<p>The paradox is this: if you apply to 15 fifteen schools you are really making a statement that you could be happy and do well at a lot of schools, but if that’s the case, why apply to so many?</p>
<p>I will draw the line at 10 schools. I strongly agree with hmom5’s statement, “anymore than 10 is indecisiveness and/or applying to unrealistic schools.” More than 10 would seem to indicate that the student needs to think more seriously about their future. </p>
<p>S applied to 6, but there would have been one more if he weren’t accepted EA. D will probably apply to more. Her list of possibles stands at 25, (I encouraged her to cast a wide net), but I expect it will be whittled down to about a dozen by the end of the summer and that she will apply to 8 or 9.</p>
<p>It’s all about creating options. Getting in to a dozen schools that you cannot afford is equivalent to zero options. Determine if you need and can get merit aid or not, and target those schools. S1 applied to 11. He was fried by the end of the process. In retrospect, I would have removed 2 schools from his original list only to replace them with 2-3 schools that were better fits. S2 will benefit later.</p>
<p>S1 had nine on his list – he focused totally on the quality of the major(s) he wanted rather than the prestige hunt. Got into two of his top choices EA, so he dropped three at that point and added a mega-reach for FA purposes at the last minute. Actually sent apps to seven. Was accepted to four, waitlisted at one after an EA deferral, declined at two. After his EA results, he should not have bothered with the mega-reach for FA, dropped one other, and withdrawn after the deferral – but we were also looking for merit/FA, so it made sense to let those play out.</p>
<p>In retrospect – the four would have been plenty, as they were the four he wanted the most and were clearly the best fit. As an admission strategy, just those four would have been a highly daring plan.</p>
<p>S2 will probably have more apps than S1 – test scores are great, GPA is respectable (it’s a very tough program). He’d like to play D-III football, but expects that he would be recruited for his SAT more than his playing abilities. I’d like to keep it to ten apps, but fear it may go to 12 or 13. If he can nail down a couple of likelies he’d be happy to attend and don’t cost 50k, then he can apply widely and well to the rest and we’ll see how things shake out.</p>
<p>The limit I would set is as many <em>quality</em> apps as my S has time to do, while keeping up his grads. I don’t have a problem with the application fees if he has well-thought-out reasons for applying. We’re already committed to his education – I have a vested interest in seeing him select a school that helps him achieve what he wants from life.</p>
<p>If your child (or you) are uncertain of his or her chances, casting a wide net is not a bad idea, so long as the kid is up to the potential work that applying to a lot of schools requires. My son applied to 16, but he was not certain what he wanted in a school (if he did not get into his top choice) and still is not.
This wide net also allows us to compare numerous merit awards and factor that into the choice.
But if your kid is a solid student, knows what he/she wants, and applies to their top choice, a mid range that he would be happy at, and a safety he would also be happy at, boy I would say that would be perfect.</p>
<p>S1 applied to fiour. S2 will most likely apply to 6 with one being pretty “reachy.” Both kids seem to be able to make decisions and seem to add and eliminate reasonably and effectively so it works for us, the parents. I have yet to read a post over the years that has convinced me that kids need to apply to more than 10 but that is just one person’s opinion. You can have a fistful of acceptances, but you only get to go to one.</p>
<p>My kids applied to 4-6 (the 6 included conservatories, so she applied to 2 more than her brother because we were not sure we could afford the conservatories, and we were right).</p>
<p>Kids are doing some of the work of choosing after being accepted now, rather than before applying. The internet makes virtual visits possible, and the common application reduces the work in doing so many applications.</p>
<p>But the trend toward casting a wide net w/many applications is throwing the whole process off, and we feel as if applying to so many, if successful at many of them, takes spots from kids who might really want to go to a school. There were schools my kids took off their lists because someone in their high school class wanted to go there more than they did, and in our small school, only one kid would be chosen to go.</p>
<p>I have no idea how college admissions offices are coping with the confusion of so many applicants who are not set on going to their school. </p>
<p>I think it has become a process that is “all about me”, and that people might need to get back to a more thorough selection process that results in fewer applications that are more serious for each choice.</p>
<p>I’m sure people disagree with this. Don’t mean to sound so moralistic, but am old-fashioned I guess. And we did not want to spend all that money on applications!</p>
<p>My son applied to 12, and he had a pretty good strategy. Perhaps he could have omitted a couple of them, and maybe we could have waited until hearing from the EA school before sending some of them, but we’re happy with the process. The list was topheavy with reaches, which I think argues for a bigger list. I was struck by this comment from a prior post:
It strikes me that he didn’t apply to too many at all–what if he had applied to only three, but the wrong three?</p>
