<p>I've narrowed and narrowed my list down but I'm still stuck with 10 private schools and 4 UCs that I want to apply to. Is 10 schools overkill? I can really say that (without having visited) I would attend all these schools. I'm not applying to a bunch of safeties (my only safety really is UCDavis), they are all reaches matches and super reaches. I feel so guilty and ridiculous spending around 700 dollars of my parents money just to apply. As for stats, I basically should get into all the UCs (Im not counting on it though) and have a decent chance (as much as any other high achieving kid) at the privates. This is the list for now, any comments or advice would be greatly appreciated:
PRIVATES:
Harvard
Rice
Tufts
Yale
Wash U
Stanford
Northwestern
Brown
UPenn
Georgetown </p>
<p>What do you plan to major in? For me, I narrowed my list down from 20 to about 10. What I did was looked at my safeties (the UC's). I then just said "Hey, I would rather go to UCSD or Berkeley than CMU, why should I apply there?"</p>
<p>I'm not sure what I want to major in yet, so thats why all of my schools are ones with a broad variety of academic programs. Any more suggestions? How many schools are you all applying to?</p>
<p>10 is good if you don't mind the application fees. Personally, I think 10 and under is great, and anything above is excessive, but that's just my own view. I have a friend applying to 21 colleges (all ranked in the top 25). But visiting is important. I never thought it was until I visited and found out I didn't like some places like I thought I would. But nevermind, 10 is awesome. :p (my list is 8 itself)</p>
<p>yeah i wish i had the time and means to visit, but I know for sure that I like my safety, so if nothing else I'll be happy there. Thanks for the replies guys.</p>
<p>There is no right amount of schools to apply to. Sometimes, many students apply to a lot of schools to see which school will offer the best financial aid package, and they can even use other schools' aid package to get the aid package that they really want at their first choice school. Even though applying to a lot of schools may be a lot of money, in the long run, it is a pay off, if you don't have to pay a lot of money for college. It will actually save you money. I'm actually applying about 16 schools.</p>
<p>iney, im confused. So you are applying to schools that are "below" you in order to get financial aid packages from those schools and see if you can get your top choice to match it?</p>
<p>Not necessarily below me. I was just reading this article about this student who had applied to Yale, Harvard, and Princeton, and had gotten in to all three of them. When the student asked the schools to give higher offers, Harvard and Princeton jumped at the offer. So you do not necessarily have to apply to schools of lower tiers to get your top choice to math the aid package. You can apply to schools of the same tier to try to get the same aid package. I can try to find the article about Harvard, Yale, and Princeton for you if you would like.</p>
<p>10 (+ 4 you're not counting) isn't a lot, relatively. I know someone who applied to 11. May not seem a lot, but it was all eight Ivies + Swarthmore, NYU, Skidmore, BU and Tufts. :| In actuality, she had only about 4/5 that were reasonable. </p>
<p>Personally, my prelim list of US colleges rest around 10-13 or so, then 4 Canadian universities (all in Ontario :)) and a few in Australia. But I'm a intel, and financial aid to the US is particularly important. Lots of reaches on my list. :(</p>
<p>celebrian, what is your final list? I think I missed it on the TPMB thread...?</p>
<p>Yeah, UCDavis is basically my only safety. I am ELC but I dont think that guarantees me into Davis. According to my stats though, I should at least get into UCSD and have a really good shot at UCB and UCLA, but nothing is guaranteed.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I feel so guilty and ridiculous spending around 700 dollars of my parents money just to apply.
[/quote]
What law says it has to be your parents money? You could pay for 1/2 of them, and having a personal stake in the matter might give you a different perspective on whether its worth it.</p>
<p>Its not unreasonable to apply to several reach schools, but I think you've got a couple too many. Admissions are not like playing the lottery, where your chances are better the more tickets you buy. The adcoms are going to react similarly to your grades, test scores, essays, and recs. There is an element of unpredictability because the schools are trying to assemble a class and so you can't know where you fit in compared to what they need, but 3 or 4 apps smooths this out. Not only that, you've applied to 2 schools notorious for rejected applicants without demonstrated interest; ever heard of "Tufts Syndrome".</p>
<p>For me narrowing down schools became easier when I figured out what I didn't want. Rice and Harvard are two different worlds. The same holds true with Tufts and Stanford. Yale and Northwestern. The list goes on. Maybe you should go back to the drawing board and find out what you don't want.
My opinion is that even 8 is too many. Sure if you want your heart covered in ivy maybe one of the schools might accept you if you apply to all of them...(Good luck) It is my opinion that students are more wrapped up in trying to get into status U then finding a place that actually fits. The adcoms know it too. That is why we have to write "Why UPenn?" or "Why Duke?". The adcoms know who really wants to be there....</p>
<p>I can see where you people are coming from with the fact that my schools are all really different, but I'm a pretty flexible person and I like them all for different reasons, while Rice and Harvard may be very different, I like them both for different reasons and I think I could be very happy at both of them.</p>