<p>i applied to 5. two safeties, two matches, and one reach</p>
<p>I applied to 2 schools. Georgetown and BC both early action. I had my apps ready to go if I didn’t get in to either (or deferred in Georgetown’s case, they don’t reject anyone early), but I got into both! It made things a lot simpler. If I hadn’t gotten into BC, a match for me, I would have sent in more of my safety schools. If I had gotten into BC but got deferred from Georgetown I would have sent in more of matches and none of my safeties because I already had a great school to go to. I would highly recommend<br>
applying early. It made my senior so much less stressful.</p>
<p>I applied to seven: one safety, one match, five reaches. I got in everywhere except one reach. That match school gave me full tuition, too. Worked pretty well.</p>
<p>hec2008: Good plan, and congrats on your acceptances!!! If you don’t mind my asking, where did you end up enrolling?</p>
<p>hec2008: If you don’t mind me asking, what were your stats when you applied to BC early? SAT, GPA, class rank, etc.</p>
<p>I applied to 13 schools. Yeah, I know, kind of a lot… hahaha</p>
<p>I live in Southern CA, but at the time I was applying I wasn’t completely sure I wanted to go east (I thought I did, but it’s kind of a big decision so I kept second guessing myself). I kept wrestling with the decision, wasting time that I could have spent applying. My parents finally said they would just pay for as many applications I felt comfortable with, as long as I stopped wasting my time. </p>
<p>I ended applying to 4 schools in CA (all UC’s). It was only one application, so it was like doing the work for one and then just checking four boxes. Looking back, I probably should have left out UCSB. I stand by the other three.</p>
<p>Now, as for private schools, I am in a tricky income bracket so I needed to apply to a good amount of schools. I ended up applying to 9 private universities. I stand by all of them, except Northeastern (though at the time, I thought I needed an east coast safety).</p>
<p>7 of these private universities were on the common app, 2 were not. </p>
<p>Somehow, it wasn’t as much work I thought it would be. I ended up only writing two essays for my entire admissions process, since the two essay questions I wrote for UCs pertained to basically all the prompts.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t recommend applying to this many schools. Keeping track of deadlines was the worst, especially when applying for financial aid.</p>
<p>However, it ended up completely perfect (IMO).
I got in everywhere, except one UC and one private university.</p>
<p>My decision came down to this:
Brown
Columbia
Princeton
Brandeis (full tuition + full room and board, very hard to turn down)
Northwestern (next best FA at first, but Princeton later offered more money to counteract)</p>
<p>I will be attending Princeton in the fall, with a very manageable financial aid package.</p>
<p>I think it’s a personal choice, deciding how many to apply to. I definitely recommend applying some places early (EA, or rolling), especially a safety. Then you won’t bother applying to other safeties. I know I like to have lots of choices, so I tend to lean that direction, but I know others who have a very clear vision of where they want to go, so applying to 4 or 5 was enough for them.</p>
<p>That is what is great about the UC system all you need is one application.</p>
<p>My son applied to 8. Looking back, that was too many & too much work. There is some logic to the 3,3,3 suggestion, but I think 4 is a more manageable number. This assumes that you have done a lot of research before you choose just 4. Be sure to have at least 1 financial safety. Remember there is a lot more to it than just your application. How many recommendations can you get? Is it fair to ask for so many from your favorite teachers, coaches, etc? Even if the aps are free, there are other costs - SAT score reports, mailing (overnight/proof of delivery/ etc) and copying. Someone mentioned there could be separate aps for scholarships and honors programs (this was the case with my son). So now the # of essays and recommendations have doubled or tripled. Also consider transcripts. How willing is your GC to send them out in a timely manner to dozens of schools? If you have taken cc classes, you have to send those too - not just with your initial ap but midyear reports, etc. Some cc may charge for this. Every time you take the SAT/ACT or subject tests then you have to send the scores out again. It’s a lot to keep track of. And if you get accepted to them all, then the really hard part starts. It will be very difficult to choose one unless you have a definite favorite. Do you have to do interviews for each one? That’s a lot of work. What about visiting them all? That is expensive and time consuming - especially if you do it your senior year with so much else going on. You may have to miss classes/work/sports to go to all of those interviews and visits. Also once you are accepted there are accepted-student and honors functions. Will you attend all of them until you make a decision? I haven’t even mentioned the financial aid part. Yes, you can send one FAFSA and one CSS for all of the schools, but many schools also have an additional separate fin aid app. If you are chosen for verification this will be a nightmare with so many schools wanting copies of finacial reports and other forms. You will need to be extremely organized or have a parent or GC who acts as your private secretary. But really, the hardest part will be deciding on one in the end - especially if you have done a really good job on your essays and research. I forgot to add that if you are applying for outside scholarships (which many will need to do) then there are even more essays, recs and transcript requests. Choose wisely…</p>
<p>i applied to 6 schools. 2 safeties, 2 matches, and 2 reaches (though my GC thought they were all reaches with one match..) wound up getting into all of them but my very high reach (penn) and am almost done with my freshman year at my low-reach/high-match (BC). i almost wish i had applied to more schools, my mom just sortve gave me a list soph year with like 20 schools and i narrowed it down from there. did a couple of visits and crossed a couple off. didnt even visit my two safeties but they were two HUGE state schools. i wish i had applied to at least 1 in CA and 1 in the south just to have had the option. oh well.. im happy now so thats all that matters =)</p>
