<p>How many is too many when applying to schools? There are a bunch of schools that I want to go to, but because they are all really selective, I have to apply to a lot. I don't want to end up applying to 30 schools though. </p>
<p>How many schools did you guys apply to? And how do you decide when to cut out certain schools because you think you have little chance of getting in?</p>
<p>9000 or more is probably too many.
In all reality though, I would put the cap at 14 (2 safety, 4 match, 8 reach). A lot of people would say that this itself is too many, but a certain Berkeley professor who I once met told me that if you apply to more reach schools, then the opportunity of getting a world-class education is worth the application fee.
More than 14 would not only be expensive and time-wasting, but realistically, you can’t actually want to go to 30 different schools. Go to college visits, attend meetings when admission officers come to your school, and go to the school websites. If the school doesn’t match what you see in a college, then scratch it off your list. Applying to the usnwr top 30 isn’t the same thing as applying to a large number of colleges that you really, really would like to attend.</p>
<p>I would say no more than 10-12 I applied to 10 myself and realized that was too much I was just being paranoid that I wouldn’t get in anywhere lol but I ended up getting into all ten but you can only pick one to attend.</p>
<p>I applied to 18 (or 19) colleges. </p>
<p>1 safety (State U) and 18 reaches.
I considered every top 20 college as a reach school.</p>
<p>Alright, I feel like I am going to have the same problem as you @invader 71 - paranoia that I won’t get in anywhere except the State U.</p>
<p>@20more how did you fare with your 18 reaches? I would love to go to any of my reaches, so I don’t want to cut any out, but I also don’t want to be stupid by applying to them all, and then get rejected.</p>
<p>I’d say that 15 seems like a lot. I applied to 10. I wish i had applied to 12. The thing to remember is that applications are not nearly as hard as people want you to think. The important thing is to just be yourself. That being said. 2 safe, 3-6 match, 2-8 reaches. </p>
<p>The thing is that the probability of getting into a reach is not independent, That is to say, if 2 reaches have a probability of 5% each, the odds of you only getting into one is less than 95% x 5%, because they look at similar criteria. You are likely to be rejected from both, or accepted to both. Therefor adding high reaches does not significantly increase your odds of getting into one of them.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1156678-ivy-selective-school-rd-results-2015-comparison-summary.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1156678-ivy-selective-school-rd-results-2015-comparison-summary.html</a></p>
<p>better to have options than not enough, i think
as long as you have different types of schools on your list, i think you’d be fine applying to 15ish
for instance, some safeties, some matches, some reasons, some schools that give lots of merit aid
when it comes time to make your decision, you’ll like having a range
for instance, i liked that i had some close to home, some far, some in hot weather, some in cold, some big, some small, and some with merit money
once you’re accepted to a school and visit as an accepted student, it’s a much different feeling and may help you clarify exactly what you want
the good news is you’ll then know what to do, but the bad is that you have to apply to several if you want that comfort at the end</p>
<p>6-8 (or even fewer if you use ED/EA) are enough to cover a range of safety, match and reach schools IF you know exactly what you want and your family can afford it. </p>
<p>If you are confused about what you want, or if you need a lot of aid, or if you are absolutely determined to attend the most prestigious school that would possibly accept you, then you may need a dozen or more. However, the more you add, the harder it becomes to do a thorough job of researching and applying to each school.</p>
<p>I did 19. 1 safety 10 matches 8 reaches. I got rejected from 5 of the reaches. It worked out well in retrospect</p>
<p>If you can afford to apply to 20, then do so.</p>
<p>Many kids can’t, and do just fine applying to 5-8 (including mine).</p>
<p>Remember that most schools have their own application supplements, which include additional essays. So if you apply to 20 schools, potentially you have to write 20 extra different essays (explaining why XYZ University is the right place for you). </p>
<p>But if that is ok with you, AND you can afford those application fees, and extra SAT fees, go for it.</p>
<p>I did 5…two safeties and three reaches. One of the safeties was also a financial safety. All three reaches met full need, so I was covered. I did not apply ED/EA anywhere.</p>
<p>I was accepted to 3/5, both safeties and one reach. At two of those I would have had my money needs covered, so I chose the Ivy :)</p>
<p>I applied to 9 and that was 7 too many for me.</p>
<p>There’s no limit to how many you can actually apply to. The only things you really need to consider are the application fees and the amount of time it takes. Each college application for me was around $100 a piece when adding in SAT/ACT scores and financial aid applications. In terms of time, it’s really not about how long it would take you to write 30 essays, but how long it would take you to make all 30 of them really good. I spend about a full day on each supplement over winter break (which was only about 3 hours of actual work a day) and I ended up with some pretty crappy essays to be honest. Make sure your safeties/matches are done well, and then just keep on going until you’ve hit the deadlines.</p>
<p>Do you think you’ll apply anywhere early? If you can apply to some matches and safeties early action, that could help you cut down your list.</p>
<p>I applied to 19. I was very strategic about the essays–I made a chart with all the supplement essay questions comparing the similar ones, and then decided on subjects which could apply to multiple prompts. I was not “confused” about what I wanted, merely open to a lot of different types of schools. It was a lot of work, but in retrospect the only thing I would’ve done differently was apply to fewer safeties. I was glad to have the options and willing to put in the work. I had friends who regretted applying to too few schools, but few who seriously wished they had not applied to so many schools.</p>
<p>Im planning to apply to 8 just because application are expensive, besides I am only applying to UC system. Im california resident so its pretty cheap to attend a UC. I would say apply to 10 at the max.</p>
<p>I can either apply to 6 early action schools or 1 early decision school.
Which option do you think is a better idea? Because it will definitely affect how many schools I apply to regular decision.</p>
<p>The six early actions would give you more options but if that ED school is your dream I would say go for it. Plus if you don’t get into the ED school just apply RD to the six other schools.</p>
<p>*How many schools did you guys apply to? And how do you decide when to cut out certain schools because you think you have little chance of getting in? *</p>
<p>What are your stats? Are they stellar? </p>
<p>You’re from New England which has many, many, many kids applying to ivies/elites. You won’t be competing against all apps…you’ll be competing against kids from your area.</p>
<p>I would say 2 safety, 5 match, and 3-4 reaches.</p>