Help with my college application list?

College Search & Selection
1

I apologize in advance; this will be a long post. That being said, I’ll get right into it.

My mom bought a book last year called The Top 300 Colleges in America (something along those lines) so I read the book and picked about ~50 that I would be interested in. Now I am proud to say that I have narrowed that 50 to 15, which although is still a lot, I think it’s pretty good for my position (I’m a junior–applying to colleges this fall). My parents have given me a budget for college application fees so I’ll need to narrow my list down to about 10 schools, and I’m completely stuck! I’ve made a list of my college requirements/deal-breakers, wants, and non-essentials, and I’ve done all research imaginable, but I just can’t determine a way to narrow it down. There’s always a unique factor that I like that makes it hard to completely let go of a college or the pros just somehow outweigh the cons. Also, I’m mainly concerned with my reaches not really safeties or matches anymore. I might not get a lot of financial aid from some schools which is why I’m aiming for higher schools that have beneficial financial aid policies.

List so far:
Reaches–in order of most likely to least likely to apply to:
Duke
Yale
Princeton
Penn
Brown
Vanderbilt
Georgetown
Dartmouth

Matches–I live in Virginia:
UVA
Tulane
William and Mary

Safeties–I want to choose two, instead of three and I’ll mostly likely eliminate VCU or George Mason:
JMU
GMU
VCU

I believe I’ve accurately assessed my chances at these schools so I really don’t feel the need to share my stats, but just a glimpse: 3.96 UW, 5.18 W, 2000 SAT, URM (African-American male), and pursuing the full IB Diploma. I just retook the SAT last weekend (I’ll take it this fall if necessary, and study over the summer). I’m taking the ACT next month, as well as Biology, US History, and Spanish subject tests. As for career goals, I want to somehow combine the fields of medicine, global health, international relations, and journalism: think Sanjay Gupta meets Margaret Chan. I want to be in a college town/next to a large city/in a small city/in a city but with a campus (Penn, Georgetown, Yale); I like to think I’m very adaptable.

I know this is asking a lot, and you don’t know me personally, but if you detect any patterns in my college list or see something you think is odd, please tell me! I think what I’m just trying to ask is: if I’ve considered the academic, social/cultural, and extracurricular opportunities, and I’ve visited some (or taken virtual tours) and contacted students to ask questions, what is left when trying to narrow down my list?
Thank you so much for reading this; I know it was really long! I apologize for that, but any questions/comments/advice is welcomed!

2

Eliminate one safety, but I’d keep two just in case. It doesn’t seem like you care much for any, so this one shouldn’t be too difficult.
Keep all of your matches, and I’d actually add a few more to give you more options/chances at being accepted.
As far as reaches go I’d get rid of Dartmouth, Penn, Yale, and Princeton. You still have a nice variety of places left after you eliminate those.
So unless I’ve made a huge error that’s five colleges off your list which puts you at where you need to be. Just my opinion.

3

Thanks! Any particular reason for those colleges? And do you have any match school recommendations? I liked Boston College when I visited…

4

I would apply EA to Tulane, GMU and JMU, and if they allow it, Boston College. If you get into one before Christmas, then you can relax a bit and apply to your reaches.

But make sure you will be happy going to these schools. If you are not thrilled with GMU, or JMU, keep looking for a safety school.

5

@SlackerMomMD It’s a tradition for people from my area to apply to UVA EA (which is where I like the most) and I’ll apply to JMU and GMU early action as well. I’m leaning towards crossing off VCU.

I know you said if I get into one I can relax on my reach schools and apply to them all but what if I don’t? Do you have any suggestions as how I can narrow my list down now? Is there some special method where if I can’t write at least a page about a school and why I like it, I shouldn’t apply?

6

What happens if you don’t get into any EA schools? That would send a message there is something terribly wrong with your application. Remember, safety means you are assured of acceptance, can afford and will be happy to attend.

Or are you asking if you need to apply to all your reaches? Of course not. I don’t know how to tell you how to trim your list. I can say what happened with my daughter. I suggested she apply to Rochester, she had to write the “Why us” essay and all she came up with was “because my mom said to”. Okay, that school dropped real fast.

So stay writing (mentally or physically) the “Why us” paragraph for your schools. This really should not take that long. If you’re truly stumped or the only reason is “It’s (insert name here)!”, maybe set the school aside for now.

7

@SlackerMomMD Sorry I meant to say if I get into all of my safeties EA then how do I decide which reaches to pursue because I can’t apply to all of them.

Thanks! I might just see if I can list things that I can come up with for the “Why us?” essay.

8

Brown looks like a bit of an outlier on the list: A bit more liberal, a bit less preppy. Is there a particular program or reason why its on the list? Not saying you wouldn’t be happy there, but if we’re doing the ‘one of these things is not like the other’ then I’d say Brown is it.

9

As far as I know, Tulane does not have an application fee, so that might allow you to apply to eleven schools in total.

10

Quick thoughts on what came to mind reading your post.

  • If only 10 applications, pick a safety, eliminate a match, and focus on the reaches.
  • I would absolutely EA/ED to a school
  • Have you considered the Elite Liberal Arts schools? Medicine is graduate work, so if you're looking for such educational diversity, LAC's are great options.
11

Did your parents give you a budget? Make sure you can afford all of the schools on your list.

