<p>I think your philosophy is screwed up legendofmax. You don’t have to apply to 15 schools to end up with the best college choice.</p>
<p>^ His philosophy worked for me. I’m paying 10-15k/yr less than the next cheapest schools I got into, McGill and Michigan.</p>
<p>If I had only applied to 1-2 top 20 type schools with good FA, Cornell probably wouldn’t have been one of my first choices. And therefore I’d be paying 10-15k/yr more.</p>
<p>No it’s not the best idea out there to spend 1000 trying to get into school alone, but it’s certainly better than applying to 2 schools and then saying “oh ****, I can’t afford either one of these.”</p>
<p>You should research FA beforehand. Why do you have to wait until after you’ve applied to understand what your financial aid is going to be? At most top 20 schools it’s all need-based anyways. At others, you should be able to tell whether or not you’re competitive for merit.</p>
<p>They should really standardize the number of schools you can possibly apply to. If they cap this amount at around 10, anybody applying to more than 10 will have it noted on each and every application sent. This seems fair.</p>
<p>There’s some logic to applying to a larger number of schools, say 10+, if one’s top choices are extremely selective and if one is a competitive applicant. To some degree, if the applicant is truly competitive, it is reduced to a numbers game. Even if at any one school the odds are low, applying to ten of those selective schools increase the chance of acceptance both statistically and based on the luck of a school finding something in the app particularly relevant to its needs. (E.g., “Thank goodness, a bassoon player with great stats!”)</p>
<p>Financial aid optimization is also a reason to apply to many schools. A few hundred bucks in app fees may save many thousands if one school finds the student particularly attractive and offers an outstanding aid package.</p>
<p>hey,
quick quetsion…</p>
<p>i was planning on applying to 8 - 10 schools on commonapp; do colleges see what other schools (and how many other schools!) i apply / am applying to?
if so, will this lower my chances at being accepted at each school because they think i’m less likely to attend?</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>The CommonApp itself does not allow schools you’re applying to to see your entire list, but some school’s supplements ask what other schools you’re applying to.</p>
<p>hey teenage; thanks a lot!</p>
<p>Applicannot & others –</p>
<p>I’m a parent w/ very smart kids & no $.</p>
<p>My kids still have time & aren’t in this year’s round of applicants, but I have already informed my kids to expect to apply to 12 + schools.</p>
<p>Yes, it would be great to research aid beforehand and have hard numbers, unfortunately the merit based and FA combo are such a crapshoot that this is impossible. Also, in the current economy I fear schools that guaranteed full ride for kids in certain income brackets will cease the programs mid-season (Yes, I have trust issues)</p>
<p>Back in my day I applied to 1 school rolling admissions, was accepted by December and my parents knew we could afford it with the FA. Today too many families can’t afford the high costs of private school. Our state schools here in PA aren’t cheap & many don’t guarantee housing. My only hope for my kids is to play this ridicously game of pitting schools packages against one another after being accepted.</p>
<p>QUOTE from post 50:
Suppose one has enough $$ saved to attend the college of his/her choice anywhere in the world. Assuming s/he has decent stats (GPA,SAT) but not necessarily Ivy quality, how many colleges should s/he realistically apply to? (Keep in mind that since s/he is flush with moolah, the app fees are inconsequential.) </p>
<p>Assuming $ is not an issue & you are realistic about your match, I think 2-3 applications max & take advantage of EA/ED</p>
<p>anyone who applies to 8 or 10 top schools clearly isn’t a focused individual</p>
<p>If they apply to all the ivies plus MIT, they really don’t know what they want. MIT is nothing like Brown, except for the prestige.
Or, if they do like all the top LACs plus some ivies, once again, these don’t “mesh” with each other. </p>
<p>WHat these kids need is to better understand what they acutally want, not just what is prestigious</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I find it hard to believe that you have “no money” but you can afford 12-14 applications for each of your kids… or that they can afford it. Wouldn’t that $2000 be better spent toward college tuition itself?</p>
<p>Whoa. I thought my 8 schools was a ton and then I looked at the poll and saw how many people are applying to 15 or more!</p>
<p>I voted 12. Plan is 10 to 12 as follows:</p>
<p>1-2 safeties
2-4 matches with high probability of merit-based aid
5-6 high matches or reaches</p>
<p>5 schools.</p>
<p>3 Reaches: MIT (Early), Stanford, Harvard
2 Safeties: USC, UC (In State)</p>
<p>My daughter sent me her list today: 3 safety in state (yeah), 4 matches (all out of state), 2 reach (both out of state). We did a new search today on “Journalism” and added them to her list and quickly went through them after reviewing how she stacked up and the At a Glance information. We then had it down to 17 schools. We went through them again and checked out the websites a bit closer and eliminated more based on what information was available for the major, some we had to check more closely because “journalism” is a concentration under Communications. (This major seems to be evolving not only in the real world, but in the curriculums as well at many colleges.)</p>
<p>I don’t know if the list is final yet, some may come off and new ones may go on but I’d still like to get it down a few more (see the previous post where someone spelled out how these things rack up costs pretty quickly).</p>
<p>But, yeah she’s in that 2200-2300 SAT window and probably won’t be eligible for need based aid so we have to cast our ‘net’ carefully.</p>
<p>D is being “encouraged” to apply to 10 and that is how I voted as a parent: 2 or 3 reaches, 3 or 4 matches, and 3 or 4 safeties. From this group, we figure at least three will be early action…no ED because $ issues are a factor. As recently as two years ago, we wouldn’t have considered applying to so many schools, but since some of the schools waive the fee for online applications and since we want to maintain choice as much as possible in the process to compare aid packages, the number is higher.</p>
<p>I disagree with post # 91 that 10 to 12 applications or more shows a lack of focus. Everyone has a different perspective and a different bank account and other factors: for our family, it would be ludicrous NOT to apply to several schools and compare and contrast aid packages…</p>
<p>^^if you have one financial safety, that tactic is excessive</p>
<p>I asked this question earlier in the thread but no one was present to answer it. Is it wise to honestly state the entire list of schools that you are applying to on supplement applications for schools that would like to know where else their applicants are applying to? I am applying to 15+ but I feel that it would not be wise on my part to allow the college to view the names of the other schools and view itself as playing 15th fiddle to the others. Thanks!</p>