Narrowing down top 20 college choices

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I am a high school junior. Good grades and ecs and hopefully will have good test scores to match. Here are my top 20 college choices: </p>

<p>Amherst
Brown
Claremont McKenna College
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Duke
Georgetown
Harvard
MIT
NYU
Northwestern
Princeton
Stanford
UC Berkeley
UCLA
University of Chicago
Wharton at Upenn
Williams
Yale</p>

<p>I am having trouble narrowing the list down. I feel as if I could be happy at any of these 20 schools. I want to be an entrepreneur and would like to major in business, economics or management science, depending on the school I go to. I would also like to minor in CS and take as many entrepreneurship relevant classes as possible. Any advice on narrowing down this list?</p>

2

<p>What kind of town do you want to live in? NYC or a farm? </p>

<p>What's more important, academics, nightlife, or partying?</p>

<p>Columbia/NYU and Cornell/Williams/Claremont shouldn't be on the same list.</p>

3

<p>Nice list, but unless you are a top-drawer National Merit Finalist (220+ PSAT), this is a list of medium to high reaches. You'll need to cut it by two-thirds between now and next fall, and add to the low end of the list; you need safeties and matches. </p>

<p>Most people will look at these choices and think "what does Dartmouth have in common with MIT?" What would you say to them? What attracts you to those two schools? Have you looked at things like core curriculum requirements (MIT puts freshmen through a lot of hard core math and science) ? Do you need merit money?</p>

<p>The last deciding factor is usually a visit. There are a lot of intangibles that can't be felt through a brochure or webpage. Be sure to make contact with any school representatives that visit your area, and get in as many visits as your wallet allows. Only you can decide if Harvard is too snobbish or Cornell too isolated.</p>

4

<p>I don't really care what type of town I live in. Whether it be urban, suburban or rural. Academics and career and grad school prospects are the most important for me. I want to go to a school that has a vibrant culture where intellectualism and intelligence are valued and the student body is bright and talented. That is where I believe the 20 schools have something in common. </p>

<p>I have a 4.0 UW GPA and take the most difficult classes offered at my school (14 APs by when I graduate). I got a 32 on an ACT practice test and expect it to raise to at least a 34 after I am done studying. I don't mind heavy gen ed requirements or an open curriculum and I don't need merit aid.</p>

<p>Still, all of these schools remain reaches to some extent, but I want to go to the best school possible. So why not apply to all 20?</p>

5

<p>Because those schools are very different. I mean, I probably wouldn't mind going to any of those schools in your list (with the exception of Claremont McKenna; I can't stand hot weather), but ideally you should narrow the list down, because you'll like some schools more than others.</p>

<p>In some of these schools, you'll have very large classes throughout your four years, while at some you'll have much smaller classes. You might not really care about that, but it does make a difference. You should try to pinpoint how these colleges are different, and then decide which one you'd rather go to than the others. Something tells me that you haven't researched these schools and you haven't reserached your own preferences enough. Academics at all of these schools are great. People at these schools are very intelligent and the student body at these schools is bright and talented. But why would you apply to 20 schools? If all these school were exactly the same, why would you apply to 20 when you can apply to 4 or 5? </p>

<p>There are differences in these schools, and even though they're great schools, some will fit you more than others. You should try to learn more about the differences in the schools and decide if you had to pick between college A and college B, which one would you go for? And then eliminate whichever one you reject, because why apply to that college when you've got a better one?</p>

6

<p>"Columbia/NYU and Cornell/Williams/Claremont shouldn't be on the same list."</p>

<p>Claremont actually isn't all that isolated. It's in a fairly large metro (Riverside area), and is not far from LA. </p>

<p>And I wouldn't say that the weather in SoCal is hot. During the school year the weather will be very mild.</p>

7

<p>besides their high rankings, how did you put this list together?</p>

8

<p>Well, you've certainly got an ambitious list. I echo some of the other posters, and suggest you should be paying attention to what might make for a good environment for you. If you haven't gone to visit any colleges, do so ASAP. There is a big difference in feel between a 1500 person liberal arts college in rural Mass (Amherst), and a massive campus in SoCal. If you can't go to the schools themselves, at least go to the local version of them (i.e large campus versus small LAC.)</p>

<p>In addition, however, I suggest you take a look at some of the other aspects of learning there - dig into the online catalogs, and look at the actual courses you would like to take. This can be quite startling... a school may have a "good rep" for an field of study, but actually have a fairly limited scope of the courses. For example, to compare apples to oranges, Amherst is going to have a very different CS experience than Stanford.</p>

