<p>I totally understnad applying to several schools, but it appears from lists I see, and the complaining about the options after the acceptances, that people aren’t really thinking seriouslly enough about what they want their options to be, or doing enough research, reading, planning…</p>
<p>As well, to put all you heart and soul into one school is not a good plan, and for some very smart kids to make some applications they did without a real plan surprises me</p>
<p>well people are people. No person is perfect rational. We’re gonna do things you’re not gonna understand. Columbia was my first choice but i applied to Harvard, Yale, Stanford (one i was dead set on not going to) just because of the unpredictablities these days. During the process my loyalty changed from Columbia to Harvard to Yale to Columbia again. That’s how people are. I also applied to Swarthmore. I liked certain aspects of all schools well Harvard and Stanford not really. But safety is better than suffering in the end.</p>
<p>Kids apply to all these schools because they can and because they want to “see if they can get in”. </p>
<p>I know people who applied to schools they would never ever go to only because of the name. They want to be able to say I got into so and so college. For some reason that is important to them. A lot of people apply to Ivies and other top schools just because they are famous and want to see if they can actually get accepted. Or even worse only attend them because they are famous. </p>
<p>The other reason which is more of a continuation of the first is because they can apply to lots of schools. With the Common App applying to additional schools takes almost no additional effort. So the attitude is like so what, what’s another 10 applications. It’s only a few more clicks online and perhaps a few copy and pastes. If the applications weren’t so easy people wouldn’t be applying to so many schools. If a student actually had to take time to fill out individual applications with individual questions I bet you’d have a lot less students applying to schools they don’t want to go to. </p>
<p>I was never like that. I applied to one school ED that I knew I wanted to go to. I would have never applied to a school I wouldn’t consider attending. But some people do.</p>
<p>to the original poster, “citygirlsmom” you do it because in case you don’t get into the preferred college of your choice, you will still have a backup plan. </p>
<p>It’s not that hard to understand once you give it a little thought.</p>
<p>Do you expect people to have their whole life planned out at age 17? C’mon now, be smarter than that. We’re exploring what we want to do, we’re not sure what the best college is for us, usually we go with our gut instincts, or go with the choice based on the program of study, etc…</p>
<p>We’re not frikin people who know what we’ll do with our life 25 yrs. from now. I think this thread is pointless. </p>
<p>We apply because we need to sometimes have backup plans, we apply because we want to see if we can get in, we apply because we can apply, because we are given the right to. </p>
<p>Man.</p>
<p>Did you even read the other posts…backup plans are very different from trophy hunting, or applying to schools because of pressure, or because the common app makes it easy</p>
<p>I said I understand the back up plans, gosh, read why don’t you, what I dont’ understnad is applying to schools you have no interest in attending, and gosh, even some applicants admitted they did that</p>
<p>Please, do not attack me if you haven’t even bothered to read the posts</p>
<p>Why do you need to see if you can get in? Is that very mature? Is that because you need someone to affirm you? If you don’t wnat to go there, why apply?</p>
<p>that statement shows me alot</p>
<p>Most students just like the name and want to earn the ‘title’…</p>
<p>as for me, I just want to go to an excellent medical university like Stanford, Johns Hopkins University, UCI etc.</p>
<p>Simple Answer:</p>
<p>Because we can…</p>
<p>Okay, you got it?</p>
<p>We do it not to affirm ourselves, some do, but I don’t. I applied to see if I could get into the school. I almost didn’t apply to Univ. Of Illinois, because I was told by some that my overall picture didn’t look too well. </p>
<p>Well, I ended up applying in the end of it all, and got accepted, and decided to go there. </p>
<p>Okay, I think your thread is pretty stupid because everyone is different, everyone has their own reasons for what they do. You need to stop being so overdramatic and calm down.</p>
<p>bearsoflife, I hope you learn some reading and communication skills before you get to college.
The point is that all applicants should apply to match and safety schools, as well as reaches if they desire to “go for it”. However, the match and safety schools should be ones they would like to attend. You might check out the threads on “love thy safety”. The worst thing is to get to April and have acceptances to schools you don’t really like. THAT was the point of this thread.
