I currently have 12 colleges that I am interested in. Ill say I have 2 reaches, 2 low reaches, 4 matches, and 4 safeties. Is that a good number?
Provided that at least one of those safeties is truly safe (guaranteed admission for your stats, and perfectly affordable for your family), you are good to go. You will be assured of an affordable place to study. Admission anywhere else is gravy.
yea one of my safeties is really interested in me and will probably offer me a good amount of money.
It seems a little like overkill to me, but both my D’s only applied to five schools. As @happymomof1 stated as long as one of those schools is a true safety (certain admission, affordable and you’d be Happy there) then anything else is for grins and giggles.
@ErinsDad I will probably subtract 2 or 3 schools once it is time to send in applications
It all depends on how you determined what is a reach, match or safety.
It really depends on how high you’re reaching, whether some of those reaches are realistic, how much (if any) financial aid you’re likely to receive, and how satisfied you are with your lower matches and safeties. If, for example, you love your state’s flagship, and you know you’ll get in and be able to afford it, there is no reason not to aim high with other applications. If your state flagship is highly selective (e.g. UC Berkeley), then you would probably need to apply to other public colleges. If your family, like many (if not most), will not qualify for as much need-based aid as you would like, then you will need more matches and safeties that are likely to offer you merit aid. If you plan to re-take the SAT and/or ACT in the fall on the hope of boosting your scores, build your list with what you have now. If you have a great increase, you can drop a super-safety and add a high reach. Financial circumstances are always critical. When you read about students who got into most or all Ivy League colleges, plus Stanford, MIT, etc., they are usually from families of modest means. They had solid safeties in their state systems, where they knew they would receive scholarships, and then they applied to colleges that have deep pockets and guarantee meeting full need for all accepted students. If you are a competitive applicant, that can be a strategy, but you’re wasting time and money if you are not. I recommend identifying match or low-match/near-safe colleges with rolling admissions, and others with non-binding early notification options. With some of those colleges, you will have decisions by Thanksgiving, and you will not have to worry about super-safeties at the last minute (especially if you don’t have the score increases or perfect fall grades you might have been hoping for). There is no “one-size-fits-all” strategy.