How many schools to apply to?

We are in the boarding school or bust category. We visited almost all of the 10 schools on our original list and have narrowed it down to 6 schools. Four of these schools we love and are spread across a range of acceptance rates. I would say 2 are “green light” schools, and 2 more like target/reach category. There are 2 more that remain on the list for other reasons (one is very close to home the other we have a relationship with due to my son’s headmaster being a trustee) and are both “green light” schools. It feels to me like six visits, tours, interviews and paperwork will even be a LOT so I would like to limit it to that. Thoughts?

We were advised to apply to about 6 schools. DS interviewed at 8 (6 boarding and 2 day schools) and applied to 6 - dropped 2 BS after visiting in person. At most schools you can visit and interview before you submit an application. Good luck with the process.

The best advice I can offer is eliminate any from the list where you really wouldn’t be happy to go. Nothing worse than having one unacceptable acceptance. Without knowing the odds for your child for those schools, it’s really hard to say if it’s too many or too few. If the odds are truly good at a few, you’ll be deciding in the spring, so you’re only deferring the inevitable decision making. With that said, the process of tens reveals information that can help, albeit with a lot of work and time attached. Not great guidance, but food for thought.

We visited 13 and applied to 7. Six is the number that was recommended to us but our 7th was close to home so we left it in the mix.

We visited 8 and applied to 7. There was one that neither parent thought would be a good fit but DD loved, and we did let her apply, but that was a mistake. They wait-listed her but if she had gotten in it could have been a big battle! Don’t apply somewhere just to make someone else happy, that you wouldn’t want to actually have your kid attend. In fact, saying no to a couple of schools we loved was a very hard part of the process! A good problem to have, but still hard! The AOs were so nice and all 3 of us really felt a connection with them.

Unless you are just trying to get in “somewhere” there is very little reason to apply to more than about 6, especially if you’d had the chance to really do your research inclusive of campus visits, talking to friends, etc. For most, 2 reach, 2 likely, and 2 safeties is pretty standard advice.

But I’d echo 100% the point of “don’t apply anywhere that you truly, truly, truly won’t be unhappy to go to.” We’ve seen plenty of situations in these message boards and in our community where a kid gets into their safeties (only) and either the family, the student, or both reassess the outcome after the fact and feel that it was really a bad one and then aren’t happy with the choices left to them. This isn’t college where you kind of have to go somewhere.

We did not follow the CC advice on this topic. I think the number needed depends a great deal on goals and on the applicant. We visited 8 schools, planning to apply to all 8. DS felt that 4 schools, although lovely overall, did not offer him enough beyond local options to be worth attending. DS applied to 4 schools, all super competitive and nothing vaguely resembling a safety school.

I think as a general rule casting a wide net is a good idea but I do agree with gungablue in that every situation is unique. DS2 and DD both looked at many schools but ended up applying to only two. Both applied to the same acronym school that has a focus on their special interest and both applied to the same “gem” that DS1 attends that they both knew well and liked more than the other schools that they visited. They knew that as legacies with very favorable stats they would likely get into the gem so there seemed to be no point in applying to the other often more prestigious schools.

Thank you for all of your replies. We are down to 6 schools. Four of these are on gateway to prep and 1 is through SSAT. The other has its own application so this really doesn’t seem like it will be too tough to manage.

Also if cost is an issue make sure you will be able to afford all the schools! Some schools will have a financial aid profiler on their website so you can estimate the cost.