<p>What do you think is the max amount of collges that one should apply to..</p>
<p>This is really a personal thing. A lot of people think 5 is OK, some people think you need at least 7, some people think 9 is a good number, it really depends on your personal preferences and how much money you are willing to spend on application fees. </p>
<p>A good model to follow is the 7 school model in which you have 2 safeties, 3 matches, and 2 reaches. However, I am not following this in the slightest. I really like my one safety, so I only have 1 safety, about 3/4 matches, and the about 6 reaches. </p>
<p>I wouldn't recommend applying to more than 10 schools.</p>
<p>Maximum? IMHO anything over 15 is way too much.</p>
<p>The maximum amount of college is as many as you can afford to pay for the application fee. </p>
<p>But, in my opinion, I don't think it's worth to spend anymore than $300 on the application...</p>
<p>Do LOTS of research before even putting in the application. Will i be satisfied with the location? social life? competition? reputation? job placement? quiet? crowded? good financial aid? public? private? Large? Small? </p>
<p>There are LOT of factors to consider, and I guarantee you. If you contribute some of your time in doing that extra research and thinking, you'll be able to save HUNDREDS of $$$ by minimizing your college list.</p>
<p>trust me. When i was a senior, I applied to 10 schools and spent over $600 just on the application. And guess what? I only get to attend ONE of them. I wasted HUNDREDS of bucks where I could've instead spent on more productive things such as buying my textbooks and paying for my tuition.</p>
<p>So really, it's not worth applying to many schools.</p>
<p>I say 5 is a reasonable number. No more than 6.</p>
<p>2 Reaches
2/3 Matches
1 Safety</p>
<p>It depends on your credentials, preferences, and how much free time you have/how much free time you are willing to sacrifice.<br>
Even though I have only 1 safety (a state school, the only in-state school I'm applying to), and it's very selective, I have several matches so I'm not too worried.
Basically, I have 1 safety, 4 matches, and 7 reaches. Ambitious, yes, what can I say. I've seen people with one clear-cut Ivy as their first choice get rejected and end up going to lesser schools. I have several "reaches" I'd love to go to (I'd be happy with ANY of my reaches). I'm no statistician, but I figure that even if I don't get into my safety, I'll get into and receive some merit aid from at least 2 of my matches, and hopefully get into at least 1 of my reaches.
It may look like I have a lot of applications to write, but THANK GOD for the Common App is all I can say. For me, it's more like 8 or 9 applications, because a few of my schools take the common. When I had 9 schools on my list, I found some other really good schools in the top 50 that took exclusively the common app, and no supplements, so it's literally just an extra couple of button clicks and a couple of extra 9x12 envelopes. No big deal at all</p>
<p>also, the school I'm applying to ED (Columbia) allows you to file other EA applications, so there are a total of 4 admissions decisions I will receive in December. If I get rejected from all of them, I have about 4 backup schools on my list that have rolling or February deadlines. So if I get in nowhere early, I still have another 12 schools I hear from in April. What can I say, I'm a bit obsessive.</p>
<p>I think that the max amount of colleges one should apply to depends on a few variables: how much time will you devote to each application, how much money can you afford to spend, how many of these are common applications, etc. </p>
<p>Personally, I applied to 12 colleges last year [11 of which were common app], and it worked out well for me, but yeah just find the number you feel comfortable with and you should do well.</p>
<p>It seems to me that if you apply to more than about seven you are only delaying the inevitable. At some point you have to decide.<br>
If your top choices are reaches, you have to play the odds and apply to a few. So maybe the number of applications goes up to ten. Make it realistic-- don't waste money and effort making the adcom tell you that your qualifications aren't enough when you could figure that out for yourself.</p>
<p>It depends on a lot of things. It depends on how well you can complete, organize and track however many apps. Doing a sloppy job on 10 apps can cost you in acceptances that you may get doing a careful job on 5, for instance. That is really the main issue in applying to so many colleges. Things do go wrong in the process, and the more you are juggling, the more likely something will crash. It also depends on the cost of your apps, your budget both in terms of needing financial safeties as well as well as the cost of applying, the complexity of your apps, the selectivity of your schools, how much demonstrated interest you need to show (15 interviews could be difficult to handle), your senior schedule, and a number of other situations. If your apps all tend to be fairly simple common apps, or one pagers that you do online, and you are going for money, it may wise to to do more than you would ordinarily do. If you apply early action or decision, one app can do the job if you are accepted.</p>