<p>Good article. Kids can only attend one college. Too many apps shows a lack of research and careful planning IMO.</p>
<p>3 safeties 3 matches 3 reaches</p>
<p>My opinion as both a college counselor and a parent…</p>
<p>To address those who are applying to highly selective schools (which are a great many CCers)…I think a well balanced list of approximately 10-12 schools is about right for most (but every person’s circumstance differs and there is no magic number for all applicants). I think it is extremely rare that ANYONE would NEED more than 14 schools (whether seeking merit aid or elite colleges, whatever). </p>
<p>My two kids applied to college 10 years ago, and both kids’ lists included extremely selective schools (one had some Ivies on the list, etc. and one was applying to the highly selective BFA in Musical Theater programs). Both kids had 8 schools on their respective lists and had plenty of choices and got into top schools. Since that was ten years ago, and more kids are applying to larger numbers of schools, creating even lower acceptance rates, I think someone applying to very competitive schools (but on a well balanced college list!) might need to increase that number of 8 to which my kids applied, now to 10. Some circumstances might mean 11-14. But truly, I can’t think of anyone needing more than 14. </p>
<p>I won’t bother to give the rationale as to why more schools than that is too much since the article addressed some of it already. And the OP posed the question as to how many apps are ENOUGH.</p>
<p>If you’re a high stats kid, then what’s a match and what’s a reach? Suppose your stats are in the upper quartile or above for a top 10 school, can you say you’re a match? I don’t think so since if the school is rejecting 90 percent of applicants it’s a reach. Harvard is a reach for all. Is it fair to say that for a high stats kid there are only reaches and safeties? I’m finding it hard to say that a school is a match if your stats are in the top 10 percent.</p>
<p>Schools with an acceptance rate lower than 20% would be considered a “reach” for almost any applicant due to the odds. So, even if your stats are well in the ballpark, the odds are still reachy at such schools. If you are solidly in the ballpark for a school and the school accepts more than that percentage, it becomes more of a match. You should have match schools on the list and not just schools that accept less than 20% of applicants, plus your sure bet safeties. </p>
<p>As an example of the above, my kid applied 10 years ago. She had 8 schools on the list. She was an excellent student. Her 4 reaches were all Ivies. Her two matches were Tufts and Smith (got accepted to both), and she had two safeties that were still selective schools but for her, were sure bets. She attended one of the Ivies/reaches that accepted her.</p>
<p>Match has more to do with acceptance rate than it does with stats. A reach is a reach is a reach and I’m really hard pressed to imagine that the vast, vast majority of students (except perhaps theater, conservatory etc.) students need more than 10 well planned and researched apps total. </p>
<p>I agree that 10 should be enough! But there are individual circumstances where a couple more might be warranted. I don’t think there is a one size fits all number. But 10 is about right for most kids. </p>
<p>Eight worked great for us with both kids. Don’t forget that more means more $%& financial aid paperwork for parents, not just more application work for kids.</p>
<p>We have 8, too. Well researched and we visited all of them. </p>
<p>Irishmomof2, how many schools accepted your children?</p>
<p>I think more counseling on the front end would help. D2 will apply to seven total - state honors college (already accepted), reasonably selective high merit aid school (already accepted), ED reach, and four match/reach schools. Her merit aid safety is a good fit, and there honestly aren’t many other schools that will beat that.</p>
<p>Hopefully, she’ll get in to the ED reach. She’ll probably get in to two of the four others if she doesn’t and will, but there are enough reasonable straight EA schools around to minimize this practice.</p>
<p>I have students getting really poor independent counseling, and applying to 30+ schools, ostensibly to leverage aid offers. What they don’t get is that a school like Rice won’t care if a school like Vanguard gives you a full ride. (One example I’ve heard recently.) It is exhausting for them, and the applications really suffer.</p>
<p>@4kidsdad, you didn’t ask me, but I will answer as well. 
My oldest was accepted to 5 of the 7 she sent (she had 8 on her list, but did not send the last one in because she was accepted EA with merit money to a school she preferred to the last one on the list, so didn’t do the app). My second was accepted to all 8 she applied to.</p>
<p>We did leverage aid offers for D2, but between two highly ranked comparable schools.</p>
<p>My kids, as I wrote, also applied to 8 schools each. </p>
<p>D1: Accepted at 6, Waitlisted at 1, Deferred EA then rejected at 1.</p>
<p>D2: Accepted at 6, Priority Waitlisted at 1, Accepted to college, but deferred EA to program, then rejected to program at 1.</p>
<p>Now that it is 10 years later, I could see that applying to 10, rather than 8, might also be reasonable, given changes since then. But 8 worked well for my kids at the time.</p>
<p>My S is applying to 13 schools - mainly because they can’t be transparent enough with costs of admitting. Not happy to have to play this game and pay for more applications than necessary. And then of course the insane level of marketing from some schools skews the application rates so it’s very hard to determine exactly how selective a school really is. We did a lot of research, visited most, and he is happy with all of them so it will end up being a ‘bottom line’ decision. </p>
<p>I knew that, for undergrad, there was a point of diminishing returns but what sort of circumstances would warrant more than 14?</p>
<p>I think very few circumstances warrant more than 14, but I still believe there are individual circumstances. There may be some that involve chasing merit aid. Or students who are applying to more than one type of program where you are admitted directly into the major. For example, I have students who could not decide whether they preferred a BFA or a BA degree in Theater and this necessitated about 14 applications (approx. 7 to each type of degree program) so that they might end up with options of each type (and BFAs are extremely competitive). There are sorts of circumstances that are not the norm, so to speak, but I still believe that the majority of students can apply to 8 to 12 schools. And I believe that more than 14 is too many for almost anyone.</p>
<p>My kids are the ones who bring the average down. Each applied to one school. One is at an OOS flagship so we knew there would be no bargaining of aid. It had rolling admission, she was accepted in October, so no need to keep applying. Second child was also accepted early and did all her negotiating before committing.</p>
<p>Neither was tempted by offers of free applications. Neither wanted to spend hours on applications just to say they were accepted to 10 schools or received $thousands in merit offers. My nephew did this, and my sister goes on and on about how much he received in scholarship offers from schools he doesn’t attend. Who cares?</p>
<p>@4kidsdad - she sent them a week ago, so we are in waiting mode. </p>
<p>The only way I could see having my child apply to that many schools would be if she needed serious merit money from schools that don’t have a specific GPA/SAT cutoff for merit awards. The results can be so highly variable that it would be worth it to compare multiple offers.</p>
<p>Mine’s applying to 7- two reaches (one ED) three matches, and two likelies (one EA)</p>