<p>As @oldfort mentioned, “safeties” are now no longer safeties if your stats are strong! They have become virtual reaches! And true reaches are anyways unpredictable. Given a choice, any student, and a strong student more so, would like to go to a top school (top is according to them), and I doubt “fit” will play much of a role in this. Hence, I would think that they will apply to all/most/many top schools (Ivies/Stanford/MIT/…), in the hope that one (or more) will click. Next for matches, they may apply to a few, but I suspect they may be disappointed if they have to go to a match school. Finally, since safeties have become “virtual reaches” for such students, they have to apply to more than a minimum number of safeties! For some strong students, a gap year may be preferable to joining a safety!</p>
<p>I agree with folks who say “fit” is overrated. If you dont think Harvard is a fit for you, and if by some miracle they admit you, what is the likely hood of you rejecting Harvard using “fit” as a reason?</p>
<p>Re 106, the Times article that inspired this thread reports that the record on Naviance is 86. </p>
<p>Re Harvard student rankings. True, if you grade on a curve there will be quantiles. But in terms of mastering the material, everyone could do well. I’m sure the medical school admits no one they think can’t become more than a competent doctor. </p>
<p>Another consideration is that it’s a lot harder to get into Harvard than to stay in Harvard. And just as I used to play my best tennis against better players, if your ego can stand it, it’s good to match wits with superior intellects. </p>
<p>I just skimmed a few pages but it seems many people think 10-14 is the new “normal.” Yikes. I’m glad my boring children (each applied to 3, as I recall) are all out of the nest. </p>
<p>our oldest decided on 4 safeties, 4 matches and 4 reaches. But he was admitted EA to school that was btw a match and a reach so he dropped the safeties and one match for five more reaches (mostly ivies). intellectually, sounded like a good idea but after he was rejected/waitlisted at all his reaches, we realized it was an ego-bruising experience.</p>
<p>our middle child may apply to more than 12 schools. He’s looking at small liberal arts schools, we’ve visited about 25 schools in the east but we didn’t want to spend the time and money to visit indiana, michigan, etc. So he’ll apply to 12 schools he’s seen and 2-3 he hasn’t. If he gets in, we’ll visit the schools he hasn’t seen.</p>
<p>Because just because a school isn’t a perfect fit doesn’t mean it is a bad one, and people have a wide enough range of preferences that a school might be a bad fit in some respects is a good fit in others. Sure, a genderqueer vegan socialist probably wants and needs a pretty specific type of atmosphere. Most kids desires aren’t that extreme. </p>
<p>Plus, obviously you don’t actually know what your choices are going to be until you get your decisions. A kid who really wants to go to Brown might be a great fit for Wesleyan, but if she doesn’t get into Brown, I don’t think it is foolish to decide that Columbia, while less of an obvious fit than either of the others, has advantages that would make it worth choosing. Sure, she might want to avoid really obvious mismatches like MIT or Washington & Lee, but that still leaves a heck of a lot of schools to apply to. </p>
<p>My d, who has multiple nationalities, applied to 11 unis in 4 countries. The exploration of options was a fascinating project - and the disparities in costs were astonishing.</p>
<p>I think “fit” is very important and must be taken into account, particularly for advanced students. E.g., Oxbridge starts off with a “major” and is intensely individualistic, with 2-3 essays a week and intimate discussion of them with a top expert. Harvard has amazing resources, but it is easy to get “lost” there without the savvy (largely class based) and distinctive motivation. </p>
<p>Students I am working with are applying to 8-10 schools, and are looking for aid. There are ways to target schools that will likely make attendance affordable.</p>
<p>Lower numbers are also probably regional. The admissions landscape last year in my town was crazy, with kids getting rejected and waitlisted from what should have been safeties.</p>
<p>TheGFG–as more kids apply to more schools, it’s a vicious circle. More kids inevitably get rejected and waitlisted from what should have been safeties.</p>
<p>I think there are a couple of factors that might lead to many applications</p>
<p>The first – how much financial aid do you need? Although many schools use similar formulae, there are differences. Also, if one needs merit money, applying to many schools may be essential.</p>
<p>Second – how important is it for the student to go to a very highly ranked school (say top 20 or 25 in USNWR). The admissions rates on these schools are miniscule (many or most below 20%), so if we call them reach for everyone, I can see applying to 5 or 10 of these just to make the numbers game work.</p>
<p>Fit – responding to the “would you reject Harvard if it wasn’t a fit”. Both my daughters did just that – specifically they rejected the school by choosing not to apply.</p>
<p>Personal experience – Eldest daughter applied to Two schools. Her #3 or #4 choice had a program where they accepted her in early October, Then her #1 choice (ED) accepted her in Dec.</p>
<p>Younger daughter – applied to 10. Process was helped when a couple of safety-match schools admitted her EA, so she could focus on the “Reach for Everyone’s”</p>
<p>@scsiguru the reach schools ds applied to give the most aid to the middle class. I agree with Hunt for top stat kids who are looking at HYP etc. you may need quite a few reaches. For my oldest number one priority was decent computer science, for me, I wanted him to be in an environment where he was not the smartest kid in the room. </p>
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