How many college applications are too many?

Applying to College
101

<p>As a teacher, I've seen all kinds of numbers. One student two years ago applied to 14 schools -- did not get into all 14. Another student applied to 11, but she was going for theatre and needed to audition as part of the application process. The valedictorian this year only applied to three -- got into all three. Most of my students apply to four to six each year.</p>

<p>My son has 12 on his list -- as of this morning. He has four reach schools, but our guidance counselor has been great. Told him to go for applying to 12 schools, because many are top flight schools. Fortunately, two of the schools grant fee waivers because my husband and I graduated from those schools. It saves about $100, so students should look into finding out if there are any waivers granted. Sometimes if a student tours a school, the fee is waived.</p>

102

<p>How many can you afford, it is so very expensive? I would say five is enough, but do as many as you can if you can afford it that way you will have a good selection.</p>

103

<p>I think it all depends on you, especially your energy.
If you find a college you're really interested in, just apply for it!</p>

104

<p>my college adviser told me to apply to 2 reaches, 3 matches, and 2 safeties, but is applying to more "reach" schools okay?</p>

105

<p>you can apply to more reaches, no one's stopping you. it's just that if you're applying to more than like 3, I feel, you're not sure what you really want in a college</p>

106

<p>My personal opinion is that more than 10 is too many.</p>

107

<p>so basically its how many schools you can handle... so if i wanted to i could try my luck and apply to 15 reaches 3 matches 2 safeties and the only thing in question would be my will to write another essay</p>

108

<p>I applied to 8 schools, 2 reaches (applied EA, got in RD), 1 lower reach, 2 match , 3 safeties ( cuz I was paranoid... this was based on my school's counselor eval, they are generally pretty conservative with this) i was very lucky and got into all of them. My dad was asking me why i didn't try the HYPS. If i got into all my schools that means I didn't push my limit enough. Well, i simply won't fit in the HYPS, and I wouldn't like to go to those places, not for learning how to build the future (aka Engineering XP)
The thing with college apps is that if you are apply a lot of them " for the heck of it", you are doing something wrong.
If you want to spend $70-80 dollars applying so each school, AT LEAST do your hw first. research EACH school that you plan to apply to. Make sure where you apply to is really where you would like to be. each schools is different and they look for different things in their students. If you really like them even after research , then go ahead and apply, or else scratch it off your list. IF you do your research, you'll also be able to write better apps.Even if you are one of the stellar students, don't apply to all the ivies just because they are ivies and you have good stats, apply to them because you like the school's culture or something. Know why you really like the school; you'll need to know it during your interviews, and it can be shown through other parts of your app. don't apply to a bunch and try to "fish" for acceptance letters, it generally don't work too well. If you are really a very competitive applicant to like the top schools, wouldn't you be busy enough with all your APs and clubs etc. No need to do apps for school that you don't care about.</p>

<p>Even though i applied to only 8, I thought still it was very excess. The excitement of getting in gets old pretty fast, like after the 2nd big letter. I didn't even really look at my safeties. I felt really bad declining their admissions.</p>

<p>If your safeties are really safeties... like 90% ish chance and matches are 50 to 60% chance ish
i think
2 safe, 2 match, and how ever many reaches that you REALLY REALLY want to go to (like at least like them more than your match schools).</p>

<p>with college admission stuff</p>

<p>expect NOTHING ( even from your safeties), but hope for EVERYTHING</p>

109

<p>
[quote]
^ Think about it this way, PhoenixStar. You can only attend ONE school in the fall. Having your options is nice, but at the end of the day, you can only go to ONE school. Is it worth it to easily spend thousands of dollars applying to 14 colleges for one school? </p>

<p>More so, I honestly don't think that you can have an invested interest in all 17 colleges (what's your list anyway?). Of course, you're free to do as you wish, but I think that in the end, your time, money, and effort doesn't match the idea that you can only go into one school.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>It's not so much an issue of keeping my options open as needing more information. As they are mostly really really selective, I don't know where I will get in. Additionally, I don't know what my financial situation will be by next Spring (my father recently lost his job), and I don't know how exactly any of the colleges will treat my financial situation, thus I feel the need to apply to financial safties.</p>

<p>I don't want to bore everyone with the reasons that I am interested in all 17 of the colleges that I'm interested in, although I can explain them all if you really care, but the list is: Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Wellesley, Barnard, Middlebury, Pomona, Amherst, Williams, Macalester, Oberlin, Carleton, Scripps, Grinnell, Brown, Whitman, Pitzer, and UC Davis.</p>

110

<p>rainynight- Well said. You certainly display the right perspective on applications. From reading these boards, it does seem that it is the parents who promote the shotgun approach, especially with regard to the ivies and Stanford and MIT. I am copying your comments for my younger S's college information file. Thanks! I bet your teachers and counselors appreciated your efforts in making wise selections.</p>

111

<p>To PhoenixStar: If you can afford it, I suggest that you try to do 3 college visit trips (east coast schools being most important because most of the schools on your list are on the east coast). One east coast, one midwest, and one California visit. You will be able to narrow down your list after you see more schools. I can't emphasize how much of a difference it makes when you see the schools in person and how you feel you fit. My son eliminated schools when we went to visit--the fit was just not right. Also, my son decided on the school he is going to attend from visiting the school and liking everything he saw there. College visits make a difference. Also, try to narrow down your choices or you may have a stressful senior year filling out many applications and looking for teachers to fill out the recommendation forms plus doing your homework-activities as well.</p>

112

<p>Fortunately, the Common Application will be a huge help with multiple applications. Your GC will love any student using the Common App!</p>

<p>As a parent and teacher, students often ask the question, "How many?" First, I tell them to see our guidance people for assistance. Then, if they ask what has been my experience in numbers, I tell them that most kids in our school prefer to stay in state -- some for financial reasons, some because the state schools are excellent.</p>

