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<p>In all fairness, I wanted any school but UMD. I was extremely debt averse/wanted to attend a cheap school until my parents told me I could attend any school I was accepted to. (read: my parents told me I could afford any school I was accepted to, and I wanted to leave my home state.) With that in mind, I decided to finish the applications to the scholarship-friendly schools since I’d already started them (and did, at the time, thought they could all be viable options). I also tacked on some schools that were reaches, matches, etc. that I’d be happy to attend if accepted. </p>
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<p>Come April, I’m deciding between 13 schools (and writing LOCI’s for WL’s at Hopkins and Chicago), and my parents separate with intent to divorce. Whoa! My family’s finances are now up in the air. I couldn’t afford the schools I thought I could. I forced out the full ride schools as I wanted to stay somewhat close to home (so I could help my mother) and narrowed it down to UMD (10k/year), U.Va (33k/year), UNC CH (33k/year), and CMU (~50k/year) (also withdrew my WL from UChi and Hopkins–this is including money I’d saved for college), w/ strong preference towards UMD or U.Va as they’re closest to home. No schools were ready to reconsider financial aid as my parents hadn’t officially divorced. Had I still been in a stable situation, my larger list would’ve made more sense and I would be a Cavalier this fall. Assuming OP is in a stable situation, tacking on some other colleges they would consider if accepted could potentially make a difference. </p>
<p>As I originally thought I could choose any school from a list, I did want options. My personal situation made it so I couldn’t use the larger list. However, if the OP is in a stable position where he/she could make a decision from multiple options, then a larger list might be sensible.</p>
<p>Edit: Should also note that many of the “scholarship chasing” schools had waived app fees.
Edit2: Anecdotal, but I’d heard from my neighbors/classmates with relatives attending that UNC CH and U.Va were friendlier with scholarship money/fin aid than they actually were. The statistics on the CDS supported this.</p>