As the title says, how many application do you think is too many? 10? 15? 20?
I decided to apply to 9 at first, but then after visiting some school it went up to 14, and then after more research its now at 17! Some of the schools I don’t even care to apply that much anymore, but even with knowing about the sunken cost fallacy I cant get over the $11.25 I paid to send my sat scores to them.
It would be hard to keep track of 17 applications-interviews, showing interest, etc. But if you keep on top of it, I suppose you could keep each going. It is a lot and expensive. A dozen seems reasonable if you are applying to very competitive schools because of the high rate of rejection to those even for outstanding candidates.
Well three are safety schools that don’t have interviews or care much about interest because they’re large public schools. Otherwise I have visited or gone to an admissions session for 9 of them.
But yeah it is expensive, luckily my parents have been supportive of me applying to lots of schools and haven’t minded paying l the app fees, although I payed for one and three are no fee. This was part of the reason I was thinking of dropping Harvard, and Notre Dame from my list. But also because I’m not sure if they will fit me academically. I wanted to apply originally because I had great campus visits to both of them. I also wanted to apply to a lot of school because my logic was if I apply 10 selective schools I should get into at least one.
If you are applying for financial aid, your parents are going to hate you in about a month. Every college has their own due dates, there are variations in what forms they want, and how they want them sent.
17 is a lot. You can get past the cost of having sent your scores. Ditch the ones you don’t care about unless they’re also your safeties (though if you don’t care about them, they probably aren’t good safeties).
Too many! No more than 9: 3 reaches, 3 matches, & 3 safeties.
I’d put it at 6 but any number is subjective. Certainly any more than 9 and you’re flailing, having not tried or succeeded in finding “fit” schools.
I think 6 is a serviceable number, 10 is good, 15 is probably the max IMO. Try to cut down to the 10-15 range unless you really need all 17 for some odd reason.
Id keep it at 10
5 reaches
4 matches
1 safety
Yeah I cut Williams and Notre Dame. Im at 15 maybe will get down to the 13-14 range, depending on how I feel about my Chicago supplement.
You do not seem to know what you are looking for in a college.
Why is that?
What are the colleges you are looking at?
Currently the list is
Alabama (accepted)
Minnesota (accepted)
Illinois
Occidental
Carleton
Harvey Mudd
Northwestern
Vanderbilt
Cornell
Stanford
Harvard
UPenn
UChicago
Columbia
Princeton
I looked for schools that offered either a strong CS program, or a strong Materials Science program along with smaller classes sizes and that offered more personal attention to the student.
As many as you can afford is fine. Most schools on this list have deadlines in less than a week. You probably have time for 2- 3 applications at this point.
I have written nearly all of the application essay except for Columbia and Uchicago so i’m working on those today. Also I haven’t done Carleton or Oxy but their not due until the 15th
I subscribe to the 2-4-2 approach. Two reasonable reaches where you are above the bottom 25%, four matches where the chance of acceptance is at least 50% and two safety schools. This way the student focuses and prioritizes.
There is a common belief that for schools with under 15 or 10% acceptance, since it is just a crapshoot for many qualified candidates, you should apply to as many as possible to boost chances of acceptance for at least one.
As long as you don’t compromise the quality of the applications, do as many as you would like. There is no harm, since you have 2 acceptances in place.
You’re in at two schools already. If they are acceptable schools to you, then you get to decide what’s too many. You have the luxury of rejecting schools now if you’re not feeling the “Why?” essay.
Just make sure you submit the best application you can for each school, and you can afford the cost of applying.
Good luck!