So not fair!!

<p>I was talking to my college counselor and he said that I'm only allowed to apply to 5 schools! How is that freaking possible? I've heard a lot of people from online saying that they applied to 10 or even 15 schools. Yet my stupid counselor only allows the students of my school to apply to 5 schools. He said that I should be able to narrow my searches, but I can't. I still have like 15 schools.</p>

<p>My friend which is a senior (I'm a hunior by the way) said he allowed her to apply to 7 schools. So what I'm thinking of doing is to try to convince him to allow me to apply to at least 7 schools, maybe even more. HOPEFULLY.</p>

<p>I think it may be a recommendation.</p>

<p>I recommend 6-8 schools; you're not limited to 5 schools.</p>

<p>Just make sure that it is varied. Have a safety, a few matches, and a few reaches.</p>

<p>Get a new counselor; or apply to some publics that don't require letters of rec from your counselor (University of California if you live in California).</p>

<p>How good of a student are you? If great, then perhaps you can do some coaxing.</p>

<p>What are you 15 schools? Can you post SAT Is and IIs, ECs, GPA, and senior coursework (planned)?</p>

<p>Major? Some bkgrd info may help to help narrow, if you have to.</p>

<p>What's a hunior?</p>

<p>Some college counselor count Common Application as ONE school as you only need to do the recommendation once. If that's the case, you have many choices. Similarly, you can apply to all of UC's campuses with only one application.</p>

<p>i think he/she meant junior</p>

<p>you dont have to apply to 15 schools.. i only applied to 5 and it worked out great for me..</p>

<p>just have 1-2 safeties, 1-2 matches, and/or 1-2 reaches.. its all you need</p>

<p>you're only gonna go to one college</p>

<p>These are my choices: (alphabetically)</p>

<p>American
Amherst
Bard
Brandeis
Bucknell
Colby
Colgate
Hamilton
Haverford
Middleburry
Swarthmore
George Washington
Trinity (CT)
Tufts
U. of Rochester
Wesleyan
Wheaton (MA)
Williams</p>

<p>I prefer small, liberal arts colleges in the Northeast.</p>

<p>Here are my stats:</p>

<p>3.6 GPA
ALL my high school classes are honors (hence the low GPA)
I have taken 3 AP classes so far (US Hist., English Lang., and Spanish lang.)
I'm doing great in these classes. Piece of cake for me.
So far, I have done a lot of extracurricular activities. (except for sports. I'm not a sports kind of guy, although i LOVE watching it) Since freshman year i have joined A LOT of clubs, and have done hundreds of community service hours. </p>

<p>Planned Senior year classes:</p>

<p>AP Psychology
AP Biology
AP Government
AP Statistics
Speech
Humanities
Latin</p>

<p>I would like to be a lawyer and thus wish to major in Political Science.</p>

<p>I have not taken the SAT I yet (May 7th), howver according to my practice tests and from taking SAT courses, it doesn't look good; It'll probably be in the low 600 area. (I need to work on that during the summer so I could retake it in October.) Same goes for SAT II's. I'm taking them in June.</p>

<p>Some advantages that may get me into college are that I'm hispanic and that I'm gay...and proud of it by the way ; )</p>

<p>What do you guys think?...Any recommendations on any colleges? etc.</p>

<p>I personally think 10-15 colleges is a bit overboard. You should examine the list you've made - assume you got into all of them, which ones would you not even consider going to in that case - eliminate those from the start. Be realistic about your chances at each of the schools (I wouldn't apply to blind reaches) - pick 1-2 safeties, mostly matches, and perhaps 1-2 reaches. By narrowing down your list, you can spend more time on the apps that matter most to you instead of rushing to complete all of them on your list. Just my .02</p>

<p>Okay. If your target schools are small, liberal arts colleges in the Northeast, how'd you come up with American and G-Dubb? (GW)</p>

<p>I know that Williams (yes, hard to get into, but I got in, so miracles do happen) has a particularly ** great ** government program and a great matriculation program to graduate schools.</p>

<p>I would shorten the list. Even though most of those schools are common app, you still have supplemental essays, etc., to fill out.</p>

<p>And put in some safeties! You won't regret it</p>

<p>Yes, definitely cut down that 15 into at least 10 if not more.</p>

<p>American and GW need to be get rid of since you want liberal arts.</p>

<p>Get rid of U of Rochester (unless you have visited and really like it there) and they're poli sci is not too great.</p>

<p>For poli sci, I would suggest Georgetown (they have an Early Assurance for their law program), though it is not a liberal arts college.</p>

<p>As long as money is not a problem, then don't apply to publics (since they don't offer the liberal arts environment).</p>

<p>As a future law student as well, I would suggest you diversify from the poli sci major and take on a double major besides that. On the LSATs, it is logic, critical thinking, and analysis of argument; a strong background in philosophy may help (and other related fields). I should mention that I am going to be a poli sci major but I'm taking on a double major in rhetoric (hence the diversifying). This is not necessary nor even strongly suggested; however, from reading law admission books, this is what I've heard.</p>

<p>Major in something you love, not what would get you a job or into a law school; it is quite convenient that my passion is politics.</p>

<p>eiffelguy... what are you smoking?
polisci is not that great??? It is one of the best programs in the entire united states!
Uniderm... Don't listen to eiffelguy UR is an excellent school and by the way it has the best polisci program out of your whole list.</p>

<p>Right..</p>

<p>Assuming that the application fee is roughly $40( some even go as high as $60-100) for each school, are you prepared to pay $700 in application fees?</p>

<p>I do retract the "not too great" statement; it was a mistake. U Rochester does offer a good program.</p>

<p>Is Georgetown in the top 10? Nope
There goes your credibility</p>

<p>Before you say to someone not to go to a school because their political science program is bad, check your sources. Because Rochester is in the top 10 and in one report even beats Harvard, Yale, etc. by being number 1!</p>

<p>What you just did is like me saying to a kid that is in college and has a stellar gpa, etc... Don't consider Johns Hopkins because their med school is not too great.</p>

<p>If this kid wants to major in polisci and wants a small liberal arts college in the northeast, Rochester is probably the best fitting for him/her
Polisci- One of best in country (And yes, better than GTown, GW, etc.)
Small- <4000 Undergrads making it one of the smallest research universities in the country
Liberal arts college- Was classified as this until US News changed their system and because of their level of research and also since they grant PhDs they had to move up
Northeast- Right up there</p>

<p>Also to tag along, since business and economics usually go hand in hand with polisci, they are some of the best programs also</p>

<p>Read the above statement hopkinslax; I made a mistake. Simple as that. Hence my edit.</p>

<p>Thank you, from now on just please check with your sources before you tell someone not to go to a college without knowing anything about it.</p>

<p>Out of curiosity, does a highly ranked graduate department reflect on the undergrad quality in that same department?</p>

<p>Okay, I went to US News for this:</p>

<p>Ph.D.s (so not undergrad) for Political Science (in general)
1) Harvard
2) Stanford
3) U Mich--Ann Arbor</p>

<p>In American Politics:
1) UMich
2) Harvard
3) Stanford</p>

<p>In Comparative Politics:
1) Harvard
2) UC Berkeley
3) UC San Diego (<----- real shocker)</p>

<p>In International Politics
1) Harvard
2) Stanford
3) Princeton and Columbia</p>

<p>website: <a href="http://www.phds.org/rankings/getWeights.php?d=31%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.phds.org/rankings/getWeights.php?d=31&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Has rankings catered to your needs for graduate school (though we're talking undergrad) for poli sci.</p>