<p>Hi Everyone,</p>
<p>About how many Colleges should I apply to? What's an "average" number?
Also, how many safety/reach schools should I have?</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>“Average” is a relative term. If you mean schools that accept average students then perhaps: Endicott, Stonehill, Quinnipiac, Michigan State, URI, Rutgers, American, FSU, UTampa, Penn State, NYIT, NJIT, SUNY, Ithaca College, UIllinois, Arizona State, and other state schools.</p>
<p>What type of student are you?</p>
<p>I think they mean how many schools is average. My kids applied to 7 & 8 schools respectively. The 2nd one had 10 schools on her list, but she dropped 2 once she got in to an EA school that was a better fit than two on her list. It is both time consuming and expensive to apply to a lot of schools, unless you are applying to schools that do not charge an application fee and do not require any supplemental essays. On the other hand, if financial aid is important to you, then you might want to add a few schools to get a better set of financial options to choose from.</p>
<p>So it is best to spend some time this year and over the summer doing some visiting and making up a list of schools that really fit you well. Put a couple of reaches, a handful of matches, and a couple of safeties (schools you almost certain to get into, and that are affordable) on your list. It is hardest to find match schools that you would be really happy to attend, but very necessary to do this work because the odds are high that you will end up at one of those schools.</p>
<p>I applied to 18 which is a huge outlier. 6-8 is average.</p>
<p>I would say 6, but it honestly depends on what person you are…</p>
<p>It depends on
-Do you want to go for “reaches”? Some people apply to Harvard with a 25 ACT and a 3.0 GPA, which is fine, but they shouldn’t count that in your number since they aren’t getting in lol.
-Have you visited schools? I have only been to WashU and Northwestern (UChicago too but I didn’t apply there). Thus, I wanted to make sure that if I got denied from both of those, I’d have enough other schools where there should be one that wants me that is a good match.
-How much money do you have? The application process costed my family ~$1,200 due to subject test scores, ACT scores, college transcript release forms (I took a few college classes), and the deposit. It adds up, but it came out less than a trip to another college ;).</p>
<p>Since you are an average student, you should have a good idea where you SHOULD be accepted. Thus, I’d probably apply to 2-4 schools (again, depending on what you answered above), where you are pretty sure you’ll get into. And then, I’d apply to another 2-4 schools where you are on the border. I wouldn’t apply to any “reach” schools because average school admissions is a bit more objective, making it harder to be lucky.</p>
<p>A lot of the average schools aren’t as mysterious as schools like Ivy League. You should be able to have a good idea whether you can get in with a good amount of research.</p>
<p>Hopefully that will help.</p>
<p>A student whose first choice school is a safety may only apply to that one school.</p>
<p>In any case, find the safety school first. Then the rest of your list becomes easier to make – you need only apply to non-safeties which you could possibly choose over your safety.</p>
<p>I think it is okay to go for a reach or two, personally. My kid applied to U of Chicago EA, and got in (much to our surprise) with some merit aid (could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw that). She had very good test scores, but only a reasonably good GPA, and no fantastic ECs (and no leadership in the ones she had). Obviously there are reaches that are too high (that 25 ACT & 3.0 GPA does make a Harvard app a waste of money). But stretch a little, you may be surprised.</p>
<p>U Chicago is known for that so definitely look if colleges look at apps unusually if going for a reach!</p>
<p>Instead of picking a number of schools, pick a strategy. As others have said, your number might be one. I know a great student who applied to our state flagship in September and had a guaranteed full ride scholarship. When his acceptance arrived in October, he was done. Similarly, if any student is full-pay and they are accepted ED to their first choice then they are done with the process in mid-December with only one application completed.</p>
<p>For most students however, a good strategy starts with the safety school. This is one where your chances of being accepted are essentially 100% and you know that you will be able to afford tuition through guaranteed means. The third criteria for a safety is that you will be excited about attending. You only need one true safety, but applying to a second won’t hurt.</p>
<p>The next step to consider is your Match schools. These applications should be for schools that meet all your criteria and where you stand a good chance of being accepted based on quantitive measures (GPA, class rank, test scores). If FA is important, you will want to have more Match schools so that you can compare offers. Depending on your circumstances, a good range is between two to four Match schools.</p>
<p>Finally, some students will want to try for Reach schools. These are schools where your chance of acceptance is significantly less than 50%. Based on this standard, HYP are Reaches for almost everyone. Unfortunately, some applicants only apply to Reaches, or disproportionately weight their applications to Reaches. I would aruge that it only makes sense to pick one or two Reach schools due to the time and cost involved.</p>
<p>2 reaches, 4-6 matches, 2 sure things that you would be happy to go to and might award you money.</p>
<p>6-8 schools is not average in the real world. 3 is average for actual students. However, if you’re applying to selective or reach schools, 6-8 is a very good number, if not more. You need at least 1 safety which you can definitely get into, afford and would be happy to attend. 2 safeties is better so you have some options. A couple matches is good but I only have 1 and I’m satisfied. Apply to as many reaches as you want. It gets expensive, but supplemental essays can sometimes be reused. Half the schools I’m applying to either had really vague essays or “topic of your choice”. Altogether, I’m using the same basic essay for 3 colleges, 1 scholarship and 1 honors program and another for 3 other colleges and a scholarship.</p>
<p>Altogether I’m applying to 8 schools: 2 safeties, 1 match and 5 reaches.</p>
<p>The real world average is easily calculated. Simply find the weighed matriculation rates to every school in the UC. And inverse it. </p>
<p>The average matriculation is around 30% which gives the average number of applications at 3.</p>
<p>This actually overestimates the number of schools people apply to since some people don’t matriculate into any college.</p>
<p>I remember seeing on another thread that only 44% of students apply to more than 3 colleges, but I don’t know if that’s true. Most students either turn up to register for community college, or apply to local state schools with rolling deadlines so they get into their first choice early and stop. I’m not saying this should be the OP’s strategy, just that what CC people do isn’t necessarily “average”.</p>