Add more schools?

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omggggggggg

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Now that I'm beginning to receive secondaries, I worry that I may not have enough "safety" schools (granted, as we all know, no school can truly be a safety). I've applied to the following 19 schools:

USC (Keck)
Stanford
Georgetown
Northwestern
LSU-New Orleans - state school
Tulane
Johns Hopkins
Harvard
Tufts
Washington University in St. Louis
Cornell (Weill)
Mount Sinai
Jefferson
University of Pennsylvania
Baylor
Rosalind Franklin
University of Chicago (Pritzker)
Boston University
Yale

I'm considering whether to add LSU-Shreveport (even though I don't really want to go there) and/or George Washington. Would this be a good idea, or should my current list suffice? Or should I wait and see which interviews I get/don't get before adding more schools?

Opinions greatly appreciated!

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Add Shreveport. Cheap in state tuition. I'm guessing you have pretty good stats based upon the other schools on your list.
 
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With 19 schools, you are definitely fine for now. I personally applied to 25 schools this last application season and really didn't need to. If you have a pretty decent application, chances are 1 of those 19 schools will accept you. However, I know people who applied to just as many schools as I did and didn't get in.

There isn't really a magic number and I'm definitely no expert. You'll see soon enough that this application process is really arbitrary and takes a lot of belief in luck and randomness. Both of those usually come into play :) If you are really nervous about it, why not add a few schools - but don't apply to any schools you would hate going to. Irony always has a way of making that school the one you're accepted to :)

Good luck!
 
BrettBatchelor said:
Add Shreveport. Cheap in state tuition. I'm guessing you have pretty good stats based upon the other schools on your list.

I'm definitely debating over whether to apply to Shreveport. I'm sure I'd have a decent shot of getting in there, since they only accept in-state people (or something like 1 or 2 out-of-state per app cycle). However, I haven't heard great things about the school, and I'm not sure about living in Shreveport for 4 years. I'd much rather be in New Orleans, if anything. Not sure whether LSU-NO is more selective, though? It probably is.

I'm thinking I might just leave Shreveport for the case where I don't get many interviews...do you think this would work?
 
omggggggggg said:
I'm definitely debating over whether to apply to Shreveport. I'm sure I'd have a decent shot of getting in there, since they only accept in-state people (or something like 1 or 2 out-of-state per app cycle). However, I haven't heard great things about the school, and I'm not sure about living in Shreveport for 4 years. I'd much rather be in New Orleans, if anything. Not sure whether LSU-NO is more selective, though? It probably is.

I'm thinking I might just leave Shreveport for the case where I don't get many interviews...do you think this would work?
Just to be on the safe side I'd apply. The whole "don't be selective until you have an acceptance comes to mind". The cost is very marginal.

You have a good chance without it on there, but you never know.
 
DolfinGrl11 said:
With 19 schools, you are definitely fine for now. I personally applied to 25 schools this last application season and really didn't need to. If you have a pretty decent application, chances are 1 of those 19 schools will accept you. However, I know people who applied to just as many schools as I did and didn't get in.

There isn't really a magic number and I'm definitely no expert. You'll see soon enough that this application process is really arbitrary and takes a lot of belief in luck and randomness. Both of those usually come into play :) If you are really nervous about it, why not add a few schools - but don't apply to any schools you would hate going to. Irony always has a way of making that school the one you're accepted to :)

Good luck!

Haha, my greatest fear is my getting accepted to none and waitlisted at all the schools I'm not rejected from. That would be a nightmare...

I'm really hoping I will get accepted to LSU-NO - always good to have a low-tuition school to choose from! But - at the risk of sounding like a huge snob - I seriously wouldn't go to LSU-Shreveport unless no other school accepted me...

Thanks for the encouragement!
 
DoctorPardi said:
In that case, I think your list is ok. Add all your in-state schools as Brett suggested, and you should be fine.

Hmm, all right - thanks!
 
BrettBatchelor said:
Just to be on the safe side I'd apply. The whole "don't be selective until you have an acceptance comes to mind". The cost is very marginal.

You have a good chance without it on there, but you never know.

All righty. Thanks for the advice!
 
omggggggggg said:
Hmm, all right - thanks!

You're lucky that you can "fall back" on an in-state school. We Californians don't have that luxury. =P
 
Pewl said:
You're lucky that you can "fall back" on an in-state school. We Californians don't have that luxury. =P

Haha, when I started college, I lamented my not being from California ("Damn! They have all those nifty in-state schools!"). Now I'm actually rather glad.
 
omggggggggg said:
But - at the risk of sounding like a huge snob - I seriously wouldn't go to LSU-Shreveport unless no other school accepted me...

Thanks for the encouragement!

Ok but lets say you don't get in anywhere, would you wait a whole year and reapply or would you have wished you applied to Shreveport?

The monetary cost of additionally applying to Shreveport is insignificant, if you will go there, if that is your only acceptance. So if there is a chance you would consider going there with no other acceptances, do yourself a favor and apply there.
 
I think that so long as you can honestly reflect and say to yourself that you have a really nice personality and come off well to others, your list should be fine. However, adding another in-state school is really simple and low-cost, so there isn't much sacrifice involved in the addition if you were to go that route.
 
I went ahead and added LSU-Shreveport. If I do end up there (though I'm hoping it won't come to that), at least I'll still come out a doctor at the end.

Crossing my fingers!

Thanks to the responders - much quicker answers than I'd originally anticipated! :)
 
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