Remember the inspirational and prophetic Dr. Seuss for writing "Oh, The Places You'll Go," but never forget that the poet earned a degree from Dartmouth College.
Seuss' timeless poem from 1990 has become an indispensable gift for prospective college students as they begin their college search. It's filled with optimism and opportunity, options and opinion. Its intention is to say that the choice is yours, that your future is what you make of it, and that, oh, the places you'll go - be they colleges, countries or coffee shops - are the places where you should find the ultimate joy and prosperity.
Bear in mind though, as you turn through the short book's pages, that the underlying truth behind the intention of the gift is not to allude to the places you will go, but rather the places you may consider going. Ultimately, you can only matriculate to one single, solitary college for your freshman year.
Putting Together Your List of Colleges and Universities
There's no limit to how many schools you put on your initial list of collegiate options. If you want to find a college that will meet your expectations the first step is the brainstorming process, your opportunity to just say "Yes" or "No" and refine later. Like how the sun shines in southern California? Put San Diego State on the list. Want to go to a school with a good basketball team? Duke sounds good! Want big? The University of Michigan has over 40,000 students. Want to be by the water? Newport, Rhode Island's Salve Regina is on an island, with water on all four sides! You can put anything on this list, so long as you remember that at some point you're going to need to filter a few out.
Plan on separating the colleges on your list into three different groups: safety schools, match schools and reach schools.
Safety Schools
Your list should have a handful of schools that you're confident you can get into. You should be able to target a few options that, while they may not look most appealing to you, can use as a safety net in case you don't get into your more desirable schools.
Look at the school's track record to determine if it could be one of your safeties. If a school accepts students with an average SAT score of 1400 and you scored a 2130, you should expect to be evaluated favorably by the school so long as the rest of your application looks formidable.
Some schools have qualifying policies like the University of Texas', which determines that any Texas-educated high school student graduating in the top-10% of her or his class is guaranteed admission. Others, like maybe the school your parents went to, place a heavy emphasis on establishing legacy.
Deeming a school a safety does not mean that you're guaranteed admission. Nothing is a sure bet in this game, and there have been plenty of instances from our country's illustrious academic history where students had denoted a sure thing only to find out a month later that they were denied admission.
Match Schools
You've looked at the average test scores and GPAs of recently admitted students and find that you match up. Or you're a passionate environmentalist and are going to a school that specializes in environmental studies. Maybe your test scores are down, but your GPA's up and the college has made it known that they don't put an emphasis on test scores.
Match schools don't adhere to any specific science or equation; they're not uniformly defined like safeties and reaches. They're schools that you'd like to go to, schools that you'd find success at, and schools that aren't stretches. They're just match schools, and you should know 'em when you see 'em.
Reach Schools
Your college lists should not be loaded with reaches. They're schools that you shouldn't expect to be accepted by, whether it's because your test scores are low, your GPA isn't what it needs to be, or you recently got into trouble with your school and are now working with a bad mark on your record.
Some schools are reaches by definition. Ivy League schools, for instance, have such competitive applicant pools every year that they couldn't possibly take every worthy candidate. Your reach school should be any school in which you can foresee yourself getting denied admission. There's nothing wrong with applying to these schools, but it's important to view them with a realistic perspective.
Once you've sorted all that out, try to rank how appealing each school looks within its own group. You'll hopefully have done a great deal of research on each school by this point. Understanding which ones offer the programs and extra-curriculars that you find most attractive should quickly make their way to the top of each list.