<p>I'm a rising senior, and I'm unsure about adding a few colleges to my list. I'm afraid I'm adding too many schools that have low acceptance rates, which may not end well in March/April. Here's my list of the schools I'm pretty sure I'll apply to:
Brown
Harvard
Georgetown
Washington University in St. Louis
New York University (both NY and Shanghai campuses)
University of Oklahoma
Kansas University
I'm considering applying to Emory, but I'm worried that will make my list (even more) lop-sided. My parents are encouraging me to apply to Yale and Princeton, but I'm afraid that's too many uber competitive schools. I'm in state for Oklahoma, plus I'm comfortably within the range for National Merit Semifinalst, so I expect to be an NMSF. My ACT is a 33 with writing (11), but I took it again this past Saturday. My unweighted GPA is 3.98. I'm also enrolled as a part time student at a top 100 university in my city. I have a 4.0 at that university, where I have completed 14 credits in the past year, none of which counted for high school credit (I know some colleges are picky about that) or replaced high school courses (I was literally in class from 8 AM to 7 PM three days a week). There are other activities and such, but I don't feel comfortable writing my life story on the internet for strangers, and I know none if you probably want to read another such list. I know it's next to impossible to determine what my "chances" are at the first four (maybe five) of those colleges, but am I even competitive for those schools? These other threads with 2400, straight 800 SAT IIs, and like 6.8 weighted GPAs are making me less sure. Is applying to all four a waste of time because I don't even have a chance? And should I replace them with slightly less competitive schools like Emory, or is it already too lop-sided?
Thanks!</p>
<p>You’re right that applying to all 4 would not be a good use of your time. You are unlikely to have the same feelings about all those colleges, and if you are planning to apply to them, what is your rationale? is it for the prestige? do they have the programs you want? There is a reason many of those people have such high scores and accomplishments because those schools are uber competitive. It is not impossible, but even the highest achievers should not count on it.</p>
<p>You need more realistic matches and safeties. Are finances an issue? NYU is ridiculously expensive nowadays and does not offer significant need based aid. You should apply to schools where you know you have a reasonable chance of getting accepted to and can afford financially. What are you interested in studying? Emory itself I would probably still put on the reach side of things. I know your parents are just trying to help, but I think it’s time for a reality check as well. You want to have options by the time may/april rolls around, and applicants have been more competitive than ever. If you didn’t get into the top schools you wanted, would you be happy going to your state flagship (I’m assuming Oklahoma or Kansas) These are the realities you will have to face if you don’t add enough matches and safeties to your list.</p>
<p>There are plenty of colleges out there great at a wide variety of things, some yes I daresay it better than the ivy league. Choose a college that is a good fit, not just because your parents told you to apply.</p>
<p>There really isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer. First, think of how much time you have to invest in the college admissions process- adding one school generally adds 2 essays (you should be able to reuse a few but make sure you edit them thoroughly) and you have the common app essay on top.</p>
<p>Then, go tier-by-tier, starting with Safeties first:</p>
<p>Safety: Add enough so that you’re 95% certain you’ll get into at least one on favorable financial terms</p>
<p>OU has a really nice National Merit package so it looks like that covers it for you. Kansas is a decent extra in there; is there a guarantee of admission for National Merit Finalists? If so, you might be able to survive on a one-safety list (I’m in Texas, and the top-7% rule at UT-Austin really helped since I could weigh my options before even applying and only needed to spend time/money applying to one safety).</p>
<p>Match: Add enough so that you’re 70%+ confident that you won’t be stuck at your safety school without a compelling offer of financial aid. Adjust as needed if you feel that finances are a constraint.</p>
<p>NYU and Emory seem to fill this designation pretty well. I’d include WUSTL- just be sure to demonstrate interest so they don’t waitlist you due to Tufts Syndrome.</p>
<p>Reach: Fill up the rest of your slots with these to maximize your chances. Make sure to put in as much work as you can on each application.</p>
<p>Brown, Harvard, and Georgetown (a low-reach unless you’re applying for a hypercompetitive major) fill these roles nicely; feel free to expand here if you feel you can pull off more than 8 applications. </p>
<p>You have solid odds (especially since you took 14 credits on your own- that’s initiative!) and I don’t think your list is too lopsided. It’s reasonable.</p>
<p>Just remember this rule when you consider adding another college: If you ONLY got into that college with slightly less-than-expected financial aid, will you regret not applying someplace else instead?</p>
<p>KU has automatic admit for ACT of 22 and GPA of 2.5, so I would get in there for sure. Plus my grandfather went there, so as an out of state legacy with an ACT higher than 28, I’d qualify for a $10,000 a year scholarship (making it about $10,000 a year, $4,000 less than my parents pay for my school now). OU gives NMSFs full rides plus like a $200 a month stipend plus a $2,000 one time stipend for electronics plus a $5,000 stipend to study abroad; it’s pretty sweet. So I know for a fact that two colleges on my list are both afforable and will admit me, and I know I would enjoy attending either. I’m just afraid that in April, I’ll be stuck choosing between OU and KU. I actually had a friend apply to 8 schools and get rejected from 7, and I don’t want to be in that position. </p>
<p>@430ktk “Prepare for the worst and hope for the best”</p>
