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What are you going to do?

Apply to 2 or 3 match scools, 2 or 3 safties, and 2 or 3 reaches?

This could pay off.. Apply to 10 reach schools and hope you get into one of them, but it could be disasterous, you should have a decent match and a guarunteed saftey.

What is your applications "strategy"? I think I'm going to apply to the UC system schools for a bunch of safeties and a few matches (LA/Berk) and apply to a few LAC's and then the Ivies and other prestigious Ivies. I think I will have my hands full.

By Cmaher (Cmaher) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 03:51 am: Edit

anyone

By Roosh (Roosh) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 05:05 am: Edit

2 reach
3 match
2 safety

No more than that, unless I add an extra reach or something. But I don't want to go further than 7 schools.

By Soulofheaven8 (Soulofheaven8) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 05:47 am: Edit

6 schools (2/2/2). Applying to more colleges means more applications to fill out, more essays to write, more fees, more headache.

By Roosh (Roosh) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 06:09 am: Edit

Honestly, the essay requirements for schools can help me decide how badly I want to go to that particular school. The sheer pressure that comes from having to write the "perfect" essay is mindboggling. And if I'm not totally loving the essay topic...well I just might have to look somewhere else.

Yes, I'm probably a freak.

By Coles (Coles) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 07:45 am: Edit

2 Match
1 Safety

By Cmaher (Cmaher) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 01:24 pm: Edit

I have a list of about 20 schools.. there are so many friggin good schools that are reach/match, match, and saftey for me.. i guess I will aim high.

By Bnp182 (Bnp182) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 01:52 pm: Edit

5R 6M 4S

15 schools for me

By Bitz (Bitz) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 01:58 pm: Edit

5R, 3M, 2S

10 total schools, but I will mention that I actually only have to write 1 major essay (I can use it for all of the schools). Other than that I only have about 1500 words worth of short answer questions - which really isn't that much.

By Cmaher (Cmaher) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 02:00 pm: Edit

Yes, everyone should use the Common Application

By Bnp182 (Bnp182) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 03:19 pm: Edit

For me, I am not even using the comon application for any of my schools (except Harvard) and I still have only 6 personal statements and 3000 words of short answers. With five months before deadlines, that is more than enough time.

By Clickspring (Clickspring) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 03:42 pm: Edit

Last year, I applied to 2 safety and 5 reach...I'm going to one of my safety schools (UIUC!).

By Winterfresh (Winterfresh) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 04:03 pm: Edit

You should always use the schools application if they have one. It shows your not lazy and actually care about attending that school. This is why I must say no to the Common Application. Here's my strategy:

1 Reach
3 Match
3 Safety

By Serene (Serene) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 06:31 pm: Edit

Schools shouldn't treat common application any differently. I think A is for Admissions is outdated and misleading...

P.S. if safeties are so safe, why apply to more than 1?

By Thedad (Thedad) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 06:50 pm: Edit

Because Murphy is powerful.

By Liz (Liz) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 07:08 pm: Edit

4-5 reach
3 match
1 safety

IMHO, the point of a safety is that you don't need more than one.

By Winterfresh (Winterfresh) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 07:12 pm: Edit

Well unlike most people here, I'm not a shoo-in to the Ivies and such. Unfortunately, I'm just an average high school student who is hoping she'll get accepted to at least ONE college so more than one safety is needed :-)

Serene, there's a reason why colleges offer their own application. They want people to use it. Yes, they may say "We don't treat either one differently" but do you really think ALL colleges follow that?

By Amylase (Amylase) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 08:56 pm: Edit

I don't know why you guys fear taking risk.

I applied six college last your, all reaches with no safeties. and guess what? I got rejected by all of them. That's why i'm doing it over again

By Cmaher (Cmaher) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 09:17 pm: Edit

I think applying to a lot of reaches can pay off.

Think about it, what if, just what if you get into 1 out of even up to 10.. it will have been well worth the money you "wasted" and the time you spent on the 10 reach applications (well I am going to use common app).

Any school that agrees to accept the common app also agrees that they will not treat it any differently than their own app.

By Jimjunior (Jimjunior) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 09:54 pm: Edit

not too many applications for me

safety/match: Pomona, Claremont, Berkeley
reach: Stanford, Columbia, (MIT?)

I should get into one reach, but who knows? I will attend Pomona probably if I dont get in to Stanford

By Smiley (Smiley) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 10:20 pm: Edit

ED to Bowdoin

Not giving any time or thought to any other apps until I get ED decision...

By Bitz (Bitz) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 10:28 pm: Edit

Just to clarify, even though I only have to write one personal statement, I am not using the Common App. I am simply using the "pick your own topic" choice on all apps that have it and and crafting an essay that fits the two or three apps that don't have that option. Since the questions are usually quite general and similar, this strategy should work well.

