<p>Ok so I am beginning to start filling out the common app but right now I just have too many colleges that I want to apply to. I have no idea what I want to major in (maybe science...idk) and don't want to go to a huge school. My ECs/test scores (34 on ACT, etc.) are good so I'm just trying to narrow down my list. Obviously I don't have the time to visit all of these schools but I have visited a good amount. If you have knowledge of the schools on my list or think you can help me narrow this down somehow, I would really appreciate it. Schools I am thinking about applying to:</p>
<p>Stanford
Washington University in St. Louis
William & Mary
Carleton College
Vanderbilt
Pomona
Claremont Mckenna
Dartmouth
Brown
Amherst
Bowdoin
Colby
Grinnell
Williams
Wheaton College (safety)</p>
<p>I know I need to eliminate some but I'm really not sure how many schools I should be applying to/how to eliminate any off my list. Any help/advice would be appreciated. Thanks</p>
<p>I have two friends that went to Vanderbilt and loved it. I don’t know how it is academically apart from being very highly ranked, but it is a fun place to attend undergrad. You’re right in Nashville, which provides endless entertainment options so you’re never really bored. The sports aren’t nearly as big at Vanderbilt as other Division 1 schools, but they do throw some good tailgates and the Greek Life there is pretty good.</p>
<p>Based on your college list though, I imagine greek life and sports aren’t a priority for you. </p>
<p>@BadgerState yeah I visited Vandy and thought it was really cool. The location is perfect. And yes, you are correct in thinking that greek life and sports are not that much of a priority. I don’t know if I’m really interested in greek life at all. Good sports would be nice but really won’t impact my decision.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt isn’t really known as a sports powerhouse, but they did win the National Championship in baseball this season. Anyway, I’ll leave it to you academic gurus, that’s not my area </p>
<p>Just know that the two people I know that went there wouldn’t trade it for the world. </p>
<p>Whaddaya know, we have the same score and I am also looking at WM, Pomona, Brown, CMC, and Williams. Here is what I know. William and Mary is a state school and roughly 2/3 of the class are from Virginia. Personally I wouldn’t like that but I am still going to check it out. I visited Pomona and CMC. I loved Pomona and the community it was in. But I won’t be applying because they don’t offer merit aid. CMC does offer merit aid though. So you could probably eliminate one of the two. Also, what kind of city/area do you want to live in? I mean, Grinnell is in rural Iowa, *shudder.</p>
<p>So you have 15 schools. I would say to narrow them down to 10. I would eliminate one of the claremont schools, one of the ivies, and a few of the lacs. I hope I helped a bit</p>
<p>Is this year’s Common App even available? If you have created an account and started filling it out, you will need to start over again when they make it available. (Not sure of the date this year, but isn’t it usually August?) But maybe you just mean you are getting your information together in the right format, and that is a good idea to do before you start filling it out.</p>
<p>Is cost an issue for you? If so, have you run net price calculators to see what your cost is likely to be? That could eliminate some options. The calculators are on the financial aid web pages for each college.</p>
<p>It is hard to tell you what to take off the list without more information about you. What are your full stats? Home state? Proposed major and post-graduate plans? Financial situation? What appeals to you about each of these schools? Which ones on the list have you not been to visit yet?</p>
<p>@Belizeme you helped a lot, thank you very much! I also did not think William & Mary would be a good fit but when I visited it I loved it, so be sure to still check it out.</p>
<p>As far as the Claremont schools go, I planned on applying to both because I know that both schools are very selective and I just wanted a better chance of being a part of that consortium. Seems like a really cool place. Do you have any suggestions as to how I would eliminate one of those two without being able to visit either? I’ve read a ton online and students at both seem to think that their school is better lol. Also since you can take 1/3 of your classes at another college in the consortium, I’m beginning to wonder how much which one you are enrolled in really matters. Maybe you can help me out deciding which one I should drop (or if it would even be wise to eliminate one)</p>
<p>Location-wise I’m not really sure what I want…I mean I’ve visited Vandy which is in the heart of downtown Nashville and I’ve visited Carleton which is in a small town in Minnesota and I loved both. I guess the academics, student body, and general atmosphere of the campus are a lot more important to me. Although I agree Grinnell sounds like terrible location lol. I’ve heard it’s a great school though</p>
