<p>I've heard both ends of the spectrum on this one. Some say to apply to as many schools as you can because it makes you look like a better choice and enables you to compare offers and ask for better ones, for example, saying that "school A gave me a ride, can you match it school B?". I've also heard however that applying to too many schools makes you look like you're not serious about any of them. Which of these is more true, or are both false? I'm just trying to get an idea of how many places I should think of applying to. Thanks!</p>
<p>With net price calculators on college web sites, you can see estimates of need-based aid before you apply, which can allow you to avoid wasting time and application fees on schools which are too expensive and do not have large-enough in-reach merit scholarships to try for.</p>
<p>Make sure that you have at least one safety that you will be admitted to for sure and which you can afford for sure.</p>
<p>I’m not sure of your source(s), but you’re getting a lot of bad information.</p>
<p>Applying to more or less schools has nothing to do with making you ‘look’ like a better or worse candidate. How you look is based on your application, not the number of schools you apply to. In general, schools won’t know how many or which other colleges you applied to, and many don’t care.</p>
<p>If by talking about a ‘ride’, you mean a merit scholarship, most schools do not match merit aid from other schools. Some schools will match or reassess need based FA based on offers from other colleges, but most of these are ones with high endowments and very selective admissions.</p>
<p>The main problems with applying to many schools are the cost and submitting sub-par applications (eg. supplemental essays).</p>
<p>I know someone who is applying to 17 schools because she wants to be a theater major and there are few slots available at any one school. So for her, it makes sense. For the rest of the world, that’s probably too many.</p>
<p>If you’re applying to elite schools, then 10-12 is probably the practical limit. I think 5-6 is probably the average for those applying to normally competitive schools, especially if you throw in a reach or two. For those going to rolling admission or open enrollment schools, 1 or 2 may be all it takes.</p>
<p>Appearing that you “aren’t serious about them” is not an issue-- schools will have no idea which/how many others you applied to.</p>
<p>I’m applying to 23 schools, but 24 if I count the UCs as one school. It’s basically to compare scholarship money, because some of the opportunities for scholarships are not guaranteed. Also, I have a situation where the guidance counselors at my school are not totally sure what my target schools are. It is not something I chose to do, rather it was forced upon me. </p>
<p>I personally think applying to so many schools is quite ridiculous – after all, I’m going to only go to one of them. Initially I “only” had 13 schools on my list and I already had a good balance of very few reaches, many targets, and three safeties. </p>
<p>It’s also been taking a really long time to write all 35 of my essays.</p>
<p>A lot depends on how much time and energy (plus app fees) each of the apps will take. Some Us WILL consider merit and / or FAid offered by ‘similar’ Us. Our S got his merit award increased by asking his 1st choice U if they could match or beat his other merit offer. It added about $10K total to his merit aid by asking and emailing competing merit award. </p>
<p>If you have one or two safeties, it’s really personality and resources and sanity which limit the # of apps. Student will only end up attending one U regardless.</p>
<p>Our D applied to only one U. S sent scores to 8 but only completed apps to three, and partly finished the rest. Both ended up at the same great U, S with significant merit (D as a transfer). </p>
<p>Neither of my kids wanted to apply to more Us.</p>
<p>Here’s what I witnessed when my kids applied to college several years back: The average cost of sending one application to a private college, including the school’s application fee, sending an official SAT/ACT score report , and sending the CSS Profile is around $90 to $100 per school. If a student applies to 10 or 11 private colleges, the cost can easily reach $1,000. Families who could afford to pay, did so but limited the number of school’s their kid applied to based upon budgetary concerns. However, student’s who had fee waivers tended to apply to as many schools as they wanted – and sometimes that number exceeded 20, even 30 schools, which IMHO is too darn many. We limited our kids to 10 private schools and 1 public safety (11 schools). My daughter was accepted to 7 out of 11 schools, my son 10 out of 11. If a student picks appropriate safety, target and reach schools, they really don’t have to apply to that many college’s.</p>
<p>If you do a reality check on each school on your list and you have some idea on your intended field of study, you probably do not need more than 10 school applications including reaches and safety. Applying to too many schools may just indicate you did not do your home work. It is not only expensive to apply (~$100/school), it is also a lot of work to write all those essays and follow up with each application. You are better off to write great essays for a handful of schools.</p>
<p>The two big problems I see with applying to a lot of schools are (1) cost, and (2) time, especially for the essays. I narrowed down my list a lot by doing research online and visiting before applying. Some schools that I thought I would like got crossed off immediately after visiting. (There’s actually a whole thread on that in the Parent Forum.) I only ended up applying to 3 schools, all of which I knew would offer substantial merit aid. The NPCs for need-based aid came in waaaay too high for basically everything else.
So that was my approach. I was very concerned about cost, so that played a role in which colleges I applied to and also how many (or how few). It really depends on your situation. In most cases, applying to more than 12 schools is probably way overkill; there will be schools on that list that you will either never get into or don’t actually want to go to.</p>
<p>Apply to the schools you are interested in, can do a quality application and can afford to send. The average in our area seems to be 8-10. More for theatre students who have to audition, less for students staying in state. In California, it’s easy to rack up the colleges because we have more than 30 publics that require 2 relatively easy applications that, once done, you just click boxes to add more schools. </p>
<p>My own daughter has 11. 1 all-around safety, 2 academic safeties with high merit potential (and free apps,) 4 matches and 4 reaches (she has the stats for the reaches but they are reaches for most everyone.) I admit, it feels like a ton to me but when you are are shopping financial packages or attempting some less than 20 percent admittance schools, it feels right. 24 years about I applied to 5 and that was considered a lot!</p>
<p>My D applies to 7 schools (6 EA and 1 RD) with 1 mid reach, 1 low reach, 2 match (1 in state), 2 low match, and 1 safety. Half of them are likely to provide a lot of merit and need based aids. She visited 6 of the 7 schools. She started with around 12 schools with a specific field of study and geographic location initially on the list and narrowed it down to 8 by the end of Summer. Originally she has another in state safety on the list that she may apply RD, however, she got acceptance from one of the low match school with good scholarship (rolling admission in priority application) even before filling the application for that in state safety. So she took it ou of the RD list.</p>