<p>I'm a junior, and right now I have 35 schools on my list. I will definitely remove some before it comes time to apply, but i find it so difficult to do so because i see it as limiting my options (also, i'm pretty weak academically, so i need A LOT of good safeties). So, ultimately i think i might be applying to about 20 schools.. is this too many? How many is too many:? is a number like this just plain ridiculous?</p>
<p>Well, 20 is quite a lot in my opinion. I think you should at least cut your list down to the lower-teens because you want to do a first-rate job on each and every application and put considerable care and attention into them. In addition, the app. fees for 20 schools are going to be ridiculous (unless you are eligible for fee waivers). I was in your same situation--I am also a pretty weak student compared to most of the people on this board (1350 old SAT, 3.35 w GPA), so I felt like I needed a lot of safeties b/c I expected many rejections. At one point I had 40ish colleges on my list. I ended up applying to 15, and got into most of them. It is not necessary to apply to many safeties, since you are almost guaranteed to get into them. I recommend you visit the schools to get an idea of what college environment is right for you, and what is not, this might help you narrow the list down. Also, try brainstorming the characteristics of your ideal college and find ones that are a good match academically and socially.</p>
<p>if you don't mind my asking.. what schools did u end up applying to? what schools accepted you out of those?</p>
<p>20 is DEFINITELY too many! Realistically, you should cut down to a final number of 8, even less if possible, maybe 10 tops. Please take it from someone who just finished going through this whole process ... and applied to too many ... you really don't need to apply to so many schools.</p>
<p>Be very realistic, take a good at your list and weed it out. Make sure you research the subject/major you're considering. Then think about location, size, atmosphere, and especially cost. </p>
<p>Multiple applications result in a lot of $ spent on application fees, essays, recs from your teachers, etc.</p>
<p>In the end you will only go to one school. Try to narrow it down to the one's that are the best fit for YOU.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>If you choose wisely and have a couple of definite safties (which you will be happy at) you should not have to apply to any more than 10... I have heard from several people that 5-8 applications is a good number...(Besides, think about it: 20 applications at a fee of say, $40... Not only will that cost $800; think about all of the stress and time put into fillinf out all those applications.... Just know which schools are a good match for you.</p>
<p>I also think 20 is too much. You'll lose a lot of money and time, time that you could be spending on improving applications to your desired schools. Also with 20, you could possibly have a more difficult time of deciding schools in the end. That's my opinion. I bet if you visited some of them, that list would narrow</p>
<p>While we all have differing views on how many is right, most will agree 20 is far too many. I say 12 at the absolute most. the problem (besides the money) is that having half the amount means more time for each application. You really have to find what you want in a school, and visit,</p>
<p>20 definitely seems like too many. You need to be able to spend time and focus on each and every app. Choose 3-4 from each category (safety, match and reach) and you should have a great choice in the end. Look for schools that put heavy admission weight on your strengths. Applying early in the year to a rolling admission safety school is a great way to relieve some of the stress of this process. Once you have that first acceptance under your belt, you will be able to relax and will have more confidence when completing your other apps. If you visit a few different schools now, you may be able to narrow down your list based on the characteristics that you like and don't like. Good luck-the fact that you have a list and are asking questions is a big step in the right direction.</p>
<p>I applied to 20 schools and I have not regretted it at all. I ended up with many options at the end and it was well worth it.</p>
<p>My friend applied to 12, and he said that was way too many. Another friend only applied to 2.</p>
<p>I applied to ten (everyone thought that was way too many). I know one girl who applied to ONE school (no safeties, the school was Furman Univ) and was accepted (<em>breathes sigh of relief, no community college for her!</em>). One guy I know applied to thirteen. But the vast majority of my friends and classmates were in the three-five range. </p>
<p>35 is a heck of a lot. Even fifteen is a lot. </p>
<p>Best wishes, whichever you choose.</p>
<p>Applying to a rolling safety very early in the process is a really good idea because that means you'll get your result before you have to submit rd. If you get into 1 safety, you really won't need the rest</p>
<p>35 schools is a lot.</p>
<p>If you have the money and time, then by all means go for it! But writing 20 different essays for colleges doesn't seem like fun to me (unless you luck out with similar topics...)</p>
<p>It is recommended that you keep it between 6-10 where at least 1 is a safety, one/two is/are reaches, and various competiveness in between. If you file your FAFSA, you get only six spaces (but you can get more by changing FAFSA after it is filed).</p>
<p>Well, I applied to 13. In my opinion, it really depends on how much of a chance you think u can get into the schools you want. If you are aiming for far-reaching schools, you should definitely apply to between 10 and 15 - because they will eventually (and hopefully) give you more choices.</p>
<p>basiclly... 1-2 safety, 2-3 match, then as many reach as you want. you can apply to all the ivy and ivy +, then all the top 5 LACs... really... ivies and such are reaches for everybody since they reject so many perfectsatactgpaecs, so its a crapshot, ur buying urself more % chances by applying to MORE and EARLY... </p>
<p>think about it this way... u get 2 shots per school if u apply early, then 20 reaches gives you 40 shots, makes u a lot luckier than if u just applied to 5 (HYPSM) schools regular, only 5 shots. </p>
<p>WARNING: but if u dont reallly CARE about what school u go to... like u'd settle for something norma (NYU, UMICH, etc) then dont go through this trouble... this is only for prestige freaks who want to go to an extremely hard to get into school</p>
<p>Masha - the most important schools on your list should be your safety or "sure bet" schools. Choose a group of schools where your stats make you a very safe bet to be accepted. Then amongst that group, spend a lot of time visiting, researching, and deciding which 2 of these schools you truly like, and can see yourself atteding happily. Once you spent a lot of time doing that, then you can turn to the target and reach schools. Spend time choosing those, too. So long as you have selected your sure-bet schools wisely, the rest should fall into place a little easier (since you would have by then figured out more of what you like in schools), and the stress will be off a bit. The poster who suggested an early application to a rolling admissions schools made a very good point.</p>
<p>BTW, I would ignore xokandykyssesox. Anyone who says if you don't care about what school you go to, and would merely "settle" for NYU or UMich, doesn't deserve much attention.</p>
<p>if you're in california i can u nderstand why you have so many schools on your list, you just have one uc application for many.</p>
<p>I had a huge number of schools on my list at this time last year, and I took a big road trip all along the east coast to visit most of them. I'd recommend doing something like that--they all sound pretty great in the brochures, but I knocked several of my list as soon as i visited. I really had no idea what my chances were like for the colleges I applied to or what things were important to look at, and I needed a lot of financial aid, so I applied to 10 schools, with 2 in state safeties and 2 more that I liked a lot and was fairly sure I'd get into. If you need financial aid or don't have a great record, I would say applying to 8-14 would be reasonable. Not all colleges even require an essay and you'll probably be able to use one essay for most of them, you can pretty much use the same recommendations for all of them, most will use a common application or online app that is pretty easy to fill out. I thought financial aid applications were way more trouble than the regular applications and supplements, so if you will need financial aid, keep in mind that there will be a lot of things to fill out for that too. Also, some colleges waive the fee for online applicants, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to find out which colleges do that and leave them on the list.</p>
<p>I applied to 15 schools... I consider this the biggest mistake I made in the college admissions process. I eneded up spening massive amounts of time writing essays for the ENDLESS numbers of supplements which added to the stress of admissions. Also the application fees REALLY add up. And in the end I got accepted to way more school then I needed to and had to limit them down more anyway. I would reccomend 1-2 safeties, 3-4 matches, and 2-3 reaches</p>