I agree, at least assuming those reach colleges were his favorites. My older son applied to 6 reach colleges and two safeties and only got into two of those reach schools and was waitlisted at one. Predictions will be even more uncertain next year.</p>
<p>My D felt in love with an OOS college towards the end of her freshmen year after a visit. Every year afterward, I pointed out to her that we should visit more colleges. She was adament. This college was the one. It was not until summer of senior year, did she ask to apply to other colleges, without visiting them. I guess peer pressure kicked in, as to her “no so glamorous” choice. I let her applied to 4. She got accepted in the Honor program at the OOS with scholarship, and is still waiting on the others.</p>
<p>My D applied to three schools, one OOS Big Ten flagship safety (which she may choose no matter what happens with the other two schools) which gave her instate tuition and admitted her to the honors program, one reachy-match and one Ivy. Once she got into the OOS flagship she wanted to quit then but kids at school said she couldn’t so she did the other two applications. Would this have been my choice? No, but there was no moving her. Might she have second thoughts? Maybe, but I haven’t heard about them yet. It doesn’t hurt that OOS flagship has lots of classes in areas she wants to study and that all her relatives on my side of the family are chomping at the bit to get her there. Plus the OOS school has showed her the love big time, from the first moment we stepped on the campus. This waiting is driving me crazy and I can’t imagine how kids that apply to non-rolling schools can get through the month.</p>
<p>Denquist - What do you mean she could not quit? I must admit, this college search is stressfull and I felt my job is to “damage control”. It is amazing the pressure with that “glamour stuff”. One college she applied to do not offer the major she want, nor does it offer the sport she wanted, but she is ready to make a concession because of the “name”. Am I suppose to spend big money for that school, should she be accept, giving her reasons?</p>
<p>At the end of the day, six of the seven S ultimately applied to would be considered reaches/mega-reaches due to selectivity for any kid on CC. As I mentioned upthread, he dropped three from his original ten after EA results – those were an OOS flagship, a private match/target and a mega-reach.</p>
<p>S2 will have two EAs on his list – one a mega-reach (for him), one a high target. Haven’t found a rolling admissions he likes yet. Still investigating whether the flagship is a school he’d be happy attending. Everything else on his list will be RD, unless we reassess in December and S2 tries for an EDII (which a number of the schools on his list offer).</p>
<p>1 in-state
4 safeties
3 matches
3 reaches (including the one that accepted her)</p>
<p>Some of those safeties were offers through VIP applications with no fee and/or no essay needed. Free is good for a safety school. </p>
<p>So far, D was accepted to 6 and still waiting on 5. Once she received that acceptance to her #1 school (after waiting on their waitlist for a month or so), she is no longer updating or sending in new scores to the 5 that still have her on their waitlist.</p>
<p>Son is still a junior, so we’re making this up as we go along. </p>
<p>So far we know we will not allow any ED apps. </p>
<p>Also, we know we will require him to apply to UMD (high match instate), St. Mary’s C of Md (low match instate), and Salisbury (safety instate). </p>
<p>After the instate apps he can apply to as many or as few as he wants. I’ll predict there will be 5 - 8 in the private/OOS batch.</p>
<p>My son applied to 16. My plan would have been a little smaller but there were two reasons for a larger number. First and foremost, he is an unusual package. Unusually bright and bright in unusual ways (i.e., not your normal top-of-the-high-school-class bright) but extremely dyslexic. Surprising strengths in a very broad array of subjects. But, needs accommodations, works slowly, gets tired, can’t do foreign languages, got sick a lot. And, was partially home schooled, so his packet is complex – lots of recommendations, two transcripts. Marches to his own drum so EC’s are both interesting and unusual but off the beaten track. So, we thought some schools would love him, some would dismiss him out of hand and it would be hard to predict which would be which. Second, given the low probabilities of admission at a number of the schools to which he applied, he didn’t want to fall in love with a school that rejected him. So, he requested that he a) not visit schools (we only visited two); and b) apply to a few more and do a really good job on his applications. He did the latter and that’s how we got to 16. No EA or ED since he had only visited 2 schools (and he hadn’t taken SATs until September or October anyway). </p>
<p>The extra applications certainly cost a lot less than overnight visits. However, the application process took a lot more time than I think anyone of us imagined.</p>
<p>S was reluctant to visit campuses, so we were dealing with a lot of unknowns. His 31 ACT is a contrast to his UW 3.0 gpa, so the thought was to cast a wide net.</p>
<p>Ultimately, there were 16 schools on his list, two CSU super-safeties and four UC’s of which 3 are reaches. The rest are a mix of mostly LAC’s and some OOS publics and privates based on his geographic desires, my thoughts of what might be fits, and schools known for merit aid.</p>
<p>At this point, his best option in HIS view and mine, is a school he dismissed out of hand. </p>
<p>Not every kid is ready to make their own list.</p>
I’d like to keep it to ten apps, but fear it may go to 12 or 13. If he can nail down a couple of likelies he’d be happy to attend and don’t cost 50k, then he can apply widely and well to the rest and we’ll see how things shake out.</p>