<p>a lot of people say a few, a lot say the more the better</p>
<p>i'm tentatively applying to 14 (a LOT of money just for applying)</p>
<p>opinions?</p>
<p>6 or 7 is good. That should give you some room to diversify your applications. There’s no need to blow the bank on a bunch of applications to a lot of universities you won’t even end up considering.</p>
<p>Are you applying to top colleges?
If yes, then THE MORE THE BETTER!</p>
<p>One advice!
If you are applying to 14 colleges, then start your essays early.</p>
<p>i plan on having my essays done before school starts in september :D</p>
<p>all of these schools i’m considering for variously different but important reasons</p>
<p>20more: i think most of my list is “top” colleges.
rpi
barnard
rutgers
neu
bu
lehigh
cmu
spelman
howard
wellesley
mit
yale
uconn
umass</p>
<p>I probably overdid mine, but I don’t regret it. Some that had been on my list for a while lost my interest before I even got decisions, others that had been last minute additions became some of my favorite.</p>
<p>how many did you apply to/ where did you end up?</p>
<p>I applied to 16 schools. I’m a senior, so I haven’t ended up at any of them, but I’ve already decided that it will come down to one of five schools (three accepted with scholarships, one likely acceptance soon, one reach that may not even be an option). If I could do it again, knowing how I feel now, I probably would have applied to 7 schools, cutting out all but one reach (haven’t even heard back from any reaches, but realized I would only really go to one if accepted) and some safeties I didn’t like very much. But again, I don’t regret how things played out.</p>
<p>This college list does not justify 14 applications. Those who require 14 apps usually apply overwhelmingly to Ivies and other extremely selective schools where there is weak guarantee of admissions even given all the adequate stats. Their course of logic is that, while many of the Ivies may reject them, one of those uber prestigious schools will be bound to accept them.</p>
<p>Assuming you have the test scores necessary for them, you don’t need to have Spelman, Howard, UConn, UMass, Lehigh, RPI, Northeastern, Rutgers, or Boston University all on your list. A lot of these are probably backup colleges that you already know you’ll be admitted into if you have the stats. You should decide between these universities before applying to save money.</p>
<p>If any schools are Rolling or Early Action (NOT Early Decision), make sure to get them in early. That way, if you get early acceptances by schools you like, you don’t have to bother applying to the rest. My son had about 12 or 13 on his list, but with excellent EA results, he only applied to his two big reaches (and favorites) RD, for a total of 8 schools.</p>
<p>Make sure that “reaches” are actually within reach, or you’re just wasting money and time. When people say that Harvard et al are lottery schools, they leave out that only the top people (as determined by the admissions officers, not a reflection on your worth as a person or your potential for success in life) get to play that lottery.</p>
<p>EDIT: Ditto what sentimentGX4 said.</p>
<p>geekmom63-half of my list have EA and the rest RD, a plan on doing all as early as possible</p>
<p>sentiment-i’m trying to eliminate schools, but i can’t. each one of those schools has a significance that’s important (mainly FA/scholarships from my school ie the RPI award for $15,000 a year off tuition).
and my major would somewhat drastically change with each school.</p>
<p>i can knock off lehigh and cmu, bu and possibly umass although i’d be eligible for almost in state tuition via the new england scholarship
uconn is our flagship and the cheapest so that’s my back back back back back back up and only because my mother says so, i don’t actually want to go.</p>
<p>^That makes sense. You may need 14 applications if you’re trying to scout for scholarships.</p>
<p>i’m visiting bu, neu, and wellesley in april…
it’s hard =/
i like them all & they’re all great places, but it all comes down to the COA after scholarships/FA, and i’ll know that in april so i still would have to apply to all/most.</p>
<p>It’s also possible that a student would apply to many schools that they liked and couldn’t decide between yet, regardless of if they were academic safeties or not.</p>
<p>Billy- that sounds more like me</p>
<p>It’s pretty much me, too. If you were to break my schools into groups, it would be a spectrum of safety to low match schools and a spectrum of mid to high reaches. Not much in the main sequence of match schools, so to speak. And I’ve already discounted most of the reaches (and half of the safeties). </p>
<p>Some of my favorite schools are “safety” schools for my stats (I knew I was going to get in), but that doesn’t make them any worse. I love the surroundings and the programs and the schools themselves, not a flawed ranking system. Being pretty sure I’d get in and getting nice scholarship packages are bonuses, though.</p>
<p>If you’re using the Common App, then each additional application takes perhaps another 1-3 hours, depending on the specificity of the Supplemental app to that school. </p>
<p>For example, Wake Forest’s Supplemental has eight questions requiring 2-3 paragraph responses, which could take 1-2 hours depending on how detailed/careful the applicant wants to be. In any case, the Why Us? question should ALWAYS be carefully considered and detailed. That is the one question Adcoms look at with the most interest, and generic answers are the sure way to get BigPiled.</p>
<p>A person applying to 10 Universities (looking for scholarship money) via Common App is only looking at a max of 10*2hours, or 20 hours of application time, which is just 2 hours per week from August through October.</p>
<p>Billy- I don’t know how to classify mine. </p>
<p>Dunnin-- i didn’t realize that</p>
<p>My D applied to I think 11 schools. Or maybe it was 10. Anyway, several wound up NOT being financially possible, and one (an Ivy) did not accept her–but she ended up with a four really workable options, and had a hard time deciding in the end (a good problem to have).</p>
<p>It was a lot of work, though, and a lot of schools require additional essays etc for honors scholarships. Which took a good bit of time.</p>
<p>I think your list looks good. If you can cut out a couple, that might help you stay sane senior year (many of the honors essays/scholarship essays happened AFTER acceptance, and weren’t really things you could do before).</p>
<p>D did a great job but it was a bit much at times!</p>
<p>She now wishes she’d just applied to 5-6 schools–which, if she’d cut out the ones that were extremely unlikely to offer aid, she would have had. But it’s easy to say that now. Hindsight…</p>
<p>Good luck! You’ll do great!</p>
<p>Thank you!!!</p>
<p>The schools that don’t offer good FA that are pricey will be the first ones to go (lehigh, cmu, BU, rpi). </p>
<p>I’m glad everything worked out for your daughter!</p>
<p>
My son spent WAYYYY more time than that. Many hours (10?) on the main essay and many hours on the supplemental essay (10?) and probably a couple hours on the teeny “elaborate on an activity” essay. And that doesn’t cover the extra school-specific essays, which, although repurposed, took several hours each.</p>
<p>It worked for him - he got into his first choice and almost every other. He isn’t a very good writer - either in expressing himself fluidly or in stopping agonizing over every word - but there’s no way it took him only that long.</p>