How to Build a Personalized School List
First written and published: August 2023
The most important step to a personalized school list is organization. In the program, that organization is a priority and all students are given a color-coded spreadsheet to help. For those of you not in the program, however, don’t worry. Making a school list is simple:
List out all of the colleges you’re applying to
Rank them by how likely you would be to attend if you got in
Highlight them based on admissions chances (green for high, yellow for mid, red for low)
That’s it.
As an example, here’s a refined version of my list I used during my applications (not all the schools I applied to are on here, some I had already submitted to):
Tip #2: Analyze
Now that we have a neatly organized list, it’s time to do some soul-searching and see if any refinements should be made.
Those refinements, as in the example of me, might go a little something like this:
"I notice I have a couple of yellow schools at the bottom of my list. Even if I got into those schools I most likely wouldn’t attend them over my state school Iowa. That means I should reconsider applying to those schools and most likely take them off my list."
It’s simple revelations like that you can begin to have once it’s neatly organized—revelations I wish I would’ve had during the application process instead of wasting my time applying to those schools that I didn’t even consider going to once I got in.
In the case of Virginia, I got in, but due to wanting to go to Iowa more, never even considered it. The application was a complete waste of time. Of course, this is just my situation, and everyone is different, but it’s important to organize your list and then do some reflection.
Tip #3: Balance
With an analyzed and organized list, it’s now time to balance out the schools. As a general rule of thumb, assuming the average applicant applies to around 8-12 schools, 2-3 green schools, 3-4 yellow schools, and 4-5 red schools is perfect. In some situations, you can even balance that further to the red side. It’s all a reflection of what you are looking for in admissions.
To show the variation of what this "balance" can mean. I’ll let you in on a secret of my school list: I applied to 11 "reach" schools. I did this because I knew I wanted to attend an elite school and therefore catered my list to reflect that. On the other hand, a student might be super into yellow schools, and balance their list to more so include those. It’s all personal. I’m just trying to offer a system that can help expose the nuances of crafting an elite school list.
Although there are far more tips I could offer in the mission to help build a school list, I’ll leave it as just those three. Most of any other tip is just a variation of those three points. The process of crafting a school list, just like most things in the college admissions process, is ultimately up to the student to perfect. I can offer all the advice in the world but at the end of the day, it comes down to you to apply the tips and think through your own school list for yourself. All I ask is you give your school list the allotted time it deserves because it really is one of the most high-value time-saving things you can do before you actually start applying.
Best of luck!
If you have any questions as you work through these tips and build your own school list, post them in the free College Confidence Community.
Happy crafting,
Jack Beecher
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