<p>Currently Im applying to UCF, UF (safeties); Grinnel, Vanderbilt, Holy Cross, Tufts (matches); and Davidson, Amherst, Williams and UNC-CH (reaches).</p>
<p>10... 0.0.... That seems like a lot to me but I just can't narrow them down anymore (yes, that's the VERY narrowed list). Is that way too many? How many is about the right amount? Will the colleges see that I applied to so many other colleges and not accept me because of it (making it seem I'm indecisive)? </p>
<p>(This is a question thread and also a discussion thread AP feel free to give your opinions independent of my case)</p>
<p>There is no right answer. 10 is not a bad number these days.
But, from the looks of your list, it may be a little top-heavy with reach schools. If Davidson and UNC are reaches, then I wonder if Grinnell and the other 3 are really match schools. </p>
<p>Your list ought to be big enough to optimize your chances of getting what you really want. UCF and UF, with over 50K students each, are very different from most of the schools in the rest of your list. I think you’d improve what is already a pretty good list by dropping one of the safeties and one or two of the others, then adding one or two somewhat less selective LACs.</p>
<p>My son did 6 or 7, my daughters many more. (some were free so not as expensive) They wanted to optimize their chances for good aid and along with admissioin but I don’t think colleges see that. They put 3 or 4 on “other colleges you are applying to” but didn’t think it was mandatory.</p>
Well, that depends. How well organized are you? Can you pay for all those application fees, the SAT score report fees, and the CSS PROFILE fees for the privates? Is your dream school, if you have one, a match or reach?</p>
<p>I’m less concerned with size (my own list included LACs, small/medium universities, and large universities) and more concerned with atmosphere…your list seems very eclectic. Holy Cross is not very similar to Vandy, and Grinnell and UNC aren’t very similar either. Davidson is more similar to Haverford than Amherst or Williams. How did you select your list?</p>
<p>Good schools, with good medical school acceptance rates and good science departments. Location doesn’t really matter to me, atmosphere isn’t that important either (if there are parties every once and awhile, great. If not, oh well. As long as the people are decent, I’m OK.). I chose schools with a reasonable deviation around my SAT scores (which I’m retaking because I took them on a day I wasn’t 100% on) and ACT score. I chose UCF and UF as my safeties because UCF is 5 minutes away and I could get in my sleep and UF is in-state and takes bright futures and I could get in with a little more effort. As for my matches and reaches, I posted several threads and those were the common answers on what my reaches and what my matches were. Plus I did some research and my scores are around there. But I’m not sure whether my matches are too “reachy” or my reaches are too “matchy” (which I wouldn’t mind because I like my reaches, I don’t want anything more than them).</p>
<p>I just browsed through your past threads. With a class rank of 13 or so and a 32 ACT, you have a reasonable shot at all of your schools, though some will be more difficult than others. </p>
<p>You also have URM status, which makes several of your schools more feasible. Davidson is particularly known for needing diversity.</p>
<p>I’d break it down as follows:</p>
<p>Safeties (2):
[ul][<em>]It makes sense to keep UCF and UF; you need safeties you can afford. This is especially important since you plan to attend medical school, and keeping loans to a minimum is preferable.
[</em>]If you want to follow TK’s suggestion and add another LAC, Eckerd, Rollins, or NCF might work.[/ul]</p>
<p>Matches (2):
[ul][<em>]Keep Davidson; it’s loan-free and somewhat similar to UNC, though really it’s more like a miniature Duke. [</em>]Tufts would likely also be a match, though it’s becoming more selective.
[li]Alternately, Grinnell, Holy Cross, or (my recommendations instead) Wesleyan, Haverford, Rhodes, William & Mary, or a similar school.[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>Reaches (4):
[ul][<em>]UNC and Vandy would make nice reaches
[</em>]2 of Amherst, Williams, Pomona, Swat (you mentioned the latter two elsewhere)[/ul]</p>
<p>Here’s the way I think of it. Can you estimate the probability of ATTENDING each school? </p>
<p>If you have a definite rank order of preferences, then you can see that the probability of ATTENDING your 8th choice, is pretty small because you have three other matches (~ 50% probability of acceptance) and are therefore likely to get into one of your top 7. If you had that rank order, it might make sense to eliminate schools where your probability of attending fall below some threshold, say 5%. On the other hand, if you are not sure of your preferences, need to wait on financial aid, or any host of other reasons, then applying to 10 schools is not unreasonable at all. If you need merit aid in order to attend, then applying to even more schools is not unreasonable. I do think that you want to have two safeties, just so that you definitely have a choice. I think your list is quite reasonable, especially if you haven’t had much time to visit schools and are applying to a diverse set of schools saving the real decisions for later. I also have a controversial opinion that sometimes it’s easier both in terms of time and money, to apply to a school, then it is to visit it for the purpose of deciding where to apply. Once accepted, if you can, you definitely want to visit your top few preference for the purpose of due diligence to figure out where you’d be happiest.</p>
<p>If I had to put them in order from ones I most want to attend to least would be:</p>
<p>Amherst, Davidson, Tufts/Vanderbilt, Holy Cross/Grinnel (Grinnel would be higher but I’m tentative with the whole “Iowa” thing), Williams/UNC-CH, UF/UCF (I’m ambivalent between the two, I would probably stand out way more at UCF but UF is a much more selective and prestigious school).</p>
<p>But that is a VERY “meh” list, the more I look at it the more I want to move stuff around (especially Holy Cross, I just don’t know a ton about it).</p>
<p>@Warbles and Classic: Thank you, that was really helpful.</p>
<p>Perfect example! If you were sure about this preference, then you have 4 matches more desirable to you than two reaches that are choice 7 and 8. What do you think the chances are that you will attend Williams or UNC-CH? In order for that to happen, you would have to get rejected by Amherst, Davidson, all of your matches AND THEN ALSO GET INTO A REACH before you would attend choice 7. In this case, the chances of attending Williams are minuscule. If you were sure about these preferences, I’d eliminate Williams and UNC-CH. </p>
<p>Again, it’s just an example of how you might want to think about it. If you keep moving your preferences around, then of course you should keep them until they stop moving.</p>
<p>For your situation, I think 10 is a good number. You need money and your ACT is not super strong for elites, so your chances are better by applying to several. </p>
<p>*Will the colleges see that I applied to so many *</p>