<p>My son will be applying to grad schools next year and needs to start researching now. I just wanted to get opinions - if you're seeking a fellowship, how many applications would you think is advisable to submit?</p>
<p>It's been a very long time since I was in grad school and I don't know what the climate is like this decade. Any opinions appreciated, thanks.</p>
<p>What area of study?</p>
<p>I was wondering how many others are applying to as well... My list contains seven schools, any of which I would be very happy to attend for different reasons. I'm feeling tentative about asking my recommenders to write that many things for me (they each have their own forms and questions).</p>
<p>I'll be sending out 6 (maybe 7):</p>
<p>1) The school I want (almost perfect match, good funding, city I love)
2) Excellent academics, another city I love, but dicey funding with high COL
3) Top program, excellent funding, medium reach
4) Safety
5) Safety
6) Everybody's top school, extreme reach</p>
<p>I may throw in another safety.</p>
<p>I will be applying next fall for a East Asian History (Field: Early China) programs starting fall 2008.</p>
<p>In clumps of preference:</p>
<p>Top Schools:</p>
<p>Harvard
University of Chicago
Columbia
Yale
Stanford
UC Berkeley</p>
<p>Backups:</p>
<p>University of Pennsylvania
UCLA
University of Washington, Seattle
Washington University in St. Louis</p>
<p>My field is rather narrow. I will also be applying to top law schools, to give myself another option.</p>
<p>Of course, all this may go out the window if I get into a prestigious fellowship program for study in England. Who knows if that'll happen though? I'm not athletic enough for the Rhodes, at least...</p>
<p>I'm not applying to Princeton, both because I want a change and because they discourage intellectual incest.</p>
<p>I'm applying for PhD programs in materials science for Fall, 2007.</p>
<p>Top Choices (the only places I'd be real excited to go to):
-Caltech
-MIT
-Stanford
-Harvard</p>
<p>I hope I don't have to go here, but I'd be a fool to only apply to four schools:
-Berkeley
-Columbia
-Michigan
-Northwestern
-Princeton</p>
<p>So I'll be applying to nine schools and two fellowships (NSF and NDSEG).</p>
<p>eric,</p>
<p>Much respeck and all, but I think your "backups" are a bit...well...too high up the list.</p>
<p>Even if you are a spectacular applicant, I think you've basically got a list of toughies.</p>
<p>OK, the list thing then.... Applying for MFA in Graphic Design/Visual Communications</p>
<p>Reaches:
Maryland Intitute College of Art
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
California College of the Arts (somewhere between reach and match)</p>
<p>Matches:
University of Washington
Pratt Institute</p>
<p>Safe Matches:
Rochester Institute of Technology
Savannah College of Art and Design</p>
<p>When I was applying for grad school, I applied to 6 different ones: 2 reach, 2 good fit, 2 backup. I was accepted to 3 of them, and 2 offered me funding.</p>
<p>
[quote]
eric,</p>
<p>Much respeck and all, but I think your "backups" are a bit...well...too high up the list.</p>
<p>Even if you are a spectacular applicant, I think you've basically got a list of toughies.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Heh, very true. But I'm sort of doing this on purpose. It's still very much an academic caste system in history, and especially in Chinese history. I'd rather find out I'm not that great when applying to a PhD program, and change fields right then, then wait until I can't get a decent job later.</p>
<p>That's understandable. But wouldn't Michigan also be on that list?</p>
<p>we should all list our interview offers and/or acceptances in a few months =)</p>
<p>i'm applying to molecular pathology and cancer biology phd programs:</p>
<p>Reach: Stanford, Harvard, MIT, UPenn
Match: Michigan, UCSD, Wisconsin
Safety: Baylor</p>
<p>honestly, i don't have a clue as to whether i would be considered to the top schools considering i'm an international student, and i've read that stanford and upenn accept 1-3 students per year out of around 50... i think my stats are pretty competetive, but who knows...i think i would have a much better chance if the paper that i am co-author of is submitted before the app deadlines.</p>
<p>Concidently, I went to Baylor for my undergrad (Elec & Comp Engineering) ;)</p>
<p>Nice! I was recommended to apply there by a graduate student in a previous lab who did SURP (or something equivalent) there. </p>
<p>One of the main reasons why that school is appealing is the VERY low cost of living... I'd probably be in culture-shock when I start seeing the price difference compared to here.</p>
<p>edit: I just realized that there are two different Baylors. I'm actually applying to the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, not Baylor University in Waco.</p>
<p>BCM was the med school of Baylor Univ since 1903 (Baylor Univ College of Medicine) until BCM became independent in 1969. They still have ties though (via direct undergrad to med school program). I'm not sure about the particular program, but BCM is a very well known med school, I'm surprised it's so low on your list :D</p>
<p>ccmadforever:
You and my son are applying to the same program (cancer bio phd) at a couple of the same schools. Namely, Stanford and Baylor Medicine. :)</p>
<p>You're right, UCLAri. I totally forgot about Michigan. They'd be on the backup list probably, but they've really been making an effort recently to build up their Chinese studies. I remember seeing their ads for a new tenure-track (!) professor of ancient China in Princeton's East Asian Studies building last year.</p>
<p>morfinx, the reason why I put BCM as a safety (and I know that it's ranked 10th nationally as a medical school) is that I'm applying to its biomedical science phd program, which isn't as reputable as the others on the list, but still well-known. </p>
<p>1tcm, it's nice to hear about others who share the same interests. would you mind sharing what other schools your son has in mind?</p>
<p>For my MS degree I applied to three schools (accepted at 2, both with funding).</p>
<p>For the PhD I applied to 5 schools (accepted to 4, 3 with funding and one funding pending).</p>
<p>Both of these applications were to geology departments. Usually, in my field, you probably don't want to waste time on more than 5 schools as it's hard to find schools with professors that match nearly perfectly with your research interests.</p>
<p>I'm applying to 10 schools: phd CS</p>
<p>Reach:
CMU
Stanford
UIUC</p>
<p>Match (I hope):
USC
UCSD
Upenn
Columbia
Duke University</p>
<p>Safety:
Univ of Florida
Penn State</p>