How to Ensure Your College Application List Is Balanced

You know you will be applying to multiple schools, but it’s a lot of work. You can’t apply to an unlimited number of schools, so you have to be selective. How can you choose the right schools to maximize your odds of getting accepted to the best colleges? Here are a few tips for narrowing the list and keeping it balanced.

Try taking a free webinar on selecting colleges to apply to. This will give you a good place to start.
You may also want to determine your major first (or at least have an idea of subjects you are interested in). Then research schools to see which ones have the best program in that field of study.
Set up your own criteria to narrow the list. You could choose things like cost, location, the school’s track record for career placement, and other factors about the universities on your list that are most important to you.
Tour the schools – Keep in mind that some of the tours may be virtual at this time due to the pandemic, but you can still get a pretty good idea of what you are getting into.
Create a list of safety, target, and reach schools – Now, you have to divide the schools up according to how likely someone with your profile is to get in. Be sure to have equal amounts of reach, target, and safety schools. You want two to three of each.