Hey guys! So, I’ve been looking at a ton of colleges (I think, for me, the short list of what I’m applying to is 18 college long) and I’ve been having some difficulty narrowing down my choices because it’s been really difficult for me to differentiate between the colleges. What are some factors that you guys consider/used to determine which colleges you wanted to apply to? (I’ve been looking at colleges which are strong all around academically and most of them are liberal arts and I’m still undecided in my major but I’m leaning towards psychology/business so narrowing down colleges by looking at what majors are the strongest is really difficult- I do like the open curriculum offered at Brown and Amherst a lot but those are just 2 of the many schools that I have on my list and everything else is just really hard to figure out/differentiate)
If you are undecided on major, check whether your majors of interest are selective majors that require applying to the major when you apply to the school, or have a secondary admission process that you would face after enrolling at the school.
Obviously, a school that is out-of-reach financially (i.e. not enough financial aid shown in the net price calculator, and not enough in-reach merit scholarship money), then it is best to drop it from the list.
All the schools that I’m interested in have the majors that I’m considering (since most of them are either big universities or pretty well-known LACs) and (thankfully!) my parents have set aside enough money that financial aid isn’t a huge issue, although we’ll know more after we talk to a financial advisor, so there are no really concrete barriers that I see that could stop me from applying to these schools… I was wondering about more subjective qualities that people considered? Thank you for your response though! 
Still, have the talk with them, because being full pay at some schools means roughly $65k-$70k per year, or – taking travel and miscellaneous expenses into account – upwards of $300k in today’s money for a BA. That’s assuming you finish in four years.
It’s literally a fortune. So run the NPC at the schools you think are a good academic, social and environmental fit, and keep the ones your family can afford, while tossing those that would require you to take on (much) debt.
But are the majors open to all students (at least those who complete the prerequisites with C or higher grades)?
At some schools, some departments do not have enough capacity for all interested students, so they may have higher college GPA requirements or competitive admission for entry to the major, or may have frosh applicants apply to the major when applying to the school.
At a certain point, the differences among colleges do diminish. Start with the broader factors that are usually step 1: size, environment (rural vs city,) presence of a grad program, class sizes, research/internship opps for undergrads, rahrah sports, etc. Not what majors are “strongest.” Instead look at the actual course offerings in your potential major and those professors’ backgrounds and scholarly interests. And how easy it is to fulfill a variety of your additional interests,academic and other. (Of course they all have psych, but double check about business.)
You need to know what your eventual targets value and look for, you need time to assess your real match against this, then present that in your own app/supps, not mess around with 18 choices. You’ll need to answer a Why Us question (and even schools that don’t directly ask, are still looking for this in your app/supp.) Start with a few, see what you like and don’t, then use that to gauge the rest, a handful at a time. And soon.
Lots of kids have ideas in September, then make changes before 12/31. (One of mine changed her mind in November.)
Have you visited any?
Yea I have a huge amount of schools to be applying to, but I’ve been struggling to narrow it down because I don’t have a lot of things that I would consider deal breakers in a school. The schools I’m thinking of right now are (from reach to safeties) Princeton, Yale, Brown, Duke, Amherst, Pomona, Vanderbilt, UC Berkeley, University of Notre Dame, Pepperdine, Boston University, Boston College, USC, UCLA (which is just one application w Berkeley and all the other UC schools), LMU, ASU Barrett Honors College, U of A Honors College, and Baylor. Are there any striking differences between these schools that would distinguish them? (other than the last five or four)
Do you have a copy of Fiske Guide to Colleges? Read that carefully.
Some of those schools don’t have a business major.
Many are reaches even for students with strong stats and ECs. Focus on figuring out your matches & safeties first. The narrow down the reaches.
Yea I’ve been reading up on that, and all of them (I think, but I may be wrong), have a business major/concentration which I’m happy to do (I like the interdisciplinary natures of LACs/schools that are LA based). I’m pretty much guaranteed entry into Barrett based on my school/other factors, so that’s both the cheapest and best safety that I have so I have my safety covered no matter what. I’m applying to my other safeties because ASU’s campus isn’t my favorite so depending on the financial situations of the other schools I want to have options. Based on my stats, Pepperdine, BU, BC, USC, and UCLA are all likely schools (target schools) and I would love to go to Pepperdine depending on financial aid, USC (National merit scholarship for half tuition is really awesome and the school is great), and BC and BU are options I still need to look into. I’m applying to so many reaches because even if I get into none of them, Barrett is still very a very strong option due to the affordability and the fact that it’s the #1 honors college in the nation and it’s super close to home. Since my safeties/targets are covered pretty securely, I feel pretty free to focus on my reaches and I know that admissions are crapshoots a lot of the time, so I only want to eliminate schools from my list if there’s a factor about them that I’m not considering which would make them schools that I wouldn’t want to go to. (I’m sorry if that made no sense, I just did my O Chem homework and all those drawings made my brain hurt a little haha)
“if there’s a factor about them that I’m not considering…” It’s that you’re not going to match all of those, what they want to see, the ways each reviews for its own needs. You seem to be looking at this as "what I want, what I like. But they choose whom to admit. That’s not about crapshoot, but about what effort you put into this and whether they can see that.
Can you do a Why Us for each of those? One that will make sense to those adcoms and advance you?
Princeton and Brown don’t have business, per se, though P offers a finance certificate and B has business economics. Amherst seems to facilitate career awareness, but not offer some major in business or finance. Vandy doesn’t, though you can minor in an aspect of “managerial studies.” A few others seem to be limited in what they offer undergrads.
You really need to get back to your research and understand whether the compromises that ‘might’ be available suit your interests. You don’t want to be telling an interviewer or stating in your app/supp that you want to study “business,” if it isn’t what they offer. That can get you knocked out the park pretty fast.
Keep in mind that UC Berkeley bus school is not direct admit - you would need to gain admission after sophomore year and it’s pretty competitive. Great program but something to consider. May want to also consider IU Kelley School of Business.
Some ways to distinguish between schools:
-Visit schools if possible. Try to get a sense of the size, location etc. you prefer in a college.
-Get some good college guide books (ex. Fiske, Princeton Review, Insiders Guide) and start reading
-Look at the college websites carefully
-See if you can find the school newspaper online to get a sense of what is happening on campus.
-Make an appointment to interview if possible (if you can’t get to campus request a local alumni interview).
-Take out any schools that you are not an academically viable candidate for.
-Eliminate any school that does not have the major you want.
I suggest that you first narrow down your schools by other factors. For example, college life at tiny, supportive LACs like Amherst and Pomona could not be any more different than college life at enormous universities like Berkeley, UCLA and USC. Is it more important (to you) to have small classes and know your professors personally or have the maximum amount of possible class selections and majors? Many of the most elite colleges do not offer an undergraduate business major - does it matter to you that you would be studying more theoretical subjects like economics?
I guess what I am thinking is that you have kind of an odd list there. I can’t see any common threads in it.