Tomme, your priorities are probably wrong.
The greatest long-term value you get from college is probably the friends you make, followed by the name on the degree if it's a good school, followed by the stuff you learn. Do not underestimate the power of making good friends in college. Practically everything that I've done after graduation has been with friends I made in college. The best way to predictably make certain types of friends is by joining a residential living group with a culture based around the types of friends you want.
I would especially criticize filtering by "full-ride" scholarships on the following grounds: if you're smart and dedicated you can get a good job which will allow you to quickly pay back loans, and taking out loans will (usually) allow you to go to a better school (better social scene, better name, better things to learn) than you otherwise would.
I'd strongly disagree with the student loans thing. Winding up with tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans puts serious, crippling limitations on your post-graduation degrees of freedom. By all means, go to the best school you can, but the economy is uncertain, and there's no guarantee of that 'good job.' Paying off student loans on a service industry salary may well be a form of Hell.
Since this fall I will be applying to college in the USA, I have compiled a hefty list of colleges based on the following criteria:
-4-year school;
-co-ed or all men;
-Biology major;
-"full-ride" financial aid available.
The problem's that I have quite a lot of choices, hundreds, as a matter of fact. So how should I narrow down my list even further, given that I don't care about other stuff, such as campus size or location?
Moreover, to how many colleges should I apply? As far as I know, mpst people apply to 6-9 colleges, but some even apply to 20! I guess that by applying to as many colleges possible, my chances of admission go up. But, I probably won't have time to write hundreds of admission essays, or the money to send in my application to all these colleges.
Lastly, as my objective is to gain admission somewhere, should I only apply to colleges with acceptance rates above a certain percentage? What should that percentage be?
If anyone would like to take this in private, I'd be more than happy to receive some advice from any member of the community!