<p>ARCHcornell, the stories of kids not getting accepted anywhere knocked your method out of my mind/future.</p>
<p>My first goal is to apply to enough "safeties" so I'll have a net of some sort. However, since I really don't think I have a 100% shot at any college, I don't want that net to be made up of just 1-2 colleges. In fact, I'm hesitant about naming any college as a "safety" because I really don't know if I'm qualified enough to do so. </p>
<p>Then, there is the crapshoot for matches/reaches. It seems to me that the hardest part is getting in; the rest I'll worry about once I get the (dreaded) reply. I just want to cross the first big hurdle of acceptance before worrying about choosing (if I am even lucky enough to have such a dilemma).</p>
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That, and not being in the right place for four years - possibly some of the best years - of your life.
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Realistically, not all of the Ivies are going to be the 'right place'. Is the prestige of going to a top school worth giving up a sense of fit? Perhaps if the Ivies differentiated between themselves more, by specializing in one or two areas, they would have a more differentiated pool of applicants and the admissions process would be less of a wild turkey shoot.</p>
<p>Also, by applying to more schools, you reduce the collective chances of acceptance to those schools. If everyone for this upcoming year only applied to a few schools, colleges would receive fewer applications and possibly lower their standards as a result.</p>
<p>I guess if you can afford to apply to that many schools, that's great. It's just that college is not the be-all and end-all of your life, and there are times when you are not in the ideal situation or the 'right place'. You just have to deal with it. Those who can avoid such situations, of course, should, by all means.</p>
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<p>If everyone for this upcoming year only applied to a few schools, colleges would receive fewer applications and possibly lower their standards as a result.</p>
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<p>I don't think your individual action is going to impact the macro college admissions process. Nice thought though.</p>
<p>I think the biggest fallacy people make is that they "know" what kind of college they want before they actually get to attend as admitted students. Sure, there are many schools not in the same mold (Columbia, Cornell ,etc), but often they are more similar than you think. Its much easier to realize that "maybe Amherst is a cool place", once you get in and are at days on campus events. Otherwise you may never know.</p>
<p>Read about collusions...they don't really seem to work on such a big scale</p>
<p>I think when people first apply, they do it based on name alone, but then narrow it down after visits - for me, my visits AFTER I was admitted made the difference</p>
<p>Be aware that what you are looking for can change as you go through this process. My D had 2 first choice schools, one accepted her with only loans 41,000 and the other she did not get into. She had very many good choices with scholarships but ended up choosing a school that originally was a saftey low on her list. After visiting she loved it and she got good money there AND it was closer to home which became an issue as May got closer. She or we could not have predicted that. What you like now may change over this year so it is good to have options. There are many schools with free online applications and usually your state apps are free and then there are preferred customer type apps where you get to apply free. The costs of the apps by far make up for what for us was about a 20,000 reduction in cost for 4 years, so 80,000.</p>
<p>I should probably explain that I am paying for my admissions process myself, so I look at the cost more closely. I understand where people are coming from when they say that additional college applications are an investment; I agree. It's just that you can't afford every investment.</p>
<p>Specifically, I mean applications to many top schools. If you can put that much effort into your applications process in order to raise your chances of getting into a top school, that's great. However, you shouldn't have to apply to additional top schools in order to ensure that you are accepted somewhere. That's what safety schools are for.</p>
<p>I disagree. You should really only have one or tow safeties since you know you are getting in somewhere. But no one wants to end up at their safety. A number of reaches IS a way to be safe that you'll end up at a top school and have the opportunity to actually have choices.</p>
<p>If you are paying yourself, perhaps you can get financial assistance. If financial issues are a worry then its even more important to have options since money is in the picture.</p>
<p>It depends on your candidacy and the schools you apply to. A 1600 Valedictorian with good ECs can be more sure than a 1450 top 10% kid.</p>
<p>Yes, you should not have an excessive number of safeties, but you should have some. They should be schools you are willing to attend, otherwise, what is the point?</p>
<p>A number of reaches is a way to help ensure acceptance, but they should all be schools you are genuinely interested in attending, not on your list for the sake of being reach schools. For some, getting into a top school isn't a priority.</p>
<p>I can't get financial assistance, and from browsing the forums it seems that more safeties would offer me more financial aid, which would give me more options moneywise.</p>