<p>I have a question about recs… can I just ask my teachers for a general rec and then print off multiple copies and send it to all the schools? Or do the recs actually have to be different for each school?</p>
<p>Usually your teacher can write a single letter of recommendation that can be attached to the recommendation forms used by many different schools. The Common Application forms were designed to be photocopied and used for multiple colleges, but these days a lot of college applications are submitted online, and I’ve read that even teacher recommendation letters are starting to go out online to certain colleges.</p>
<p>D applied to 10 and was accepted to 9. Of course now we can look back and say she shouldn’t have applied to certain schools but in our case finances played a huge part and we needed to compare packages. In the end it came down to 4 schools that she would be happy to attend. There was no way to know that before the end though because she didn’t know enough about the schools and programs to make the decision. Visits also knocked a few out of the water mid-year. Anyway I guess my suggestion is spend the time on each school on your short list now. If you can afford it, visit before you apply. The thing that really saved D with teacher recs is asking for them early in the year. She was able to request a large number of signed and sealed copies before the rush hit. The essay was something that should have been worked on before senior year. Don’t forget to get the SATII’s done ASAP!</p>
<p>I did 12 schools, and don’t think it was too many. There are schools that I probably didn’t need to apply to, but also ones that I would have really liked that I didn’t. I did get into my #1, but then I didn’t at some lower, ‘less competitive’ ones, so I don’t see the problem with an occassionally redundant list. Admissions are not random, but they are just as much not predictable.</p>
<p>If you have good naviance’s or something, so you could legitimately guess where you’ll get in, then 5-8 is probably more than enough. But if not, and my school has nothing do more - I would likely have applied to 12-14 if I did it again. WRITE ESSAYS IN THE SUMMER. And APPLY TO EA SCHOOLS. Those are two things I didn’t do, that could have shortened my list, and also helped make fall less chaotic.</p>
<p>Apply to as many schools as you could see yourself truly happy to attend next year. Don’t apply to any you wouldn’t be. I made sure that my ‘safeties’ were schools I would be genuinely happy to attend, and I think that decreased the stress of the process, even if it didn’t matter in the end.</p>
<p>Although I don’t have any hard evidence to support what I’m about to write, it would seem that interviewing was very important at the more selective schools. So … if this is true (and I firmly believe that it is), I don’t think you should apply to more schools than you are willing or able to have an interview. And remember, alumni interviews aren’t always close.</p>
<p>Savs, you are in a unique situation. You have a super-safety, and a solid match, Macalester, that would be affordable. Your question of how many schools is really the question of, how many schools in addition to those two?</p>
<p>Take a hard look at potential schools over the next four months. Before adding a school to your short list of applications, ask yourself if you would really attend there instead of Macalester, all things considered. </p>
<p>You have many fine schools to consider, but not many that would be hugely preferable to Macalester at reduced tuition. Remember that saving $100,00 on tuition over four years can buy a lot of great opportunities - graduate school, trips overseas, the freedom to take a low-paying job that you love.</p>
<p>college admissions this year was crazy…so the applicants next year are probably going to panic and apply to loads of places…i suggest you do the same but as long as you like the place and not just the name</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This was always the advice for the GC’s at my D’s HS. If any of your schools are rolling admission, though, it is absolutely critical to apply early. Way before whatever they call the deadline. Several of my D’s friends were rejected from safeties or matches this year because the freshman class had filled up.</p>
<p>You need to take some control over the amount of work you will be doing while applying, too. Applying to many schools that use the common ap and have easy supplements will not be too hard on you. Applying to many schools (more than 12) with unique applications or essay requirements will be really hard. Divide your list into
- Common Ap, easy supplement
- Common Ap, challenging supplement
- Unique Ap, few or short or recyled from the Common Ap essays
- Unique Ap with several unique essays</p>
<p>You are clearly an honors student. Don’t forget to factor in extra essays you will need to write for honors admission if there are colleges on that list where you would only go if you were accepted into honors.</p>
<p>Also, some colleges change their essays from year to year.</p>
<p>A few more notes, don’t not apply to one of the schools you really like just beacause there ay be a challenging application. It will all be worth it in the end. Also, look into safties that you will love, but also that award a lot a marit scholarships. That way, even though it may not have been your first choice in school, it will be potentially be cheaper than your first choice. look at this extensive thread to get some ideas:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/63770-best-schools-give-most-merit-based-aid.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/63770-best-schools-give-most-merit-based-aid.html</a></p>
<p>Oh, ok. Thanks for all the recs/essay advice. I’ll start on the essays this summer, and ask for recs late-August/early-September? I definitely know one teacher I will ask, but am still deciding who to ask for number two.</p>
<p>I would say keep it under 10 and make them schools that you really really want to apply to. The application fees are expensive.</p>