<p>Hey my parents want me to only apply to 2 or 3 schools. I dont think thats such a good idea. How many schools do most people apply to? how much does it cost to apply on average? how long does applying take? thanks for da help.</p>
<p>Depends on the kid and what the goals are. Our two have a target of 10 schools each because they are casting a wide net for merit aid and our DD is a recruited athlete so she is looking at trying to get 100% of her UG paid for between merit and athletic aid.</p>
<p>Our other two applied to 3 and 5 schools. They pretty much knew where they wanted to go, rolling admissions, got the right “package” and went with it. They didn’t have the stats that our other two have so their focus was different.</p>
<p>My son targeted about 7 schools, but ended up applying to only 3. He applied to two early action state universities, then one early admission university. He got into the early admiission U. and chose that so he didn’t have to apply to any others. So if you have a strategy including early action and/or early decision, you may be able to apply to only a few.</p>
<p>thanks but how much does it cost to apply on average???!!!</p>
<p>Anywhere from free to $55 in my personal experience. But some schools may be higher. I had to pay for application fees myself after like my 4th one. If you have a job or source of income maybe you can reach a compromise like that with your parents.</p>
<p>It’s expensive to apply to schools but if you think you might qualify for academic scholarships it might be worthwhile to apply to a few more.</p>
<p>S1 applied to four schools and I don’t think any of them charged an application fee. As long as you do all of your apps online instead of paper apps via snail mail, I think most colleges are like this. But others can correct me if I’m wrong.</p>
<p>does anyone know if it costs money to apply to u of michigan u of wisconsin duke or north carolina???</p>
<p>U-M definitely has an application fee, somewhere around $65 if I recall. Duke’s is $75, Wisconsin is $44 and UNC is $80.</p>
<p>I’d apply to 6-8 if I were you. At least 2 likely schools (“safeties”) should be on that list. Application fees 0-90 on average. You can often get the fees waived if you struggle financially or the schools waives them because they really want you.</p>
<p>It completely depends on where you are applying and what your qualifications are. You could apply to 20 schools you aren’t qualified for, and you wouldn’t get into any of them. If you are applying to a school that guarantees to admit you with a certain gpa or score - and you have it - then 1 will do. Remember to consider financial issues from the beginning so you apply places you can afford to go… then after that, if you’re applying to highly selective schools you’ll need some safeties and at least 3-4 of the target/reach ones.</p>
<p>Applications can be expensive. I think DS’s a few years ago were as much as $70 each. But that is small change compared to college costs, and it is often worthwhile to have a variety of schools. The list should include safety choices (per academic and financial criteria).</p>
<p>chug #7 – I don’t know when your son applied but when my son did last year, all the applications were on-line and all cost money, variable amounts like others have quoted. Most colleges use the Common App these days. Applying on-line is the expectation, and there is no discount if you apply on-line. The way I look at the fees is they are really small in comparison to the cost of tuition, so I kind of lump them in ahead in my mind as part of the cost of attendance. But of course it is a waste of time and money to apply to too many out of reach schools, as katieh1 says.</p>
<p>Of the 19 schools that my DS applied to last year, he only had to pay for 3 college applications. He was able to apply for free through the Common App, the Universal App and sometimes through the individual schools website. All these schools were LAC-types or smaller univerisities. They include Tulane, Lawrence, Wabash, Denison, Ohio Wesleyan, etc. </p>
<p>Also several schools didn’t even require SAT scores to be sent from the College Board if they were listed on the official transcript.</p>
<p>Interesting, Mizzbee. My son applied to zero LACs, only to larger universities, mostly in cities, including both public and private. All 7 or 8 he applied to had fees.</p>
<p>A lot of colleges waive the fee if you apply online. If your family income is such, many have fee waivers too. Yes, it can be expensive. Out of the 20 schools on our two kids’ list, only 3 of them charge an app fee-the rest waive them for online (or common app) applications. We have noticed that state schools are the ones, mostly, that don’t waive app fees. The others are on the east coast.</p>
<p>A lot of the LAC’s my D applied to waived fees for top students who they invited to apply and some others waived fee if you did a pre application or applied online. I think we paid a fee for about half of them, although I think we paid for all the scores to be sent. Like some others mentioned - the application fees were such a minor amount compared to the cost of going, that we didn’t limit ourselves based on that – although my D did in her mind, and she argued with one Admissions officer over paying it and got them to waive it. That was funny - as she ultimately got wait listed by them and I think it was because they KNEW she really was reluctant to even apply.</p>
<p>My S1 applied to 4, S2 applied to 5, S3 will probably apply to 5 or 6. OP if there are 3 schools you are willing to attend and you and your parents feel they can afford them and there’s a good chance you’ll be accepted to at least one then you don’t need to apply to more. Kids apply to more than 3 schools for a variety of reasons including financial (looking to see where they can get the best deal) and indecision (don’t really know what they want) and a desire to ‘see’ if they can get accepted at a school that is reachy for the GPA and ACT/SAT (want to attend the most competitive college they can). Only you and your family can decide how many applications you need to get the job done.</p>
<p>Applications do not take very long, although many require an essay and a short personal statement, but once those are out of the way the actual applications don’t take a horribly long time to complete. The cost can be zero for many colleges and rise from there to $50 -80 dollars or so.</p>
<p>S1 applied to 3 schools. S2 applied to two schools. All were instate public u’s that were a good match or safety for each S. Their first choice schools were among the state u’s they applied to so there was no real reason to apply to others. I think the app. fees were $30-$50. One of S1’s was free. Both have graduated so it prob.costs more now.</p>
<p>In addition to the school’s application fee, you will also need to pay to send your test scores (ACT and/or SAT) to any schools you are applying to. Also, if you are applying for Financial Aid and the school uses the CSS Profile, there’s an application fee and a per-school charge for each school it is sent to. So it can add up to apply to several schools.</p>
<p>If you are at a very low income level, then you may be able to use the Common App for free using a waiver. There are also fee waivers for the SAT and the CSS Profile through CollegeBoard.</p>
<p>The entire college application process can vary widely. Some students apply to 10-15 top private schools. Some apply to only 1 or 2 instate public schools that automatically admit most candidates. Some schools have priority application deadlines in the fall for scholarship consideration. Other schools have rolling admission, while others have a deadline at the end of December/beginning of January for regular admission.</p>
<p>It will serve you well to do some research on your own this summer about various schools and their admission policies, requirements and deadlines. You don’t need to ask us if those schools charge an application fee - that’s something you can be researching on your own. Your public library may have a good selection of books about the college application process. If you have access to a computer and internet to post here, then you probably have access to do some internet research.</p>