<p>Just read through the "regret" thread and one mentioned that he/she did not apply to enough reaches. So how many is reasonable?</p>
<p>I regret only applying to one reach school, although it is not much of a reach at all. I wish I would’ve applied to 3 or 4, because you never know if one of them will accept you. </p>
<p>Pick a few schools you dream of going to and apply. You have nothing to lose, except the application fee :)</p>
<p>Just apply to schools you want to attend, but always include matches and safeties. Apply to a reach if you would attend, but don’t apply for the sake of applying. I applied to a lot of reaches just like Handala92.</p>
<p>I applied to 1 safety, 3 matches, and 5 reach schools.</p>
<p>Does applying more schools increase your chances? </p>
<p>This thread started in the parent’s forum:
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<p>My school only allows us to apply to eight school and they recommend 2:3:3 but I want to change it to 3:3:2. I wish we could apply to more reaches though.</p>
<p>If your safety is truly safe, you only need one. Otherwise, it’s up to you. I’d say 4 matches and 4-6 reaches if you’re a competitive applicant aiming for the tippy-top-most tier of schools.</p>
<p>It depends what you need. If you’re playing the need-based aid game, you’ll probably be a little top heavy. If you’re playing the merit-based aid game, you’re going to be bottom heavy. If cost isn’t a major factor, it’s going to be different.</p>
<p>My opinions (may be biased and are definitely subject to change)
Princeton: I can’t help linking ‘hierarchy’ with eating clubs in Princeton and I don’t really feel comfortable. I’ve read posts saying how awesome princeton is but I am still a little skeptical. And I read that Princeton is cutting budgets and it is not a good thing for someone in desperate need of FA.
Columbia: Perilous Power makes feel that NYC is indeed a dangerous place where I need to be afraid of bombs all the time. I am probably paranoiac.<br>
UChicago: I like UChicago because of Hayek; but I doubt I will go if I do not receive sufficient aid (I feel that UChicago rarely gives out sufficient aid for internationals?). FA is such a big problem. But I will apply and cross my fingers.
UPenn & Cornell: I’ve heard that there are a lot of ‘mandatory’ parties & drinking and I don’t really like this kind of environment. There are lots of smokers, too.
Brown & Dartmouth: basically FA problem; they have very small budgets.
Stanford: I’ve heard that people there are quite cold… Drastic contrast considering the brightness of the sun in California.
MIT: I am not a committed math- or science-oriented person so I don’t know if it suits me (any opinions?) </p>
<p>Please correct me if I have any misconceptions (probably have a lot since I haven’t had and will not have the opportunities to visit the campuses). Any additional comments/suggestions would be greatly greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Cost is definitely a problem.</p>
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<p>Princeton has one of the most generous FA programs in the country, I believe it rivals H & Y. A lot of schools have recently cut budgets, but that doesn’t mean they’re cutting FA. Many elite schools don’t like to cut FA. </p>
<p><a href=“I%20feel%20that%20UChicago%20rarely%20gives%20out%20sufficient%20aid%20for%20internationals?”>quote</a>
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<p>If I remember correctly, you are right. You get put in a very competitive pool if you’re an int’l applying for aid. </p>
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<p>Like I said, if you’re comparing to HYP, true. Otherwise, nope. Their FA is pretty good, I believe. Dartmouth has a FA calculator for US citizens on its website but you can try it out. </p>
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<p>Haha. Are you comparing Stanford’s weather to MIT/Princeton/Chicago?</p>
<p>As many as your parents will pay the app fees for!</p>
<p>I just realized you were talking about people, not weather in relation to Stanford… my bad.</p>
<p>I think most of the schools I applied to were reaches. In America, I only did Harvard, Yale, MIT, UChicago, Georgetown, Swarthmore, and Dartmouth. At least the first three are definitely reaches.
I actually decided not to apply to my safety, OSU, before I had any acceptances in America. OSU has a special deadline of Dec 1 for scholarship consideration, and I let the deadline pass when I had only been accepted to schools all the way in England where I probably, in retrospect, would have been unhappy anyway. Of course, if my EA results from MIT, UChicago, and Gtown had been bad I could have applied to UMich (which I had already visited), along with other schools, with plenty of time, and everyone I know always gets in. And, of course, my guidance counselor thought I would certainly get into UChicago. But it probably wasn’t the best decision to make.</p>
<p>Choose your number of reaches based off of your stats. If you’re in the range of schools that are “reaches for everyone” (HYPMS) you should have quite a few reaches, perhaps equal to or greater in number than your matches. Your number of matches should be about 75% of your reaches. And I really think you should have two safeties. A lot of people on CC just have one, which usually means they just applied to the flagship state, or a local public if the flagship is too selective. I think having two forces you to actually consider your safety schools.</p>
<p>But I totally didn’t do that. /hypocrisy</p>
<p>I did:
8 reaches (planned 6 but added 2 in december)
5 matches
1 safety</p>
<p>most would say that I had too many reaches though, and too many schools overall.</p>