Is ten colleges too many to apply to?

MYOS1634
Sun, 05 Mar 2017 13:48:13 +0000

'they just don’t interest me’is bad attitude. Which I’ll acknowledge goes hand in hand with being in 8th grade.
I’d wager also that you can’t tell me right now what the difference between Schreyer, tOSU honors, and OU honors is. Or what makes OWu and Denison similar, vs. Kenyon and Hamilton.
(hint : unrelated to USNWR).
I acknowledge that, by virtue of posting here, you probably know more than most 8th graders and probably more than most 10th graders, but you can’t brush the whole list aside like that, as these are all very different … with fits similar to the colleges you listed (which have very different fits too).

In addition, you can go visit colleges nearby - some of which I listed - even if you don’t plan on going there. Visit CWRU, Cleveland State, tOsu, OU, Denison, and Kenyon. It’ll give you a good idea of various settings, feature programs, etc. Get an idea about various types of urban schools, traditional large universities, rural schools, academically-focused schools, schools that are more intellectual or jocky or hands-on or party-prone, where the major problem is alcohol or drugs or something else, where college is exploration and growth or mostly a means to an end (a job), where classes are mostly lectures or mostly small&interactive, etc.
This is something you can explore even at 14-15, keeping in mind you will change, that some aspects will become 'must have’s and others 'nice to have’s.
Most of all, the key issue will be money.
When your parents and I went to college, Harvard cost 15k and you could attend your public flagship for about $300-500 a semester. You could ‘figure it out’. Not so today. However most parents haven’t caught on and senior year have to tell their kids who prepared their whole life for w or z college that they can’t afford it. That they cannot even afford their flagship, or cannot afford a ‘sleep away’ college, or a 4-year college.
You can run the NPC on two Ohio public universities, CWRU, and two of your top choices. Assume the best case scenario, you’re a top 1% student with a 3.95 GPA and a 1500 sat.
Then bring the results to your mother and start talking.
Setting money aside right now is very important. There are 3,700 universities in the US and only about 80 " meet need" - that is, make it financially possible for you to attend - the others don’t care. And THEY get to define ‘need’, which is very different from what families think they need.
This may be the single most important thing you do for college right now.