You know that term, "Throw spaghetti against the wall and see what sticks"? It can easily be applied to creating a college list.
I review and create college lists for a living. I see well-balanced lists from students, but I also see college lists that are utterly, unrealistically "out of reach."
I bet you know someone who applied to every super selective college. Then, the student is surprised when they didn't see the results they expected. Sure, there are those exceptions that you hear about in the news: "High School Senior Gets Admitted to All Eight Ivy League Schools." But that's not common at all which is why it makes the news.
I always wonder about the student who applies to all the Ivies. Every Ivy is so strikingly different than the next:
Dartmouth versus Penn—one is rural and one is urban.Penn versus Columbia—pre-professional compared to a core curriculum.Columbia versus Brown—core curriculum contrasted with an open curriculum. Direct opposites!Brown versus Cornell—open curriculum under one undergraduate division compared to one with eight separate undergraduate divisions.Cornell versus Harvard—over 50 Greek organizations at one and zero at another.Harvard versus Yale—one with Georgian architecture and another with Gothic architecture.Yale versus Princeton—New Haven, Connecticut could not be more different than Princeton, New Jersey!
When the student gets to the college's individualized supplemental essays, no matter how hard they try, their argument about why they are applying doesn't hold up. Admissions officers see right through it. There is simply no way to be genuine or effective at making a case for all of these schools. That's why students who apply to almost exclusively, super selective colleges, see less ideal results. Throwing spaghetti against a wall ends up sliding down to the floor at some point. Deferral? Waitlist? It often ends with a denial.
And what about the number of supplemental essays you'd need to write? Based on the 2024-2025 admissions cycle, the student who applies to all eight Ivy League schools would have to write at least 38 supplemental essays. There are far better ways to spend your time than writing 38 supplemental essays. And, there are far better odds of admission than doing this.
Instead of throwing spaghetti against the wall with only one group of colleges, I recommend diversification. Apply to three different types of colleges based on selectivity instead. Why? Because you want and need acceptances, for one. And, also, no one should be writing 38 supplemental essays during the busiest year of high school. When you diversify your college list, you will write a much more reasonable number of essays.
Diversification means that students should have an equal number of "reach" colleges, "target" colleges, and "likely" colleges. However, these terms mean different things than they used to. Reach colleges are ones that have lower acceptance rates, yet the student is still objectively competitive for admission. In other words, the student has the grades, curriculum, and test scores that the college expects. Target colleges are technically schools that are right in your swing zone. Likely colleges are not guarantees; they are simply colleges that you are "likely" to be admitted to.
READ MORE: Why I Love Small Liberal Arts Colleges
Isn't the point of applying to college to get in? To get admitted? Applying to a set of colleges simply because of prestige or how selective they are is not going to yield acceptances. It will yield much different results and emotions. The college admissions process is about acceptance. Yes, by colleges. But most of all, by yourself.
