When it finally was time to apply to college, I’ll admit that the schools I chose were mainly just those that were on my mind at the time. However, there were a few schools I deeply regret not applying to, like Vanderbilt, Cornell, USC, and Georgetown. Now there was little chance of me getting into these schools, but I realize now that it was worth a shot. So where do you guys regret not applying to?
I regret not applying to more target schools lol, my school never emphasizes the importance of balance so I ended up applying to alot of top-tier schools (11 in fact) and I only made 4 (GIT, Cornell, RPI and RIT). I would’ve applied to UCLA or UC Berkeley, Sophie Davis and Brown.
Literally anywhere! I only applied to four schools.
I sort of wish that I applied to more schools in North Carolina and Florida, mainly Appalachian State, University of South Florida and University of Tampa. Saying that, I probably still would have preferred UNC Wilmington.
I wish I’d applied to more LACs. That was what I had originally planned to, but I only ended up applying to two (Wellesley and Amherst). In retrospect, I should’ve applied to Smith and maybe Kenyon, Mt. Holyoke, and Oberlin. I don’t know if I would have ultimately made a different decision, but some personal stuff I was going through interfered with my plans to apply to several more schools over winter break. That not knowing does really bothers me sometimes.
I wish I had applied to more schools that give merit aid. I really had no idea that was a thing and consequently only two of the schools I applied to offered any.
I also wish I applied to more LACs. Many of the places I applied were LACs, but I wish there had been more time to visit others to really figure out which ones were best for me. There are so many great ones out there; it’s impossible to visit them all! Ultimately I didn’t end up choosing an LAC but if I did it all over again, I might.
While I didn’t have a desire to go to college far from home, it also never occurred to me that if I wanted to, I really could have gone to college far from home. Nobody from my high school ever goes far, so it just didn’t seem like a real possibility. When I was in 10th grade, my grandparents (who live in San Diego) signed me up for a tour of UCSD. And it was absolutely beautiful, but not once during the tour did I even think it was a possibility that I could apply and attend there. But after suffering through yet another brutal -30 degree winter, it actually dawned on me that I could instead be soaking up the sun on a California beach. Maybe for grad school.
@SpringAwake15 @Ranza123 Looks like all of us wanted to apply to more LACs haha. Originally I had planned to apply to at least a few, but I didn’t end up applying to any!
@DaedricSaiyan, unless cost turned out to be a concern and you are instate for CA or you really didn’t fit your schools well, why do you regret not applying to Cal & UCLA? You got in to some good schools and, IMO, Cornell is as good as Cal and a bit above UCLA.
My dad has an associates degree and my mom had a bachelors that she got while working full time after she and my dad got married, so neither of my parents had a typical college experience. My dad thought I could only afford to go to school in state because he and my mom made too much money to qualify for need based aid. I only applied to one school (the best school in our state) and went there (University of Wisconsin). Knowing what I know now about private schools offering merit based aid, I wish I had applied to many private schools including Northwestern and Vanderbilt. I probably would have had a great shot at not only admittance but also merit aid. I got a fantastic education at Wisconsin, but sometimes I wonder “what if . . .”.
@mademoiselle2308, when did you go to college? Back maybe 2 decades ago, Northwestern did offer some big merit scholarships. These days, merit scholarships from NU are pretty much all small and few people get them.
Vandy does offer some big merit scholarships, but don’t kid yourself; these days, they are very hard to get and those who do typically can get in to Ivies if not HYPSM.
Both offer good fin aid, though.
@PurpleTitan I matriculated in 2008. I know that merit offers aren’t as common now (or even in 2008) but it still would have been interesting to try. It’s all good though; I didn’t waste tons of time being invested in a dream school I couldn’t afford and I was close to home when family problems came up, so it worked out well for me. My undergrad education helped me get into a fantastic grad school, so I can’t complain.
@mademoiselle2308, indeed, WI & MN residents are a bit lucky to have a strong option like UW-Madison at in-state prices. There are other states with public schools or programs (for instance, engineering and CS at UIUC & GTech) that strong, but maybe half the country doesn’t have a public as good as UW-Madison at in-state prices.
@PurpleTitan - For sure! Wisconsin, Minnesota, UT-Austin, UMich, UVA, William and Mary, UNC, UIUC, UCLA, UCB, UWash, among others all offer great education at a great price for in state residents.
I only applied to one school (Williams) and got in ED, but looking back, I sorta wish I’d taken a crack at Deep Springs.
Carnegie Mellon University.
Swarthmore, Carleton and Sciences Po.
I am so, so excited to go to Princeton, but I really wish I had applied to Yale. I got into Princeton EA, but one of my closest friends was deferred from Yale. I was so excited that I was accepted, however, as I considered which application I was still interested in submitting, I told myself that I couldn’t apply to Yale. Even though there was a tiny, tiny chance that I would get in RD and my friend would be rejected, I thought that my friendship mattered more to me. It did and it still does, however, I shouldn’t have let my friends admission process interfere with the schools that I was interested in. I hate to say this, but in the college application process, you need to be selfish; you need to do what will be right for you. Irrelevant rant over.
I wish applied to more diverse, bigger schools. Places like Florida State, U of Georgia, or U of Tennessee. And also the U of Dayton and American.