College: Deciding Where to Apply
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Diversity MattersI think the most important thing is to really like your safeties. I loved my safety, and I got into it first, so it took a lot of pressure off all the other schools. I have a lot of friends who ended up at their safeties, which they didn't like and they're sort of unhappy there.
Harvard University
One of the most important things you should do while deciding where to apply is to diversify your college choices based on the difficulty of getting accepted and overall cost of attendance. Even if you have every bit of confidence in your ability to get into a top school and get enough financial aid and scholarships to pay for it, you have to have a Plan B, and it should be a Plan B with which you can be happy. You may never have to go to Plan B, but you'll feel more confident and secure if you know that you're okay if for whatever reason you can't get into your "reach" or ideal school.
You can call them whatever you like, but make sure that you apply to some reach, medium difficulty, and safety schools in terms of difficulty of acceptance.
- A reach school is one where your chance of admittance is not likely, but not outside the realm of possibility (25 percent chance or less).
- A medium difficulty school is one where you're pretty sure you can get in (let's call it a 75 percent chance).
- A safety is one where your chance of admittance is pretty much a sure thing (90 to 100 percent).
Let's say you're applying to between six and eight schools. The bulk of them--about three or four--should fall in the medium-difficulty category. One or two should be reaches. You don't want to be rejected from every school you apply to, but at the same time it's good to shoot high with a couple, because hey, you never know. And definitely select one or two safeties to fall back on. Just keep in mind that you could end up going to one of them, so make sure you like them enough to live with that if it happens.
I didn't apply to some super-competitive schools, but I wish I had. In retrospect, I might've gotten in, but I got intimidated and didn't leave myself the opportunity. I loved where I ended up going, but my advice would be to not sell yourself short and apply to several reach schools, even if they seem intimidating.
Wesleyan University
As you go through and categorize your college selections, think about cost. Unless you're in the lucky situation of not having to worry about paying for college, this is an important factor. Don't ever rule out a school just because it's expensive--your family likely qualifies for financial aid and you can get scholarships and grants to make up the difference between the cost and what your family can pay. At the same time, it's important to have a financial safety school on your list--just in case.