<p>Currently I have 16 colleges on my list. I realize this is way too many. I'm going to look into these colleges more and hopefully make some visits this summer.</p>
<p>When I start trimming, how much should I cut off? I was thinking I should cut it down to 9 by application time. Is that still way too much? I was thinking if I had 3 matches, 3 reaches, and 3 safties, I should be ok.</p>
<p>What do you think?</p>
<p>I don't think there is any reason to have more than 1 safety if it is truly a safety. I have 5 reaches, 4 matches, and 2 safeties.</p>
<p>I think two safeties is enough if you like both of them.</p>
<p>List them all & your stats...</p>
<p>I hate listing my stats.</p>
<p>African American female
4.0 GPA UW. Ranked 1 out of about 220.</p>
<p>ACT: 29, I took it again today and I'm sure I went up atleast 1-2 points</p>
<p>SAT II: I took them last week so these are my predictions
Chem:720+, Math ii:680, English Lit:650</p>
<p>I've only taken one AP (Chem) so far, and I plan to take two more next year (senior year), AP Calc and AP English. My school doesn't offer very many. As far as honors classes, just about all my core classes (except spanish and social studies) were honors. I'm probably going to take the SAT my senior year as well. </p>
<p>Here's my list:</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins?
Carnegie Mellon?
Northeastern
Rutgers?
Syracuse?
University of Illinois
Purdue
Tufts
MIT?
Princeton
Harvard?
Yale
Cornell
UMich
Columbia
Northwestern
UPenn?</p>
<p>I do realize my list is everywhere. The question marks are big ifs. I'm not real sure about applying to those places.</p>
<p>You really dont have a TRUE safety on there....</p>
<p>jpod- im pretty sure she can consider northeastern, Rutgers, syracuse, illinois and purdue pretty safe bets. most schools would kill to grab an AA female valedictorian</p>
<p>What's a true safety? Could you give me some examples? I was also thinking about applying to Michigan State and Wayne State, but I REALLY DON'T want to go there.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get into UMich, I'm in state and many students from my high school go there.</p>
<p>^^^ Those would be pretty good safeties.</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins - Slight Reach</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon - Match</p>
<p>Northeastern - Safety</p>
<p>Rutgers - Safety</p>
<p>Syracuse - Safety</p>
<p>UIUC - Safe match</p>
<p>Purdue - Safety</p>
<p>Tufts - Match</p>
<p>MIT - Reach</p>
<p>HYP - Reach</p>
<p>Cornell - Slight Reach</p>
<p>Michigan - Safe Match</p>
<p>Columbia - Reach</p>
<p>Northwestern - Slight Reach</p>
<p>Penn - Reach</p>
<p>Nothin, I think your list is reasonably consistent. As you research the schools more you'll get a better idea of which ones fit your personality. Visits will help.</p>
<p>I'd suggest you plan to get your UMich application in really early. They have rolling admissions and will let you know within weeks if you are admitted. Assuming that UMich is a school that you'd like to go to and assuming that you are likely to get admitted (you don't say but it sounds as if you're in state) then you can use UMich as your safety. </p>
<p>If neither of those assumptions is true, then keep researching until you find your ideal safety. I'd say that you have a few on your list but I'm not up to date on their admissions statistics so I don't want to speculate.</p>
<p>After locking in your safety (or safeties if you're conservative) then go ahead and apply to as many reaches and reachy-matches as appeal to you as long as you have the resources and energy to put together strong applications. This is a very subjective number.</p>
<p>I would also suggest that you thoroughly understand your financial situation. If your family requires financial aid for you to attend a private college, you'll need to gear your list toward either need based aid or merit based aid. These are very different lists and should be the starting point for your research.</p>
<p>Thanks momrath,</p>
<p>I am in state and I really do want to go to UMich, I visted there in May and I absolutely loved it. I know that UMich is a top public university and really hard to get into, but when I compare it to other schools, like Johns Hopkins and Northwestern, it makes more sense for me just to stay home and get the same quality education for less. Needless to say I definately will be applying there early. That's why I'm so confident I'll be able to get in.</p>
<p>All I wanted to know is if my college list was too long and you provided me with the perfect answer. My mom thought that my list was way too long, but I now know that it isn't too long at all. After I narrow it down some, I should have a more resonable number.</p>
<p>Nothin, for a Michigan resident who wants a large university Michigan indeed makes perfect sense. I'm class of '69 myself and remain, 37 years later (how can that be?) grateful for the opportunity. My son, on the other hand, chose a small liberal arts college in the Northeast, so I appreciate that fit is really critical in making your list. Good luck and let us know how you do.</p>
<p>Will you be applying for financial aid? If so, as Momrath suggests there are some important things to consider NOW that may help you fine tune your list.</p>
<p>First, if you will be applying for financial aid, make sure you take into account the time and effort it will take to apply for financial aid at multiple schools. While submitting the FAFSA is fairly straight forward, some of the schools on your list also require submitting the PROFILE, which will take a little extra time and expense ($18 per school). Additionally, you do have to stay on top of deadlines for applying for financial aid, and the more schools involved, the more complicated that becomes.</p>
<p>Additionally, if you will need financial aid, I would look closely at this point at which of the schools on your list guarantee to meet 100% of demonstrated need and which don't. I'd make the ones that guarantee to meet need a priority for keeping on the list, but I'd also compare the average loans in the individual packages. For schools that do not guarantee to meet 100% of need (and there are quite a few on your list), compare the percentages of students that have full need met, and again look at the loans in the packages. All of this may help you weed out some schools that will probably not work for you financially, and you may find you want to add others that are better financial bets.</p>
<p>Of course, all of this only applies if you need financial aid. But if you do, it is important to consider it NOW while you are finalizing your list rather than have surprises next spring. </p>
<p>Best of luck!!!</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon?
Syracuse?
University of Illinois
Tufts
MIT?
Princeton
Harvard?
Yale
Cornell
UMich
Columbia
Northwestern
UPenn?</p>
<p>One of Uof Ill and Syracuse
One of UPenn, Cornell, or Columbia.
Two or three of HPY and MIT
Add a sure safety other than UofM
And I think you will be set.</p>
<p>jPod, I think Syracuse would be a good true safety for her. It's different for all people, and I don't see any reason why Syracuse would reject her...</p>
<p>I'm not saying she wont get into all of these, but a school like MSU would be a SURE safety.</p>
<p>Some of those schools are really reaches. Nice highschool stats, but when I comes to those standarized tests... not your best spot. That may cost you. But considering your ethnicity, it might be a bonus.</p>
<p>Scratch Rutgers and Northeastern--you can do much better than those two. Purdue and Syracuse would be be all the safeties you'll need, especially because you're almost certain to get in Michigan.</p>
<p>You might also want to scratch Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins, and Illinois, as the others on your list would seem to be a little more well-rounded, interesting and/or in better locations.</p>
<p>You are in at almost every single one, maybe get rid of Purdue and Northeastern if you want to get rid of colleges.</p>