Making a college list is really difficult, especially because you don’t want to be in a situation in which the bulk of your list is “reaches” (difficult schools to be accepted into) and you don’t get into any of them, and you don’t have sufficient “safety” (college you’re more likely to get into) schools.
In general, you should try to aim for an equal number of “reach schools” (schools that are difficult to get into), “target schools” (schools that you have a medium chance to get into), and “safety schools” (schools that you have a high chance to get into).
Another major tip is that you should be comfortable attending any one of the schools on the list, even if it’s one of the safety schools that’s lowest on your priority.
The reason for these two pieces of advice is multifold. You don’t want to be in a position in which you don’t apply to really great schools that you might have been able to get accepted into. Vice versa, you don’t want to be rejected from all the really tough schools without any safety schools. College admissions is a lot of times like a crapshoot, and it’s almost impossible to predict which schools you’ll be accepted to and what the reasoning is behind it. Colleges can accept people not just for academic or athletic performance or extracurriculars, but also more intangible and vague things like the “feel” of an applicant or their apparent “fit” to the university and the culture.
Additionally, out of the several thousand universities that exist, you shouldn’t have colleges on your list that you would completely hate attending. If that school does not appeal to you at all, even if it’s your safety, remove it and find another school that you would be a lot happier with. Discover the characteristics of the universities that you find appealing, and apply to universities that have characteristics similar to that.
Ask yourself some questions, and try to figure out how big of a priority that would be for you when attending a university. How far do you want to be from home? How easy do you want it to be to come back home every few weeks/months? Would you want a university that prioritizes education over campus living/general comfort and food? Do you want to attend a research university? Do you want to graduate early? What do students in that school who’ve studied the same thing you want to study say about the courses? How easy would it be to find internships/job opportunities after graduating? Would making friends be easy/difficult at that school?
These are just a few questions to get you started and start making your list. I hope this was all helpful, and please as always reach out with any questions, comments, or concerns!
Naman
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