I have around 15 down on my list - a few reaches and a few safety schools. Should I cut it down or add more? Not too sure what to do because I like the majority of them.
If each is affordable, or potentially so (reaching for merit, for example), and if you have the money for the apps, go ahead and apply to 15.
I’m applying to about the same number. If you have the discipline, go for it! I’m debating whether I do right now. XD
are your safeties really safe? 50% or higher accept rate, affordable, somewhere you’d really see yourself attending? If so, apply as early as possible and get an acceptance or two in your pocket.
Then only apply to those schools that you value higher than the safety or safeties in your pocket. That is, not the schools ranked higher than your safety by other people, but the ones that you would rather go to and can afford. reach for the stars if you want.
You may find that only some of the 15 on your list now fit that description, or that all of them do. Rank them in order of your preference and do your highest first. Then if you find yourself starting to get spent, you will have hit your top choices.
First of all, chill.
Second, what are your stats? What are your financial situation? Are your parents willing to pay for your education?
i don’t see a problem with 15 schools if you like them all. it’s a huge deal and when decision time comes it is better to have more good options than fewer. plus you may have a wider variety of fin aid packages to compare.
Applying to 15 definitely isn’t bad, but that should be the upper limit. At some point, you begin to diminish the quality of your essays. I remember some counselor telling me you want a bell curve for these colleges. So, a few reaches, mainly targets, and few safeties. We could give better advice if you tell us what colleges you are applying to and what your stats are/if you need financial aid. But on the surface, 15 is definitely not overkill.
Apply to as many as you feel necessary
Provided you have one rock-solid true safety that you would be happy to attend if all else goes wrong, then everything else is gravy. So find that place first. A true safety guarantees admission for your stats, is affordable without any aid other than guaranteed federal/state/institutional aid that you get for filing the FAFSA and/or for your stats, and offers the major you are looking for.
Happykid really liked her true safety, and didn’t apply anywhere else. Your mileage, of course, may vary.
Applying to 15 schools, with application fees, test score fees, etc. might cost 75 to 100 per school, so that’s $1000 to $1500 you won’t have for tuition and books.
If possible, try to reduce the list to 8-10 schools. You usually don’t need more than two safeties, and two to four matches and reaches.
When your list is final, see if you can juggle the order in which you apply to reduce the expense and essay work. For example, if you use early action or rolling admissions, an acceptance from school A might mean you don’t bother applying to school B, because you know you like A better.
I’ll step out from the crowd and say 15 is too many. It is a fallacy that you improve your chances with that many applications since any perceived boost by hoping lightning strikes if you add more reaches is negated by the diminished quality of working on that many applications while maintaining your commitment to academics and ECs. When a student tells me that they had to cut back their other commitments senior year to make room for test taking and applications, no doubt time consuming, that is like a kiss of depth saying they were already nearing their limits in high school. Spend your time paring your list down to 10 or fewer and make sure 1-2 of your options has a rolling or early admit. With that in hand, you can further reduce the list.
As for this by Dragon90: “are your safeties really safe? 50% or higher accept rate, affordable, somewhere you’d really see yourself attending? If so, apply as early as possible and get an acceptance or two in your pocket.” I generally agree with this but understand that except for the tippy top schools a safety is contextual. An extraordinary applicant shooting for HYPSM might find schools with 25% admit rates as safeties with the caveat that one should try to hold at least one acceptance before the December 31st deadline.
What happens if you get into all 15??
Is each school on that list a school where you can actually see yourself attending, fitting in well and being happy? Are all of them realistic in terms of finances? Can you afford 15 application fees? Do they all have the internships you want? Are the distances from home realistic in terms of being able to get home in case Grandma gets sick or your sister gets engaged in the next 4 years?
Fifteen sounds like a LOT of schools to me.
Fifteen is too many IMO, and if you only have reaches and safeties, is not a balanced list. My immediate thought is that you are applying to a bunch of high reaches and a couple of safeties for just in case. You do not up your odds of getting in by applying to more reaches because getting into top colleges is not a lottery. Instead you diminish the imapct of your supplemental essays, which are a LOT of work. Go on College Data and read any of the many student stories and you will see time and again that students regret applying to a ton of schools because it is a lot of work and they didn’t produce the best essays they could have.
You need some match schools you like and would be happy to attend. Don’t throw in safeties that are just in case. Apply to safeties that you like. Here are a couple of cautionary tales from last year. There were students like these two this year. There will be more next year. Don’t be one of them.
IMO, the max number most people should apply to is twelve, but twelve is a lot of work too. A couple of safeties, several matches, a few reaches. That’s what should work for most people.
A sensible general strategy to save energy and money:
Have an initial list of 10-15. Maybe weighted slightly towards more reach and match schools based on objective stats.
Within this list, include at least 2 or 3 schools that are rolling admissions, EA or ED. These should include one of your top schools and 2 which are matches/high matches or a safety(ies) if you personally have it ranked highly. Choose an ED school if that is your absolute favorite, but many will prefer the flexibility of EA. ED does provide some admissions benefit for some schools, but I think the effect has been overestimated. It will not get an uncompetitive candidate over the line, and at best it gives you a boost if you are on the fence but that may be the critical tipping point for some. Some schools give a stronger boost to legacies only if they apply ED (see U Penn). Get your early apps done in time so that you will have these results prior to December 15.
If you get into one of these schools, you can drop all schools that you ranked below it/them. If you get into your EA school, your list, the number of apps to complete and $ to spend (app fees and test submission fees) just got dramatically reduced. ED and you are done.
If you don’t get into any of these schools, you may want to recalibrate your list and reconsider the essays or LoR’s submitted the first go around, especially if these are rejections and not deferrals.
This is not to say that you shouldn’t be working on multiple other applications pending these results. There may be some schools you know you will want to apply to no matter what happens to the first set. Complete those prior to Dec 15 so you can just hit send. Many schools have common/similar essay prompts in their school specific essays. Do those first before you tackle the unique ones.