@SeekingPam
I applied to 10 something schools my first year. I didn’t apply to any state schools that offered full rides except a local state school that I could commute to. I was interested in pursuing a field of employment that is (regrettably so) heavily prestige based so that never occurred to me. I was accepted into Tufts, which was the only school that gave me a package I could afford. I am Asian, non-hooked by any means. My parents both hold advanced degrees, but are laborers in this country (go figure). The only unique circumstance I can think of is how I contribute to my family everyday by working. My HS gpa was far from great. I was ranked outside the top 20% and I improved it to 18%tile by senior year though. My SAT was a 1450/2140 and I only took 2 SAT IIs, a 740 in US History and 680 in Literature.
For my transfer admissions, I got a 3.5 GPA my first semester and applied to five schools. Of which, I was accepted to Vanderbilt and University of Pennsylvania (College). Still waiting for Cornell, but I feel that I have a strong chance there as well. These schools gave me the same package Tufts is offering me.
Pros and cons have been covered pretty well already.
I will add this:
Regardless of how many schools you apply to, make sure you like them all and could feasibly afford to attend.
So research them for “fit” and run the EFC for each school.
That will prevent the following difficult scenario:
- You were admitted to School A and School B
- You love School A but do not like School B
- School A gave inadequate financial aid for you to be able to afford it.
- School B gave you adequate financial aid to attend
We see multiple threads like this each year, where students are facing that scenario: the dream school is either unaffordable or they would have to take out a ton of debt to attend, while a school they don’t really like gave them lots of FA. And they ask us which one we think they should attend.
You want a list of schools that, if one gives you far greater FA than the rest, you will be happy to attend it. And you don’t want to be faced with getting into a dream school but then having to take out $200k in debt to attend. So before you apply, research the schools – academic programs, campus vibe, surroundings, weather, dorms, etc. – to make sure you’d actually enjoy being at that school. And check the EFC to avoid potential heartbreak.
@Janizary while others will disagree I think that low income can be a hook since it shows everything you accomplished you did on your own without tutors etc and your SATs were quite good, especially the important ones. Seems no one cares as much about writing.
I am just wondering about Tufts, are you unhappy there? Do you really feel like you need to transfer? My K2 would love to get into Tufts. I am assuming you want IBanking? Isn’t Tufts presitgious enough for that? One impression I had of Tufts as an outsider is it does not have the grade deflation that some other schools like Cornell are known for.
Did you apply to Cornell/Dyson? Otherwise wondering why not Penn? Interesting that they are giving you excellent packages as a transfer. Penn when I ran the NPC seemed to be one of the more generous schools, for us somewhat better than Tufts (although it was decent too). Thank you for the response and good luck whatever you decide.
@SeekingPam I think that Tufts is an amazing school for its academics and various research opportunties. With the issue of grade deflation, it is actually quite prevalent at Tufts. The average gpa for undergrads hovers somewhere around a 3 - 3.1(http://uss.tufts.edu/studentAffairs/fraternitySororityLife/documents/spring2014AcademicReportDistribution.pdf). For comparison Penn and Cornell is somewhere around a 3.3 a 3.4. With great academics, there’s a considerable amount of rigor, especially in the sciences and engineering. But for finance, it is severely lacking in the eyes of the major firms. There is little to no recruitment, which makes sense because of Harvard and MIT right around the corner for these jobs. I spoke to alumni and they’ve all said the same thing: Tufts is not a target school for these banks. Unless your child is interested in consulting and banking, I would not dissuade him/her from coming to Tufts at all.
I applied to Cornell Hotel administration program, I don’t think my grades would have got me into AEM. I was also waitlisted and later rejected by Hotel last year. However, it looks like I will be heading to Penn regardless.
@suzyQ7 hey, I have compared my stats and unfortunately I doubt I can get accepted to any ivies, however my parents do want me to apply ED to Columbia since I am a legacy. Also, I do like Columbia so that wouldn’t be a problem if I got in
These schools also reject most of the legacies who apply.
" Applying to more high reach schools does not increase your chances because every single school prioritizes different aspects of an application. Perhaps that would be true if every school approached it in exactly the same way. " This statement makes zero sense. If all the schools judge on the same criteria, then you would get accepted at all or rejected at all.
Yes, applying to more high reach schools does increase your chances. This is obvious because there are many students who get into some, but not all, of these schools. (And not that many who get into all–those kids are really superstars and presumably know it.) If they just picked one or two, they might have missed acceptances from schools 3, 4, and 5. However, you have to be reasonable about this. If 10 top schools are going to reject you, you probably aren’t competitive in that pool and you are incredibly unlikely to get into school 11. We don’t have many kids applying to or accepted to these schools but most I know who did get accepted got into several of them whereas other students got no acceptances.
Sorry if I offended you. I meant it as a joke, hence the smiley face.
Also, Bartolo Colon hit a home run this weekend. 
Another winkey smiley.
The greatest moment in the history of sports.
Hopefully college applicants hit one out of the park more often than Bart