<p>well questbridge schools are free to apply to. so 15 - 7 = 8 schools, a more reasonable number of fees to pay. i am probable eligible for fee waivers as well.</p>
<p>I’d also encourage you to cast a wide net. Aside from considerations noted above (which are the main ones IMHO), the only other concern might be the possibility of applying to a university you don’t know much about.</p>
<p>The only other problem I can think of is that if you’re busy, the work that goes into filling out applications may be more demanding than you expect. It’s nice that they’re all commonapp, but be aware that most schools have supplements that are generally more time consuming than the generic questions on the application itself. Obviously try to reuse essays as much as you can, but depending on what you write about and what schools you apply to you may have to write several.</p>
<p>I don’t believe this was mentioned yet. Do you plan to apply for merit aid? If you do, some of the top merit competitions at individual colleges and universities are extremely demanding…separate application, specific essays, interviews…you get the idea. Many have early deadlines…December 1st or earlier. Careful consideration and focus is essential.</p>
<p>USC’s app is such a pain. I applied and got in, but seriously, just the app itself made me and my friends (who were also applying, they also got in) made me not want to go. The system wouldn’t save stuff we posted, and would suddenly freeze. It was not a fun experience. Remember to apply by Dec 1st (at least i think that’s the deadline) for merit aid at USC (I ended up w the Presidential though I decided not to go in the end). I really would consider less than 15 schools though, but if you’re going w the UC app I wouldn’t be too worried. Apply to schools you kno that you would attend if admitted -saves time and money. :] Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>I think that depending on the caliber of school you’re applying to, it could be beneficial to limit your number. </p>
<p>Many top schools consider interest. So when choosing between two equally qualified applicants, an admissions officers would most likely take a kid who took the time to show a unique and thoughtful interest in that school (through essays, visits, interviews, etc) over a kid who just submitted a more generic application because he/she applied to too many schools to really get to know each school.</p>
<p>Personally, I’m planning on limiting it to 8. I’d like to go lower than that, but I’m not sure whether I’m going to be able to visit enough schools to cut it down. </p>
<p>I just think that it’s better to put a large amount of time into a smaller number of applications rather than vice versa.</p>
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<p>Actually that tends to happen more at smaller schools, like the Claremonts. Harvard knows that a lot of people want to go there and that anyone they accept would consider it strongly.</p>
<p>True.</p>
<p>For the Harvards of the world it may not matter, but for schools like WashU, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Northwestern, etc. I think that conveying a sincere interest in the school can really help your chances. And that can be hard to do if you apply to too many schools.</p>
<p>I guess if you’re set on 15 applications, a good way to handle them would be to pick 6 or so that you really care about; work on those first (putting a good amount of effort into each one); and once those are perfect, work on the remaining 9, completing as many as time permits.</p>
<p>you guys are very helpful, thanks for all of this advice!</p>
<p>Don’t think there’s a drawback…actually, I think there are more drawbacks to applying to too few schools. I mean, I don’t see a point in applying to 20+ schools, but 10 universities or whatever? I didn’t find applying to college stressful – I mean, honestly, if your teachers and counselor prints out copies of the same slightly altered recommendation, and you send copies of your score reports and transcripts through your school, all that’s left really is filling out your demographic information over and over (easy) and writing essays. I liked writing, so that wasn’t a drawback.</p>
<p>I only applied to 5 schools. I knew that I was going to get into all of them, and I did, and I knew that I would get scholarships to at least two of them, and I did. But honestly, looking back about 6 years later…I wish I had applied to a wider range (some elite LACs in the Northeast, my dream school which I didn’t bother with, some very large publics) and given myself a wider range of choices.</p>
<p>I think you should attempt to apply to as many schools as you think you can give adequate attention to. Of course, some schools will demand more of your attention than others – I would obviously have spent more time working on my Columbia application than my UGA application, and I would’ve started working on schools that had extensive merit aid applications earlier.</p>
<p>In the case of applying to 15 schools (which I used to think was a bad idea, but realizing the diversity of wonderful colleges out there I would probably apply to almost as many if I had the chance to do it over, lol) I think it may be a good idea to rank order or group-order the schools by order of desire – a group of “really really want this OMG I love it”, some “wow these schools are so great I would like to go here”, and more “these schools are good too, and it is practical for me to apply here.” Then, you can choose to invest the most time in those top 5-7 (or however many) schools and apply to the schools in the latter categories as time permits. The exception would be to make sure that if a safety school isn’t in the top 5-7 category, make sure you spend adequate time on the safety application.</p>
<p>Since when do llamas fly?</p>
<p>Apply only to the schools that you could see yourself at. Otherwise, you’re just wasting your time (and money in some cases). Research all of them more, and that can narrow down your list significantly. Then you won’t have to worry about applying to “too many schools”. Although there is no limit, just apply to the ones you really like to make life easier.</p>