<p>How many schools should i apply to, assuming i'm looking at extremely selective schools...i have a 34 on the ACT, which is at or above the 75% at pretty much all schools...and i am about 95% certain i will get into UMich in-state. However, i want to apply to enough so that i have some choices but not too many because i don't have the time.</p>
<p>I'd say students typically apply to about 6-8 but CCers (as always) tend to go above and beyond. It all depends on how comfortable you feel with your choices. If you've got a lot of reaches, then make sure you have enough matches and safeties you like. I'm probably going to end up applying to 10 or 12.</p>
<p>Yeah, the majority of us are applying to 9-12 schools from what I get, but the average person, I'd say is applying to +/- 6</p>
<p>at my school they dont really let people apply to more than 7 schools. the preferred number is 6.</p>
<p>average person maybe 4 or 5
hopefully I can narrow my choices down a little so it's about that.
Honestly what's the point of applying to 12 schools? What a pain. Eventually you'll have to narrow it down to one, so you might as well narrow it down a little before applying. </p>
<p>One of my friends is going to RIT and ONLY applied to RIT because it was the only school he wanted to go to. I wish I could narrow down my choices to one college I really want to go to and one or two others to be on the safe side.</p>
<p>Nine to twelve schools? NINE TO TWELVE? That's at least $450-600 in application fees as a very conservative estimate. Goodness. Didn't your mother ever tell you that there are starving children in Africa?</p>
<p>I'm going to apply to 10-12 colleges most likely for a few reasons-
1. I'm insecure and I want to go to college.
2. I'm indecisive and I like options.
3. I'm on the edge, applicant-wise, for many of my schools. Will I get into X elite school? Really, I'm not sure. For me and people like me, I think it's an odds game. If I apply to 4-5 elite schools, I may get into 1 or 2, and if I genuinely like all of then that would be a good thing.
4. Most of my schools are Common App. Simple as that.
5. My parents want me to apply to Y College. I don't like Y College, but they like Y College. They insist I apply to Y College and won't take no as an answer, so I do.</p>
<p>Those are my reasons, and I'm sure others feel the same way or have other reasons for applying to way too many schools. It will be hassle. It will be expensive (but a lot of schools waive fees if you apply online, which I will take full advantage of), but I'll feel comfortable with my options.</p>
<p>I have four application waivers and also two are free if you apply online.</p>
<p>From my experience on CC and in high school, 95% of people wish they had applied to more schools. I also had UMich as a safety and applied to six others, honestly I wish I had a couple more. I ended up transferring to a school I had previously ruled out without knowing enough. Its hard to choose until you get in and go to the days on campus weekends. Choices are awesome. Our valedictorian ended up at a school he really didnt like because he didnt apply to enough places, meanwhile the ten kids after him had their choice of top schools. </p>
<p>Finally, what is a couple extra hundred bucks in life? If you are in need, the ability to negotiate financial aid between schools will be worth ten times that at a minimum.</p>
<p>Most kids apply to 6-8 schools, limited primarily by the work involved (and for some individuals the expense). But others, especially the highly motivated kids that appear on cc may well apply to more. The much more important issue is the spectrum of school selectivity that you include in your list. You have a great ACT score and I will assume that you have grades and a class rank to match and have great ECs. Please don't be deceived into thinking that you will get into most of the elite schools you apply to because you are in the top 25% of their accepted ACT or SAT scores. It just doesn't happen that way because there are too many kids with similar stats applying and because the decisions that the adcoms make are just too unpredictable. A match school means that you have approximately average stats compared to the kids that are enrolled at the school. It doesnt mean that you are a sure thing to be accepted; the odds are in general ~50%. But the odds will be considerably lower for the highly selective elite schools even with matching stats. Safety schools are where your stats greatly exceed the average enrolled kid and where your likelihood of acceptance is much higher, approaching 90% or so. If you apply only to elite schools (and UMIch is certainly one for OOS, you would know what their in-state acceptance rates are) you may not get accepted anywhere (see Andison). Therefore you need to very carefully select your match and especially your safety schools because you may well end up with acceptances to only these latter schools, and you should really want to go there. Dont get too hung up on the prestige or USNews rank of a place. Find schools that really match what you want in terms of academic environment, campus culture, size, location. If you are happy at your school you will be much more likely to do well and if you do well at ANY decent college you will have tremendous opportunities in life. It doesnt have to be at a HYPS.</p>
<p>Actually, i am not even interested in the ivy league...princeton is an awesome place, but its eating clubs and preppy environment kind of turned me off. And harvard...anyplace that spends the whole info session talking about HOW TO GET IN rather than stuff ABOUT the school has serious problems, imo. So most of the schools i'm interested in are around 30% accepted, and a few are higher. Plus, i am almost positive i will get into Mich (in-state), partly because so many kids from my school end up going there (back when they had the points system, they would give a point or two to kids from my school) and partly because i am way above all the stats. </p>
<p>I thought of something...is there a number, say 250, that the admission percentages of all the schools you apply to should add up to? That would be helpful.</p>
<p>There really isn't any formula that I would rely on. But if you would be happy at UM if it came down to it and it is truely a safety then you are really free to apply anywhere. Does UM have an EA or rolling admission? If so and you would be happy to go there if it was the only option, then if you apply early and get accepted you really would have all the pressure off and would be free to apply to as many reaches and matches as you like.</p>
<p>I'm applying to 8 tops. Someone I know is applying to 21 because he says statistically he has to get into one of them. I say bull crap. The only time I think you should apply to a lot is if you're applying for a competetive program (like musical theater, acting, fine arts, etc.), and that's all. I hate when people have a safety they'd hate to attend. So would you go to UMich and be happy with going there? I second the "don't assume you'll get because your stats are in the top 25%".</p>
<p>Vinco,</p>
<p>I wouldnt be close minded to the rest of the Ivies, Dartmouth has the same community atmosphere of Princeton except less preppy and more outdoorsy and Brown is like Harvard without the pretention.</p>
<p>i know...</p>
<p>my friend has been telling me about dartmouth; it sounds like a good place, but i want a school more science-oriented and more urban</p>
<p>brown is actually on my 'list' of colleges, it's just farther down than others that are closer to home and more what i am looking for</p>
<p>A couple of thoughts Vinco - the length of your list should depend on your goals, and finances. There are disadvantages to a longer list, even with the Common App, lists can get unwieldy, and you may not do as good a job on your apps. What if your dream school is the one that just happens to not get all your teacher recs, because there were just so many to do?</p>
<p>Having an in-state rolling admission school that you will be happy to attend is a great position to be in - you can measure all apps against whether or not you would rather go to X College than to Michigan, and by just how much effort you want ot put into the process.</p>
<p>Do you need merit aid? That is a very good reason to add a few more schools.</p>
<p>When you get down to the nitty gritty of this school is on the list and this school is not - this is the time to go off under a tree, or in your room, or go for a long walk. You need to ask yourself hard questions about what you want what is important to you - there may be no perfect school, but you are better off sending 6 well done apps with 3 reaches and 3 matches, any of which you would like to attend, than shotgunning all the Ivies plus Stanford, Duke, MIT and AWS, just to get in an elite school.</p>
<p>Having said the above, the opposite is also true - don't beat yourself to death over fit, either. As Slipper's story may well illustrate, people grow and change, sometimes quite a bit over senior year, and what you think you want in the fall may be different than what appeals during accepted students' visits. Set yourself a range of apps to do - say 6-8 or 8-10, but if you start getting much over 10, it is time for another long walk.</p>