Please Help Settle This Dispute

Applying to College
1

<p>My parents want me to apply to 6-8 colleges, but I disagree. My mom spends HOURS on this cc, so she loves to hear other opinions. I have applied ED to Dartmouth, my true love! I really like Duke, so I finished my app. yesterday and sent it in. To make my mother happy, I also sent in the Boston College app. </p>

<p>My SAT's are 720 CR, 800 Math, 800 Writing, rank (no rank school) but 3/180 top 5% SATII (bad day) math680, chem 680, us Hist 650? Lots of EC-honors, science awards, etc. Summer stuff-lots, community service, Great rec's from teachers, and great essay (I really love it, it's really me!) I'm quite pleased with my stuff--please comment. Should I listen and sent out another ton to more "safety" schools. Or can I wait until 12/15, and do it if I get a rejection? Thanks for any help. . .</p>

2

<p>i would at least do 1-2 more safeties, but not 6-8.</p>

3

<p>Apply now. Better safe than sorry.</p>

4

<p>Yes, definately apply AT LEAST to your best in-state school, or other good large state schools. Rolling admissions are a blessing.</p>

5

<p>i agree. throw in an app to one safety, just in case of some fluke incident...i'm from PA so i applied to pitt online (in about 10 minutes, including writing an essay) and heard back 2 weeks later. the little bit of effort is worth it for the piece of mind</p>

6

<p>Hey, if she's willing to pay for the apps...you've got nothing to lose. Although every competitive school is somewhat of a hassle, it's worth it in the end. You don't want to be scrambling to find schools to apply to at the end of December.</p>

7

<p>Yes, definitely add some safeties. It shouldn't be too hard- just recycle your essays.</p>

8

<p>Dartmouth and Duke are reach schools for anybody without an extremely strong hook. I don't think you need to be applying to safety schools so much as 1 or 2 match schools.</p>

9

<p>I would probably apply to your state university as well, but I don't know that you need to send out much more than that. Ask yourself, "What is the worst that could happen?" and choose the number of "safety" colleges accordingly. If you live in terror of not getting accepted anywhere and having to wait a year to re-apply, then add several safeties. If you would consider the potential gap year an opportunity to think about your future, work, intern, & travel before re-applying, and would hesitate to enroll at one of the safety colleges anyway, then it sounds like you're already fine.</p>

<p>If you were to be rejected at all three of your choices, would you rather take the year off and re-apply, or would you rather have the choice of enrolling at a safety school outside of these three? My father forced me to apply to two universities I didn't want to attend, and when the acceptance letters came in I hid them under the bed and told him I had been rejected - if you've decided that these are the only three places you'd really consider enrolling, then assembling applications to safeties you would turn down doesn't make much sense.</p>

10

<p>"hid them under the bed" lol!</p>

11

<p>Ok, match schools seem to be my problem. I like the reach ones....just like everyone else! With my stats, would Cornell still be a reach, slight reach, or a close match? Can anyone comment on Villanova. My parents liked it when we visited this summer, but I was holding out because I really want to go to DARTMOUTH. I'm from New England, no hooks whatsoever, just a ton of hard work over the past 4 years. Thanks for any help.</p>

12

<p>Definitely apply to more schools, reaches and matches.</p>

13

<p>Ikkn4, I sincerely wish you well with your Dartmouth ED quest; however, you need to understand that the best approach to college admissions is an optimism/pessimism split personality. You have sent off your best effort to Dartmouth. You should now put that behind you and proceed NOW with the pessimistic side of admissions. Assume that you do NOT get in to Dartmouth. What's your plan B?</p>

<p>You could, as MC suggests, just take a year off and re-strategize. This is extreme, but it's been done successfully by students who post on this board.</p>

<p>You could, and this is what your Mom has mostly likely been reading on CC, on the other hand, formulate a balanced list of 2-3 reaches, 2-3 matches and at least one safety. You should do this with a pessimistic eye. If a school is borderline reach/match (like Duke or Cornell) then put it in the reach category. If it borderline match/safety (like BC) then put it in the match pile. </p>

<p>Again, I believe that you REALLY want to go to Dartmouth. I also believe that you have a reasonable -- though not guaranteed -- chance of getting in, however, I think you haven't thought through the downside adequately. You're a big kid and obviously intelligent, but it seems that you're concentrating on your emotional need instead of strategic planning. You have a month. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL DECEMBER 15 TO COMPLETE THOSE OTHER APPLICATIONS! If the news from Dartmouth is negative you will be in no mood to write Why I want to go to Podunk essays. Even safety schools don't appreciate half-hearted applications. Think of it as an insurance policy. (You wouldn't drive without car insurance would you?).</p>

<p>For other schools that are in the same feeling as Dartmouth you might look at Hamilton, Bucknell, Kenyon, Trinity. If you are male then Vassar, Bard, Sarah Lawrence, Conn College, Skidmore give men a slight edge. If you are female Smith and Mt. Holyoke are good choices. I don't know much about Villanova, but if you like it then it could be your safety.</p>

<p>If the thought of attending a certain school gives you a queasy feeling, then it's not a true safety. You may work hard academically, but you've been sadly lazy about the college search. It could be the most important effort of your life. You have a month. Get off your behind and work on a viable strategy.</p>

<p>PS, Where is your college counselor? Out to lunch or are you just ignoring his/her advice too?</p>

14

<p>6-8 safeties is quite excessive.. 2 is usually enough!!
worst case scenario is taking a yr off anyways..</p>

15

<p>Any of the ivies, Stanford, MIT, Caltech, and Duke are reaches for anyone. Stories abound of how a vale with a 1580/1600 applied to all eight ivies and was denied at all of them. Typically people react to this by saying that there must have been something in his app, but I don't think that it is really that improbable simply as a matter of probability. You first qualify on the academic measures (difficulty of curriculum, gpa/rank, and standardized test scores). After qualifying, they then look for unique individuals with outstanding EC's, essays and recs. For everyone accepted, there are 4-5 applicants denied/waitlisted because they just don't have room for everybody. That is why the waitlist is often longer than the list of acceptances. It is hard to outright deny someone when they just accepted their virtual clone, and so they waitlist them instead of denying them.</p>

<p>You sound like you are in the running for any of those schools, but I would recommend that you find some matches slightly out of the top 12-15 or at least apply to more schools in that range. </p>

<p>Also, be careful of "Tufts Syndrome" where a college that is slightly out of the top 15 school will deny you because they think you are only using them for a safety. Schools famous for this are Tufts, Wash U, and Emory. The way to avoid this is to show interest in the school by visiting, attending local presentations, ordering info such as DVD's.</p>

<p>Waiting until Dec 15th to go with "Plan B" is late. RD deadlines are often as early as Jan 1st. Often schools have two-part applications where you have to send in part 1 before they will mail back part 2.</p>

16

<p>My mom and I were just laughing together while reading your post....so true! Thanks for helping me "us" out. I'll let you know what happens soon. Thanks again!</p>

17

<p>ikkin, I'm glad you took my comments in the spirit in which they were given. :) </p>

<p>The last thing you need at this point is another reach, but I can't help but suggest that you take a look at Williams. From what you wrote on the other thread "[looking for] students like me--intellectual conversations, stong interest in learning, musical/art. . .I really like New England, and my interests are primarily in science and philosophy. " you sound like you'd like Williams. It has a lot of overlap with Dartmouth and a very lively music and arts scene.</p>