Gotta diversify... And mix it up... Like a... British Jamaican DJ.

As we’ve written about before, the cost of diversifying your set of schools is minimal when compared to the potential reward you have in store for an acceptance at a school above your safe range.

Being accepted at a school on the high end of where you’re aiming is a big deal in terms of the academic experience you’ll have, the success your peers will have after graduation, and the professional expectations you’ll have, both in salary and breadth of opportunity.

So how do you expand that list of schools without wasting your time?

Focus on the core priorities you have for your university experience. Selectivity, reputation and ranking, class size, location, setting, etc. Once you’ve made those decisions, find ways to broaden your selections, and the odds of landing a position will increase.

If you’re going to be applying to, say, Cornell, Drexel, Boston College, and UConn, stretch out the list of top schools to three or four, and your chances of winding up at a school like Cornell, even if it’s not exactly Cornell – say, Brown, Carnegie Mellon, or Yale – are going to increase.

Remember, there are many reasons you can be denied admission to a school, many of which are outside of your control, such as your demographic, geographic location, or high school’s history with the university. Broaden your selection and you’ll improve the chances.

CEO is here to compliment the other tools at your disposal and make the many applications, and the legwork that goes along with it, that much easier.