hikids

If you do very good research, and have a good sense of exactly how good your record is, try 3, 3, 3 safeties, matches, reaches. You can reduce these numbers depending on how accurate you are.

Savs

My (very long) list of possible schools right now is:

Dartmouth
Williams
Georgetown
UPenn
University of Virginia
William and Mary
Amherst
Swarthmore
Boston College
Tufts
Villanova
Vassar
Wake Forest
Lehigh University
Fordham University
Sarah Lawrence
UNC
Providence College
Boston U
University of Minnesota
Gettysburg College
Macalester
UConn
UMass- Amherst

Obviously this will get shortened A LOT this summer when I make college visits. I just basically wanted to know how much I should limit it to.

(Oh, and my GPA is 3.97uw, and ACT is 34. I took the SAT and then retook it, but I'm thinking of just sending the ACT. I'm also taking subject tests this June, and am hoping for 700+ on USH and Lit).

entomom

Are any of those schools in state for you? In addition to admissions, you may also need to consider financial aspects in determining both the number of schools and which schools to apply to (unless you can afford list price).

collegebound5

I would apply to 10
4 reach
4 middle
2 safety
A reach school is a school where your SAT scores are in the lower range of the SAT scores the school accepts, or your SAT scores are in the mid 50% range or even the top 75% range, but the school is so competitive that there is no guarantee you can get in.
A match school is a school where you SAT scores are in the 50% range of the scores the school accepts.
A safety school is where your SAT scores are in the top 75% or higher that the school accepts, and at that school having scoring in the top 75% range or higher almost guarantees admission

collegebound5

A lot depends on whether you want a very small liberal arts school that has a freshman class of around 350, or do you want a middle sized school that has a freshman class of around 1,600 - 2,400 or do you want a large school. Also do you want to be in a rural area or near a city. Do you want a campus? Do you want a school that is liberal? Do you want a single sex school or co-ed, do you want a liberal arts school or a university?

Optisrule

Don't apply to 10 schools, find 3 that you really like, throw in a reach if you want to and a safety.

mdcissp

Since you are interested in a lot of schools, try to start researching them on-line first in order to narrow down your list. You can get a lot of info. on-line which will help you.

Columbia_Student

Apply to one or 2 EA schools. If you get in early, at least it eliminates a lot of safety schools and you can concentrate on reaches/matches.

poubelle

I think 10 is ridiculous. That's $500! I think 1-2 safeties, 3-4 matches, and 1-2 reaches is a good idea. That's 5-8 schools, which'll give you a nice range. (I applied to one safety, two matches, and two reaches, myself.)

What really helped me narrow my list down (and quickly) was making a list of things I absolutely wanted my future college to have. Perhaps, for example: easy access to a major city, Linguistics major, access to skiing, a marching band, a student garden... Whatever you want, search every potential school's website to see how many 'ideal' characteristics it matches.

lgellar

Terrible advice, especially if the OP needs to compare financial aid offers.

Most applicants have a very tough time determining their application strength; the best thing is to apply to a range of schools, everything from very safe to very reachy. That way you don't have any regrets come April.

To try to slice everything up into reach-match-safety is just silly.

glassesarechic

I think 5-8 is a good amount. You want enough to give you options come April but not so many that your apps lose their interest. Make sure most schools are matches, though! Unless you go to a challenging school, 3.7 is not going to make super-reachy schools any easier. (It's a respectable GPA, of course! Just that a lot on your list are super-selective, and will be looking for any reason to narrow down the application pool.)

Also, your list of schools is pretty diverse. I'd look at issues like size, geography, selectivity, and definately proximity to major cities! Dartmouth and UPenn are about as different as can be--what attracts you to them? Obviously, you can't visit every school, but try and experience a wide variety of types. That way, when you're done visiting, you know that LACs really aren't for you or you couldn't stand a rural environment. There's no need to apply to 5-8 practically identical schools or anything, but make sure you have a reason for applying to each one: that you feel you'll be successful and fit in for four years.

Knights09

Remember that if a school requires SAT 2's, they will see your SAT score even if you send the ACT in.

Savs

>>Unless you go to a challenging school, 3.7 is not going to make super-reachy schools any easier.

3.97, actually. Though you never know what could happen before the end of the semester... LOL.

Let's see for the rest...

~U. of Minnesota is in-state, as well as St. Thomas University (is that on the lists? LOL. It should be) and Macalester. My dad also teaches at St. Thomas, so I'd get a 3/4 discount at St. Thomas and Macalester if I got it.

~I'm not sure about size/location (urban/rural/suburban) yet, but I'm guessing college visits will help narrow that down. My dad blocked off about 2 weeks for college visits in the NE, so I'm going to try to visit as many of the schools as I can.

~Thanks for the suggestion about EA... I'll definitely make sure to do that... it would be nice to get an acceptance early to take the pressure off.

~I'm a little wary of applying to less than 6-7 schools because I do need financial aid, so having a few schools where I could compare packages would be really great.

~My original SAT score was 2050, so it wasn't horrible, but... average. I just retook it in May, so hopefully it's higher, or I guess I might retake it again. *sigh* I hate the SAT system.

Thanks for all the help!! This is a really great site for getting info/advice!

siliconvalleymom

The basic prompts, which most schools use in some form, are:
1) Tell us something important or interesting about you as a person.
2) Tell us why you are applying to this school.
I think in creating your list you should be able to write a paragraph for the second prompt to any school you are considering. Don't bother applying if your best reason is the USNWR ranking.

jsmall

You have many colleges on your list and you can def. narrow it down even before visiting. What do you want in a school other than academics? What kind of weather, location, student body size, diversity of student body (politically, socially, racially, socio-economically, cuturally, etc.) etc. do you want in a school. Once you figure this out, look up this info on each school. You can use websites like this one, Princeton Review, Theu.com, s t u d e ntsre v i e w.com, College Pr ow ler, etc. to find out which schools fit your preferences. Once you find out what schools you actually like, you can go ahead and make sure you have your matches, safeties and reaches, and add or subtract schools as needed.