<p>I’m applying to ten or twelve or so next year, depending on how I react to my visits. I have a good idea of what kind of school I want, and I’m not applying to the whole set of Ivy Leagues or anything- there are just a lot of schools which fit my criteria. 
(My criteria: Small LAC with an English major, nerdy students, and a good atmosphere. They aren’t that hard to find.)</p>
<p>to everyone who says over 10 is too much, that’s great for you but for other people it might not be.</p>
<p>applying to a lot of schools is not taking spots away from people. the same number of kids will make up the freshman class no matter what. if someone isn’t on the waitlist then honestly they probably wouldn’t have been accepted even if a few kids didn’t apply to the school.</p>
<p>also - just because someone applies to a lot of schools doesn’t mean they don’t “fit” at all of them. if one person “fits” at 6 schools, then what means someone else can’t “fit” at 12?</p>
<p>I know someone that applied to 22 schools!</p>
<p>I applied to 11. 3 safeties, 4 matches, 4 reaches. Honestly, i think that’s too many but I liked every single school i applied to so I couldn’t really narrow it down.</p>
<p>11 here as well: two safeties, five matches, four reaches.
Scary stuff, I was rejected by all my reaches, and I thought I had been rejected from all my matches as well–got one acceptance letter extremely late, might have been waitlisted for that one since it was one of the earliest applications I had sent out, or maybe admissions was just slow, but I never received any notification. Soon after I got two acceptances from colleges I had not originally applied to, and now I’ve been accepted to two more matches through appeal.
Bottom line is I’m glad I applied to this many. When selecting which colleges to apply to, I made sure I wouldn’t mind attending them if I had to. It’s nice to have options and security.</p>
<p>I applied to 6 - 1 safety and 5 reaches. I got into WPI (safety), UPenn, and Cornell</p>
<p>One of the issues is the schools you’re applying to–so many of the “top tier” (or whatever you want to call them) LAC’s are unpredictable–you might be thoroughly qualified, or even over-qualified, but they have such a small acceptance rate that you really do need to hedge your bets. You just never know if yours will be one of the names they pull out of the hat! :)</p>
<p>I did 7:</p>
<p>2 safeties (both accepted)
2 reaches (1 accept, 1 waitlist)
3 uber reaches (all rejected…)</p>
<p>I feel all right about these numbers. Looking back, I might have added one more into the mix (it would’ve been a reach) but there’s no way I can do that now, and besides I’m satisfied with how things turned out.</p>
<p>I just made by list today- twelve, and I did narrow it down.
UCB, UCLA, UCI, UC Merced, USC, Michigan, Cornell, Princeton, NYU, U Chicago, Carnegie Mellon University, Boston College</p>
<p>I guess that’s 2 safeties, 5 matches, and 5 reaches…</p>
<p>I did 6:</p>
<p>1 safety (UF)–accepted
2 fit/projected in from school interest (Emory, WUSTL)–also pursued scholarships for these schools–accepted
2 reach (Duke, Johns Hopkins)–accepted at Duke, waitlisted at Hopkins
1 super-reach (Harvard)–waitlisted</p>
<p>I think it worked out fine. I don’t understand the people who apply to 10+ colleges or who brag about applying to all 8 Ivy Leagues, etc. They could have spent some money actually visiting colleges and finding out which one would be great for them.</p>
<p>^ I applied to 11 because that was a LOT more economically feasible for me than to visit even 3-4. After my acceptances, I had to narrow it down to two before I could visit.</p>
<ol>
<li>Top 100 LACs and top 25 universities!</li>
</ol>
<p>In all seriousmess, I think it depends on what caliber of schools you’re applying to. If you’re applying to mostly tier-2 and tier-3, then 6 seems appropriate. If you’re applying to tier-1, closer to 10 makes sense. For the tippety top (Harvard) I’d say more like 12, since it’s so random at that point.</p>
<p>Also, I think EA can be one of the best things you can do. If you get accepted EA, you need not bother with safeties or lower matches, allowing you to focus purely on reaches.</p>
<p>I am jealous of those who have the luxury of applying only to a few schools. I need hideous amounts of financial aid and I have no guarantees of it anywhere. I’m applying to loads of schools with good aid programs because I don’t want to have to end up going to temple and commuting from home (they don’t have full rides, only full tuition scholarships.) I’m probably overreacting, but I just don’t like it when students applying to a lot of schools (read: keeping their options open, attempting to get the best education they can at a reasonable price) are criticized. I know that’s not what anyone meant, but I’m obviously a little touchy on this subject. Sorry for the rant;)</p>
<p>Oh, and I also agree that status-obsessed kids applying to every single ivy are tacky:P</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>I actually plan to apply to many universities due to my financial situation and lack of knowing whether I would get accepted. Though recently researching and being informed that many of the public universities on my list ( besides ones in Michigan) will not meet out of state students who are need base aid. I can now start removing those ones, and make reasonable room for private universities ( though ones I actually like, some are too small).</p>
<p>I plan to apply to 20 schools.9 uc’s and 11 csu’s.</p>
<p>just out of curiosity (i don’t want to steal the thread, sorry!) people here are talking about all of these different essays. Can’t you just submit the same essays to different schools?</p>
<p>sorry im a noob at this stuff :S</p>
<p>My college counselor said the most I should apply to is 10, but I might have to apply to 11 or 12. I can’t decide! I haven’t gone on any visits though, and out of my list of ~17 schools I’m going to visit 7 so hopefully that can narrow things down*.</p>
<p>*It’s hard to visit good colleges when you live in Omaha, Nebraska</p>
<p>I applied to Columbia, Stanford, UIUC, UC Irvine, Rose-Hulman, Rice, MIT, Princeton, Purdue, and UC Berkeley. </p>
<p>What do they have in common?</p>
<p>Many of us, like myself, are applying to many tough schools for the financial aid they offer. My family is extremely low income, and I want to increase my odds at a top Ivy/Stanford-type school, not for the brand-name, but because the potential of receiving a full-ride is worth applying to 10-12 schools. Being accepted at one of the top schools would mean going to school for very little money, and applying to more of them only increases the odds. So please, stop inferring that anyone who applies to 10+ top schools is just being an annoying doosh :)</p>
<p>I honestly wish I had the luxury of applying to only 3 or 4 schools that fit me perfectly, and then focus only on those applications.</p>
<p>@ schee410: they’re good engineering schools. :D</p>