<p>I know you said not to dissuade you, but I had a list of 40 schools at the beginning of senior year (2 weeks ago). I've worked really hard to narrow it down and now I'm down to about 21. The fact is is that you'll have to narrow it down at some point anyways. I plan to apply to about 10 schools, and it's very, very difficult to take schools off your list but you should look at which schools you like more than the others and start eliminating some of the bottom ones.</p>
<p>That said, you have every right to apply to 25 schools and if it's truly what you want to do (and your not just procrastinating a decision) then go for it. Don't listen to people telling you it's selfish. College admissions is competetive and you really can't afford to wonder how your decision to apply to a school will effect someone on the other side of the country.</p>
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Don't listen to people telling you it's selfish. College admissions is competetive and you really can't afford to wonder how your decision to apply to a school will effect someone on the other side of the country.
<p>I think it's good to apply to a few schools in the same category(caliber) - high reach, reach, match, safety. As an example, if your stat shows Colgate may be a match for you, you may want to apply to 2 other schools similar to Colgate. The reason is even if Colgate may be a match for you, they could still reject you because they perceive it's a backup school for you or they could have unexpected number of applicants. You may get into Cornell, but not Penn; or Williams, but not Amherst; Smith, but not Wellesley. At the same time, if you do not have the stat of getting into top 20 schools, by applying to all 20 of them is not going to increase your chance.</p>
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The only reason to apply to more than 5 colleges is when your applying to a lot of reaches/'crapshoot' schools. Though one person I know applied to only three colleges - 1 safety, 1 match (georgetown), and 1 reach (harvard), and got into all three and just went to harvard. He was a god though.
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<p>That doesn't really make him a God. I only applied to 3 schools and got into all (Georgetown, GWU, AU).</p>
<p>Policies differ at high schools, but at my son's high school, each teacher would only write 4. They didn't write and then photocopy, and they were tailored to the individual college. </p>
<p>Good luck on that. Applying to that many won't necessarily help you. Financially, it would be expensive and well, time consuming. </p>
<p>Also, when you fill out your financial aid fafsa forms, you will put down on there what colleges you are applying to. Colleges get this information about what other schools you apply to, and they will seen that you are using the shotgun approach. While this may not hurt you, how could it help you? Colleges will see you aren't serious and that are just applying to every place you can think of.</p>
<p>What do your parents and counselor think about this strategy?</p>
<p>Most letters - business letters - have the name of the college with the address in the header. Colleges don't really want photocopies, as they are too easy to "fake". It looks less professional, also.</p>
<p>High school teachers tend to write on the high school stationary, which is obvious when it is photocopied. </p>
<p>If I were an adcom and received a photocopied letter of recommendation, I would think the applicant didn't care very much about his or her application. Same with a job applicant.</p>
<p>Maybe it would be different for the Common Application since it can be submitted electronically. Still, even with that teacher evaluation, a teacher could still send in a letter. I would want it to look as professional as the rest of my application.</p>
<p>I've actually seen college recommendation letters and letters for scholarship committees including national ones.</p>
<p>Adcoms, scholarship committees, etc. expect that the letters will be photocopied. They know that teachers and GCs have far more to do than to print out individual letters on letterhead for each student who needs them. In addition, letterhead costs money and most schools are in budget crunches.</p>
<p>Anyway, the person who opens the application, letters, etc. is a clerical worker who then gets to make copies of the application and letters, transcripts, etc. for the committee members.</p>
<p>I think you should consider how it will look to your teachers if you can't apply to less than 25 schools. Do you want them to be thinking "indecisive" when they write your rec?</p>
<p>I would ask them to first write a few, then come back and be like "hey, I'm indecisive, gimme 25!" That way they can think poorly of you after they've written your rec.</p>
<p>Interesting. I can see how it would be different for a scholarship committee, but I am surprised that photocopied recommendations would be acceptable for a college application. There is just too great a possibility that a student could "photoshop" a recommendation. </p>
<p>Just wondering - what is everyone's policy at their schools, either that they attend or work in? Does your school limit the number of applications that a student may submit? How many recommendations will a teacher write (or I guess photocopy, as the case may be?)</p>
<p>The limit at my sons' school was 4 per teacher. The counselor would also write one for each college. They were very strict about this policy and also had the teachers sign the back of each envelope and send directly to the college.</p>
<p>My daughter's GC was responsible for preparing packet for each school. The packet included recommendation letters, transcript, profile of the school. My daughter just had to let the GC know which school she was applying to, and they were responsible for sending them out. Luckily there was no limitation on how many schools they could apply to, but it would have raised a few eye brows with 25 applications. My daughter never read her teachers' recommendation letters, but was told they were good by her GC.</p>
<p>We never had a definitive limit at my school, but it was not a competitive high school by any means. The teacher would submit the letter to the guidance office and they would send everything together in a package. I did not see my recommendations unless the teacher specifically asked me to look at it. </p>
<p>Teachers did just make me copies for scholarship recommendations, but they also individually signed each copy. I suppose they could do the same with college recommendations and change the school name in their word processor.</p>
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I know you said not to dissuade you, but I had a list of 40 schools at the beginning of senior year (2 weeks ago). I've worked really hard to narrow it down and now I'm down to about 21. The fact is is that you'll have to narrow it down at some point anyways. I plan to apply to about 10 schools, and it's very, very difficult to take schools off your list but you should look at which schools you like more than the others and start eliminating some of the bottom ones.</p>
<p>That said, you have every right to apply to 25 schools and if it's truly what you want to do (and your not just procrastinating a decision) then go for it. Don't listen to people telling you it's selfish. College admissions is competetive and you really can't afford to wonder how your decision to apply to a school will effect someone on the other side of the country.
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<p>I was in a similar situation. My list was still at 40-something schools not too long ago, but I really worked at it and found a rolling school I love that will most likely accept me early enough not to have to have a "real" safety. My list is now at 14 schools and I'm still narrowing down. You definitely have th right to apply to 25 schools, just make sure you have the time to seriously put thought into each application.</p>
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I am surprised that photocopied recommendations would be acceptable for a college application. There is just too great a possibility that a student could "photoshop" a recommendation.
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the sutdent isn't sending in the photocopied version ... the school office is using the same signed envelop as if the recommendation was on school letterhead. If a student is going to cheat on their recommendations getting ahold of letterhead is probably pretty low on the risks as opposed to forging the content, signature, and mailing integrity of the recommendation.</p>
<p>littlegreenmom: Photocopies are the modus operandi in the vast majority of cases. Also, many admissions offices immediately scan documents to make them available to all readers electronically and the hard copies just get filed away (awaiting the shredder in a few years). If a school spends dolllars on 50# resume weight paper on recs, they're wasting their $.</p>