If you’re reading this blog post, you’re probably in the process of creating your college list. This is a good thing because schools will be releasing their supplements next Month, and ideally, you’ll have your list narrowed down by then. But between the daily test-optional updates, vague news stories about school openings and safety measures, and the fact that you might not have been able to visit any colleges due to their early closings, we understand that creating a school list might be harder than you had anticipated.
One of our favorite parts of working with TKG clients is forming their perfect college list. Students usually come to us with an idea of where they might like to go, a dream school that they chose as a child, and their academic transcripts. From there, we dive into the process. At TKG, we have a 0% transfer rate. None of the students who we’ve worked with ever have moved on to greener pastures after their freshman year because we put a ton of effort (and knowledge) into helping them decide where to apply and eventually enroll. We don’t know your life, but the goal of this blog post is to give you look into our process.
So let’s say that right now, you have 15-20 schools that you’re interested in. That is far too many schools to apply to, so your next task is to streamline your list. The first thing that we suggest doing is looking into how you might feel on campus, aka “fit.” This is important because status is far too often a driving force on college lists that are made from a ranking search on Google. For example, Brown and Princeton are both Ivy League schools – but their vibes are quite different. Just because a school is highly ranked does not mean it is the perfect college for you. For every single college on your list, you should research the academic programs thoroughly. Make sure the major that you’re interested in is available, and that the course catalogue is exciting. In terms of the culture and vibe of the school, talking to current students is your best bet. If you don’t know any current students, take a virtual tour and take down the contact information of the person giving the tour. Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook can be helpful here.
We’re willing to bet that you didn’t like what you saw at all 15-20 schools, so cross off the ones that don’t meet your needs. From there, you should categorize your list between target, safety, and reach schools. We have recently started referring to our schools as upper targets, mid targets, and lower targets. This is because every school on your list should excite you and, more importantly, should be within your grasp. Everything should be a target.
But for reference, here’s how safety, target, and reach schools work. A safety school is a school where your grades and scores exceed the school’s range. A target school is one where your metrics fall within the school’s indicated range. A reach school is a school where a student falls towards the low end of the range, BUT IS STILL WITHIN RANGE. This is where people get tripped up. It doesn’t matter if you love Stanford if you have a 2.8 GPA and a 27 ACT. We say this with love, but you need to be honest with yourself about your performance in high school thus far. Supplements take a long time! You’re are better off taking time to find good fits now, and apply to schools that you have a good chance of getting into.
We’re hoping that admissions viability was taken into consideration when you formed your initial list. Cross off the unrealistic schools by looking at the grade and test score ranges – even if you haven’t taken a test this year. You want to get an idea of the typical student profile of say, Tufts, before you throw your hat in the ring. Something important to keep in mind is that even in light of new test-optional policies, getting into college will be just as hard this year. If not harder!
We think it’s also helpful to get serious about acceptance rates. Last year, Tulane’s acceptance rate was 13%. This does not mean that everyone has a 13% chance of getting in. Also last year, Cornell’s acceptance rate was 10.6%. We often compare acceptance rates to the weather, or more specifically the chance of rain. If you were told that there was a 13% chance of rain, or a 10.6% of chance of rain, you wouldn’t bring an umbrella. It just wouldn’t be worth the hassle, given that you probably won’t use it and you’ll be stuck lugging it around all day.
And yet, out of range students will apply to a school with a 5% acceptance rate and think that they’ll be the outlier than defies all odds and gets into Harvard. This strategy is not worth your time. We make this comparison in an effort to help you make the best use of your time, and create a school list that is both realistic and exciting.
So what do you do if you just realized you should cross half of the schools off of your list? Get back to basics. Clearly define what you like about the schools on your list. Academics are a must, but what else? Stellar English programs? Size? Location? You should create a list of exactly what you’re looking for and then sit down at your computer with a coffee. Time to do some more research! We have also written blog posts on schools similar to Yale, the University of Michigan, Harvard, and Cornell. Ultimately, you want to feel confident that your school list is both realistic and exciting. It’s fine to have a dream school or top choice, but don’t add schools to your list that you wouldn’t attend if you got in.
Please reach out to us if you’d like help creating your college list. We’d love to help.