<p>caltech. i just didnt think it would be a very good fit for me but i applied ayways.</p>
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Would anyone care to explain why this seems to be such a widespread practice?
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<p>Well I guess I'm not really the one to answer the matters about waitlisting woes, since I haven't applied to any private institutions. However, I am very knowledgeable about the UC system, since that is where I applied.</p>
<p>But speaking from my perspective, the UC's have one application, all you have to do is check the box to send your app to other campuses x $55 each and you're good to go. It's not as tedious as other universities, where each one has a separate essay and application. So for UC's, some people just want to apply to most of them, so they know for sure they have safeties. The fact that it's one "UC Common App" makes things easier.</p>
<p>i thought those kinda schools are so-called safeties. </p>
<p>tdm, i think, to "survive" UNexpected happenings (such as getting rejections from ALL match/reach schools, sudden family lose, financial slump and etc) people applied to schools they'd not attend (unless those "unexpected happenings" comes real)</p>
<p>i think it's a totally valid practice. and colleges know that very well (a lot better than we do perhaps).
If a person got waitlisted and got in later, it's NOT cuz of this practice, but cuz s/he was simply not qualified/fitted/whatnot as acceptees OR at that particular year, her/his school got an unexpected low yield and so on.</p>
<p>Awakenedream, that is exactly what I did! I applied to all of the UC's (except UCSC), simply because it was as simple as just checking boxes. I wanted to be 100% sure that I had a place to go in the fall, and it was easier then doing multipal applications. I applied to Tulane as well, after they waived the required essay, as well as their app fee. it cost me nothing, and only required the time on my part to fill out the physical application.</p>
<p>Oddly enough, Tulane has slowly been creeping up as a school I would never consider, to now actually being one of the schools I'm looking at much more seriously.</p>
<p>UIUC is the only school I wouldn't consider going to. That said, I'm not really considering any other schools now that I'm in at my EA school (Yale).</p>
<p>Duh, I find that perfectly acceptable (applying to a school you WOULD attend if you HAD to). What I don't get is why people apply to places they would NEVER go to.</p>
<p>BTW, I see what you're saying in regards to the UCs, awakenedream...</p>
<p>Did you withdraw your other apps, newt?</p>
<p>SLC, Skidmore, NYU - Safety
SUNY @ Stony Brook - Safety to the Safety's</p>
<p>rutgers - oooober safety (unecessarily super safety)
boston college - safety in case i wanted to do business
MIT - applied for prestige, even though im a terrible fit there</p>
<p>i could probably add georgetown - in case i had a change of heart, cuz lots of people love the place, although i wouldnt hate going there</p>
<p>I applied to 4 schools and only planned on going to 1. I had my heart set on UCSB, and if I didn't get in I was going to go to Santa Barbara City College. I just applied to Berkeley and Irvine because I felt like I had to apply to more than one school...plus I wanted to see if I could get into Berkeley. And I had to apply to Chico State, just in case I couldn't leave home.</p>
<p>UC irvine, uc san diego, ucla, uc berkeley, tuskegee U, Texas Christian University</p>
<p>uc irvine, ucla, uc berkeley, notre dame</p>
<p>Are we talking about our safeties (University of Rochester), or those schools we don't think we'll go to because we can't get accepted (Harvard), or those that are sort of in between, a seemingly bad match that our parents make us apply to because we'll get in and will later realize is a viable option (Cornell)? As an adolescent that does not know what I'm doing and is prone to changes of heart, I had to apply to a range of schools so I wouldn't have my back up against a wall in April when acceptances came and I'd changed my mind.</p>
<p>^^ yeah thats why i applied to 13 schools.</p>
<p>tdm:</p>
<p>When I got my Yale acceptance, I did withdraw from UIUC. I also withdrew from Harvard because I forgot to send in my app fee and I would choose Yale over Harvard anyways. I got a likely from Dartmouth and am still waiting on Princeton. I'm hoping they might give me a better financial aid deal.</p>
<p>tdm, well at least in my case.
I would NEVER (wanting to) go to my safety school, but still if something really bad happen and what not, i would/have to (more like better than not going to any college this fall) attend that school.</p>
<p>that's a normal case i think. and of course as livedeeply, i suspect, there are parental pressure, super reaches, and so on.</p>
<p>Duh, I see your point, but I think you're missing mine. :o) I'm talking about people who apply simply to see whether or not they can get in (KNOWING for a fact they would NEVER go to that particular school - not thinking something might happen and they might HAVE to). I understand the reasoning behind applying to a school you wouldn't necessarily WANT to go to but would if something bad happened.</p>
<p>I also understand the idea behind applying to a place where you think you won't get in but would love to go to (hey, I applied to Harvard, so I know all about that). See? I'm not all that radical... ;)</p>
<p>UCI, Davis, Occidental, and Berkeley...it was basically always between UCSD and UCLA =-)</p>
<p>well, tdm, i guess i see your point too. i simply dont have any friend or havent seen any who "apply simply to see whether or not they can get in"</p>
<p>but this world is half crazy, therefore there would be some people who do that (and i guess you know some who does that). i call them suckers -_-+</p>
<p>a lot of people have little heart in a place when they originally apply...like you said, "apply simply to see whether or not they can get in," and, if they do get in, end up falling in love with the place
maybe they're applying b/c they know that, if they get in, they'll have a change of heart? check some of the individual school boards...you can find posts where people are like "i originally never considered [name of school], but i applied and got in, so now [name of school] is a very viable option"
that doesn't really answer your question, just a story from personal experience...and mho</p>