In deciding on your final choices, you will also need to consider the likelihood of being admitted to each institution. It is recommended to include institutions in each of the following categories:
- Aspirational choices – highly competitive universities with high admission requirements. These kinds of universities often have an admission rate of only 3–6 per cent of the total number of applications, so even if your profile is very strong, you are not guaranteed to be offered a place.
- Match choices – colleges where your academic profile matches their average admission requirements.
- Insurance choices – institutions where your academic profile is higher than the average admission requirements.
EducationUSA recommends applying from five to eight institutions across the above categories. They also recommend increasing the number in the ‘match’ and ‘insurance’ categories if you require funding. You will be more likely to secure a merit-based scholarship if your academic profile is higher than the institution’s average. You can find details of universities’ academic admission criteria for Cambridge qualifications in our recognition database and on each institution’s website.