<p>When it comes to how many schools to apply to - what is considered a lot or too much?</p>
<p>I'm applying to 13 - only three of them have supplements, and they're all less than 500 words, so it isn't too hectic I guess... but a lot of my friends are only applying to around 4 or 5 so I was wondering as to how many is considered too many?</p>
<p>I would say more than 6 is too many. </p>
<p>Your thirteen applications might not be an extraordinary amount of work but it’ll cost you several hundred dollars. Application fees are $30-$75 depending on the school, ACT score reports are around $10 for your 5th-13th schools. That adds up. IMO you should narrow it down now to 5-6 schools and save your money for something more worthy than college applications. You have to narrow it down at some point since you only attend one - might as well save the money.</p>
<p>I know a couple people who applied to 14…I mean, if you can afford it and you can handle the essays, then you’re really at an advantage. I’m probably going to end up applying to that many colleges come senior year too because I’m absolutely paranoid. :P</p>
<p>Depends on your financial situation (e.g. I have several safeties because I’ll probably need merit aid) and how much money you’re willing to spend on application fees. In the “real world” outside of this website, I imagine most people just apply to one or two non-selective colleges.</p>
<p>The majority of the schools on my list are safeties due to merit aid because graduate school is on the horizon for me and I don’t want to amass large amounts of debt for a Bachelor’s Degree from Boston University, for instance, when I could probably attain a comparable one from a moderately lower tier school like Simmons.</p>
<p>After 5 or 6 applications, you’re just throwing money away.</p>
<p>Are these really 13 schools where you would want to go, and be happy about it? I feel like if you apply to that many schools, you’re not going to be able to commit the necessary time and effort to submit the best possible application. It could be detrimental to your chances to apply to that many schools.</p>
<p>I applied to fourteen schools-- yes, crazy and insane-- but because I needed not only an acceptance but a good financial aid/scholarship package, all of those applications were necessary for me (and I paid for most of those app fees). I started college apps early and stayed on top of it, and found it doable-- I also loved all of the schools on my list (and I didn’t have a ‘dream’ school).</p>
<p>I also had friends who maybe applied to four schools right before the deadlines and are perfectly happy where they ended up. They usually stayed in-state or FA was not a substantial issue (or they knew they would be able to afford at least UT, for ex, or would do so at all costs).</p>
<p>Choose what makes sense for you.</p>
<p>Yes, I would happily attend all of the schools on my list - obviously, I’d rather attend Harvard than Simmons, for instance, or Boston University over UMass Boston, but I still think Simmons and UMB are excellent schools.</p>
<p>Our kids both had eight on their final lists, but if you are hunting hard for merit money then I can see how 13 is probably okay. Just remember if you are applying for need based FA to really get on top of the FA requirements for each school, they all want something different on a different timetable. You will want a spreadsheet to track the dates and forms, and parent buy-in to help out with this.</p>
<p>Before making a final decision after acceptances, try to go to accepted student days at your top few choices. You get a better feeling from a longer stay on campus than an initial visit – my D2 changed her mind about her top choice based on accepted student visits, and is really glad now that she did.</p>
<p>I’m applying to around that many too but a lot of them are free apps and no supplements so I was like why not lol</p>
<p>I’m on fee waivers/a QB kid so I am sort of going nuts with applications. I am personally applying to around 30, but I think you should stop when it starts getting expensive and/or you can no longer handle writing so many supplements…</p>