How many colleges did you apply to?

S applied to 7. Had a first and second choice school, but liked all of them on his list and it was great luck that they all were EA with the exception of his first choice ED school. He had three other schools on his list that he had considered if he did not get accepted to his first choice school, but was quickly accepted with a nice scholarship to his second choice, and decided he’d simply go there instead. This ended his process very quickly, and relatively inexpensively since he got application fee waivers for a number of the schools, and he only took the SATs once. The main expense and work in this process was picking which schools should go on his list, since visits figured into the process. It’s amazing to me that less than a year ago, he had not an inkling about many schools that were serious contenders. He actually liked all of the schools to which he applied, enough so that going to any of them were serious considerations and he says he’d be happy at them. Or the app process was odious enough to him that he’d rather go to them than have to apply to more schools.

Seven, one early decision reach, one regular decision low-reach, three matches and two safety schools with no supplements or application fees. I actually haven’t completed the applications to my safeties because I’ve been accepted to one of my matches, so idk if they count.

10

MIT, Caltech, GA Tech, Umich Early (Deferred at MIT and Caltech, Accepted at GA Tech and Umich)

Columbia, Harvard, Upenn, WashU, JHU, Vanderbilt Regular

D applied to only one school—ED. BUT she did a lot of homework upfront, including visiting something like 20 campuses. At one point there were approximately 25 schools on her list.

Because of family circumstances, it would have been very hard for her to do all that it would have taken to apply to multiple schools. But since she put the work into her decision ahead of time, she’ll be going to a school she loves at a reasonable COA.

12 programs at 11.5 universities (one is a dual-degree between two schools)
Half are reaches and half are safeties.

I applied to 22 schools(!)
3 Ivies
2 in state safeties
5 high ranking LACs
2 big OOS public universities for merit scholarships
10 mid range private schools for merit scholarships
Sending scores, plus application fees and fees for the CSS profile added up to be a lot of money, but for me it is essential to have a lot of strong options before I make my decision. Since most of my school’s took the commonapp, applying to all 22 wasn’t nearly as difficult as everyone said it would be. Also, I was able to recycle essays and a lot of these places were free to apply to. So far, I’ve gotten into every school I’ve heard from, and recieved some pretty substantial scholarships. But, filling out FA forms for 22 schools is a HUGE pain (probably the worst part)

Cornell ED- Rejected!!(Wanted to be, after I realized I had the wrong idea in mind when I applied, after a week)

Purdue CAS- Accepted(WORST case scenario school, will most likely not be attending)

Harvard- meh, applied cuz my parents wanted me to- waiting

Brown- OPEN CURRICULUM IS BAE! First Choice- waiting

Johns Hopkins- 3rd choice-waiting

Carnegie Mellon- 2nd choice- waiting

Vandy- Researched the school while waiting for my interviewer- waiting

Dartmouth- Good school, not my top choice though- waiting

WUSTL- Randomly applied- waiting

NYU- Great school, top 7 in my list- waiting

UMICH- see NYU

Duke- 4th choice- waiting

Canadian Schools:

UofT(3 programs): accepted to all 3, and into Innis(smallest residence).

Queens(3 programs)- Accepted to computer science, just submitted supplement yesterday

Waterloo(3 programs)- DREAM back up school, best bang for my buck school(first choice should none of my top US schools accept me)

Western University: Accepted(crappy school) will most likely not be attending.

McMaster University: meh

28 …17 were Tuition Exchange and 11 were other colleges not associated with tuition exchange. Affordability (full tuition coverage) will be key deciding factor. So far, 4 full tuition offers ( 2 from tuition exchange schools and 2 from non tuition exchange colleges).

Er it’s at 14 now. Will probably end up being 16-18.

All 10 ‘classic reaches’ (8 ivies + MIT and Stanford), however my counselor put Cornell and Brown as ‘possiblies’ rather than ‘reaches’ due to my school’s history with them

2 ‘high-matches’ (JHU and GTown)

2 ‘Likelies/Safeties’ (GW and BU)

I will probably add 2-4 more ‘likelies’ or ‘medium to low matches’ that I’m in love with later. At this point I’d be absolutely over the moon, indescribably ecstatic at admissions to any of 12 of the 14 and very happy with the other 2.

I don’t need flak over the 10 classic elitist schools that I applied to lol. I’m willing to do a lot of writing this summer in order to put a lot of time into each of them, and I think that’s all that matters.

Nine

1 public in state (safety)
2 public out of state (safety, reach)
1 private in state (match)
3 private out only state (safety, match, reach)
2 ivies (reach, reach)

Son applied to 6 schools:
3 reach OOS
2 safety’s in State
1 in state possible reach
First child going off to college. Think we might change a few things when it’s my daughters turn. Son heard back from all schools. Got into 5 of the 6 schools! Done decision made

D applied to 19 schools: 6 Reaches, 1 EDII (rejected), waiting on the other 5. 9 matches with 1 acceptance and 1 deferral, waiting on 7 RD, and 4 safeties, all accepted with top merit $$.