<p>I also encourage you to take a look at schools that are not absolutely "top tier", but may have good and interesting programs for you - GW has some joint engineering programs that are quite good, Carnegie Mellon is a fab school for CS. Bently is famous for its entrepreneur program, and if you really want to be in business, make sure you understand the internship programs for each school. </p>

<p>I think you really need to think more about what you may want. You may be able to do well academically at these schools, but what's going to be the most fun/best learning enviroment/ etc for you?</p>

9

<p>definitely put some safeties. I'm not saying you won't be accepted at many of those school's you've listed, but you always want to have options given everything doesn't go your way.</p>

10

<p>If you want help narrowing down your list then stop defending your top 20 and give us some specifics!!!!</p>

11

<p>Is location at all a factor for you? Just wondering because you've got everything from East Coast to West and sometimes if you don't want to be too far away from home (or vice versa), that can help eliminate some schools.</p>

<p>NYU and MIT are very different schools...just keep that in mind. I mean, do you want to go somewhere with a much more artsy bent, or more of a math/science bent?</p>

<p>My best suggestion would be to visit as many schools as you can. You might realize you don't want to be in such a secluded area as Cornell is, or that you really don't like being in the city with very little campus, like NYU. You might find that you like College X because the students were friendly, but not College Y because the students seemed standoffish and the campus was run down. </p>

<p>Check out course catalogues--do you want a great variety of courses? A bigger school might be for you. Is the entrepreneur program really strong? </p>

<p>Set out a list of questions for yourself. Some of these schools are similar, but others are very different from each other. Even if you would be happy to go to any of these schools, there are factors that can help you choose between (class size, location, strength of subjects you are interested in, etc.).</p>

<p>Definitely add some safeties. Even if you have taken 15 APs, have 2300+ SATs, etc.--None of these schools are safeties for anybody. </p>

<p>You'll feel a lot better if you add a few schools you know you can get into. Don't eliminate state/public schools. Even if your state school isn't a top one--they might offer you a really great scholarship/honors program that could end up being a better deal. Sometimes the prestige doesn't outweigh a good education without debt. (I don't know if money's a factor for you--I just thought I'd mention it.). (If you live in California, then you can ignore some of this--but still consider the financial side.)</p>

12

<p>"Even if you have taken 15 APs, have 2300+ SATs, etc.--None of these schools are safeties for anybody. "
This CAN'T be repeated enough!! The colleges on your list all ALL REACHES. 80to 90% of all applicants to these schools ARE REJECTED, not because they aren't qualified, BUT BECAUSE THERE ISN'T SPACE AVAILABLE FOR all qualified applicants. That is why the are reaches. You need some safeties where 75% of applicants with your stats are accepted. Then build your list up from there.</p>

13

<p>No Top 20 LACs? You might want to look at those as well, since they have excellent grad school placement and opportunities to do research.</p>

14

<p>"besides their high rankings, how did you put this list together?"</p>

<p>I used how well the school fit my likes and needs. I went down the list of the top LACs and top national universities and kept the ones that I thought matched what I need and want. I got rid of JHU because it is too competitive and premed focused, WUSTL because I don't want to go to school in the midwest if it isn't Chicago, Rice because I don't like Texas, CIT because it has too much of an engineering focus...</p>

<p>I eliminated my bottom 7 here are the reasons:</p>

<p>Amherst: lack of entrepreneurial focus, very cold, I have heard that they don't get along well with other students in the consortium
Duke: It is in the South, too much of a jock environment
Northwestern: too cold, nothing really sticks out about it
NYU: Doesn't have one unified campus, too much of a focus on finance in its business school
UCLA: don't really want a huge public school
University of Chicago: too weird, too intellectual, not pragmatic, too cold
Williams: No focus on entrepreneurship, isolated</p>

<p>Here is why the other 13 remain:</p>

<p>Brown: I like the open curriculum and the liberalness of the school, the COE major looks cool and I would be able to easily double major</p>

<p>Claremont McKenna College: I like that it is in a consortium, it is a LAC with a pragmatic approach and a focus on leadership, separate from LA but close enough that it is easy to get there, I visited and liked it</p>

<p>Columbia: I like NYC, in ivy league, cool history</p>

<p>Cornell: has business school with focus in entrepreneurship, relatively good engineering department</p>

<p>Dartmouth: in ivy league, has good business school attached, undergraduate focused, small as the ivy's go</p>

<p>Georgetown: Good business school, I like Washington DC, I have legacy status</p>

<p>Harvard: world renowned, a lot of entrepreneurs have gone there, best professors</p>

<p>MIT: Good business undergraduate major, good cs classes, I like Boston, Boston is a startup hub</p>

