets way, way overemphasized, disturbingly so. Yes, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton are great schools. So are many, many more. Do you think that engaged, hardworking students at Oberlin aren’t getting a similar education? Harvard, Dartmouth, Penn, Stanford, and MIT are so different in so many ways. Dartmouth is a midsize school in a small New England town, in the mountains, not close to very much except some small Vermont towns. Penn is IN Philadelphia. Besides a small, nice strip of campus, you are in a gritty, industrial East Coast megapolis. Both are wonderful. Besides prestige, I would submit that they are the perfect fit for very, very few students. Yet many apply to all the Ivies, so apply to both of these.

If you and your friend take a balanced approach to choosing a college, where you weigh many factors, and try to find a good fit for yourselves, as individuals, I think you will come up with different lists. If you and your friend understand that it’s HOW you go to school not WHERE you go to school that is most important, again you will come of with lists of schools that are good places for YOU, where you can afford and where you will grow and thrive. That school might be ranked #3 or #23 or #43 or wherever. You have both done well academically in the same school and have done lots of outside-of-school stuff together. That does not mean you would not find Penn exciting and your friend Dartmouth enchanting, or vice versa.

If none of that makes sense, you could get a solid list of the TOP 20, put the names in a hat, and then take turns drawing them out until you each have ten schools where you could apply without overlap. That is just about the same logic as applying HYPSM or All Ivies.

(Sorry, just be stark to make a point. Go find the place you love, Work hard. Embrace opportunities. Engage with the amazing people around you. Treat everyone with respect and dignity. You both will do great. And, seriously, don’t do the hat thing.) Good luck!