The Art of Building a College List

When I was in high school, I thought applying to college was just picking schools you’ve heard of, slapping them on an application, and hoping for the best. Apply to all eight Ivy League schools? Sure. Some random campus I once visited? Why not. But somewhere between my second SAT practice test and a mild panic attack, I realized I actually needed a plan. The golden rule everyone kept throwing at me was: “Have your REACH schools, your MATCH schools, and your SAFETY schools.” It was confusing at first. How am I supposed to know if something’s a “reach” until I get rejected? But once I dug and started to make my college list, it started to all make sense.

Your reach schools are your dream schools, the ones you’d scream and cry with joy if you got in, but they’re also the ones where anyone’s odds are low. Match schools are the sweet spot: you fit their stats, your odds are solid, and you’d be happy going there. Safety schools are your reliable backups, the ones you’re almost certain to get into, and still have great programs that align with your personal interests.

I went old-school and bought a physical copy of The Fiske Guide to Colleges. It’s this brick of a book with hundreds of schools, each with descriptions, student quotes, and odd facts. I sat down with a Sharpie and went page by page, crossing out schools I knew I’d never apply to (sorry, Wyoming) and circling the ones that caught my eye. That’s how Carnegie Mellon landed on my radar. I knew about their tech programs, but didn’t realize they also had one of the best art schools in the country. It reminded me that there’s a whole world of options beyond the Ivy League or whatever’s within a two-hour drive of home. Once I’d worked through the book, I narrowed my list down to ten schools. Ten felt ambitious but not so insane and I would be able to manage writing unique supplemental essays for each school.

My safeties were Northeastern, University of Toronto, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Northeastern had this great co-op program where students could work an entire school year at a company and get real-world experience. Toronto is a huge, diverse, international city, and the idea of living in Canada for college felt adventurous. They also had an excellent architecture program I was considering at the time. SAIC had these incredible art studios, total creative freedom, super impressive alumni, and was in a new city I had always admired. They were all schools I could genuinely see myself attending. A very important rule to remember when putting your safety list together is never put a school on your list that you’d be miserable attending, even if it’s “easy” to get into. You might end up going there.

My match schools were Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, CalArts, and RISD. Carnegie Mellon and RISD both had the perfect mix of strong academics and world-class art programs. CalArts had one of the best animation programs in the country. Cornell had the reputation and resources of an Ivy, but in a setting that (for me) felt a little more approachable. They were all still competitive, but I fell into their GPA and SAT range, and felt like I had a real shot at getting in. 

Then there were my reach schools, the glittering unicorns of colleges: Brown, Yale, and Princeton. My test scores were on the lower end for them, but I thought my art portfolio might help me stand out. Also the cold, hard truth about reach schools is they are reaches for everyone. Harvard and Yale reject thousands of people with perfect SATs, GPAs, and tons of extracurriculars. I’ve seen people apply to only the ultra-competitive schools and then be crushed when they got into none of them. I’ve also seen people apply only to “easy” schools and then regret not pushing themselves more when they had the chance. Undergraduate college is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and where you spend those four years will shape your life in ways you can’t predict. That’s why having the right balance of schools matters.

Building my list also forced me to think about what I actually wanted from my college education. Did I want to be in a big city or a small town? On a traditional campus or a school that’s part of the city grid? Liberal arts or specialized? I realized I liked being in a big city, but not too big, and I didn’t like being in nature. So, even though schools like Columbia and Dartmouth have amazing academics and creative arts programs, I knew those schools wouldn’t be right for me. Asking yourself the hard questions about what really matters to you can be just as important as the acceptance rates when putting together your applications.

When decision season rolled around, I didn’t get into every reach school I applied to (spoiler: nobody ever does). In fact, I didn’t get into every match school either. But I had options I was genuinely excited about. Sometimes the results feel random; I’ve met people who got into Yale but not Williams, or were rejected from Brown but got off the waitlist at Harvard. The admissions gods work in mysterious ways and luck sometimes has everything to do with it.

So, if you find yourself staring at a blank spreadsheet wondering where to start, I’d recommend grabbing a book like the Fiske Guide, getting out your Sharpie, and starting to cross things off. Dream big, but keep your head on your shoulders. Build a list that’s bold, balanced, and actually reflects your own unique interests. The schools you apply to are just the first steps. Where you end up is where your real story begins.

By mentor Rémy Kevin, a graduate of Brown University and RISD.

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