<p>More than 8/9 makes it difficult to give each school the attention it deserves. Instead spend the time figuring out which schools are truly the right fit. This requires multiple visits and research, an impossible feat when the lists gets too long.</p>
<p>Consolation,</p>
<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>
<p>I agree. I was only using the numbers to make the calculations easy. It wouldn't be wise to apply to only five schools to which one's probability of acceptance was .2 for each one. If admission to each school was independent, the probability of getting in no place would be .8 to the 5th power or about .33. But, if they were not independent, it would rise. Only if admissions to each school was perfectly correlated with the others would the probability of not getting in anywhere be .8. But, somewhere between 33% and 80% of getting in no place would be a bad strategy.</p>
<p>I'm planning to apply to:
2 Safeties (UNC-CH, University of Chicago)
1-2 Match(es) (Duke)
4 Reaches (HYPM) </p>
<p>Is that fine?</p>
<p>My sons applied to 10 each. The supplements for some of them were killers. The big surprise this year were the SUNY supplements. Son thought it was so great he could apply to 5 SUNYs on one app. Then he found out that they had supplements. Son1 got plowed with the GW supplement, Son2 was blown away by UMich's performing arts supplement which he started the night before the deadline for first audition. Not good when you are faced with an essay question you have never seen when you are tired and it's a half hour till the deadline! The interviews are time consuming as well, and if you are applying to highly selective schools, you will have them with area reps and alums. Keep in mind that as you work on all of these apps, visits, interviews, you are going to be having a tough senior year and all of the things that it entails. That mid year transcript can be the deal breaker for select school admissions.</p>
<p>UChicago is NOT a safety.
It really isn't. Unless you get in early... then it can be your "backup" but it is NOT to be considered a safety school. Same with UNC out of state.</p>
<p>UNC Is instate legacy. I didn't mean to put UChicago as a safety LOL. I'll have to wait until at least my junior year though to know whether it's a match or reach.</p>
<p>I spent all Christmas vacation typing up essays.</p>
<p>Routine was like this:</p>
<p>Type essays for 12 hours
Surf college websites for research (for essays and other app stuff) for 6 hours
Sleep for 6 hours
Eat/bathe/brush teeth/daily maintenance -- 2 hours.</p>
<p>Repeat for 9-10 days.</p>
<p>Most productive vacation of my life.</p>
<p>And this was already on a sort last-minute app thing, so I think it is quite possible to give full attention to 15-25 apps. It'd be major stress of course, but who cares about that?</p>
<p>Better to do it while you do your early apps, and have the extras ready to go. Maybe a productive vacation, but what a way to spend the holiday! And if it is under the pall of early deferrals and rejection, it can really be tough to do enthusiastic apps. Also kids of this age can develop mood disorders from all sorts of things and the stress of college apps can do it. You don't want to have these things hanging over your head. That's another reason why so many apps is not such a hot idea. THey can stress you out, as you receive correspondence and calls and info on them. You don't want to get into a funk while interviewing, visiting, writing essays, etc.</p>
<p>A year ago, I would've said apply to as many as you think is necessary. I myself applied to 12, I think. Now, after having gone through the process, I have this to say:</p>
<p>Don't waste your money.</p>
<p>Sure, you might get into all 12, but consider these factors:
The cost
The distance from home
The campus social life
The quality of your major
The quality of the teachers
The chance you have of getting in
How much you actually want to attend that school</p>
<p>It seems exciting and smart, to apply to a bunch of schools, so you'll have loads of options, and won't be pigeon-holed into one school come mid-spring. However, you're in one of the most competitive years for college applications. Only the best are accepted into the best schools (a score over 2200 no longer makes you 'special and different', although to non-college admission officiers, it can seem impressive). </p>
<p>Also, is it really worth it to spend over a thousand dollars (taking and sending the SAT 1 & Subject tests, ACT, mailing application materials, application fees, SAT prep classes, etc) on applying, when you will only attend ONE college in the end? Think how else that money could be used.</p>
<p>This summer, look long and hard to find the schools that you love, and would attend in a heartbeat if given the chance. Apply to 6 - 2 max reach schools, 2 safeties, 2 middles. Don't get caught up in the application hype.</p>
<p>I am the type that really gets anxious and because I have a couple of things I'm interested in majoring I thus have got a huge list of universities. </p>
<p>Haven't decided on matches and safeties but applying for HYPSM, Caltech and Chicago as reaches.</p>
<p>Dude! if you really are the Harvard, Yale, and Princeton type, you probably won't even give Caltech a look. Not saying Caltech is bad, but it is totally different.
