<p>Don’t apply to 10 schools, find 3 that you really like, throw in a reach if you want to and a safety.</p>
<p>Since you are interested in a lot of schools, try to start researching them on-line first in order to narrow down your list. You can get a lot of info. on-line which will help you.</p>
<p>Apply to one or 2 EA schools. If you get in early, at least it eliminates a lot of safety schools and you can concentrate on reaches/matches.</p>
<p>I think 10 is ridiculous. That’s $500! I think 1-2 safeties, 3-4 matches, and 1-2 reaches is a good idea. That’s 5-8 schools, which’ll give you a nice range. (I applied to one safety, two matches, and two reaches, myself.)</p>
<p>What really helped me narrow my list down (and quickly) was making a list of things I absolutely wanted my future college to have. Perhaps, for example: easy access to a major city, Linguistics major, access to skiing, a marching band, a student garden… Whatever you want, search every potential school’s website to see how many ‘ideal’ characteristics it matches.</p>
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Terrible advice, especially if the OP needs to compare financial aid offers. </p>
<p>Most applicants have a very tough time determining their application strength; the best thing is to apply to a range of schools, everything from very safe to very reachy. That way you don’t have any regrets come April. </p>
<p>To try to slice everything up into reach-match-safety is just silly.</p>
<p>I think 5-8 is a good amount. You want enough to give you options come April but not so many that your apps lose their interest. Make sure most schools are matches, though! Unless you go to a challenging school, 3.7 is not going to make super-reachy schools any easier. (It’s a respectable GPA, of course! Just that a lot on your list are super-selective, and will be looking for any reason to narrow down the application pool.) </p>
<p>Also, your list of schools is pretty diverse. I’d look at issues like size, geography, selectivity, and definately proximity to major cities! Dartmouth and UPenn are about as different as can be–what attracts you to them? Obviously, you can’t visit every school, but try and experience a wide variety of types. That way, when you’re done visiting, you know that LACs really aren’t for you or you couldn’t stand a rural environment. There’s no need to apply to 5-8 practically identical schools or anything, but make sure you have a reason for applying to each one: that you feel you’ll be successful and fit in for four years.</p>
<p><a href=“Oh,%20and%20my%20GPA%20is%203.97uw,%20and%20ACT%20is%2034.%20I%20took%20the%20SAT%20and%20then%20retook%20it,%20but%20I’m%20thinking%20of%20just%20sending%20the%20ACT.%20I’m%20also%20taking%20subject%20tests%20this%20June,%20and%20am%20hoping%20for%20700+%20on%20USH%20and%20Lit”>quote</a>.
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<p>Remember that if a school requires SAT 2’s, they will see your SAT score even if you send the ACT in.</p>
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<p>3.97, actually. Though you never know what could happen before the end of the semester… LOL.</p>
<p>Let’s see for the rest…</p>
<p>~U. of Minnesota is in-state, as well as St. Thomas University (is that on the lists? LOL. It should be) and Macalester. My dad also teaches at St. Thomas, so I’d get a 3/4 discount at St. Thomas and Macalester if I got it. </p>
<p>~I’m not sure about size/location (urban/rural/suburban) yet, but I’m guessing college visits will help narrow that down. My dad blocked off about 2 weeks for college visits in the NE, so I’m going to try to visit as many of the schools as I can.</p>
<p>~Thanks for the suggestion about EA… I’ll definitely make sure to do that… it would be nice to get an acceptance early to take the pressure off.</p>
<p>~I’m a little wary of applying to less than 6-7 schools because I do need financial aid, so having a few schools where I could compare packages would be really great.</p>
<p>~My original SAT score was 2050, so it wasn’t horrible, but… average. I just retook it in May, so hopefully it’s higher, or I guess I might retake it again. <em>sigh</em> I hate the SAT system.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the help!! This is a really great site for getting info/advice!</p>
<p>The basic prompts, which most schools use in some form, are:
- Tell us something important or interesting about you as a person.
- Tell us why you are applying to this school.
I think in creating your list you should be able to write a paragraph for the second prompt to any school you are considering. Don’t bother applying if your best reason is the USNWR ranking.</p>
<p>You have many colleges on your list and you can def. narrow it down even before visiting. What do you want in a school other than academics? What kind of weather, location, student body size, diversity of student body (politically, socially, racially, socio-economically, cuturally, etc.) etc. do you want in a school. Once you figure this out, look up this info on each school. You can use websites like this one, Princeton Review, Theu.com, s t u d e ntsre v i e w.com, College Pr ow ler, etc. to find out which schools fit your preferences. Once you find out what schools you actually like, you can go ahead and make sure you have your matches, safeties and reaches, and add or subtract schools as needed.</p>
<p>Google for the file that contains almost all(top 100?) college essay questions. If you want to PM me and I’ll send you the file. Warning, it’s a pdf file of 102KB.</p>
<p>Also one more point, lots of colleges have free application if you apply online, so it will save you some money by adding them to your list.</p>
<p>Ooh, thanks for all the essay info!! And I’ll definitely look into the schools without app fees… that will make my parents happy! LOL.</p>
<p>I applied to too many and it is very stressful now to decide.</p>
<p>^ But a good problem to have, I would think!!!</p>
<p>Regarding essays: If you can find a college application essay class to take over the summer, do it because you will get lots of valuable feedback and practice.
Also, the Common Application has essay topics which may include topic of your choice. Some of the colleges/universities have unique essay questions (not the same as Common Application) which you need to write before applying. Just don’t wait until the last minute with a heavy junior work load–it can feel overwhelming.</p>
<p>don’t take a class about essay writing. use the time to do something valuable- maybe even something that you can write about in your essay? English teachers and parents can help you edit your essay without it seeming too prepped (which it probably will if you take a class).</p>
<p>I found the link to almost all essays here:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.fcps.edu/OaktonHS/careercenter/documents/2008%20Out%20of%20State%20College%20Application%20Essays.pdf[/url]”>http://www.fcps.edu/OaktonHS/careercenter/documents/2008%20Out%20of%20State%20College%20Application%20Essays.pdf</a></p>
<p>College application essay class? Seriously?</p>
<p>In my area, with some searching, you can find a one time (one evening) college application essay class and a week long class before going off to a summer job as a camp counselor, etc. It is an opportunity to have other kids critique your essay and get some valuable feedback and get your mind thinking about the college essay. It is a really good use of valuable time to get a head start on your essay before the application crunch begins.</p>
<p>Yep ditto to TheRightWayLeft i applied to way too many schools and had a pretty hard time deciding after decisions came out. Seems like a good problem to have but it really isnt especially for me as an international who can’t visit. I would say really apply to as many as you’re comfortable with applying to, there’s really no limit except cost. If you feel you’re applying to too few, it could be a decision you come to regret later on and that’s really not what you want.</p>