<p>Unless you’re from Virginia, I’d take off William and Mary. As a non-state applicant, the tuition is nearly the same as these other schools, and I think you’ll probably get into one of your qualified reaches, provided your stats are as good as you say. From there, it is a matter of personal preference. If I were you, I would take off the weaker colleges (besides your safety) from the list. That would probably include Colby, Carleton, and Grinnell. These universities, in my opinion, are no better than your safety, and for that reason they’re kind of pointless. My last suggestion would be to add a safety state school that admits solely on test scores and GPA, just so that if everything turns sour (which is highly unlikely), you’ll have that to fall back on.</p>
<p>@intparent pretty sure the common app is available…otherwise idk what I’m filling out lol</p>
<p>Cost is not an issue. Home state is Illinois, ACT: 34, 9 writing, not planning on taking SAT but took subject tests and got 720 in Bio and 800 in Math II. GPA is 3.94 unweighted with basically all honors/AP classes. Good EC’s as well, but don’t feel like listing them haha. No idea on a major, I’m going in undecided. Graduate school is a possibility but like I said, pretty much up in the air. On my list, I have not visited Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Dartmouth, Brown, Colby, Grinnell, Amherst, Bowdoin, and Williams.</p>
<p>The schools that I have liked have all been small-medium size, friendly student body, great teachers, more cooperation rather than competition, for the most part not heavily greek (although with a couple exceptions), and lots of opportunities to get involved.</p>
<p>Also I’d love to study abroad at some point so this might be a factor (although it seems like nearly all good schools have decent study abroad options nowadays)</p>
<p>@235423 Why do you list Carleton as a weaker college? I have commonly seen it listed as a top 10 liberal arts school in the nation. I visited and loved it so it will definitely be staying on the list. Grinnell and Colby I could definitely see myself dropping though, mainly because I don’t know much about them…</p>
<p>Also, there are schools that admit solely on test scores and GPA?? Are there any good ones? Sounds too good to be true lol </p>
<p>OP, could you please provide a Top Five Countdown of your ECs, because almost all of the schools you’re applying to will consider the ECs closely and use them to decide on the 4.0/34 students? </p>
<p>You’re right, I was mistaken to how competitive Carleton is (I’m the least familiar with that one). One nice thing to look at is each colleges common data set to get a feel for the application rates, the school size, and the average test scores admitted. That should at least by a starting ground for your search. As for a school that admits on test scores and GPA, I know that for example my state school, UMass Amherst, I’m near guaranteed to get into because of my academic strength (I have a 35 on the ACT and a 3.97 GPA unweighted). What state do you live in?</p>
<p>@jkeil911 ummmm top 5 I’m not sure…I mean I’m on the baseball team, been on an academic team that has made it to state the last 3 years, National Honors Society, Helped start up a program at a local retirement home where I volunteer weekly and help residents with their technology (iphones, laptops, etc.), also was part of a very cool opportunity last year where me and a team of nine other students (I had to apply and it was tough to get in) at my school actually designed an experiment that was launched into space to run for 30 days onboard the International Space Station. I would say that is easily my most exciting and important EC, and what makes me stand out from a lot of other applicants.</p>
<p>In the next week or so, the Common App website will go down for about two weeks while they upload the Class of 2015 application, which is not yet available. </p>
<p>OP, that’s the kind of experience the elite colleges are looking for. Definitely get that into an essay. I don’t know if it will be enough. That’s the thing: nobody knows what will be enough to gain admission at the schools on your list.</p>
<p>@430ktk oh crap. And I was almost finished…I thought only the parts that were for specific individual colleges changed and that the general one that you had to fill out for all of them never really changed? So will I lose everything that I’ve filled out when the class of 2015 one comes out? Or will it transfer over? I mean how much could they really change that part in one year?..</p>
<p>@jkeil911 I’m hoping that it (along with my scores/grades) is enough to at least give me a fighting chance at all the schools on my list, even if that chance is a long-shot for one or two (cough cough Stanford)</p>
</p>