<p>My D will be applying to 6 colleges. Although I'm not sure how to judge the "reachiness" factor, I suppose I'd call one acceptance unlikely, 2 likely with a little luck, and 3 quite probable. </p>
<p>I'm hearing so much about application inflation. Last year at this time I would have thought that 6 schools was, if anything, too many to apply to. Now, after a half year of hanging out at CC, I'm worried that it is too few.</p>
<p>Which leads me to ask - how many schools will your offspring be applying to in the coming months? Assuming they step up to the plate and get that essay written...</p>
<p>My D reduced her list to 10 after doing most of the college tours this summer. She is going to apply to the 3 top OOS schools that she would be thrilled to go to. She will also apply (with my suggesion) to 2 in-state colleges, just in case at the last minute she doesn't want to go OOS or not enough financial aid. So that's 5 in the first round, which she will apply to in September.</p>
<p>The remaining 5 are back-ups that she will apply to later this year, just in case she doesn't get in to ANY of the first three OOS schools and still wants to go to school OOS.</p>
<p>I'm not sure how to estimate reach, safety match - by SAT scores, D is applying to one school where she's below the 25/75 range, two where she's above the 25/75 range and six where she's in range. Hard to tell with grades since that is so subjective. By Naviance scattergrams four schools have never rejected anyone with her stats the last two years, and with the other five she's on the southwest corner of the green squares.</p>
<p>Neither list is totally finalized yet but fairly certain the TwinK wil apply to 8 and TwinE maybe as many as 11 or 12.</p>
<p>I think I am more conservative than the average but reaches in my mind are any school w/ an acceptance rate of > 40-50 % and/or anyschool where the applicant's stats are below the mid-range. They are also all of those schools with acceptance rates > 20% regardless of the stats of the applicant.</p>
<p>Both girls have a couple of reaches, and the rest are match/safeties There are a few in-state schools that are financial safeties too.</p>
<p>I think the lists wil whittle down. Several schools are being applied to EA/Rolling and I think that if those acceptances come in before RD apps are due that not all RD apps will end up being done.</p>
<p>They are casting a wider net because of the need for merit money.</p>
<p>S1 has a list of four favorites and a handful of well-that-seems-okays. If he ends up with a true love among the four, he's likely to apply ED - in large part because he watched what bliss it was for his sister to have things settled by mid-December. Back to the three faves and the rest, of course, if ED doesn't work.</p>
<p>But I don't really see a clear favorite emerging, so I'm vaguely predicting he'll apply to one safeish school with EA, and if that goes well, he'd apply to just the four faves. If not, the four faves plus a few more seems-okays.</p>
<p>My D is applying to 10. All but three are OOS. The in state schools are way at the bottom of her list and she's applying to them as her VERY safe schools.</p>
<p>Now is she would just complete the last paragraph of her first essay and move on to the next!!!</p>
<p>Son is applying to 6 colleges - 1 safety, 4 matches, 1 reach. It's a good list. If he had higher grades, we might have cast the wider net for merit aid. He has two favorites, which are both matches</p>
<p>My D is in the 6-8 range. Financial aid is going to be a big part of the decision. She has 2 reaches, 4 matches and a couple safeties that double as finacial safeties. 5 are rolling admission including the in-state publics, so she should be in somewhere. Then she'll be waiting for the end of March to come and see how the other 3 all pan out.</p>
<p>We are down to 2. His favorite is a sure thing --will have the formal answer in hand by the end of September -- so it takes away any impetus to apply elsewhere. The second is an in-state reach, which I am insisting on. He says he would go to school A even if he gets into the in-state option. I have to say, it really makes the season kind of a let down because I was excited about applying to lots of schools. S1 only applied to 2 schools and was done by November with a rolling admit and an early decision.</p>
<p>D has the same strategy as jaf1991's D - she is at a 3/4/2 list of reach/match/safety...the safeties are set, but she may trade off one of the reaches or matches after a couple of overnights in the fall....she will probably get the "why aren't you applying to any Ivies" question once she gets back to school, but she had to consider the financial side of things as well, which is why the reaches are reaches. An accept with no aid will be just like a deny in our book...</p>
<p>S2 has already applied to 5 matches, all RA schools, and has 1 super reach to go, but app is not yet available. Am hoping quick decisions from the RA's by late Sept. Then he begins audition process for those that he is accepted at and still interested in. Unfortunately, music is a double app process.</p>
<p>3/4/2/ seems to be a popular split--I think that's what D's final list boils down to as well. One EA safety and ED at the current favorite, pending one more college visit.</p>
<p>There was a thread once by where kids and parents were asked "what they would do differently" and many said they wish they hadn't applied to more than 1 saftey and applied to more matches. It was a great thread. I think my boys will apply to 7/8. They will apply early to state flagship honors college and hopefully that will ease the pressure. All these essays though- it is really so much work to apply to so many school and do it right.</p>
<p>My son has about nine schools on his list -- give or take. He has not visited four of them, but will see one or two this fall, as he has friends living in those areas.</p>