Haven't your counselors told you to not pick colleges base on majors? About 80% of the people change their majors in college. Many people change it multiple times.
Do a lil research before just saying HYPSM.
Understand the culture in each school. It makes a HUGE difference.
You might not feel it now, but when you have to decide which ones you'll attend, it can make you dislike even the top ranked schools.</p>
<p>I think the more the merier for several reasons:</p>
<p>First, getting into many schools gives you the choice.</p>
<p>It also allows you better back up if you get rejected at more places than you anticipated. These days, with application numbers multiplying every year and competitiveness increasing I think it is worth getting as much as you can out of the application process. </p>
<p>It can also be a very fun and rewarding experience getting into different institutions and comparing your results.</p>
<p>I applied to 16 schools in 2005 and got into 11 so I had a large variety of colleges to choose from. I got into Bowdoin, Colgate, Trinity, Middlebury, Wash. U. in St. Louis, American University, G.U, Connecticut College, Hamilton, Bucknell, and Tufts.</p>
<p>And got rejected from Brown, Columbia, Mcgill, Georgetown, Princeton.</p>
<p>I ended up choosing Middlebury. I'm glad I had so many choices and the extra work of completing every application was definitely worth it. The essays were great fun.</p>
<p>I applied to 10 reaches and 2 matches which probably wasn't the best choice..</p>
<p>7 is a basic amount too much is 20. I applied to 14, it depends on you. Even if you think a school is amatch for you it may turn out not to be. I was surprised.</p>
<p>our school has a policy that only allows students to apply to ten schools. they say its too much paperwork for them when students apply to more than ten.</p>
<p>I learned from one Korean applicant that it was "the tradition" at his school for all top students to apply to 20 schools, including all Ivies. One might see an ever-escalating spiral as competition gets tougher and tougher.</p>
<p>As with oil prices these days, however, we might also wonder if this 20-something-applications mania is a bubble that will eventually burst like the dot-com bubble did.</p>
<p>
[quote]
As with oil prices these days, however, we might also wonder if this 20-something-applications mania is a bubble that will eventually burst like the dot-com bubble did.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>It will only burst once we pass the current peak in the number of college age applicants and admission becomes more predictable. As long as admission rates to top colleges continue to hover around 10-15% there is no reason for students eager to get into a selective college to reduce the number of applications they file.</p>
<p>P.S: I don't think the majority view is that the high oil prices reflect a bubble that will burst anytime soon. It anything it may be very prudent to see high oil prices as a permanent fixture.</p>
<p>I applied to 9 and I still feel like that was too many- not due to applications, but by the time I had thought up my list, there wasn't time to visit all the schools before sending in applications. Keep in mind that aspect as well- I'm sure it's easier if you pick schools near you and/or can drive yourself instead of depending on a ride (neither applied to me), but I can't imagine that it's easy for anyone to visit and properly research 20-25 schools.</p>
<p>If I could do it all over again, I'd remove 4 schools from my list (not because of numbers- they ended up not being schools I wanted to go to), leaving me with a safety, two matches, a high match/low reach, and a super-reach. There were 3 schools that I later regretted not looking into more/visiting, and assuming I liked them all and applied, my formula would've looked something like this:</p>
<p>2 safeties (1 academic only, 1 academic + financial)
2 matches
3 high matches/low reaches
1 uber-reach that I probably paid to laugh at my application last winter</p>
<p>I still don't know whether, in my "if I could relive the end of my junior year and beginning of my senior year" scenario, if I'd talk myself out of applying to the uber-reach, but there you have it.</p>
<p>
[quote]
but by the time I had thought up my list, there wasn't time to visit all the schools before sending in applications.
[/quote]
If you're applying to top 25 type schools just reverse the order ... research schools ... apply to schools with "fit" without visiting. Say you apply to 10 top schools and get into 2 or 3 (which would be better than expected) ... then visit those 2 or 3 ... should be quite doable. Of course if you actually get into 6 or 7 that would screw up the visit plan but what a great "problem" to have!</p>
<p>you might be looking at the wrong info, it doesnt reduce chances just less people get into the school because of the increased number of applicants and the schools become more selective</p>
<p>as i am also looking to start applying this summer, is the number basically btwn 5-10? also whast the point of applying to a reach or super reach school, do they even let ppl that arent neccessarily super qualified in?</p>