<p>I’m currently working on a list of schools I want to apply to next year. Most people say my list is way too long, but I am having trouble narrowing it down. </p>
<p>Do I have way too many reach schools? Am I applying to enough true safeties? Do you have any suggestions for other schools to consider? Which schools would you recommend removing? etc…</p>
<p>I would just like some general advice and commentary on my colleges list thus far. Thank you!</p>
<p>Basic Stats:
Junior in California
Decent public HS
URM (Hispanic)
First-gen college student
Middle class/not low income
Top 5% of my class
4.0 UW with a rigorous course load
SAT: 2180 (730 CR, 670 M, 780 W)
ECs: Choir, NHS, CSF, Key Club
A few minor leadership positions
Major: ChemE/BME/BioE/UndE</p>
<p>Here is where I plan on applying:
Stanford (SCEA)
Michigan (EA)
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Columbia
Penn
Brown
Cornell
Duke
Northwestern
Johns Hopkins
CMU
USC
Boston University
Northeastern
Case Western
UC Berkeley
UCLA
UC San Diego
UCSB
UC Davis
Cal Poly SLO</p>
<p>As long as everyone else is casting a big net it makes sense to cast an equally large net. But the problem lies in that since everyone is fishing with the same large net, the result is that everyone is really fishing with the same old small net. GL Apply away.</p>
<p>Your list is crazy. I would spend the next year researching the schools and try to cut it in half, with most of the cuts coming from the reaches. Where do you really WANT to go, and why? You will have to somehow demonstrate sincere interest in each of them via essays and in some cases interviews, especially the more competitive schools.</p>
<p>Go to the College Board website and run the EFC calculator with your 2012 tax return and your parents.
Choose IM and FM, institutional methodology and federal methodology. Keep hitting save on every page so you can refer back to it. Print out the EFC summary page.</p>
<p>Sit down with your parents and have that honest discussion about paying for college.</p>
<p>You will be sorry your list is so long when you have to send in financial aid documentation for all of them in February next year!! Cut it down…</p>
<p>This list looks mostly like it was created of “name brands” and in-state schools. Which makes it hard for a group of strangers on the internet to cut it down… Here are some thoughts:</p>
<ul>
<li>Agree with SLUMOM to start by running the Net Price Calculator on every one and saving the information, and discussing with your parents. An example of a school on your list that you may find unaffordable is Michigan – FA for OOS students is not great.</li>
<li>Get a copy of the “Fiske Guide to Colleges” and read up on each school that the NPC shows you can realistically afford. See what appeals & does not. Go to the websites, see if there is a virtual tour. Read up on the CC forums out here for pros/cons of the schools. </li>
<li>Figure out which ones are strongest in your majors (good for you that you have an idea of what you want to major in, this process is harder if you are undecided). Take off any that do not offer or are not very good in what you want to study.</li>
<li>Is it possible for you to visit a few of these? Eight of the schools on your list are in California. Visit where you can. Can you make a trip out east? BUT, don’t focus on visiting your reaches. Focus more on match/safety schools, as it is harder to find ones you really want to attend.</li>
<li>Figure out what else is important to you. Weather? College town quality? Core curriculum requirements or lack of them? Co-op experiences? Big school athletics? Greek life? Distance from home? Clubs or activities you want to continue in college?</li>
<li>Suppose you end up with 10 schools on your list (a pretty reasonable number of applications & FA paperwork schools if you hustle in the fall/winter). Shoot for 2 safeties, 4 matches, and 4 reaches. As a URM, you probably have a better chance at reaches than a lot of other students. But you don’t want to end up with no choices in the spring.</li>
</ul>
<p>You are going to have to do this work at some point any way to figure out (1) what is affordable, and (2) how to write your “Why X” essays for each college in the fall. Do it now so you have a list of schools you want to attend for reasons more than brand name and that they offer your major.</p>
<p>I think you should cut it down. Applying will be stressful and expensive and I think you really could narrow it down. Have you visited any of these schools? Your list seems all over the map… do you know where you want to be (close to home, far away)? </p>
<p>My list was long at first but I only ended up applying to 4 schools because I realized that location really mattered. I’d focus on where you want to be as one of the main factors. Ask yourself if you could be far away from home and if you’d be able to go home on breaks. Do you want to be some place you’ve never been before or stay somewhere that’s familiar? Also, look at the clubs and activities offered at the schools on your list and see if you are interested in any of them. Really research the programs offered too. Even though you don’t have a definite major if you look at the programs you may see something that you don’t want to take or you may see that there isn’t a great class selection for your taste. Research further.</p>
<p>SLUMOM: My parents said not to worry about the financial aspect. They went through the process with my brother, so they are familiar with EFC, NPC, etc. They are able to pay for most schools without any aid, but it would still be easier if I got some aid. According to the NPC, most of the top schools on my list would be affordable with need-based aid. The UCs and Cal Poly are affordable because I am in-state. Some of the others that fall in the middle are more expensive, but I am hoping for possible merit awards (for example: BU and NEU offer good merit aid scholarships to National Hispanic Scholars).</p>
<p>intparent: I probably should get a copy of Fiske Guide since I have seen it recommended so often on these forums. I have read a lot about these schools on their websites and on CC. I know it does look like I am only applying to “brand name” schools, but I have researched all of them and like them all for various reasons besides their prestige. They are all pretty strong in my major (or one of my areas of interest). The only exceptions are probably H, Y, and Brown, but I have them on their for other reasons and they are by no means bad in my intended area of study. I can’t see myself dropping Brown, but H and Y would probably be the first to go from my list. I definitely want to try and visit some of these schools. I have already visited UCLA and Cal Poly. I plan to visit USC over spring break. Over the summer, I want to try and visit some other CA schools. My parents are trying to plan a vacation to the east coast, so then we can hopefully tack on a few schools visits. I do need to start scrutinizing what I really want in a school though to start slimming down my list. Thanks for your advice.</p>
