<p>How many schools should a prospective grad student apply? </p>
<p>I went to this seminar, and they said it's normal to apply between 10 - 15 schools, due to the competitive nature of grad school admissions. Is this a fact? And it's also important to contact professors in the department you wish to work with. </p>
<p>Is it career suicide to apply to less than 5 schools?</p>
<p>***My friend, who attends Harvard, wants to go to Harvard for grad school. He is currently only applying to two schools (Harvard and Michigan). I've warned him that he needs to apply to more since there is no guarantee he will get into Harvard, even if that's his first choice. Am I right to worry?</p>
<p>I hadn't heard anyone advocate a specific number, though of course it makes sense to apply to a few (just like at the undergrad level) that can be counted as relative safeties. </p>
<p>I would imagine that the number of schools you should apply to depends on several factors: how specialized your field is (the more specialized, the fewer you'll have to choose from); the better your resume/GPA/GRE (the lower your scores on these, the more schools you should apply to since the chances are higher that any given choice will turn you down); how determined you are to enter grad school within the coming annual cycle (the more comfortable you are with waiting another year and re-applying, the fewer safety schools you would need to apply to now); how intent you are on attending one school in particular (the more effort and time you put into that school's application, the less you'll have to assemble a dozen other applications), etc.</p>
<p>Personally I think the 10-15 figure is extremely unreasonable. If you are planning, as you wrote, of contacting profs at the schools to which you're applying (before which you must become very familiar with their programs/requirements/resources/research, so as to come off well in the interview), applying to 10-15 schools over the course of the year would be a full-time job.</p>
<p>Since I don't know what others are doing, I can only say that I will apply to only two or three schools this year (my favorite of which has a 10% acceptance rate; the second one or two with acceptance rates of 20-30%; and the last one accepting virtually everyone who applies).</p>
<p>I agree with MaryCeleste -- 15 applications would be way too many for me.</p>
<p>I'm applying to eight, which I think is reasonable since I have a range of selectivities on my list. Two is probably not enough</p>
<p>I would encourage your friend to talk to professors in his department. If they approve (ie if they think he's an exceptional candidate), then more power to him. But at least that's based on the input of the kinds of people who will be making the decision.</p>
<p>Maybe 10 - 15 applications are excessive. I think 5 - 10 applications however ARE the norm. He's only applying to two schools, and I'm just worried that he's not applying to ENOUGH schools. He seems so sure of himself.</p>
<p>A good rule of thumb is that you shouldn't be applying to "safety" graduate programs. Nobody needs a PhD to get a job; if you don't like your options once the acceptances and rejections arrive, it's better to get an industry job and try again later. You should therefore be applying only to schools that are either reaches or 'fits' This ought to reduce your list considerably - 8 sounds like a good number to me.</p>
<p>I agree, it really depends on your subject area. </p>
<p>I would encourage emailing prospective advisors and get a feel on how many students they are accpeting for the coming year. Sometimes they are actively recruiting, sometimes they only have room for one excellent student.</p>
<p>For my MS I applied to 4 schools...got into 2 right away and I think I got waitlisted at a 3rd (they didn't inform me of my rejection until after April 15). </p>
<p>As I'm applying for my PhD now I'm more enlightened to the process and have lots of back-ups and am applying to better programs...I think right now I'm up to 5 or 6 programs (may rise...)</p>
<p>In response to calkidd's advice not to apply to "safety" grad programs: not necessarily. While it is certainly true that some applicants would be better off waiting another year and re-applying to their top choices, others who are especially eager to get into their chosen field of work for which a grad degree is required will prefer to enroll at the best institution that will accept them during the current cycle, whether or not it is one of their top choices. Your note that "no one needs a PhD tog get a job" is only partly true; many, many jobs require some sort of advanced degree, with hiring committees more concerned that candidates have the degree about which university awarded it.</p>
<p>For example, I would like to find work as a museum curator/exhibits designer, for which an MA is absolutely required. Most applicant searches that I've seen at local museums and historical societies are much more concerned with candidates' work experience and exhibit portfolios than the prestige of their grad school or even whether they have a higher degree than the one required (that is, PhD rather than the mandatory MA).</p>
<p>The important thing, then, would be to plan your list of grad schools around your specific academic and career goals, both for number and type of program.</p>
<p>Another better idea may be staying at your undergraduate institution for another year, taking more classes in your chosen field of study or in some other area which will make you more desireable to your chosen field (learning another language, perhaps).</p>
<p>Given that your friend is at Harvard already, he should be able to get a fairly good idea of his chances for Harvard graduate school by checking with professors in his chosen department about his application. Some departments are not overly enthusiastic about taking their own undergrads into their grad programs. The rationale regarding this stance is that they want their students to have a broader academic outlook than provided in their department as well as have the opportunity to make professional contacts at other places. Your friend should be able to find out if this is the case at Harvard. He should definitely not apply blind to Harvard as he can rather easily find out where he stands.</p>