You mention financial aid. Now is the time to run the NPC for each school. The number generated might help you eliminate some of your reaches. Make sure your parents know their EFC because you don’t want any surprises about what they can actually afford.

Also, have you considered applying to more schools that award merit scholarships? Tulane and Vandy award merit awards but Vandy doesn’t award very many. Depending on how the NPC looks, you can decide to pursue either financial aid or merit aid. Another thought is Howard in DC. Depending on your M&CR score, you might already qualify for a FULL RIDE. Its location in DC would mesh well with your intended major. Howard looks good as a safety school.

You need to bring up your SAT scores for your reach schools. I won’t be surprised if you do well on the ACT. Study!

12

@txstella brings up great points about financials. Your parents have already given you a budget for application fees. Ask them how much they can afford. You can only borrow $5,500 in loans first year and that amount goes up 1K per year (6,500 soph, 7,500 junior). Also definitely get the SAT up and hopefully get a good/better score on the ACT.

You have a good list so far. Keep all three matches. Possibly eliminate one safety but you don’t have to if you don’t want to. Brown and Dartmouth are sorta the black sheep on this list. You said you wanted to be in a relatively sizable city or college town. Hanover NH is a beautiful place but it doesn’t really match what you said you wanted. Dartmouth is more on the rural/grassy side. Providence is a city but at the same time Brown is liberal and quirky and it’s not a fit for everyone.

13

Just have to say, I love your user name! Slytherclaws, represent!

Agree with other posters–what is your exact financial situation/what can your parents afford? At first glance, I’d say most of the schools on your list aren’t known for being overly generous. I would def round out your match list with a few schools known for merit aid. I love your career goals, as well… I can’t speak to the medicine/international relations side, but on the journalism side… how much of the journalism part do you want/is important to you? None of your schools are known for their journalism programs. Maybe look at the top JO schools to see if their other programs/personalities/likelihood of giving you merit aid line up? Look at BU, Syracuse, Mizzou & Northeastern (NU is least likely to award merit and is also the hardest to get into). Or, for more of a match/safety for you personally, look at UMD–good JO school you could take some classes in + I think you’d very likely get in/qualify for merit aid there. At any of these schools, you could minor in JO or at least take some classes in their top-ranked journalism departments. And at BU specifically, you could do a study abroad program focusing on journalism, to combine the journalism + IR aspects. For example, I know BU kids who do the London Programme and intern at the BBC, etc.

If you do remove a few of your reaches, as someone else suggested, I would recommend you consider adding Stanford. I know, I know… another reach. But Stanford is such an unusual school and might be a good fit for someone who is an outside-the-box thinker. You could probably write some killer essays about what you want to do for your career that would impress them (and essays matter a lot to Stanford). A girl I worked with on her Stanford app didn’t have a 4.0 and her SAT score was under 2000… she didn’t get into any of the Ivies, but her essays for Stanford were creative & showed her passion for being a woman in the sciences, and she got in. I was genuinely and pleasantly surprised for her, and it just goes to show that at Stanford, your essays really, really matter. And they’re good about meeting need. They don’t have a journalism major, but you can take JO/communication classes, and they of course have an IR major. You can’t major in global health… but there are opportunities for undergrads at Stanford’s Center for Innovation in Global Health.

14

@N’s I visited Brown over spring break and I loved the campus and the vibe I got from the school. I’m very interested in their CLPS undergraduate major, which seems like something very unique to Brown. Like everybody else, I also like their open curriculum. I guess you have to sacrifice some things you like for others, but I don’t see myself crossing off Brown.

@midatlmom Sorry I didn’t explain this as well as I should have. Tulane’s free application is included in the 10–I hope that doesn’t change people’s opinions!

@EyeVee Would you recommend two safeties or should one be enough? I plan to EA to UVA, my safeties, and Tulane. People in my area also normally apply EA to Georgetown, so if that remains on my list I’ll apply EA there. If I apply EA to Georgetown, I won’t apply SCEA anywhere. I have considered various liberal arts schools; I’ve visited Tufts (not really an LAC but similar), U of Richmond, Davidson, and Washington and Lee, and I’ve determined that liberal arts colleges aren’t really for me.

@txstella Yes my parents gave me a budget, ~$650 which I calculated to be about 9-10 schools. We have run the NPC and know of our EFC, but my parents don’t want me to worry about that when determining where to apply–obviously I will, so I’m looking at schools that offer a lot of merit just in case things don’t work out. I was considering Howard, but I don’t like the diversity percentages at HBCUs. I studied a lot for the May SAT, so we’ll see what happens!

@TheDidactic I know Dartmouth is one of the outliers on this list, but I love all of their academic and extracurricular opportunities: devotion to languages (Prof. Rassias), percentage of students that study abroad (a lot more than other schools), the mixture between a research university and a liberal arts school (undergraduate focus, the Dartmouth Aires (an a cappella group I saw on the Sing-Off in 2011), and so much more.

@proudterrier I’m not really focused on journalism, but I would love to end up there! I know Sanjay Gupta never planned to be a journalist but one of his friends worked at CNN and just recruited him! I would add Stanford but my location requirement is to not go west of the MS river (save Tulane).

I could post my college deal breakers and criteria, but all of these colleges have everything I want, which is why I’m having a hard time.

15

Thanks for the ideas so far! Bump

16

Bump any more thoughts?