<p>You say your list is sorted by how much you like these schools.
In general, it does not make much sense to apply to a school that is much more selective than other schools you prefer. So, why apply to Cornell and Columbia if you’d rather attend UC Boulder? I mean, if you get into Cornell and Columbia, you’re sure to get into Boulder too, but in that case you’re saying you’d choose Boulder … right? The same principle applies to Harvard, Yale, Penn, and Stanford. Why bother to apply to these super selective schools if you’d rather attend Case Western?</p>
<p>The other thing I don’t get is how you can have such similar schools as Chicago and Columbia at opposite ends of your list, with a rather different school like Northwestern in the middle. And if you would not like a Core curriculum, why apply to Chicago and Columbia at all?</p>