Would this happen again? No way. I advocated for the wide net and still agree with that premise, but there has to be a limit. What D didn’t admit was that there are schools on her list that meet the criteria for safety EXCEPT she wouldn’t be happy there. There are at least four or five schools she should never have applied: Two reaches, one match, and two safeties. Why would we not do it again? Its what someone said pages back…its not just the app fees and the essays, its the financial aid and documentation that is overwhelming. I’m Type A, over-achiever, super organized, and I feel overwhelmed with this job.

I just spent another couple of hours this morning making corrections to the CSS Profile and getting ready to email, fax, or snail mail to about 12 schools tomorrow. Trying to get the CPA to get our taxes done in a timely manner was excruciatingly frustrating although I had fore-warned her back in October and had everything ready for her weeks ago. I picked them up this morning, ugg, only to find out that she used my maiden name and they need to be corrected. Add another one hour round trip in the morning and then the copying for non-IDOC schools and then mailers.

I then went back to the FAFSA and made corrections there as well. Its pretty easy to determine income from a W2 form but the small business figures made it difficult. I’m glad I went back in, it lowered my EFC by more than $1000. But again, now I have to wait for the first 10 schools to be processed and go back in to do the others in a few days.

So, take this as a warning!!! Be prepared to spend hours upon hours keeping everything on track, trying to meet deadlines and doing all those other things for EACH and EVERY school. I have spreadsheets everywhere lol. I think I finally see the light…

I applied to nine schools!

2 safeties (already got in with honors/scholarships)
4 matches/reaches
3 dream schools

I haven’t found out where I’m going yet, so I can’t really say if I wish I applied to more schools or not. It really matters if I get into one of my matches/reaches! Then again, I really like one of my safeties and already received $24000 in merit aid.

Just read an article in the NY times that said the average today is 14 (meaning the middle- people go way below and way above). It said the average in our parents day was 7.

You do realize we’re all biting ourselves in the asses by applying to so many schools? That is why applications are increasing at huge rates at all of these places. People apply to have another possibility, another brand name, another ivy, another safety, another match, another LAC, another in-state, another public university without interest or a real desire to go there (I am not guilty free. I got anxious and applied to some other schools last minute to improve my odds of getting in somewhere).

And people do what I did too.

And because of that, I might get in somewhere I don’t have interest in and they’ll reject someone who really wants to go there. And vice versa.

And colleges having two early decisions is not helping. They should have one date, not as early as ED I but not as late as ED II and if they don’t have ED- then one early action period.

Honestly, I think everyone should have a supplementary essay- with a word max but no min that asks why you want to go to this school and what do you see yourself doing and contributing to it. That would weed out a lot of the people who aren’t really interested.

Less people would apply and yields for the schools would improve. Everywhere would be slightly less competitive.

I know someone that applied to 32 schools and ended up not going to college- she decided to do a leadership program in South Africa for two years instead.

And every school should move to common app and they should reduce the number of schools they allow you to apply to to a more reasonable number.

And priority apps should go. It might benefit people if all schools had the same deadlines- for applying and getting in the financial aid info. And for doing interviews.

Athletic recruits should have admissions look at the students academic records to see if they are in line with acceptance before furthering recruiting them and getting their hopes up.

Just opinions, but something to take into consideration.

Completely agree with NEPatsGirl. If you’re applying for financial aid, be careful how many colleges you apply to. Once the applications are all done, the mountain of financial aid paperwork can eat you alive! You have to apply before you know you’re admitted…

D visited five schools and applied to all of them. 1 OOS slight reach, 1 in-state public match, 1 OOS private match, 2 private safeties. She will be studying occupational therapy so our choices were limited by the schools that offer a five-year combined BS-MS program and her desire not to be more than three or four hours from home. Her older brother applied to six schools when he went through this process. Having been through this twice, my spouse and I have had our hands full keeping up with the paperwork and can’t imagine applying to 10 or 15 or more schools. We counseled both of our kids to only apply to schools that they could see themselves attending in D’s case she left off a few pretty good schools that she just didn’t want to go to for various reasons.

D limited herself to 7-9 applications. At the time, two seem to be slight reaches, one safety, the others were low matches but not safeties. None were in state. She was going to apply to an instate public LAC but when she got very quick acceptances from the safety and a match, she dropped the instate application.

D was the solid B student in honors and AP classes with a nice but not stellar ACT score - the quintessential underachiever. - with a rather unique mix of activities and interests. Her essay was very powerful (could have used some editing but it seems AO overlook that).

She was accepted to all her schools by Match. The clean sweep makes me wonder if she should have applied to a higher reach or two. OTOH, I enjoyed her rather low stress college application process.

I would not change anything except eliminate the “parent choice” school. I added a school I knew she would likely not attend. She applied but it was a pointless application (she did get candy from them).

Some will argue that its necessary to apply to 12+ schools to compare FA. 15-20 or more is just unnecessary. If you really do your homework you can target the right schools and the generous schools and keep the apps # to 8-12 at most. Can be done in under 8 as well.

19

11 Reaches
4 Matches
4 Safeties

Worked well for me

8 - 2 safeties, 3 matches, 3 reaches

Got into all the safeties, 2/3 of the matches, and 2/3 of the reaches!