<p>What is a "healthy" number of colleges to apply to?</p>
<p>I am thinking about 15, but everyone in my school tells me that it is too much. They say that colleges see the other colleges you apply to, and if you apply to too many, it seems like you don't love their college as much. </p>
<p>So, what is a good number?</p>
<p>As many as you need to be safe. It depends on what type of schools you’re looking at.</p>
<p>You’re friends are just nervous that you may get accepted to many of these schools and have more options than they will. Trust me, I’ve been there. Several of my friends ****ed and moaned to me since I told them I was going to apply all over the country: (From Illinois) and I applied to: UIllinois, UMich, UIowa, UIndiana, BU, NYU, Tufts, GW, USC, UC-Davis, UCSB, UCSD, UT-Austin, and Mizzou. Thats… 14 schools? </p>
<p>Some colleges won’t give a crap how many schools you apply to. But some schools do take into account your interest in their school (Interviews/EA/ED), so that does come into play here. </p>
<p>You’re better being safe than sorry. The fact that I was rejected by only 4 out of 14 schools left me a TON of options to choose from. Much better than being one of my friends, for example, who over-estimated himself and applied for 4 schools (one being a crappy in-state than he used as his safety for UIllinois, and is now having to go there). </p>
<p>Apply to as many as you want, but also express interest to the colleges that you have deep interests in. (Use Google: “(name of school) college data”) look through their admission specs. and see what things they considering Very Important, Important, Considered, Not Important.</p>
<p>Edit: In answer to your Q about what a good number is, it depends on what your range is. Not good grades/tests, 4/5 instate. Good grades/decent tests 9/10 in/out state. Great greats/Great tests 12/15 (more opportunities)</p>
<p>15!! You are going to go broke. It costs about 50 dollars to apply to most schools. I am applying to three or four. My mom won’t let me apply to moe than that.</p>
<p>Most people apply to about 6 or 7. I guess what it all comes down to applying to the colleges that you desire to go to. If that happens to be 15 colleges then so be it.</p>
<p>I definitely agree that a little money can be sacrified for more options.</p>
<p>Also if you have a fee waiver for college applications, then why not apply? that is what I am doing…</p>
<p>How do you get a fee waiver?</p>
<p>Also, I have pretty decent grades. I am number 2 in my class, and a 2320 superscored SAT. So does that mean I should apply to more schools than most people?</p>
<p>Even for applicants at top schools, I’d recommend 8-12 (fewer if you get an EA acceptance from a desirable option). Any more than that and the process will start to drain you, affecting your performance in school and ECs. Kids at my school who apply to 15+ schools are usually far overreaching themselves or get so nervous they apply to an unnecessary slew of true matches and safeties. </p>
<p>I bet you can whittle it down a few more.</p>
<p>My D, who has very similar stats as the OP, applied to 13 schools. I think that applying to as many schools as you love is good because it keeps your options open. Many of her friends complained that her choices were too similar. For example, she applied to both Swat and Haverford, but she did so because she loves Philly and because she wasn’t sure she’d get accepted to Swat. (She got into both.) She also applied to UCLA and UCB because she wasn’t sure she’d get into UCB. (She got into both.)</p>
<p>She also applied to both Amherst and Williams, very similar schools, but again she wasn’t sure she’d get into either. (She was WL’ed at both).</p>
<p>Finally, she applied to a lot of LACs and three Ivies. She was WL’ed at all the Ivies and ultimately got into Princeton.</p>
<p>Perhaps you should give us your list and we can help you either whittle it down or suggest ideas to round out your choices.</p>
<p>Sadahila, you qualify for fee waivers if your family meets a certain income level which is also determined by the number of people in your family. Theres a certain amount of schools that do this so yeah…</p>
<p>
The strength of an applicant shouldn’t determine the number of schools he or she applies too. And since you are implying that you are a strong student, I’ll remind you that many top schools do not superscore.</p>
<p>What are your goals for your college education?</p>
<p>How much money can your family afford? Are your parents willing for you to take out a lot of student loans?</p>
<p>How much money will the college financial aid process (FAFSA and CSS) find that your family can afford? Run the calculators at [College</a> Calculators - savings calculators - college costs, loans](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>Calculate Your Cost – BigFuture | College Board) to get a good estimate.</p>
<p>Once you know the finances, and you know what you want to study and why you want to study it, you will have a better picture of the number of institutions you might need to apply to. My nephew applied to one, and only one, university (his home-state public U) because he knew that he’d be admitted based on his grades and ACT score, he could afford it, and it offers his (relatively uncommon) major. He’s super happy there. His sister applied to about ten colleges and universities because she wanted a more liberal arts experience, but she needed to be able to compare all of the financial aid packages. She elected to attend the smaller LAC that offered her the best aid, and she’s super happy there.</p>
<p>Are colleges given information regarding how many other colleges the applicant is applying to? Is this information given to the add com through Common App? If so, is the list updated? (If I apply to College A first then 20 other colleges later, will College A be notified of my action?)</p>
<p>Here’s the deal: the number of schools you should apply to is (in my opinion) related to how likely you are to be accepted to the schools you’d really like to attend. If the schools that interest you are highly selective, then you need more. If you are interested in a school that admits most (or all) applicants with your stats, you don’t need very many. For students looking at the most selective schools, I don’t think 12 is excessive. 15 is pretty many, and might make it harder for you to do a quality job on the applications.</p>
<p>It’s perfectly okay to apply to 15 schools as long as you a) have the time for all of those applications, b) have the money for all of those applications, and c) would actually, legitimately go to any of those 15 schools if accepted.</p>
<p>To some degree it also depends on the type of schools you’re applying to; if you’re going for Common App - No Essay schools then all you’re really risking is some cash. On the other hand if you’re applying to a lot of supplemental essay schools you should consider how much work is going to be involved with writing solid, “winning” customized essays. Seven exceptionally well-written essays are worth a lot more than 15 half-**sed ones.</p>
<p>But also remember that there’s still a decision point on the back-end; a month ago there were more than a few threads with CCers scrambling to decide between 4 or 5 schools. Too many options can be just as difficult to deal with as too few. </p>
<p>My advice:</p>
<p>1 Lottery Pick School based on your stats (for example, Stanford)
2 Reach Schools - Places not out of the question, but where you’d be mildly surprised with an acceptance
4 Matches
2 Safeties - Just in case they’re the only two places you get into, at least you’ll have some choice.</p>
<p>Total: 9</p>
<p>vinceh, if the OP is really interested in schools like Stanford, I don’t think your approach has enough of them. I think 2 safeties and 4 matches is good advice, and then I’d say add as many reaches as you can do justice to in your applications, and that you’d like to attend. I’d say six is probably reasonable, for a total of twelve.</p>
<p>Hunt, I think we’re in complete agreement on this, (I used Stanford only as a proxy for “long shot”). The key phrase is “as many reaches as you can do justice to”; if the OP is applying to the Top 20s then strategically it would be wise to assume that most of his/her competition is going to be presenting their “A” game and he/she needs to be doing the same. If you can do justice to 12 apps, go for it, but my personal observations over the years imply that after 10 apps, the flesh is willing but the mind starts to drift. Of course each individual’s mileage will vary.</p>
<p>For schools like Stanford, you need more than your “A” game–you need to fit some niche the school is trying to fill. You can’t know in advance which of the most selective schools will have that niche for you, so it’s wisest to hedge your bets and apply to more.</p>
<p>Stanford accepts applicants with OP’s stats, but it rejects a bunch of them too. If you look at results threads on CC, you’ll find plenty of kids accepted to one or two top schools, and reject at multiple others.</p>