To those who have a long list of colleges to apply and keep track of, I created a spreadsheet with application fees, deadlines, application type (ED, ED1, ED2, EA, EA1, Regular Decision, etc). After my niece chose her top 1 and top2 colleges, I was able to create two groups. First group is with the top 1 school to which we were applying ED (Early Decision). We noted that the application deadline is Nov 15, and the decision notification will be sent Dec 15. Her top 2 college (fortunately) has an ED 2 application due on Jan 15. This gave us time at the end of December/1st week of January to apply to her ED2 school in case she doesn’t get accepted by her top 1 school. I really think this strategy improves her chances of getting into either the top 1 or top 2 school of her choice. If she does get accepted into her Top 1 school (and we’ll know the results in mid-December), then there is no need to submit the second group of schools that has her #2 school on that list. It also saves us a little bit of money in the process. Hope this helps.