bump…can’t let this gem die 
"“I don’t think very many people would consider volunteering in Africa for two summers and an orphanage every weekend as “meh.”
I think volunteering in Africa can be seen as meh as it just shows that parents are wealthy and are able create such an experience for their kid. Orphanage every weekend versus hospital or homeless shelter every weekend? these are just things that some of these kids are doing to rack up their volunteerism hours… checking boxes.”
Perhaps it depends what they do when volunteering.
Crickets when OP is asked about affordability…
@baloney911
By no means necessary am I an expert but…
I don’t get why there’s so much hate towards OPs line of thinking, because in reality, a good list is about 8 schools with 2 safeties, 4 matches and 2 reaches. And in fact, he applied to the recommended amount of matches and safeties, but he applied to extra reaches just to increase his chances of getting into these reaches. And to be frankly honest, he didn’t lose much seeing as he was allowed to spend the $2500 in the first place.
Also, applying to a couple elite schools does indeed increase his chances, since it is somewhat randomized, and his test scores automatically place him at a high level of competence. If his essays are great(and don’t seem like they are recycled) then he has great chances of getting into atleast ONE of these elite schools.
I had a friend who got into Cornell with a 2370 on his SAT and literally ZERO extracurriculars (he only played tennis) and wrote normal-looking essays. There’s a lot of probability involved in the application process, and OP just increased his chances.
Wish you the best OP!
As he said he wrote 50 essays in one week (including 150 word short essays), I was skeptical that anyone could write effective essays for highly selective schools on that schedule.
@werekall123. It isn’t hate. That’s the way Baloney described it in his post, but it is not that. It is simply a difference of opinion. Baloney asked, “What’s the big deal?” A number of thoughtful posters are saying why they believe it is a big deal. But poster is uninterested in contrary opinions. He wants confirmation that his method is the correct method.
Three years ago OP started a thread asking what a 9th grader should begin doing to gain admission to Harvard. He prefaced it by saying “I always break some sacred forum rule . . . Everyone gets mad at me and the mods find a reason to ban me.” Lots of people gave advice, including at least one who suggested that OP try to gain some maturity before he applies to Harvard.
We’re three years down the pike now in OP’s quest for Harvard and he has an obstacle. His grades slipped. The A+'s he predicted didn’t materialize junior year, but he is competing against thousands of other applicants whose grades did not slip. But, OP argues, 25,000 students each year are admitted to the ivies and “I should hope I am at least in the top 25k students in the country.” Even if my ECs are, well, meh.
So OP has a Plan B: Write 50 essays in a week, spend $2500 applying to 31 schools, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll get into a coveted ivy. He is spinning the Wheel of Fortune.
Some have said that they applaud OP’s unconventional approach. Some are rooting for the underdog. But what rankles some people, including me, is that OP has not articulated any reasons for wanting to go to any of his 31 schools except for the prestige of it. He hasn’t said that he has visited these schools. He hasn’t said that he can afford to pay for them. He hasn’t suggested what he might contribute to a program at any of these schools. Fit doesn’t matter. He just wants in.
Does OP really have a “great” chance getting into an elite school RD, as you suggest? We’ll see.
Aside from money, I can’t imagine any reasonable criticism of shotgunning.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to go to college but not having a major preference about where. Many college experiences don’t depend so much on “fit,” and many applicants don’t have very substantive reasons for the schools they choose. Even more relevant, many applicants aren’t “in love” with any particular school.
More power to ya, OP.
I can. I know a student who got an Ivy deferment and panicked, so he shotgunned. Now, he and his family are “too burned out” to do much of anything effective on his deferment and his grades are at risk.
In his defense, “fit” is quite arbitrary and subject to change; while a school may seem great on the first or second visit, it’s not guaranteed to stay that way in your mind (because it often does just boil down to your gut reactions to a school - many schools are very similar to each other) and vice versa. Basing any decision on “fit” as a major characteristic is probably just about as unwise as ignoring it altogether.
@JustOneDad - I’m not sure what you mean about “anything effective on his deferment.” Ivy deferrals are generally polite rejections. And as much as I love anecdata, I’m also not sure that one family with oddly low stamina can be used as a model.