<p>My point is that for those who think getting into a top school IS a priority, its a significant advantage to apply to something like 10 schools.</p>
<p>I know some kids who were busy deciding between Case Western, Rensalaer, Rochester, Pitt and Delaware because of great merit awards that made these schools better bargains than their own state U. They did not get much more than loans from schools like Michigan, CMU and the like. Whatever they end up choosing is going to be a big help to their families who are on that hump where they just don't qualify for much if any financial aid, but would be hard put to pay a full private tuition and such. For some families, the reality of that $45K+ bill does not hit until it is time to send that deposit.</p>
<p>If you're worried about not getting accepted anywhere, find a school with rolling admissions so you can be assured of a spot relatively early. Then, concentrate on your other apps. However many schools depends on the individual. I would advise you to do your favorite schools first though. After a while, you might get tired of filling out apps and just decide to go with what you've got. I personally started out with a monster list of schools, narrowed it down somewhat randomly to 4, and applied and was acceptd ED to one.</p>
<p>Which ED school did you go to RaboKarabekian? Did you need FA and if so, did the school meet the required need? I've heard ED is awful in terms of FA... which is the main thing that's stopping me.</p>
<p>I would suggest trying to figure out what you want in a school and applying to schools like that; I don't understand when people apply to tiny LACs, then state schools like UCLA, claiming they would love either one. I applied to a guaranteed-admission state safety, another safety that offered alot of merit aid, then several "crapshoot schools"- MIT, Northwestern, Rice, Carnegie Mellon (for computer science). I had my hands full because I only filled out the common app for one school, and the Texas common app (which is horrible) for another.</p>
<p>If your heart is set on attending an ivy or other selective school just to say you're goiing to one, apply to many of those schools. If you want to go to a school that is a good match for you, find those schools and apply to just them. I knew I didn't want to go to HYP, so I didn't apply there, and was glad to not have the stress.</p>
<p>Well I like both Harvey Mudd and UCB. I've visited HMC and although it's very VERY ugly, I liked the tour guide, the professors seemed cool, and the overall atmosphere was nice. I've never visited UCB but its academically awesome and I don't have anything against it.</p>
<p>I have a list of schools in my mind... I'm slightly scared to write them down. I think 2 are rolling...lol</p>
<p>~ what statistics should an applicant have to apply to those "crapshoot" schools?</p>
<p>As I thought, for some people 10 apps is too many, for others, it's far short of enough! My D was in somewhat different circumstances than many of you though--her combined SAT just barely broke 1000. Plus in theatre it's a whole different ball game from applying as a liberal arts or undeclared major. The predictability is much worse than applying as a "plain vanilla" student to a generic LAC. Plus we had the painful memory of her private secondary school search. We only applied to 3 high schools and were accepted by none. That was a painful lesson. So we decided--we only have this one chance to apply to college--and she can't exactly do senior year over again if she gets bad results, so we went to the extra effort, and I'm glad we did. Of course, wouldn't you know that the gods still found a way to punish us by her getting accepted to 7 of the 10 schools?</p>
<p>But of course I would never suggest adding schools indiscriminately--make sure there's a very good reason for each and every school you apply to. And my further advice is to STAY OBJECTIVE. Don't fall in love with any school to the point where you have that feeling "they have to accept me or I'll die". Yes as the acceptances trickle in you will have the delightful feeling of "this could be the ONE", or "oh it's all over now that THEY accepted me". But remember, getting the acceptance will not be the end. You will go and visit those one or two you didn't think much of at first and find an unexpected attraction. Your favorite may turn out to be disappointingly expensive--and stingy. Another will offer you an amazing amount of money and suddenly become a real contender. Or you will get into a true "reach" and knock all your other schools out of the running. You just can't predict what will happen. And it's true that the more schools you are accepted to who offer you merit or scholarship money, the more negotiating power you will have at your favorite. (But not if it's a state school--their hands are pretty much tied as far as money compared with a private or LAC, even if they like you and truly want you to come).</p>
<p>So just be very careful, SchoolDuh, and discuss your list with your guidance counselor and be sure you get a consensus with your parents and the GC when you make your final list. I know lots of you are pawing the dirt right now and wondering when schools will announce their 2006 essays and post their applications so you can start working on them early. I will tell you I hovered anxiously over most of the college websites over the summer, needlessly. Most of them will not be available till September or even October, so you will have to use their last year's app as a guideline. However the rolling admission schools will have their apps out earlier than the others, so it is to your advantage to start working on those first.</p>