<p>As we move closer to decision day, I was wondering how many of us would choose Amherst over any other school we have applied to. I would be interested to see how everyone would rank their order if you were fortunate to gain acceptance to every school you applied to. I have applied to 9 schools. If I gained acceptance to every school on my list, I would rank-order them this way (from top to bottom). </p>
<p>Princeton
Amherst
Columbia
Dartmouth
Duke
UPenn
Swarthmore
Bowdoin
Michigan</p>
<p>Good Luck everyone with your choices.</p>
<p>This is how my daughter would rank the 9 she has applied to. Has gotten into one so far - Stonehill due to applying EA. Unfortunately the money is important and most of her "favorites" don't give merit $$ but only financial need. </p>
<p>Harvard
Amherst
Wesleyan
RPI
Brown
Dartmouth
Conn College
Providence College
Stonehill College</p>
<p>Unfortunately, as a non-traditional transfer student, my options are far more limited.</p>
<ol>
<li>Columbia University School of General Studies (if they actually give me enough money)</li>
<li>Amherst College</li>
<li>NYU</li>
<li>UMass (if all else fails)</li>
</ol>
<p>[ul]
[<em>]Columbia
[</em>]UPenn
[<em>]Cornell
[</em>]NYU
[<em>]U of Miami
[</em>]U of Florida
[*]Safety school not worth mentioning[/ul]</p>
<p>I was accepted ED back in Dec. I can give you my list in the preferential order of the colleges that I was going to apply had I not gotten into Amherst.</p>
<p>Amherst - Accept
Bowdoin - ED II
Dartmouth
Northwestern
Duke
U of Chicago
U of Michigan</p>
<p>I visited these schools during spring/summer. Amherst and Bowdoin were far and away my top choices over the other colleges on my list.</p>
<p>I also ED'd.</p>
<p>My list would have probably been:
Amherst
Yale
Columbia
Kenyon
Williams
Reed
Wesleyan
Tufts</p>
<p>Penn
University of Richmond
Yale & Amherst
Harvard
Grinnell
Swarthmore
Quinnipiac
Gettysburg </p>
<p>Tie between Yale & Amherst. If I am accepted to both but neither URichmond or Penn, I'll have a really hard time choosing.</p>
<p>At this point, our GC has advised the kids not to truly rank their schools because it's probably not good to get too set in your preferences as those might change as acceptances and rejections come in. This said, TODAY my son's list probably goes something like this:</p>
<p>Amherst/Middlebury
Colgate
Tufts
Georgetown/Johns Hopkins
Hamilton
Trinity</p>
<p>My D's list was:</p>
<p>Amherst (ED)
(then much further down the list)</p>
<p>MIT</p>
<p>mine are in this order:</p>
<p>Brown University
Boston College
Barnard College
Amherst College
Spelman College
Boston University
College of the Holy Cross
Bryn Mawr College
Northeastern University
Emmanuel College
UMASS Amherst (accepted)</p>
<p>Here goes:
Bowdoin
Whitman
Bates
Grinnell
Colorado College
Amherst
Middlebury
Colby
University of _____ (safety)</p>
<p>ShesOnHerWay...I like the distance you put between Amherst and MIT!</p>
<p>When you look at websites like Collegeboard where they say "students who liked this school also looked at X,Y and Z," it's kind of interesting to see the range of schools on the CC lists. I can't help reminding myself that in just a few weeks, excepting for those who applied ED, the shoe of who wants whom will be on the other foot.</p>
<p>You are absolutely correct, Modadunn......According to the director of admissions at Amherst, it is referred to as the "Day of the Great Reversal." Once again, congrats to all EDers and good luck to all who await their letters next month!</p>
<p>Phil, did you get into Amherst ED or did you apply regular decision? You didn't tell us how you ranked your schools when you applied.</p>
<p>WW......I applied Ed and got in Dec. 15th. (The date/time/location are etched in my memory and will probably be there for some time).</p>
<p>As for ranking my schools....I did things the hard way. Amherst was my only school. I decided I would wait until I got a thumbs up/down. I would not recommend this method, however. If I had not gotten in I would have had to deal with some serious issues. The holidays would have been a non-factor for me. Good luck in your quest...I hope Princeton or Amherst becomes a reality for you.</p>
<p>Phil,
Thanks for the kind thoughts.</p>
<p>A different approach to survive this winter is to wait and see which schools accept you, and study the financial aid offered, if any. </p>
<p>Then and only then, rank-order your Springtime "yes" list.</p>
<p>That might be true, paying3tuitions, but simply "waiting" doesn't seem to be the option of choice for most of those posting on CC. :) And also, while I agree ranking before acceptance may be fool-hearty, some people will only consider the Yes vs. the No. And as I've said many other places in the last few days, ascertaining how schools differentiate themselves as they head into next year's budgets is something to be watched pretty much daily at this point.</p>
<p>^
I assumed that the lists we provided in this thread referred to the schools we'd like to go to under ideal conditions. I think everyone knows that they'll have to wait and see which schools they get into and then weigh the cost and benefits of each offer before deciding which school really is "the top choice".</p>
<p>It's a thread of musings, not intended to be taken too seriously. At least, that's how I interpreted it.</p>