Lots of people responding to this thread COMPLETELY missed the fact the OP is a Questbridge finalist.
For these kids, either they get into ONE of these colleges, or they don’t get to a 4-year college at all AND being a QB finalist (meaning they’re among the top 10% of all high stats, lower-income kids who made it through the QB gauntlet) means they’re strongly encouraged to do such a thing in order to maximize chances. They don’t have to luxury to “like” a college or look for “fit”. They just hope to find one that’ll be affordable. And because the most generous colleges are also the most selective, that’s how it rolls for them.
It’s an insane amount of work, yes - even with the QB app.
But if you’re poor and want to graduate from college, lifting yourself and your family into middle class status, that’s what you have to do.
The alternative is not working that hard on multiple applications now and not being able to go (or attending a community college, which multiplies the risks of lower income students not graduating. The odds of the top 10% lower income students getting a 4-year degree if they start at a community college are lower than those of the BOTTOM 10% upper middle class students.)
When that’s your alternative, you put in as many applications as you can.