<p>Hey everyone. I'm looking to major in international relations/affairs but I need some help narrowing down my list of colleges that I've created. To help you get a better idea of what I'm looking for I will give you some quick stats.</p>
<p>School Type: Very rigorous public in Wisconsin
Gender: Male
GPA: 3.85 UW, well over 4.0 W
Class Rank: Like 13%, because of kids who get A+'s in easy classes (Weighted GPA I would be in top five percent)
SATs: 2210
ECs: Typical stuff (Eagle Scout, Wisconsin Democratic Party internship, Went to nationals for FBLA and DECA, swimming, golf, etc.)</p>
<p>OK, so I've got my list as of now arranged into a few different categories:</p>
<p>Reach universities:</p>
<p>Georgetown
Tufts
University of Chicago</p>
<p>Reach LACs:</p>
<p>Middlebury
Claremont McKenna</p>
<p>Match/Safety Schools:</p>
<p>American
Macalester
Lewis and Clark</p>
<p>Last Resort If Everything Else Screws Me Over:</p>
<p>UW-Madison</p>
<p>So I'm looking to narrow it down to 1 Reach University and 1 Reach LAC. Any commentary or recommendations would be helpful. Or if you think I honesly have a solid chance at them tell me and I might apply to more than one. But thanks a lot.</p>
<p>i would leave it how it is... because with the reaches, you never know what is going to happen and i think you have a good chance at most of them. i applied to like 6 reaches. it's better to give a few of them a shot instead of narrowing it down.</p>
<p>I want to narrow it down because 9 schools is a lot to apply to. I'd rather put more time into around 6-7 than rush through 9. I feel that I would have pretty much the same chances at Tufts/G-Town and Claremont/Midd so I would be better off choosing the one I prefer and applying there.</p>
<p>And yes, I would be very happy at all of my match/safeties (with the exception of UW-Madison, I will die if I have to go to a school with 40 thousand people and nobody even knows anyone...but hell, it's instate so what can I do about it? Hope for merit aid @ American/L&C, that's what.</p>
<p>I'd say that your list is good as it is.. I personally think that it isn't a bad idea to apply to mostly reach schools.. as long as you have a safety or two.</p>
<p>Personally, I think your "reach" schools are more like high matches- you'll have as good a shot as anyone. Why to apply to a super reach school, just in case. Admissions are a crapshot; you've only got $60 to lose.</p>
<p>doesn't really need narrowing down.. I know American takes the common app with no supplement and is free to apply to, and you can probably use the common app for a few others
also when I applied to UW the app wasn't very hard, so you should definitely have time to apply to all of those</p>
<p>9 schools is a mistake. trust me. I applied to 8 schools this year and I know I over did it. I personally applied to so many schools out of nervousness and I obviously worked way too much filling out apps when in the end everything turned out great and it wasnt worth applying to so many. Not only did i work too much but I paid around 400 dollars which I could have honestly saved. It was a big mistake. </p>
<p>Here is my suggestion:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>From what I see u have 5 reaches. pick 3 reaches, eliminate 2. </p></li>
<li><p>U have 3 safeties: Ur gonna get into all ur safeties for sure. ur stats make u an extremely qualified applicant and scholarships are near a sure shot.
If ur gonna get into all, why apply to so many. Pick ONE eliminate the rest.
I applied to 4 and I know it was rediculous. iN the end all my safeties accepted me as I expected and to my luck my matches and reaches accepted me. My safeties were worthless as I quickly eliminated them but it was just as hard to realize I drained 200 dollars I could have saved. </p></li>
<li><p>add one solid match. One school thats about a 65-75 percent chance of u getting in. Ull most likely get in to that school but off course nothing guaranteed. </p></li>
<li><p>Finally, get rid of UW. ur gonna get into ur safety so why have UW if its a last resort? its just 50 dollars down the drain cause ull pick ur safety (ull get into ur safety) over UW. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>5 schools. I cut ur list down to half. You will prolly get into ur match and definately get into ur safety. therefore, u have at least 2 schools to choose from. and chances are u will get into at least one reach mayby more so u will in that case have at least 3 schools to choose from. TRUST ME, MORE THAN ENOUGH. </p>
<p>Claremont-Mckenna and Lewis&Clark are the only two schools in the west. Have you visited? The LA suburbs have a very different feel than Vermont. University of Chicago and Tufts also seem completely different to me in terms of student body and leisure activities. You should think harder about the environment you want.</p>
<p>I don't know anything about you except the few lines of your EC's. Based on those, I would think your personality would fit best at: Tufts, Middlebury, Claremont-McKenna, American, Macalester, but only you can know for sure.</p>
<p>OP fyi, with the baby-boomlet, there is no such thing as a "for sure" safety these days. Be sure you let your safeties know how much you would "love" to go there, so you don't have "Tufts syndrome" happen to you.</p>
<p>i don't think any are reaches. the whole "reach" concept..... is a psychological illness.... which discourages teens from applying to schools they probably could get into.</p>
<p>The financial costs of applying aren't the problem. It's the financial cost of four years of private school that I'm worried about, which is why I've got four "safeties" on the list. Hopefully a few will give me merit aid, and one of them is probably where I end up. With the exception of Madison, I would love to go to any of the other three "safeties.</p>
<p>Maybe I'll just dump Chicago and go with eight...That leaves four reaches and four match/safeties. Yeah, that seems about right.</p>