By Bitz (Bitz) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 10:31 pm: Edit

Smiley - You do realize that only gives you two weeks to write essays, get teachers to send in more recs, and interview. Kinda risky by my book.

By Dancer (Dancer) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 11:25 pm: Edit

1 Reach (my SAT/ACT scores barely make it in the school's 50% middle range, so I'm quite sure this is a real stretch)
1 Semi-Reach
1 Match
1 Total Safety

Is just one match dangerous?

By Thedad (Thedad) on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 01:47 am: Edit

I wouldn't say dangerous so much as limiting.

By Cmaher (Cmaher) on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 04:42 am: Edit

Dancer.. you should apply to more than 4 schools..

Use the Common App if you can, it is not looked down upon (it cannot be for legal reasons), it makes it easier to apply to more schools

By Cmaher (Cmaher) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 02:21 pm: Edit

anyone else?

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 03:06 pm: Edit

My daughter applied to 5 schools/she used the Common App, although some schools had additional forms.
She was accepted to all of her schools, and is attending Reed College.

By Joeybg (Joeybg) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 03:50 pm: Edit

Ok if I choose to apply to ,let's say 8 schools, then I have to ask a teacher to write 8 recommendations??Am I right ...I'm an international st and it will be hard to ask the techers to do that...they 'll agree but I just wont feel comfortable ...then again I should seek for a teacher who knows english...My bio teacher is going to be one of the "LUCKY CHOSEN ONES" but another problem is that this your we are having a knew english teacher(again)It's gonna be our 5 English teacher in 4 years...hm funny...then again if i ask her she won't be able to say much about me [1 month is not long enough] so how would it look to the adcom if a teacher knows me from a month???

By Tian (Tian) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 04:21 pm: Edit

7R
5M
3S
15 total

By Serene (Serene) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 04:45 pm: Edit

Joey: same rec, 8 copies.

By Mike (Mike) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 07:26 pm: Edit

1 Reach maybe
3 Matches
1 or 2 safeties
1 very safe

By Cmaher (Cmaher) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 09:21 pm: Edit

I'm thinking of applying to almost 20 schools.. How many months do you have before the applications are made available til the time you have to send them in?

I was thinking..

Reach - The Ivies, Duke, Amherst
Match - ~10 or more LAC's, WU in STL
Saftey - Some LAC's

Plus the UC school system.

By Useatoothbrush (Useatoothbrush) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 10:21 pm: Edit

2 clear reaches (the kind that are reaches for everyone)
3 clear matches (schools where I feel I have about a 50-75% chance at)
2 safety/matches (schools I feel like I have over an 80% chance at)
1 clear safety (instate, public, I'll sell my soul if I get rejected)

The matches and safety/matches all accept the Common App, but a few require supplements. The safety's app has it's own essay, and the clear reaches will be a bitch to fill out with a bunch of short-answer questions. Sucks, considering my first choice is actually a match so I wonder why I bother with the reaches.

By Cmaher (Cmaher) on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 06:55 pm: Edit

Heh.. I'm thinking of applying to well over 20 or even 30 schools.. is this humanly possible?

I have a list already.. there are over 20 matches, almost 20 reaches, and about 5 or 10 safeties.

The problem is, I don't know much about most of these schools because they are on the East Coast... I'd like to go to any of them.

By Mike (Mike) on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 07:09 pm: Edit

Why on earth would you apply to 5-10 safeties? Having trouble making up your mind? Perhaps you would improve your chances if you tried to drop a few and focus your energy. I am sure it is humanly possible to do this but you will be spending about $1500 on the apps and then you need to get teacher recs for them all.

Mike's Dad

By Cmaher (Cmaher) on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 07:28 pm: Edit

Can't you just make copies of the recs?

I'm sure I will reduce that list to around 15 later on.. It is hard choosing which ones to cut out though.

By Thedad (Thedad) on Sunday, August 17, 2003 - 12:57 am: Edit

Generally, the teachers don't give you the recs. You give them the rec form and an stamped addressed envelope directly to the college admissions office.

I'm searching for more diplomatic terminology but, yes, I agree with Mike's Dad...you're nuts to apply to so many schools. Two safeties, 2-3 reaches, 4-5 matches. If you have 15-30 schools on your list, you either haven't asked yourself the right questions or haven't done the research looking for fit.

By Almostdone (Almostdone) on Sunday, August 17, 2003 - 01:25 am: Edit

5 reaches
3 matches
1 safety

somehow just ended up that way. out of the 5 reaches only 2 are decent reaches, the other 3 are HYP, would've only applied to Yale to save money but it is basically a lotto so i figured i might as well buy 3 tickets instead of one.

By Masamune707 (Masamune707) on Sunday, August 17, 2003 - 02:45 am: Edit

hm for me ill work it like this:

4 reaches
4 matches
2 safeties

one of my friends wants to apply to 22 schools and has his heart set on it -_-+ i cant talk him out of it....