<p>In the past week, we've had some discussion about how many colleges the typical student applies to --- but here are some surprising facts. UCLA surveyed over 288,000 of this year's reshman at 400 colleges across the country - a pretty decent sized sample. One of the questions they asked was "how many schools did you apply to besides the school you ended up attending?" The results:</p>
<p>none 19.3%
1 12.6%
2 15.4
3 16.5
4 12.0
5 8.2
6 5.8
7 to 10 8.4
11 or more 1.9</p>
<p>What surprised me is that the majority of kids applied to ONLY 2 to 4 schools, and only a very small percentage applied to more than 11. Even if we assume that all who said "none" got into their first choice school ED, the numbers are still heavily skewed towards FEWER applications, rather than many.</p>
<p>I know, I found the numbers surprising too. If you judged based solely on the numbers people here on CC say they are applying to, it would seem like EVERYone in the world is applying to 10 or more schools.</p>
<p>my daughter was in a top prep school and many applied ED to schools. So if you were accepted and many were, then that would bring the median down wouldn't it?
She applied to 5, but we also know one boy who applied to 18!</p>
<p>...of course, most people <em>don't</em> go to a top prep school. Most people in my school apply to 2-4 schools (Carolina, NC State, ECU/Applachian State/etc as a safety, and possibly one reach), although I plan on applying to probably 6-10, even though I'm not that high in rank.</p>
<p>You also have to consider that apps cost money, and most people aren't willing to spend $1k to find out where they will get accepted.</p>
<p>;) I only mentioned the prep school business cause Ididn't see people applying to a lot of schools
come to think of it, at the public school where my D goes, they apply to about 8.</p>
<p>She applied to 5 UCs because it was just one app and a check on a box.
If it was up to her she would have applied to 2 or 3 UCs tops. It was my first kid in the process and I wanted to see how hard the UCs were to get into, first hand. So she amused me by checking a couple of more boxes.</p>
<p>She was in the midst of applying to 2 more schools when the rolling app acceptances came through.</p>
<p>That was the end of the application process.
Rolling admissions are great.</p>
<p>if you are "most" people in Calif, i.e., ignore the UC eligible top 12.5%, then you probably can't afford a private college (two parent teachers' income = 95+k), and you would likely apply only to the local Cal State school, or perhaps local + a far away Cal State such as SLO, Chico or San Diego, to get away from home. Since the local Cal State has automatic acceptance for every kid with the right gpa and SAT score, 3.0 +1000 will do it, kids don't need to apply to more than a couple. Many of the local Cal States even have "application" days at the local HS -- just bring your transcript, and a copy of your SAT and they accept you on the spot. </p>
<p>I don't see how the Ca schools can have room for that
Our local U the auto admit is up to like 3.7 GPA and probably 1350 SATOf course we don't have as many schools as CA, but still...
I am going down to talk to legislature soon, perhaps I will add it to my list.</p>
<p>My story is like dstark's: my son applied to only two schools! He had three others that he was going to apply to, but once he was accepted via rolling admission at a school he really liked, that was it. So his answer to that question would have been: 1.</p>
<p>Carolyn, no matter what number of applications you think your daughter will fill out, the odds are she will fill out less. Most kids I know hate the filling out the application process, and as soon as they fill out their favorite school's app and a couple of almost sure things, the process slows down. Then, if if there is an acceptance or 2, that's it. Shows over.</p>
<p>Like dstarks' situation: S planned to apply to the "recommended" 6-10 (2-3 safeties/2-3match/2-3reach) but the EA results came in and he was done except for one reach he wanted to try RD.</p>
<p>Still for him, it was a total of 5 (3 match/safety EA), the one reach RD. Add in a school which solicited him by sending a "just return this form - no fee, no essay" and you've applied.</p>
<p>I'm hypothesizing that a growth in EA/ED (and maybe rolling) is factor in reduced number of total apps.</p>
<p>We are encouraging DD to apply to 5 or 6 schools tops. One reach and the rest match/safeties. Actually, 5 would really be plenty. DS applied to 7. That was too many especially with the audition requirements for a music major. His original list was only 5 schools, but then he wanted to add one....we then asked him to add one <em>we</em> liked. Thus the 7. At this point, it seems like DD will be in the 5 range unless a LOT changes in the next 6 months which doesn't seem likely.</p>
<p>Emeraldkity, California can do it because of the tiered system, and also the fact that most CSU campuses have a large number of students who are commuting. The CSU's are the mid-level colleges between the community colleges and the 10-campus University system. It can be very hard to get all the classes you want at a CSU to graduate on time -- but tuition fees are pretty low, so in the end the student may still come out ahead financially, even if they have to attend for an additional semester or year. </p>
<p>The CSU's don't actually open their doors to everyone who qualifies -- they can fill up, so it can be hard to get in if the student waits until the last minute. But of course they also have rolling admission, so if the student can't get in for the fall semester, they can always try to enroll for the following semester. They also give priority to local residents -- a California student with minimal qualifications is only "guaranteed" admission at the nearest CSU, not to any CSU statewide.</p>
<p>Carolyn, I have a little different theory. I am not that surprised by that survey as it includes all types of students and colleges. And I am not surprised at how that differs from what you typically read about number of apps from posters on CC. I think for a majorityof applicants, five schools may be enough...say two reach, two match, one safety. Plus you have all the kids who don't want to go far from home and/or are only interested in state schools. </p>
<p>Anyway, when a student is applying to the highly selective colleges (and this is where those prep school kids often fall as well), they truly have to apply to at least 7 or 8 because even for the very best students, the highly selective schools cannot be counted on and there is a bit of a crapshoot odds when you are dealing with schools like the Ivies or very selective LACs and schools of that type. When the acceptance rates hover between 9-20% at a school, you just cannot count on getting in no matter how fantastic your qualifications are. You truly have to include more schools on the app list because of the odds of admission. Frankly, on CC, there is a more significant percentage of high achieving students who apply to elite colleges than there are in the general public. Even the CC counselors deal with more clients who are applying to elite colleges and have expertise in that area (Dave Berry wrote a book on the topic for example) and thus the "sample" on CC is not representative of the general public. Also even amongst us parents on CC, usually you find parents who are pretty involved or interested in this process on here or else they would not opt to spend time here. So, you can garner one impression of how many schools kids apply to when reading these posts but keep in mind there are many going for selective schools on here (not all posters but still a lot) and if you are in that pool, you practically HAVE to have more schools on the list because of the odds of admission to such schools. </p>
<p>I have one D who was applying to some very selective schools (though had matches and safeties on her list) but that meant 8 schools total. I have another child applying to highly selective specialty programs that have worse odds than the Ivy league....EACH of her schools has an acceptance rate that averages 5%....it varies from about 4% - 9% depending on the school, and thus she has 8 schools on her list and I am nervous about the odds even still of getting in and hope it works out with 8 just to get one or a couple choices. </p>
<p>There are also all sorts of situations with kids. Here is one example that fits that survey....very good friend of my younger D's who is a senior and ranked approx. third in the class (very good student) applied ED to Middlebury and is deferred. She ONLY applied to Middlebury, Dartmouth, and UVM. Now, it does seem a little nutty in that the odds at both Dartmouth and Middlebury are very slim for all the applicants as you know at that level, but then she drops down to UVM and there is no match school in there. I asked her mom about that and she said that her D wants to go to school close to home and there really was no place else (not counting lesser state schools)....she would not consider Skidmore (a lower match for her) which is 2 1/2 hours away even. So, there is one situation that fits that survey! </p>