<p>Well firstly and most importantly dont be a prestige whore. Dont hanker after the Ivies for their name. There are other colleges just as good and often better in their fields. For eg, GATech is a fantastic eng school and will probably kick any Ivy’s butt in eng. So choose well and no harm in trying for colleges. Just have a balanced list. How to judge balance? Well that depends on how good you are :P</p>