<p>Princeton: undergrad focused, one of the top overall schools, small classes, visited and liked it</p>

<p>Stanford: top choice, in Silicon Valley, very entrepreneurial spirit, great overall school, I have visited and really liked it</p>

<p>UC Berkeley: in state tuiton, great reputation, good chance of getting in, cool surrounding city</p>

<p>Wharton at Upenn: top undergrad business school, many entrepreneurial classes, visited and liked it</p>

<p>Yale: top school, good entrepreneurial society, small class sizes</p>

<p>my top 4 are Stanford, Wharton, CMC, and Harvard </p>

<p>Through ELC early in the year I will be able to be guaranteed admission into one of the UCs so I don't have to worry about a safety school. Also, the extra cost of a private school isn't worth it unless you are going to a very top school.</p>

15

<p>I'd cut:</p>

<p>Columbia...as you did not mention much about the college itself.
MIT...distinctly different feel than the others.</p>

16

<p>"one of the UCs ". Yes, but it could be UCI or UCSC. ELC doesn't guarantee you will get into UCB [ which is a huge public school bty], especially if you are applying to Haas. So don't you want to have an alternate "safety" that has many of the elements of your top picks, but is much easier to get into? I suggest you error on the side of caution in these highly competative times, especially with the huge # of applicants to the UC's from Calif students and well as students from elsewhere, and find a private safety as well.</p>

17

<p>You need to visit some schools to get a feel for what type of campus makes you happiest. Regardless of the type of campus and location you may think you want or prefer, you won't know for sure without some visits. After that, you'll definitely be able to cut some schools off your list.</p>

<p>Also, add a few safeties. Those schools are all really selective, and you need a fallback option.</p>

18

<p>MIT and Stanford are your bet bets for what you want to do</p>

19

<p>You wrote: "my top 4 are Stanford, Wharton, CMC, and Harvard"</p>

<p>Picking the top schools in the country is the easy part! It's good to have high aspirations, but the best approach is to build your list from the bottom up. That means safeties first, and then concentrate on your match schools. </p>

<p>A 32 ACT is very good, but it doesn't stand out among the applicants to Stanford, Wharton and Harvard. CMC, I think, is a high match or low reach, so it makes a good measuring point. You need at least two other schools that are in CMC's acceptance zone.</p>

20

<p>Looking at your new list of 13 and reading through the reasons you suggested, here's what I think:</p>

<p>You have all eight ivies listed. That's fine, but if you are really looking to cut the list, I'd say cut Dartmouth because you mention you like Boston, NYC, LA -- citylife. Dartmouth = no city life. Cornell is in the same boat. Also, from what I know, Cornell has the excellent hotel management school, but is more geared towards math and science type majors than the other ivies. Also, you reason for liking Princeton seems a little weak: top school (as are all the others) undergrad focus (as are many of the others) and small classes (inherent in a school that has an undergrad focus). I have similar comments for Yale, too. New Haven isn't exactly a booming city, though you do have the option of travelling to NYC or Boston or others on a longer weekend. Also, if the residential system is anything like the one at Rice, I doubt you'll ever be bored. Still, if we are simply trying to cut down on the list, I'd take out Yale, too.</p>

<p>So far: Cut Dartmouth, Cornell, Princeton, and Yale. That leaves nine options.</p>

<p>As for the other schools, you seem to really love Stanford and CMC, so I won't touch those. </p>

<p>Berkeley and Georgetown are smart options because they are a fraction easier to get into than the Ivies (esp. with legacy and in-state) so these can be considered the high matches/lower reaches of your apps.</p>

<p>As for MIT, I agree with IsleBoy, that it has a distinctly different feel and the fact that you cut Chicago means (to me at least) that you don't prefer to stray from the norm. Cutting MIT wouldn't be sacrificing Boston because of Harvard. </p>

<p>So:
High Reaches/Low Reaches/High Matches:
Wharton
Harvard
Columbia
Brown
Stanford
CMC
Berkeley
Georgetown</p>

<p>I do agree with most of the other posters that you MUST look into safeties and other matches and likelies. Like menloparkmom said, getting in to ONE of the UCs isn't necesarily LA or Berkeley. It could mean Irvine or any other one. You seem to be the type of person who could do more and strives for better.
It is improbable, but not impossible, that even though your stats are as strong as you say, that you may not be accepted anywhere other than your safety. Harvard doesn't feel bad that you have already been rejected by Stanford and Columbia.</p>

<p>If you apply to a school more prestigious than "one of the UCs" but not nearly as difficult to get into as Wharton, you might get merit aid and there won't be that private school price tag on it.</p>