Craziness...

It's been a crazy few weeks. After my GMAT, I wrote about taking some time off (thanks for the suggestions on doing so, everyone!), then had my brother's bachelor party, followed by his wedding yesterday. I had an amazing time, danced by butt off, but now it's time to buckle down once again. Luckily I have no big events coming up, so I can focus.

My online class at UCLA is going well. I feel I'm taking something from it, which is good. I've also been doing lots of thinking about what schools I'll apply, and in what rounds. Ideally, I want to know if I'm going somewhere as soon as possible, and my original idea was to apply in R1 for everything, but that might not be possible (as well as being very exhausting for my recommenders!). I'd feel more confident had I gotten that 700, but a 680 is damn good, and I don't think 20 points will make the difference between ding and admit.

So, here's a list: UNC, UCLA, USC, Duke, Wake Forest, Texas, Emory, UVA, NYU. Obviously, the big reaches are Duke, UCLA and NYU. Mid-level would be USC, UNC, UVA. I think realistically Wake Forest (my alma mater for undergrad), Texas and Emory are very doable. I'm going to look at some more programs. but that's the list I'm fairly comfortable with right now. I may drop some of them, depending on my confidence levels. I'm definitely applying to USC, UCLA, UNC and Wake Forest no matter what.

I feel these schools are 1) realistic, 2) a good fit with me wants/needs, and 3) can get me where I want to be.