Hey all, I am a senior right now (obviously) trying to create a college list but it’s proving to be super difficult. I have a 4.57 cumulative and a 1540 SAT (770 770), 800 Math 2, 770 Physics, 700 English Lit, and my prospective schools are:
Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Columbia, Harvard, Brown, Yale, UCBerkely, UCLA, Vanderbilt, Duke, Georgetown, Rice, Cal Poly SLO, Northeastern, Georgia Tech, Wash. U., Amherst, Colgate, Hamilton, Fordham, UC Irvine, and Pepperdine.
I know, it’s too many!
I want to pursue a career in business (concerning China and technology) as I’ve had an internship in IT and placed 2nd in 2 Chinese Speech contests (I’m not Chinese).
Talk with your parents, and find out how they expect you to pay for your education. How much are they truly ready, willing, and able to pay each year? Sit down with them and run the Net Price Calculators at the websites of each of the places on your list. Eliminate any that aren’t likely to be affordable. If you will need a lot of aid, go to the Financial Aid Forum and start reading up on that topic.
Yes, your stats are very good, but I don’t see a single place on your list that guarantees automatic admission for specific stats. You need one if you want to be certain that you can go to college next fall. Every year there are some hideous surprises. If you are in CA and your high school guidance counselor can reassure you that every single applicant with stats like yours in recent years has been accepted at XYZ, then that place is likely (but not guaranteed) to admit you.
Agree with above - I don’t see anything that looks like a slam dunk safety on your list.
And budget would be the best place to start. Depending on where you live and income, a lot of your list could be very expensive.
If you are a CA resident, add UC Riverside to your list as a Safety. UCR’s Business school is well respected and their Graduate school also offers Undergrads the chance to explore their Global Programs which includes China and Vietnam.
Agree with above commenters about finding a safety. As for narrowing down the rest, what type of school would feel like a good fit to you socially, academically, etc. Those are all prestigious but not all alike in other ways. Imagine writing the "Why ? essay— which ones flow right out of you and which are difficult to write? If you can’t think of a compelling reason to target a school other than prestige then its unlikely the school will feel compelled to accept you either.
If you’d like a strong opinion, Stanford, two Ivies, Georgetown, Northeastern, Amherst and Hamilton (noted Chinese program) represent a variety from among your private schools that you should research thoroughly. Your favorites from this group might be appropriate for your final list. Safer admits along schools that would further extend your variety will be important to consider as well. If you’d like to major in business, then consider a different array. Obviously your own impressions along with local guidance should supersede these suggestions as you proceed in your research.
If you can afford the time & expense to apply to all 23 schools, then do so.
It is possible that you will be the only applicant to Pepperdine University who is also applying to UCal-Berkeley, Brown & Yale.
P.S. The difficulty in recommending schools to eliminate from your list is that we do not know why several of the schools are on your list. Colgate, Hamilton & Pepperdine are interesting schools on your list that cause me to ask why they are included.
Would be helpful if you shared what you are seeking in a school regarding major areas of study, location, size, social experiences, and anything else that is important to you.
If you do limit your group, I suggest you emphasize applications to colleges for which you have reason to believe you have a reasonable chance of admission – it will be one of these, potentially top-notch, schools that you will be likely to attend. You will not need multiple safer admits, however.