Help- I'm not sure how to pick match schools!

jrp1234
Wed, 17 Aug 2011 22:49:50 +0000

So I’ve wanted to go to Columbia since 7th grade and have visited it several times, done a bunch of programs there, etc. But every year it looks like it’s getting harder to get accepted there from my high school. I’m a well rounded student and I take a bunch of AP classes/get almost all As and stuff, but I’m still not really “up there” with those kids that get into ivy league schools like Columbia.
This only occurred to me recently because, I swear, when I was in middle school, Columbia wasn’t THAT hard to get into and I really thought I could do it.
My problem now is that I have no match schools that I really want to go to. I’m still applying ED to Columbia, obviously, but I’m finding it really hard to single out 4/5 schools that are easier to get accepted to but won’t make me feel disappointed when I go there because I got rejected from Columbia.
I know I shouldn’t have been so fixated on that one school; I realize now that it was a huge mistake. Please, any suggestions to help me break out of this ridiculous mental obsession and move on? And how exactly do you decide what your top 10/12 choices are for RD?