<p>I instructed my son, who is a rising senior, to fill out his applications early. (I also told him that I'm not made of money and he will share in some of the cost for the applications -- he's cool with this).</p>

<p>This early completion will please the guidance people, who are under so much pressure to get transcripts, etc. in the mail on time. I also tell kids that if they fill everything out a little early, and then suddenly they want to add one school, they can. The essays already will be done, and so will the app -- if it's Common App. Last year, I had a student add a school at the last minute. (He did not get into his first choice, and he was not sold on his backups) In the end, he picked the school that he added at the last minute.</p>

113

<p>I'm applying to 7 at the most (3 super reaches, 3 reach/matches, 1 safety) and I'd apply to more, but what about recommendations? This may seem like a silly question, but what if you have 3 good teachers you feel confident in...can they type the recs and print them and copy them, or do I have to bug them to write tons of recs?</p>

114

<p>Cafelalo: First, I recommdn that you add one more safety. Things can and do go wrong and seemingly a safety school one year can shift, paperwork gets lost, etc.</p>

<p>Second, you should assume that for each school a separate rec will be needed. Many colleges have a specific form that they want filled out. Your teachers may attach a personal rec letter to them, but because of this separate form requirement, it is additional work for them.</p>

<p>All the requirements of submitting an application do vary depending on the school...all the more reason to start looking at what's needed NOW. Somebody mentioned in another post the value of requesting your recs from teachers/counselors early. When there are so many students applying to so many places, you can assure yourself a little less craziness in the process by requesting these EARLY. </p>

<p>Another critical suggestion: Make sure that one of your earliest applications is a rolling admissions school is really somewhere you could be happy. I've witnessed (2 kids who went through this) how much it takes the pressure off early, and how it can reduce the overall list of applications you may find necessary.</p>

<p>There are many good suggestions on this thread.</p>

115

<p>PhoenixStar, your list makes sense to me in general as a starting place, but it definitely could be pruned. For example, I doubt that you need to apply to both Pitzer <em>and</em> Scripps. Barnard is the only really urban school on the list: do you really want that environment? Similarly, Swarthmore is reputedly very intense, while the rest of your choices, even the most intellectual among them, are more laid back. Do you really see yourself at Swarthmore? Do you really want to apply to Grinnell and Oberlin and Carleton? Williams <em>and</em> Middlebury? Couldn't you eliminate one or two?</p>

<p>Arranging them into most likely through biggest reach might help you narrow them down a bit, too. Which of these are your safeties and how safe are they? One question to ask yourself about a reach or reachy match is "If I got into this school and my safety, would I rather go to the safety?" If the answer is yes, then you should probably eliminate the reach.</p>

<p>I concur with visiting if possible. That may help you narrow it down.</p>

116

<p>Handling many apps does not just mean getting the essays done. It's keeping track of the schools, showing interest (particularly the smaller colleges), visits, interviews, sending additional info as it comes up. Also my kids have had some nasty surprises in terms of the supplements to the common and state apps. You can fit a lot of essay type questions even on a one page supplement.</p>

117

<p>I think i am going with 2 safeties, 2/3 matches and then like 6/7 reaches.<br>
I think that the sky is the limit. I mean if you can financially do it....go for it...thats what other people are doing. And i would be happy to go to any of these schools. I keep going back and forth between all of them as my top choices. So i think i will just see who wants me then decide from there.</p>

118

<p>Applications are costly in terms of time to write them, time to handle the paperwork/administration (thanks cptofthehouse), and financial cost. </p>

<p>If there were no cost at all, one of the earlier posters (galoisen) is largely correct. This is a multi-person prisoner's dilemma in which each player benefits if the other players on average apply to fewer schools than he or she does. If I apply to 5 schools and have a 20% probability of getting in to each (all other things equal), the expected number of schools I'll get into is 1. If I and all of the other comparable applicants were going to apply to five but instead all apply to 10, we have done nothing to increase our chances of getting in. Now, my chance of getting in to any particular school has dropped in half to 10%. The expected number of admissions for me is still 1. However, predictability has declined. If on the other hand, everybody but me applies to 5 schools and I apply to 20, the number of expected admissions is 4 (assuming that the probability of getting in if everyone applies to 5 schools is .2). So, homo economics hopes the other folks only apply to five and he applies to more. Since everyone's situation is largely symmetric, everyone else follows the same logic and the number of applications should ratchet upward.</p>

<p>As far as I can tell, the constraints on this are time and cost. You only have so much time and you will dilute your efforts if applying to 20 schools will cause you to submit mediocre applications because you don't have enough time to devote to the individualized aspects of the applications. I heard from friends that Tufts has 8 separate individualized essays (I think). I don't think there is any clearing house that enables one school to know where else you've applied, so I think the only negative consequences of lots of applications are time -- you need to do well in your courses and need to do a good job on each application -- and financial cost.</p>

<p>It is also worth noting that in the luck event that someone gets into lots of the 20 schools to which they applied, people often do better with fewer choices than with more (See an interesting book by Barry Schwarz called The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less).</p>

<p>I don't think there is a "right" number. It depends on how much time you have to devote to writing the applications well and administering the process as well as your sensitivity to financial cost. [Some here are financially constrained and others are not]. But, over time, the number of applicants/school overall has increased with globalization and with the number of schools/applicant has also increased substantially. Thus, the optimal number has to increase (unless you know where you are going and are sure to get in).</p>

119

<p>I'd say that if one applies to five schools each of which has a 20% acceptance rate, there is an 80% chance that one will end up taking a gap year. :)</p>

120

<p>Apply to as many as you want. It's better to try and fail than to never try at all.</p>