I will be very busy in 1st semester of my senior year.
Apply to as many colleges as you need to, especially if you’re searching for merit aid. I would limit it to 10, tops. 2 safeties, 3-4 reaches, 4-5 matches, but you can definitely apply to fewer than that, so long as you have your safeties. In terms of having a busy senior year, get as much done as possible over the summer. Get your CommonApp essay completely done. You can also complete many of your schools supplements, especially the ‘Why Here?’ ones. Be mindful of the earlier deadlines for financial aid consideration and CSS/FAFSA filings. But so long as your essays are completed in advance and you apply to only schools you’d be happy to attend, you can work things out.
Get the common app filled out before school starts and you’ll have more time for supplements. What schools are you aiming for? Do you need merit aid?
I think 6-8 is a good range.
We need more information. Some students need to hedge their bets more than others, though generally I recommend students apply to no less than 8 unless they are VERY happy to attend their safety school. Also, the more highly ranked schools tend to have more supplements and thus more time intensive apps, so with those it’s not so much number, but which schools you’re applying to that will suck up your time. Your school application strategy will very much depend on your stats, where you hope to attend, your financial situation, etc.
Agree with proudterrier above. My D applied to 12, but 1 was a dream school, 4 were reaches, 5 matches, two safeties. Her good friend has only applied to 6, 2 reaches, 2 matches, 2 safeties. My D happens to be very indecisive, her friend is not. I suggest you try to be more discriminating than my kid though, because she is definitely now a bit lukewarm about a couple she has applied to. Depending on the school, the applications are a lot of work, and the fees add up. However, she has also applied to several schools based on the fact that she is likely to get merit aid, which is of course attractive.
Actually, I agree with the above posts.
If you’re an “average student”, I’d say 6-8.
If you’re an “average CC student”, I’d say 8-10.
I think 6-8 is a good number, and that’s what my schools college counselors recommend. That way you can have 2-3 each of safety, match, and reach. I think it’s a waste of money and time to apply to more than that since often people who apply to 10-15 schools wouldn’t actually want to go to most of them.
Here’s what my daughter and I did:
By end of July she had a list of 6 schools she wanted to apply to. We had an additional 4 schools that we were maybe on.
Of the 6 schools three were reaches 2 were safeties and 1 was a match. In December she was rejected from 2 of her reaches. She decided to add 3 of the maybe schools (they were maybes because she hadn’t had time to visit). Of those 3 schools 1 was a low reach and 2 were matches.
She has been accepted into her two safeties and her low reach. We are still waiting for the 2 matches and 1 reach. But she really likes her low reach.
The two rejections were a blow but because she had the common app done and only had to do 3 supplements which barely took a few hours.
Overall she will apply to 9 total.
Good luck!
I applied to 7, but 6-10 is the ideal number for most students.
Both my Ds applied to 5. Both got into 4 (with merit) and were waitlisted at one. None were big reaches.
I applied to 15 and I regret it. It costs a lot to apply to 15 schools and, when I look at it, I only want to go to about 4 or 5 of them. I’m the first student in my (extended) family to go to college so I got a little carried away with applying, thinking that every school was a viable option. Truth is, you’ll find your college. You might have to choose between, 2 or 3 at the end, but you’ll be happy with your options. I’d have to agree with previous posters and say 6 to 8 is a good range. Good luck!
Start with a safety that you know you will be admitted to (including admitted to your major) and which you can afford. Then add any number of other realistically possible schools that you may choose over your safety.
Be sure to add enough matches to your list, don’t get carried away with lots of reaches. My D - who started college this year - applied to 7 reaches, 2 matches, 1 safety. Her grades were very good but she didn’t get into any of her reaches (waitlisted at 3 of them); she got into one match and one safety. So she only had 2 choices. (The problem with her reaches was they were the type that even with excellent grades - which she had - are a roll of the dice if you fit the profile/scores of the “average accepted” student. I mean Stanford, Princeton, Chicago, Penn, etc.)
In retrospect she should have applied to more matches and less reaches, rather than adopt an “Oregon or Bust” approach.
(The good news is she ended up choosing her safety, which gave her a full scholarship. She’s very happy there, plus it’s still a top-30 school for her major, and so all is well. Ok, in her defense, she argues that having less choices made it easier—she didn’t have to agonize over which school to accept, and she never expected to get into any of the reaches anyway. But I still think having more matches would have been a better approach.)
I’d recommend 2-3 reaches, 3-4 matches, 2 safeties.
I do agree that 8 is probably a good solid number. @mntEden , I like your attitude. My D was persuaded to apply to so many in part, because seniors at the time she was a junior said she should apply to a lot of reaches because they regretted not doing so. She also applied a to couple she is no longer really interested in because they were either free to apply, or had fee waivers. But still, she had to do the work for those too. And it is a lot of work. She knows a kid who applied to 19, way too many, and also really expensive.
I am sure when the time comes for my son, he will be much less indecisive than his sister, and I will limit him to no more than 8. I know he will hate writing supplements and will probably only apply to only 6 because of that, haha!
Do take advantage of fee waivers and free apps if you can though. We didn’t spend over $200 becuase she applied to five colleges for free. Sign up for the college’s email list, and actually check your emails come October or so. That’s how she was notified of fee waivers, contingent on submitting by a certain date.
The other comments did a pretty solid job. Here’s my take
In general, the more schools the better. But with the following constraints:
- Time
- Money
For example, Tulane University has no application fee (I think), but it is not on the Common App, so it’ll take extra time. Conversely, Northeastern University has no supplemental essays and is on the Common App, but it cost $75 to apply.
If you find schools that are on the common app, have no/few supplementary essays, don’t have an application fee, and look like something that you may possibly be interested in, apply to those. Only apply to places that cost significant time or money if the school really stands out to you.
Good luck!
Note that the money cost of applying to a college also includes the cost of sending any of the following if required at application time: SAT or ACT scores, transcripts, CSS Profile.
If you anticipate a busy senior year, try to do as much as possible before it starts. Ask teachers for Letters of Recommendation in the Spring of your Junior year. If at all possible, finalize your list the summer before senior year. This means, hopefully, you will be done with testing. Write your CA essay over the summer. send test scores in over the summer. Request transcripts and the GC letter of recommendation the first week of school. The Common App opens August 1st. Try to fill it before school starts.
Apply to two safeties and two matches EA or rolling. These must be schools you would be happy to attend.
Depending on the results, apply to additional match and reach schools you would choose over the schools where you’ve been accepted. I think @insanedreamer has a very good point. While rejections are never fun, ending up with a few acceptances (2,3,4) may be better than ending up with 7, 8 acceptances. Lots of acceptances may be great for the ego but not so good for choosing and funny enough, lowering the stress level.
The final final of apps may be as low as four but it can also be much higher. I’d say 10 would be my personal max but I didn’t have a high achieving child applying to single digit schools nor were we seeking full rides.
Do as many as you fell comfortable with. One of my sisters applied to 8 and the other applied to only 3 and both are happy with their decisions, so as long as you feel confident in your decisions you could only apply to a few or as many as you feel are necessary.
8 is a good number. I initially planned on applying to 8 however I was accepted to 4 of my schools and just didn’t feel like submitting the apps for 2 schools since I was not very fond of those schools ( was already done with 6)