<p>^ They are all more-or-less mid-sized research universities in more-or-less urban areas of more-or-less northern states. Northwestern is more suburban than the others. Penn is a bit bigger than the others. Columbia has Manhattan (which is exciting but expensive).</p>
<p>I know that this is your QB thread, but as we all know, getting selected is highly competitive. </p>
<p>QB is great, but it can get a bunch of kids hopes up (and standards set high) only to be letdown and then have to consider much lower ranked schools. Switching gears so abruptly can really be almost disorienting. You’ve spent weeks/months imagining yourself at a tippy top school, graduating with that fancy name on your diploma, rubbing elbows with the elite students of this country. Then, those who aren’t selected are now realizing that their choices (while still good), aren’t nearly as exciting as those QB choices. </p>
<p>Imagine being told that you might receive 1 top car, so you’re asked to list a few top cars that you might get selected to receive. So, you list Ferrari, etc. Then you don’t get any of those cars. At that point, looking at Hondas and Toyotas may seem like you’re looking at junk. lol</p>
<p>Right now, your stats are lowish for these top schools. I know that you’re retesting, and hopefully will improve. Either way, after you get this QB list set, I think you should work on your list for non-QB schools - an include some genuine financial safeties. </p>
<p>Best wishes for the selection process, but be sure to have a realistic list of schools (with affordable choices, too) that you LIKE and would enjoy attending. </p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>My reasoning is subjective because all your schools are great:
After your top schools, I’d rank Columbia first (NYC), then Brown (open curriculum), then Northwestern (probably easier to get into than Penn and Yale), then Penn (Philadelphia). You can also up your odds by putting Northwestern as #5 or #6. 
If you got into QB, your odds are 1 in 2 instead of 1 in 12 for most applicants so odds are as good as they possibly can. Even if QB Match doesn’t work, between QB RD and “regular” RD (and SUNYs, etc, etc), you’ll get into a good school - and you’re right to focus on that match ranking for now. Do come back to let us know how things went! I for one am interested. (Plus, I’m sure it’ll have a good ending, so…)</p>
<p>Thanks a lot everyone! I really appreciate your input on this.</p>
<p>I have looked into the schools a lot more; this is basically what my CS QuestBridge list currently looks like:
MIT
Stanford
Princeton
Brown
Yale And/OR Columbia And/Or Northwestern And/Or Penn.</p>
<p>The bottom is where I am still undecided. I like the looks of the Yale and Northwestern CS departments. Columbia, not so much… Although it certainly has the name. I probably won’t apply to Penn.</p>
<p>Remember, since QuestBridge is binding, I only want to apply to the ones that I would 100% want to attend.</p>
<p>I have to finalize my list by Monday at midnight PST. Thank you everyone! :)</p>