My son applied EA to one. He’s not going to apply to any other colleges until he receives the verdict on the EA college in early to mid-December. If accept, then he’s done. Save us money, time, effort, and anxiety. If reject, deferred or waitlisted, he will then apply to about 12 with a mixture of safety, match, and reach.
@suzyQ7, maybe it’s the level of selectivity, but all of my D’s schools were CA schools, and only 3 of them required additional writing supplements (and those were pretty minimal). In addition, almost half of them were free or offered a fee waiver. So not a whole lot of extra effort to apply to a baker’s dozen. Yes, we did have a lot of test score fees, but in the scheme of things not a major expense. Now, keeping track of them all with the portals and such–that’s going to be a headache, but the application process itself wasn’t that arduous. But as you say, to each their own.
Yeah- I’m with you on California. If I lived there or were applying there, those are much easier to group - so brings the count up substantially.
There is one other factor, that I’ll even admit is tempting me. When you have a very strong applicant (like you see here on CC) there is the temptation to apply to X very highly ranked school, just to see if you can get in. Not because you are actually interested in going there - but just to see if you would make the cut there if you did. There is one school on my mind that I’d love to know if my kid could get in - even though there is really no interest in going there. But that is silly, really. But, I’ll admit its crossed my mind more than once.
My son probably had 5-10 schools that he was at least semi-interested in when this process started, but he’s only applied to 3, and I don’t think he’ll apply to any others. He’s already been accepted at 2 of those and they are both affordable (although one is an in-state public that he has no interest in attending–I wanted it as a safety, but I think I just wasted $50 on the app). And the remaining school is an in-state private. He applied EA and will get a decision in December. He loves the private school, but the cost makes it a reach until we get the FA award. But he’s happy with his OOS public choice. We are visiting in a couple of weeks just to be sure, but assuming he likes it as much in-person, I don’t think he’ll bother applying anywhere else.
Ya, you’ll get mostly 5-10 in the responses here, the 15 Plus club doesn’t tend to post their stats in fear of CC repercussions. But I will proudly state D is in that club. 
And all but a couple are done and submitted!
It’s so dependent on the schools that you’re interested in, whether you’re chasing merit, and the strength of your application. Unhooked students considering selective LACs, which get more than enough applicants with good stats but admit based on what they determine to be their institutional needs, may need to apply to more simply because they can’t know in advance which school is going to say “Harpist! Cool!” and which will say “Another Harpist, and we already have too many kids from Utah…” Our CC recommended a list of about 15 if they were all in this category. Lopsided students – those with GPA and scores that don’t go hand in hand – may need to cast the net a bit more widely because it’s harder to predict whether one will outweigh the other. At many schools, this isn’t so clear cut.
For a student who has a list of really solid matches/safeties that are affordable and attractive, there’s no reason to apply to a more than seven or eight. It’s just kicking the decision can into April…
But in the end, this is a personal decision. Applications take time and money, and few of us have unlimited amounts of both.
Right now DS has 6 schools on his list. It may wind up to be 7 but definitely 6. 5 schools that are reaches for everyone and a safety that he really likes.
For this one, her preferred location is wide - US or Canada (she would go to Europe if we said ok), and has 3 different majors in mind - so we cast wide to cover lots of bases. She also received personal letters from a couple schools asking her to apply, so that added three more. (Reaches we may not have considered.) The list kept growing and if she can grind them out and wants to, that’s fine.
@TiggerDad and others in same situation…applying SCEA or ED.
If you are considering anymschools with significant merit aid, remember that applications to THOSE schools usually must be completed before December 1. Your kid can always withdraw the applications if accepted ED or SCEA?..but if you miss those merit aid deadlines…you won’t be seeing merit aid Fromm those schools.
Carry on.
Rejection is hard to take too.
My kid has 14 schools in her Common App. She has not completely decided between two very different majors, so for Early Action, she applied to 3 schools in one major and 2 in the other. We’ll see what comes back before Jan. 1 and then decide on applying to the rest.
Mine kids applied to 4 and 5. For frost we were looking for merit money, so he applied early action to a couple and got a great merit offer at one. Plus I made him apply to our state flagship. After that he only needed to apply to schools he might want to attend more than the school that offered lots of money. He only applied to 1 additional school.
Other son wanted state flagship business school direct admit. Our state flagship is fairly selective, and the business school is even more selective, so he applied to other strong business programs just in case. He was offered a huge scholarship to attend another business program, but he was admitted to and is now attending the state flagship.
True merit money that is NOT connected to financial aid (not scholarship money tied to need) is going to be found by being in the top echelon of students applying to college. This should make it easier, not harder, to narrow a list. – #1 who applied to 4 safeties got significant merit money (we are for the most part full pay), #3 who wanted the best engineering school that would accept him got got no merit money.
Good point, too, Thumper, merit money tends to benefit kids who get their apps done before Dec…and it’s Nov now.
S couldn’t resist applying to the school I assume you are referring to, fully supported by me. Sure, he now has the likely letter and the admission letter in a scrapbook to show his kids, but I can’t help but think that those pieces of paper would have been someone else’s dream come true.
Of course that is in retrospect-at the time I remember suggesting to him that perhaps he could make a clean sweep at 8 particular schools. Even he thought that was taking things a bit far, lol!
This Is helpful. Thanks.
We are in a bit of a unique situation since D has very high test scores but only a 3.77 GPA. She is also torn between 2-3 majors, 1 of which is not offered at many schools and is highly selective at the colleges where it is available. She already has acceptance to an OOS safety with free tuition (but R&B is still high), and to hubby’s alma mater with a free ride (but it’s not a good school and the fees and extras will still cost $4k. I don’t want her to go here).
She applied non-binding to several schools to meet the Oct 15th or Nov 1st deadlines. The state flagship, a state safety, her #1 choice (that we know we can definitely afford), an OOS high-match public that if given a bit of merit aid we can afford, and 1 private that she would love to attend if they are feeling generous with merit aid.
We won’t get any need based aid anywhere, but with her being the first of our 6 kids, I can’t afford to spend $200k for undergrad knowing 2 of my boys will be in college in 4 years.
She was considering getting apps in for RD for several others, but maybe I will be able to talk her into waiting until we have answers on the ones that should come back by late Nov to mid-Dec.
@thumper1 - Thanks for the reminder. What are those schools with significant merit aid, though, with the usual deadline of Dec. 1?
some I know of…
Boston University…applicants for the Trustee and MLK scholarships must apply before December 1.
University of Alabama- all automatic merit awards applicants must apply prior to December 1
University of South Carolina- McNair Scholarship applicants must apply before December.
There are many others… I don’t know them all.
If your kid is interested in merit awards, particularly ones which require a separate application and interview process…you should check each school to see if an early application is required.
@TiggerDad University of Southern California is another with a December 1 merit deadline.
My D16 applied to 18 including 6 UCs on one application. Ended up attending one of her 2 EA schools. It was overkill. If we have to do it over again she would not be applying to so many safeties.