And how do you do that? For starters, you have to think about at least four key characteristics that you would love your future school to have. What are these? 1) Does the school have the major(s) you are intending to study? 2) Is the school's location appealing to you (East Coast, West Coast, South Coast etc.) ? 3) Is the campus size suitable for you (small, medium, or large)? and 4) Do you like its campus setting (City, Suburb, Rural)? After you define these, you can start your college search and then select schools a bit above your academic profile ("Reaches"), similar to your academic profile ("Targets") and a bit below your academic profile ("Safeties"). You now have your balanced college list! Check out the following article which explains how to go about creating your balanced college list:
http://studentsrisingabove.org/uncategorized/10-tips-create-balanced-college-list/