<p>I think that best describes the college applications process. You probably don’t know whether your reaches are in your grasp- and you won’t find out if you don’t apply and put in all your effort. It won’t feel good to be choosing between OU and KU in April AND wondering whether you could’ve had a broader range of options. The odds of success only go up with effort, anyway. Applying to <em>one</em> less school would’ve actually made the difference between going to a top-ranked program in my major and going to my state flagship; the school I’m attending next fall would’ve been on the chopping-block next because I was afraid my list had too many schools I wasn’t sure about. Actually, that was a common event this year- a friend applied to 15+ schools and only got into our state flagship, a local Southern Ivy that was a lower match for us, and two Ivies, and another applied to 20+ and only got into the flagship and Berkeley (#2 for her major of choice, iirc). So going either way- too many or too few- could hurt you, but as long as you know you’ll be able to put in effort into all of your applications (and aren’t spending more than you’re comfortable with- be aware of the trade-offs involved) it’s going to be a much bigger cost to cut down too much because you’ll always be thinking, “What if I’d just applied to that one extra school? I could’ve gotten in!” without the “You didn’t have the time/money/ability to have that many applications” voice helping you- and that not-giving-it-110% feeling isn’t very nice.</p>
<p>So don’t let the anxiety get to you. Based on the limited information you posted here, I wouldn’t count you out for any of those three reaches.</p>
<p>I’m actually insanely lucky in that I go to a school that has a super motivational college counselor, so I’ve had my Common App essay done since January, I’m just having a few of my teachers proof read it and then it’ll be completely done. KU and OU don’t have essays, so I don’t have to worry about them. And along with my college counselor being super motivational, she’s also super convincing, so she convinced our school to cover $300 worth of application fees for each student. I know I’ll spend a little more than $300 on those application fees, but I don’t think I’ll actually pay more than $300 out of pocket, which isn’t too expensive. So I can probably do one or two more applications than is the average recommended, but I don’t want to stretch myself too thin.</p>
<p>Well you don’t have to do all of your applications at once, so how about this? Start out doing KU and OU to get them out of the way (or if they don’t open until later, just go down the priority ranking).</p>
<p>Just build a list of schools and rank them by how important it is to you that you manage to apply to them. If you have that, then you can just adjust it around your schedule and get as many done as you can by your personal deadline. There’s still plenty of time for flexibility- and given the stresses of first-semester senior year, I think it’s something worth having.</p>
<p>From the little you have revealed, you do seem qualified to apply. The rest of your story will determine what comes of that.</p>
<p>But one of the truths we parents know is how much kids change from now to September and from then to your app dates. I don’t see how you can truly be sure you are done with the big essay. It is NOT like a hs writing assignment. you aren’t applying for another hs, but for the leap to some competitive colleges. You need to understand the colleges well enough to present yourself as they need to see you. In Jan of junior year, i’m not sure too many kids have this perspective.</p>
<p>I, for one, wrote the college essay I sent days before the deadline. You probably will not use the essay you wrote in January. Your writing gets much better in a year.</p>
<p>So you’re applying to super competitive schools, and then the University of Oklahoma? I think what your list is lacking is matches.</p>
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<p>It seems contradictory to say that you would enjoy attending either OU or KU, but you fear being stuck choosing between OU and KU.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus I mean that KU and OU are far from my first choice. I know that I’d like either one, but I wouldn’t be excited about attending either. And I fear only having two colleges to choose from. I plan to apply to at least seven or right colleges because I want to have some selection, so I don’t want to wind up only having two to select from, especially the two that are probably the most similar of any two on the list. </p>
<p>Take a look at the US News list and look where OU and KU are ranked. Then take a look at where your other schools are ranked. See that big list of schools in between the two? That’s where you need to be looking for your alternatives. Or possibly over at that other list, the LACs. There’s a whole lot of territory you haven’t covered yet, and some really great schools, some with merit offers for a student with your caliber stats. If you want to make sure you have a choice, and the full ride to OU is not a bad deal, take a look in the 20 to 50 range of the Nationals.</p>
<p>You need more real matches</p>
<p>Sheesh, what’s your major? Is it well served at OU and KU? If so, they are great safeties. </p>
<p>The list looks pretty much all or nothing. You have universities whose acceptance rates are in the teens (if that high) and single digits and then you have OU and KU, your safeties. I would suggest a more tiered approach - as someone said, add more matches. Look for schools that have 20%, 30%, 40% and yes, even 50% and 60% acceptance rates. Look beyond the top 10-15 schools - there’s a lot of good, great even, school out there if you are willing to look beyond name and prestige.</p>
<p>Have you considered LACs?</p>
<p>In the same time zone are:
Carleton
Grinnell
Macalester</p>
<p>These are probably matches or low reaches for you.</p>
<p>More options could include schools like</p>
<p>Minnesota – fairly low OOS tuition
UW-Madison – a little more than MN, but also a bit better</p>
<p>Those two would be matches or low matches for you.</p>
<p>I figured NYU and Emory counted as my matches. Am I missing something because everyone seems to be saying I don’t have matches?</p>
<p>Emory’s acceptance rate is 26% and NYU’s is 33%.</p>
<p>Side thought- If you have taken 14 college credits that are not counting for HS, will any of these colleges consider you a transfer student rather than a freshman?</p>
<p>I don’t think they will because I’ve never applied to my school as a full-time, degree-seeking student. And because I’m still a high school student. I’m just applying with college credit like one would with AP credit, except I think this is more likely to transfer. </p>