Many of us don’t think of “fit” as just the vibe that one picks up when going onto a campus (although that’s real also). I think even an apologist for shotgunning probably realizes that one is unlikely to find a fit with Columbia’s Core Curriculum and Brown’s New Curriculum interchangeably.
When I saw OP’s list of schools, I tried to construct in my mind a human who would be happy at all of them. I couldn’t. Then I was left wondering what kind of human would apply to a bunch of schools, only some of which would make them happy and feel a fit with. And, the only thing I could come up with was someone obsessed with status. In my day, we called them star-######s.
It’s an anecdote.
The point being that shotgunning uses resources that might be best applied elsewhere.
@Midwestdad3, @IxnayBob
Perhaps I should’ve said earlier - I want to go into investment banking. And when it comes to investment banking - or venture capital, or really anything on Wall Street - all that really matters is prestige. Maybe y’all are concerned about fit, but Wall Street won’t be so concerned about how good a “fit” I found a mid-tier university to be. I applied to every IB target school with the exception of Haas. 20 years from now, I won’t be regretting that Northwestern didn’t have enough parties if I’m reaping the benefits of its degree.
I know I’m going to piss people off with that statement, but a target school is a target school, and besides, I am so indecisive that even if I visited all of those schools, I would probably be even more conflicted as to which aspect of each school I like most.
I don’t know if I will like parties. I don’t know if I want a big school or a smaller one. I don’t know if I’ll love a big city, or get tired of it quickly and yearn for suburban peace. All I know is that I need to go to a top top school for my future career, and that’s what I’m doing, and it may be a good approach for people like me who still believe that college is primarily about getting an education rather than “fit.”
I mean, I didn’t pick my high school did I? And yet I managed to fit in just fine??
@Baloney1011, Quelle surprise! And here I had you pegged for Comparative Literature Studies
Good luck.
@marvin100 I love “anecdata”!
@IxnayBob Thanks! I guess if everyone is done expressing his or her views then, we’ll let this thread RIP for now and I’ll try to remember to resurrect it on April 1.
Thanks for the help and/or support and criticism everyone.
@Baloney1011
I completely sympathize with your goals and approach (although I probably won’t apply to as many reaches), but fit isn’t just about being happy. Although I have a feeling you won’t be affected as much, fit can really break down some people who hate their environment for some particular reason, including ‘too far from home,’ or ‘too small, like a high school.’ These people will want to transfer rather quickly, and you may or may not be one of them.
If this sort of situation does apply to you, then it won’t matter if you get into a top school because you aren’t going to survive.
But anyway, I’m hoping to go into IB and Wall Street after graduation, so I completely understand your position. As long as you’re sure those essays were equally great, you won’t have a problem with any of the schools, and you’re able to brave through anywhere from a few to many rejections, I’m fine with your approach.
I have a daughter who could be happy anywhere. As Woandering said, that doesn’t mean every school is right for her. She really is just a happy kid who finds friends, activities, books, things to do wherever she goes.
But I don’t think a big school or a school with a lot of pressure would be best for her. She’d adjust, she’d find her group, but it wouldn’t be best for her. A school that costs too much wouldn’t be right for me (a different kind of pressure on her).
If Boloney doesn’t care which school he goes to, then it doesn’t matter that he applied to 30+ schools. He’s the one that had to do the work, pay the money, deal with the never ending paperwork. He already has a few acceptances, and said he’d be happy at any of the schools, so he’s safe. What we can never know is if he would have been accepted to a few of the top schools he’s applied to if he’d focused his efforts on just those schools. Maybe he’ll get in, maybe not, but if he doesn’t we’ll never know the reason.
@IxnayBob
“Quelle surprise!”
LOL.
“IMO, an extremely strong contender can get away with just applying to about 10 schools.”
Depends on what those 10 schools are. If a student is that strong a contender, and communicates that well in those 10 applications, there won’t be ten committees who are so dense as to completely miss not only the student’s accomplishment and potential but also the student’s fit for at least one of those schools. Committees are just not that stupid. They may have different priorities or a different understanding of their own campuses than the student does, which would make the student less desirable for those 10 schools than for some other very fine schools, but the committees know what the heck they’re doing.
It’s all about the list + the applications that appeal to that collective list.