Lucky Illinois to get such a considerate, well-spoken student as yourself…</p>
<p>3.72 GPA begs to differ with your POINTLESS opinion of me. </p>
<p>You need to get to know people before you begin to make assumptions. </p>
<p>2nd, we always begin to assume that the school isn’t the best thing for us. IT’S BECAUSE IT’S SOMETHING COMPLETELY NEW FOR US. WE DON’T TRULY KNOW WHETHER IT WILL BE A GOOD OR BAD SCHOOL UNTIL WE’VE BEEN THERE FOR AN AMPLE AMOUNT OF TIME. </p>
<p>People are always 2nd guessing the colleges they’re looking at. That’s what you do. You don’t come in to it with a blind eye.</p>
<p>We know that, but it appears that some students apply to schools, and at the time they are applying have no intention of actually going there, the purpose of which is for show and ego</p>
<p>Your second point is irrelevant to the discussion,</p>
<p>As momofwildchild said, applicants need to look at the schools they are applying to and say, yeah, of these ten I am sending apps to, I can see myself at any of these schools…of course I would love to go to my faves, but if that doesn’t happen, anyone of these looks good…I have done as much research as I can, talked to as many people as I can, and am not just applying because it looks good. I am not going to apply to Stanford because it is in California, and I don’t want to go to school in california, I won’t just apply there to massage my ego, but I will try for Yale, because what the heck, if I got in, i would go there in a heartbeat, but If I don’t get in, the other choices I have are great…</p>
<p>THat is how a mature person handles the process, with options, realistic goals, not being “in love” with just one school, but willing check out other schools, that aren’t as big a name.</p>
<p>It is great you got into UI, that showed you were open to options</p>
<p>But to apply to prove something is kind of silly</p>
<p>I posted this thread because there are several students on this site who didn’t get into their top choice and are really unhappy with their options. </p>
<p>It is understandable to be unhappy for not getting in, but to have option you do not like, because of bad planning, ego, or whatever, seems sad.</p>
<p>This thread was to raise a question, perhaps help someone going through the process next year, so they can be true to themselves, ask questions, think about what they really want, and not regret having a “poor” list of options.</p>
<p>Safeties and reaches should be “matches” in that it would be a place they good see themselves at.</p>
<p>Each applicant should approach each school as if there is a possiblitiy of it getting sucked into a black hole. If that school didn’t exist, what other schools would work out.</p>
<p>Those same, mature people can also transfer after 1 year b/c they saw things they didn’t like after having gone there for more than 1 or 2 days at a time. </p>
<p>I’m not gonna argue about this b/c it’s pointless. </p>
<p>Maybe you need to look at it from student’s views instead of your own warped views, seeing as you are an adult.</p>
<p>i dont think the parents who have posted here have warped views at all.</p>
<p>all too often you see people in april asking the questions they should have asked in august. people dont change much in those few months. rather, the concept of actually going away to college simply becomes that much more real for those who havent sufficiently approached the process. </p>
<p>more often than not this is a direct result of an applicant being unwilling to be honest with himself about what he really wants out of a school. does he REALLY want to spend the next four years in manhattan or a cornfield in iowa? does he REALLY want to go to a school 3000 miles away or 15 minutes down the road? does he REALLY want to go from being the biggest fish in the pond to one of the smallest (this is one that is far too rarely asked)? does he REALLY want to go to that tech school thats 75% male? </p>
<p>instead of at least trying to answer a few of these, it seems much easier to just send in 28 applications and figure it out later. but there are so many variables involved in finding a good ‘fit’ that those 28 applications arent going to cover every possible scenario, especially as matches and reaches and safeties. those 28 schools usually arent terribly well researched, either. theyre usually commonapp schools with waived application fees or small supplements.</p>
<p>that the amount of thought that can go into the process is limited (leading to your transfer scenario) is beside the point. what is important is that students who have adequately approached the process and selected schools that are honestly good ‘fits’ are probably happier and less transfer prone than their peers. and that IS a big deal.</p>
<p>im currently going through the college search process for the second time (grad school). again, im not applying to schools too far away from home (though my radius has increased). im doing as much researching and asking and questioning as possible in regard to the schools i am considering. and as a result im coming up with a list with which i am happy. it doesnt matter that i would rather go to princeton than rutgers or that my top choice may change over the next year. rather, it matters that i would be not only willing, but happy, to attend each school on my list.</p>
<p>Because college admissions is so frigging unpredictable and competitive.</p>
<p>So you basically have to take the shotgun approach…apply to as many schools as possible so that you might get into some of them.</p>
<p>bears…why the insults? I don’t understand your hostility. And if someone has a problem at the school they are at, sure they can transfer, but transferring isn’t as easy as it sounds. Just look at the posts about THAT, and how does that relate to being deligent in the during the search process.</p>
