<p>What is the best number of schools one should be applying to?</p>
<p>Personally, I think a good number is 6-7, with a range of safeties, matches, and reaches. </p>
<p>I would try to visit and research thoroughly before applying so that making a decision in the spring is easier. If you apply to like fifteen, deciding where you want to go will be really tough, especially since you’ll probably only have a month or so to do so.</p>
<p>i applied to 7.</p>
<p>Looking back on it (my twins are graduating from HS this year) I think 12 is a good number.</p>
<p>I personally applied to 1 (ED) but had 9 other applications ready to send off if things went awry.</p>
<p>My school suggested
2 reach
2 matches
2 safeties</p>
<p>I applied to 9 in the US, 2 in Canada. I shouldn’t have applied to 2 of the colleges in the US.</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s too big of a number though. If you’re passionate about 15, have the time/energy to devote to writing the essays, and have the money, 15+ is fine. That’s pretty rare though, so…</p>
<p>People who apply to a lot of schools (10+) kind of annoy me because you’re creating a tougher environment for other kids because more applications = lower acceptance rates. And someone who really wanted to go to a school could be rejected just so you could your third safety.</p>
<p>You need to apply to:</p>
<p>1 True Safety (a school that has to admit you based on your stats, you can pay for without aid other than federal financial aid, offers your major, and you are willing to attend)</p>
<p>Everything beyond that is entirely up to you. Whether they are Safeties that you are pretty certain you will be accepted by, Financial Safeties that you are pretty certain you can afford, Matches, or Reaches, just be certain that you would be perfectly happy to attend them if you are admitted. Don’t waste your time, trouble, and money in the process - life is too short for that!</p>
<p>One of my nephews applied to one and only one university. It qualified as a “True Safety” for him. It also offered exactly the major he wanted. He loves the place, and will graduate in 2010.</p>
<p>Happymomof1’s true safety idea is great, but I think it’s a little unrealistic. I certainly haven’t come across a four year school that “has to admit me” or that I can pay for without financial aid, AND that has my major. I think a strong safety would be fine - preferably a school at which you are at or above the 75th percentile and that excepts 60%+ of all students, or an in-state school that would be hard-pressed to reject you.</p>
<p>I say:
two safeties
two matches
two reaches</p>
<p>I think it is obnoxious to apply to more than eight schools. First of all, that’s a waste of money. If you don’t have money problems, it’s kind of a waste of time. Second of all, college is about FIT - you should be able to choose which schools really FIT you. If you’re apply to more than ten schools, think about the ones you chose. Do you really, really, really want to go to THOSE schools? Is it the idea of those schools that appeals to you? Is it possibly the idea of college at all that appeals to you? Ultimately it’s your choice, but I think 3-8 is the optimum range.</p>
<p>My daughter applied to 6 schools looking for merit scholarships. She was admitted to all 6 but only received merit scholarships from 2. If you are looking for merit only scholarships you need to increase the number of schools you are applying to. In hindsight we feel very fortunate that she lucked out. We both believe that she should have applied to a few more schools.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is what I did. One safety, ten reaches (11 total). </p>
<p>In the end I was only rejected by one school.</p>
<p>I started alot of apps, but ended up applying fully to just one! LOL</p>
<p>I couldn’t get all of the essays done in time!</p>
<p>I’m applying to 13 next year…but im still in the begging of my college selection process tho so…idk…
thing is my grades are kindda unstable and you can never really gaurantee who’ll take you and who won’t
I think any number above a 6 is okay if a lot of the school’s ur trying are very selective.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That sounds great, but where does one find schools like this? </p>
<p>An in-state public sounds like the obvious answer. But what if your state doesn’t have guaranteed admission programs?</p>
<p>lolcats4 - Out of your 11 schools, you were actually accepted by 6, waitlisted at 4 and rejected by 1. Good Luck at Pomona.</p>
<p>My guidance counselor says 6 schools is the
perfect number (2 safety, 2 math, 2 reach)
=/</p>
<p>I applied to four, and that was more than enough paperwork (and just plain paper!) for me to keep track of.
1 Safety
1 Low match (Recruited IB student. Considered it a safety)
2 Reaches (I thought of them as high matches, but that was before I found CC…)</p>
<p>Academic matches tended to be the LACs that were smaller than what I was looking for, so the schools kind of fell into the extremes.</p>
<p>I was accepted everywhere, and my application plan was not the same at the end of the summer and by the time the applications were out. I actually started applications for six schools. I think that’s probably okay. I don’t understand how people with 15+ schools do it. Not just the applications, but the decision in the end. There’s so much to weigh.</p>
<p>I personally applied to 5 schools, 3 of which I was confident would accept me. The other two were more of reaches, but I knew I wanted to go to one of the five.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes–apologies if it seemed like I was implying that I was accepted by all but one school; what I meant to say was that the number of schools I applied to was (in my opinion) a good number, because I ended up with the number of options I wanted.</p>
<p>I applied to five, and I felt like that was on the high end. I had one safety, two matches, and two reaches. People that apply to like fifteen bother me–do the schools you’re applying to really have that much in common? If you still haven’t decided what you want so you’re applying to a large range of small, large, urban, rural schools, then I guess that makes sense though it will make decision time much harder come April! But people that do the crapshoot at the ivies + Stanford + MIT + five safeties should start thinking about what they ACTUALLY want in a school and not just try and maximize their odds at scoring the brand name.</p>