<p>lilkickster9: The problem is, location isn’t a huge concern for me. I think it would prefer to go OOS, but I wouldn’t mind staying in CA. I prefer the east coast or west coast, but location isn’t a issue as long as the school has a diverse student body (example: Duke is in the South, but it is geographically diverse). Researching what specific activities and special programs each school offers as I good idea. Thanks!</p>
<p>That is a ridiculously long list of schools. Even when it comes to simply applying to these schools, the sheer amount of money needed to apply as well as the amount of time needed to write essays to these colleges is going to be extremely draining. Plus, I’m not sure if all of these schools are on the common app, but as a heads-up, the common app has a 20 school limit.</p>
<p>I did something similar to what you’re doing and applied pretty widely. Though the application process was especially grueling since I applied to over 10 schools. Along with researching specific programs, I highly suggest you visit the schools themselves, simply because the atmosphere there could easily change your opinion based on the students and academic teaching styles. Otherwise, I wish you the best of luck!</p>
<p>I think you’re being a bit unrealistic about the number of schools you can apply to. As everyone else has expressed, it is just too many. You’ll be hard pressed to dedicate the appropriate amount of time an effort to each individual app. It’s fine to be interested in prestigious schools, but a lot of these schools are very different in terms of the their student body, atmosphere, and even academic strengths to some extent. I’m interested in similar fields (especially ChemE), so I recognize that many of these schools are well ranked in that, but frankly some of the Ivy Leagues on there aren’t actually ideal for engineering. I’d also think more about size if I were you; I think your experience at a huge research university like Michigan will be very different from, say Princeton, which only has 5,000 or so undergrads. Location is a polarizing factor for many people too-- do you want urban or suburban, east or west coast? As others have articulated, look into the financial feasibility of each school too. Also, you have to realize that you have a lot of reach schools on your list (most of them are reaches for everyone). Your SAT scores are below the mean for quite a few of these schools, and even though I think you still have good stats and could get into a lot of these schools, I think you’d be better off eliminating the reaches that aren’t your favorites or aren’t the best fit.</p>
<p>The counselor at my child’s school suggested applying to 7 - 9 schools, dividing them fairly equally between safeties, matches, and reaches. I definitely think you should narrow down this list. You can’t go to all these schools, so sooner or later you’ll have to pare the list anyway.</p>
<p>Which ones do you consider your matches and safeties? </p>
<p>I think you are reach-heavy, despite your good stats.</p>
<p>Here is one way to prune the list: Determine which schools are your safeties (both admission wise and cost wise). Then eliminate any schools that you would not, under any circumstances, choose over your safeties.</p>
<p>Given your interest in chemical engineering, wouldn’t Minnesota have to be on the list ahead of some of the schools you have? It is highly reputable in that major, and its out-of-state list price is about as much as UC in-state list price. Note that Cal Poly SLO does not have chemical engineering (Cal Poly Pomona and San Jose State do).</p>
<p>harukikara: 17 of these schools use the Common App. The rest use the UC Application (except for Cal Poly which uses the CSU Application). I’m definitely going to narrown down my list before I apply, though. Thank you!</p>
<p>michellel: I think you are right. I need to really think about what I want in a school. Also, I will try to make the cuts from my reaches. Thanks for the advice.</p>
<p>calla1: I consider these to be my matches and safeties - Michigan (EA), CMU, USC, Boston University, Northeastern, Case Western, UCLA, UC San Diego, UCSB, UC Davis, and Cal Poly SLO. Some may even be high matches. The rest I listed in the OP I consider to be reaches.</p>
<p>UCLA is definitely a reach, due to their 72,000+ applicants. Because of cost, some of these may not be safeties even though your parents say they can manage with aid (USC may be one of these).</p>
<p>UCSD is probably a match. Cal Poly SLO is probably a safety, but I note ucbalumnus’ comment that they don’t have the chemE major. UCSB may be a safety but I don’t know how impacted their engineering programs are. </p>
<p>You need to pare down the reaches and focus on finding more safeties. Cal Poly Pomona is a great school in the sciences and would probably be a safety/match.</p>
<p>At best, you have 10 safety/matches, and 13 reaches. I’m not sure how many true safeties you have here. A very small number.</p>
<p>ucbalumnus: Minnesota is very strong in ChemE, but I am considering many other factors besides just strength in my intended major. Also, I know Cal Poly doesn’t have ChemE, but they do have a BME (hence why I posted ChemE/BME/BioE/UndE in the OP). Some other schools on my list don’t have ChemE, and some don’t have BME/BioE, but all of them have one or the other. For example, Duke doesn’t have ChemE, but it offers BME.</p>
<p>sally305: Probably true. It’s one of the ones I consider to be a high match since I am applying EA. It’s deinitely not a financial safety… lol.</p>
<p>calla1: I don’t think the number of applications reveals much about the school’s selectivity. Popularity, yes, but not necessarily the difficulty of admissions. For example, CSULB and SDSU recieve 50,000+ applications each, but that doesn’t mean they are reaches for everyone. SAT/ACT scores, GPA, class rank, etc. of the admitted students are much more revealing. That being said, I consider UCLA to be one of my high matches (along with USC, CMU, and Michigan). I am looking into some more safeties. Don’t I only need one or two true safeties, though?</p>
<p>Gonna try to research schools a bit more, try to come up with another safety (or maybe more than one), and then post a revised list. Thanks for your help guys.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, if you’re looking to be even better in terms of how your app looks, try to volunteer more (long term volunteering, where you get really involved in a cause, might look better) or look for some opportunities to intern/summer programs.</p>