<p>For current seniors and college students and parents:</p>
<p>At one point or another, many of you have been at the point I am right now where I have a list of 21 schools to apply to and have no idea how to narrow the list down. I keep on rationalizing each school's spot on the list, but I know it would be insane to apply to 21 schools. Mostly I don't want to regret not applying to a school when everything is said and done. </p>
<p>How did you manage to come up with a reasonable final list of colleges?</p>
<p>Hmmm, well I was definitely in a place such as yours: at about 50 at one point I managed by December to get it down to 12 [a nice number I feel]. How did I do it though, hmmm, that's tough to say because I barely did any college visits [five total when all is said and done], so that definitely was not a factor. I think I did a lot of reading, you know, PR Top College books, College Prowl3r, Peterson's, etc, plus some of the surveys [which aren't necessarily helpful though they did assure me that I was on the right track]. So from here I set a criteria of distance from home [Harvey Mudd was my exception], academics, prestige, availability of major [which mine was math so it really didn't cut anything down], strength of departments [specific to major is obviously best], Greek life [though I didn't consider this till after applications were mailed], environment [more specifically the town's contributions to the overall feel of campus life], size [I was personally gunning for 5,000/6,000 though I wouldn't mind going smaller but definitely nothing bigger than 10,000], SAT range [though I really didn't consider this because I had a mentality that my math score would slightly compensate for my verbal, so...]. Though when it all came down to it, instinct was the best way for me to cut down my list, I mean after a while when you just seriously sit down and think about each school individually you just seem to forget them and then all is done. I know personally late in the game I was actually in the middle of some applications though I never actually finished them because I realized that that school would really never be good for me [personally, I know I dropped some schools around Thanksgiving, those being: USC, Middlebury, Georgetown, Duke, Colgate, Davidson, and Ramapo] so it really used to be at 19, but I just thought about them and just saw aspects of them that just weren't for me. So really I would say let time take it course and after a while you'll know what's best for you. Also, I'm guessing that you have a very top heavy list which was definitely the case for me: 8 reaches, 2 slight reaches/matches, and 2 safeties, though as long as you'd be happy to go anywhere on your list, and as soon as you get accepted to one college it really is free game, so don't worry about top heavy list, so I say good luck with everything and have fun with high school :D</p>
<p>Discriminating criteria for when I was choosing last year:</p>
<ol>
<li>size of student body</li>
<li>setting (rural, urban) + ease in returning home for breaks</li>
<li>strength in the major(s) you're interested in</li>
<li>campus visit</li>
<li>location (midwest, east coast, etc.)</li>
<li>emphasis on undergraduate education</li>
</ol>
<p>1) Figured out my intended major/interests
2) Talked to college counselor at HS, got a ranking by major chart
3) Looked at location, campus, financial aid
4) Picked 1 school for ED and left the rest for RD</p>
<p>If you visit the colleges you're interested in, some will just rub you the wrong way (due to the architecture, atmosphere, people, surrounding neighborhood, dorms, and just the general vibe) & you'll have no trouble at all dumping them.</p>
<p>Also, look in a mirror and pretend you're 30 and someone asked you where you went to college. Say, "I went to ________." Some will sound just right coming out of your mouth, and some will sound just wrong.</p>