<p>My son applied to 9 schools. Applied to an Ivy ED and was rejected. Then applied to a reach school ED ll and was deferred. The rest are one safety (accepted), 4 matches (accepted at one - still waiting to hear at others), and 2 additional reaches (still waiting!)</p>
<p>My D applied to 5 (although one of them she never visited or showed any real interest in, so I’m not sure why she applied). All were large state flagships (4 Big Ten, 1 SEC), 3 safeties and 2 matches. She was accepted to all 5 before Christmas (gotta love priority periods and rolling admissions) and chose one of the safeties.</p>
<p>Gee Fiz:</p>
<p>The “correct” number really depends upon your personal situation.</p>
<p>If you are applying to the Harvards and Yales of the world, which have 7% acceptance rates, you had better apply to a lot of them.</p>
<p>But if you are just applying to your local state universities, or schools that have 60% acceptance rates, you don’t have to apply to that many schools.</p>
<p>Also, if you have a very clear idea of what type of school you’d like to attend (big university vs. small liberal arts school), this mitigates in favor of applying to less schools than if you have no idea.</p>
<p>I think Collegeboard did a study and reported that 85% of college bound students apply to less than 8. But you do see anecdotal reports on the “kids” threads of kids that apply to more than 10. I think how deep you have to “fish” depends on the wallet. We did not see all that much deviations in finaid for our two oldest + or - less than $5000 over the course of the 12 apps between the two of them. At some point though the “return” on the time and effort of doing more than a fistful of applications, showing the love and answering the “why College ABC” and the derivations in finaid would be a diminishing return.</p>
<p>S applied to one and then “sort of applied” to about 7 more (meaning he sent everything except REQUIRED essays). He got in to four or more, three with significant merit awards. He ended up attending the school he 1st applied to (an OOS Private), which he had always considered his safety but was satisfied with.</p>
<p>D applied as a transfer from CC to only one U (which everyone had told her was a big reach); they accepted her & she will be graduating from there after attending as a transfer for 3.5 years. She ended up at the same U has her brother!</p>
<p>S1 applied to three and S2 applied to two. All were state universities.</p>
<p>Both of my 2 kids applied to state schools:
- 1 in state, and 1 out of state, based mostly on their major
- got accepted to both
- attended the in-state</p>
<p>I applied to nine. </p>
<p>-2 safeties: in-states, one private. Accepted at both. They’re actually matches academically, but… they’re backups for me.
-4 matches
-3 reaches: two Ivies, one Southern Ivy. I applied ED to one of the legit Ivies and was deferred.</p>
<p>Sent from my SCH-I500 using CC</p>
<p>S applied to seven. 5 on the west coast (4 in cali). UT austin (safety). one ivy (PENN).</p>
<p>I always feel crazy saying this, but I applied to 15. </p>
<p>3 safeties (3 acceptances) - that I mostly can’t afford
3 matches (1 acceptance, 2 waiting) - the acceptance was a UC that I can barely afford.
9 reaches - (9 waiting) 2 Ivies, UChicago, 6 top LAC’s.
My biggest concern and the reason for applying to so many schools (and using more money) was my need for financial aid. My reaches are more affordable but have lower acceptance rates so I applied to more. If I could better afford a UC (Davis or Berkeley) I would have cut down my list.</p>
<p>D applied to 2.
EA at a likely (with a Dec 15th response) and ED at a reach (with a Feb 15th response).
She got in both, but if she’d gotten deferred or rejected from her likely she still had time to come up with a Plan B:)
However, since the likely was her 2nd favorite of all the schools she’d looked at (about a dozen) her Plan B would probably not have been apply to more schools.</p>
<p>Oldest applied to 3, but 2 of those were only because I made him. He got a good financial package at his #1 choice so I suppose I didn’t need to make him apply to the other two.</p>
<p>Middle applied to 6, got into 5 and waitlisted at #6 (lottery school). Since he loves where he’s planning on going, he’s not going to worry about the waitlist. He applied to more than oldest because he has more diverse interests and finances matter.</p>
<p>Youngest is just a sophomore in high school, but will probably apply to 3 - 4. Time will tell. It will depend upon his interests and finances.</p>
<p>Six is probably “my” max as I feel students should be able to narrow it down a bit more from visits and general financial info, etc.</p>
<p>S1 applied to one last year, ED.</p>
<p>D1 applied to 14 this fall- at my urging to cast a wide net. She’s a different kind of candidate, but I clearly underestimated her potential worth to these schools. So far she is 10 for 10…and waiting on 4 more - hopefully early this week, so we can start helping her narrow things down.</p>
<p>One application, one acceptance (Bard’s Immediate Decision program), and she was done before Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>Question From Parent Re Duke BSAI Weekend - I am new to College Confidential so please forgive me if this isn’t the right place for this question. First, are parents welcome/encouraged/discouraged from accompanying students on this weekend? Second, does anyone have general advice for whether and how to accompany students on admitted student weekend visits please?</p>
<p>Oldest applied to his first choice early, September, knew by mid-September he was accepted, didn’t apply anywhere else. Next applied to 5 schools, all RD, got into all 5. The next two have about 6 schools they will probably apply to now but still have a few more months to go to finalize that list.</p>
<p>S2 applied to 3, as did S1 : safety, vanity, and destination choices (vanity is our term for "wouldn’t it be cool to go there, but we could never afford it, but what the heck; destination is the “I would go here in a second if I get in”). Both got accepted at all three. My niece applied to 13 schools.</p>
<p>S1 applied to three EA, got into 1 (safety) and deferred from the other two. Then applied to five more including one more safety. He had stats that made all his matches reaches. Got into two match/reaches and into both safeties.</p>
<p>S2 applied to two EA, got into one (a reach) and deferred from the other. He applied to five more (one safety, four reaches). He got merit money at the safety and was accepted at two more reaches. He didn’t really have any matches because he loved his safety and was already into a reach.</p>
<p>My D applied to 13. That’s more than the optimum number, but we got scared by reports of good kids getting rejected at places that seemed like matches. We are from New Jersey and our biggest export is 18-year-olds. It’s a statistical disadvantage in college admissions to be from our state, so my D decided to apply to more, just in case.</p>
<p>My D1 applied to 17 schools. She was applying to nursing schools and we were hearing apply to many as admissions was very competitive. She got into all 17. Would definitely do it differently next time around.</p>