<p>Here is a little hint, it is best to argue and debate with an opinion…calling me warped is just silly</p>
<p>I think this thread may help some students who are looking at schools now and coming up with lists…maybe those lists will be better for them</p>
<p>If that is a wrong view, you are free to ignore me.</p>
<p>future…I understnad that, my point is that shouldn’t all the schools you apply to at least be ones you are willing to attend, or what is the point?</p>
<p>If you aren’t willing to go to many of the schools you sent in applications to, as many on this site have stated, what good does it do you to apply there in the first place</p>
<p>That is my point, I know the application process is a mess but to not have clear objectives and to really think about all the schools you are applying to is asking for disappointment and frustration</p>
<p>if you aren’t willing to and be happy, attending anyone of the schools you applied to, don’t bother applying there</p>
<p>explain why someone would apply to a school they aren’t interested in attending if they got rejected from the top choices</p>
<p>So that they can tranfer to their top choices.</p>
<p>I honestly don’t see what is wrong with applying to a school just to see if you can get accepted. Yes it is to test yourself against your peers. But what is wrong with that? Everyone compares themselves to their peers. That is just simple psychology. High achieving high school seniors will apply to reach schools in order to see if they are as good as the people that have been accepted in the past. Does it make sense? Absolutely not. BUT EVERYONE DOES IT. It is the same thing as wanting to have the best car in the neighborhood, or wearing the best clothes, or having the nicest house. For some reason the majority of humans have a desire to feel superior to someone else. It is a simple drive that makes us want to achieve more and get more out of our lives. That is a large part of the reason that people apply to reach schools that they are not interested in.</p>
<p>And on the other hand we are still just kids. Do any of you adults remember how scary it was to leave home for the first time? You start senior year with the realization that you will be leaving in just a few months. As a kneejerk reaction you end up applying to a ton of schools. You don’t always have time to carefully research each one. Sometimes you get e-mails from schools telling you that you have to apply in order to get excused from the admissions fee. And what harm is brought about by filling out a quick application? It just feels as though time is going so fast that you are literally running out of time. We panic and make some bad decsions on our applications. </p>
<p>I honestly don’t understand why people expect us to act with an adult mentality. We are still somewhat irrational. Experience and wisdom come with age and we are YOUNG and inexperienced. </p>
<p>I understand why people apply to a ton of schools and I understand why adults think it is stupid to do so. Yet I DO NOT understand why everyone has to analyze and understand every single decision that we high schoolers make. Personally I think that applying to a ton of schools is stupid. But I don’t see why it harms anyone. If these people don’t get into the schools they like they actually have some choices left. Unlike the ones that get rejected from all of their favorite schools and than have to go to a community college.</p>
<p>Also this is an informal forum. Why must you personally attack one another? There should be a thread that asks why people are so immature that they will make up insults to fling at someone just because they have an opposing oppinion. Have we really become so close minded that we can’t see through our own bias and accept the fact that some people have different outlooks on the world?</p>
<p>At least you admit its for ego and because you have to prove something.</p>
<p>If you need to do that, you need to look internally for your confidence</p>
<p>ANd, by applying to prove something and go trophy hunting, you feed into an already very difficult system that is getting more twisted and difficult every year, for very selfish reasons, and that is what it is- selfish and for ego gratification</p>
<p>Sorry, if you want to be treated with respect and with maturity, then don’t do things just to look good. Do it because it is worthwhile.</p>
<p>Sad that 18 year old want all this independence and in the same breath, say, well, gee we are just kids for heaven sake…</p>
<p>I find it ironic citygirlsmom that you complain when people do not read your posts and than comment on them. That is exactly what you did to me lol. I found one school on the princeton review site that I absolutely fell in love with. I had never heard of it before. So I applied ED and was accepted. I had to endure ridicule from friends that were applying to Stanford and UCLA because the school I am going to is unknown in my town. So I don’t really understand how that is considered trophy hunting. In fact I think you owe me an apology for the rude and disrespectful attacks that you made against my character. I am very dissapointed in how you treat comments on your thread. If you didn’t want to hear from people with opposing viewpoints why did you bother asking your original question? You might consider taking a class in debate so you can learn how to gracefully handle opposing arguments. </p>
<p>In fact one of the main points of my last post was to comment on how college confidential is literally filled with people willing to attack someone’s personal character. I for one think that such attacks show a serious decline in America’s value system. Manners should be a very important part of everday life. If you can’t treat others with proper respect how can you expect it in return?</p>