<p>This question is to those who have already "been there and done that".</p>
<p>If you were a senior and had to search, select and apply to college again, what would you do differently. Did you apply to too many/too few schools. Did you not have enough safety schools? Do you wish you had applied to reach school, but didn't because you didn't think you'd get in. Should you have visited school again before selecting, etc.</p>
<p>I'd like the input from those who have been down this road already.</p>
<p>If I were do the whole thing over again I wouldn't have applied to some universities that I wouldn't have gone to (I know that sounds kinda stupid so let me explain): I applied to a couple of safeties, a bunch of matches and some reaches but the thing is I was so into the 'must have all three kinds of universities' idea in my head that I failed to realize that I would prefer to go to one of my safeties than pretty much all of my matches! The chance of getting into my safety was about 99.9% btw.</p>
<p>Here's more than enough replies to your question, though I wouldn't change anything personally though if I had to, perhaps start my apps a little bit earlier than Thanksgiving :)</p>
<p>I would have applied to Brown and visited Cornell (again). I eliminated Harvard/Yale/Princeton/etc. because of personal preference, some research I did, and financial reasons. Brown and Dartmouth were the only two schools I didn't have time to research. In retrospect, Brown would have been a fun option to consider, especially due to the atmosphere there. I'm still happy with my choice, Berkeley, but if it doesn't work out I'll try to transfer to Cornell or Brown (I know it's very difficult to do so).</p>
<p>What I am glad I did was to slim down my list of colleges. I had friends who were stressing out over 10+ college applications while I just focused on a few.</p>
<p>Yeah, I definitely would have done my apps earlier. My friend had a new years party, and most of my apps were due the next day....I definitely sent my Duke one off without proofing it five minutes before I got into the shower to go to her house. Needless to say, I didn't get in, in part because I accidentally put the same essay for two different questions. You shouldn't do that....the worry must subtract five years from your life, I'm not even kiddding.</p>
<p>Strangely enough, I wrote one of my favorite application essays in about 45 minutes and submitted the application about three hours after it was technically due.</p>
<p>First of all, even though I'm extremely ecstatic about where I ended up (and where I probably would have ended up regardless of how the acceptances fell), there are still a few things I would have changed.</p>
<p>I definitely would have started my applications a lot sooner. I admire rising seniors who are already getting a head start on their essays and such now... Because I definitely pushed it right to the deadline.</p>
<p>I also would have applied to a few less schools, and filled my list with schools that were more right for me. I was pressured into applying to a few schools at the suggestion of my guidance counselor. I also applied to some large universities when I knew in my heart that I really wanted a small liberal arts college.</p>