I’ve trimmed my college list down to 40 schools. 21 are reach schools and they all fit my needs: disability (deaf and post cancer side effects: I get tired as hell) accommodation, diversity, extracurriculars, decent biology program, amazing campus, and a small class size. I’m struggling to dial down 21 reach to 5-6 reach.
Stats: 33, 4.26 w, 3.86 uw, valedictorian has a 4.6 (serving as a comparison).
President of 2 non-profit, position in two clubs and had two medical research internship.
You have to set criteria. U Penn and Princeton are vastly different and less than 100 miles apart. Vastly different cultures across the schools on your list as well. Some of those are generous with aid (HPY), others not as much (Penn or Brown and most of the rest of the list).
City or small town? Culture of the school? Open curriculum (Brown) or core curriculum (Columbia)? Get a Fiske or other guide and read on each of them and start ruling some out.
Stanford and Harvard are not known for small class size depending on the major. I’m sure others on the list are the same but few on here can speak to 21 schools.
And 5-6 reaches is still too many. You should apply to 5-7 schools and you need 1-2 safeties and 1-2 matches unless you have a stone cold safety that you will love if you are rejected by all 6 reaches.
I agree with the 5-7 assessment, but I’m not a big fan of the reach, just because. It should be about fit. It a perfect world the final choice should have little to do with difficulty of admission.
I agree that you need to look at fit. I don’t see a student that would be happy at Columbia also being happy with Vanderbilt, or a Brown student thriving at JHU.
Get a copy of the Fiske Guide to Colleges. Read each entry carefully for info on campus culture. If any are near you, visit them.
I also agree that applying to too many schools is a mistake. It is a huge headache to apply, and wait til the financial aid paperwork is due – your parents will NOT be happy to help you with that for a ton of schools. Plus, writing meaningful essays that truly reflect why THAT school is the one for you and you are the one for them – impossible if your list is mostly just built from the US News rankings.
Then focus the rest of your search (and I mean a LOT of time) on your safeties and matches. Because you are much more likely to end up at one of those. And if you focus all your time on those dreamy reach schools, you will not be pleased if you didn’t really focus on fit and cost for the schools you are most likely to get into.
I’d suggest the max you apply to is 12 schools – 2 safeties that you are almost certain to be accepted to, you like, and you know will be affordable. I say 2 because it is nice to have choices if it comes down to it! 6 matches, and 4 reaches. And that is the max. My kids applied to 7 & 8 respectively, had good choices, and had great college experiences. You will just make yourself and everyone around you crazy if you apply to too many schools.
Rice satisfies all of your listed criteria . . . and its lovely campus is located across the street (quite literally) from the huge Texas Medical Center complex, which includes renowned MD Anderson Cancer Center. Many bio/pre-med students at Rice are able to get research internships at the TMC.