<p>NY_Democrat, how about this:</p>
<p>Rank all of them in terms of how much you want to go there. If some are tied, then just put them at the same rank.</p>
<p>Look at the highest-ranked safety. You don’t need any stretches or reaches below it, because if you get into the safety (which you will, if it’s a safety), then you wouldn’t go to those schools anyway.</p>
<p>NY_Democrat, just make sure you don’t half-ass your applications.</p>
<p>I dnt see why it’s so horrible to apply to 20 schools. I’m probably only applying to 6, but I could see myself doing 20 if I had the resources.</p>
<p>One way to cut down on the stress around wondering if all of the pieces have arrived is to enclose a self-addressed, stamped postcard with each item, including teacher recs. Just give them to the teachers/GC with the stamped addressed envelopes to each school.</p>
<p>^My D did that (thank you CC!); a few teachers did mail her the card when they mailed the recs but it wasn’t until the deadline approached that she realized some of the schools denied receiving them. Had to go back to the teachers a few times for some of them to send again. Hard when you’ve already asked them write a letter and send 15 copies. Fortunately she had started really early (thanks again CC!), for which the teachers where appreciative, missed the rush, then caught the tail end of it with the subsequent requests.</p>
<p>HotYankRemix </p>
<p>you made the point about the common app schools seeing who has applied using the common app. Not sure about this, however, one way the colleges can see is with the fafsa (and maybe the CSS PROFILE, too). </p>
<p>You apply for FAFSA and designate codes of where to send the information to. This information is distributed to each college, and it is very easy for a college financial aid office to know where else you have applied.</p>
<p>Not sure if they share this data with the admissions office, but I wonder if it could impact merit based awards.</p>
<p>My goodness, my daughter had her hands full applying to 6 schools !</p>
<p>I say 10 is the most you’ll ever need to apply to. Ive known someone that applied to 25, its a waste of money, and stupid.</p>
<p>Apply to 25, 30, 40 or more, everyone is happy. You will, most likely, get into more than one college, the colleges can claim more applicants and less acceptances to boost their rankings, the colleges can get more money from the application fee and you can brag that you got into this or that college or university. </p>
<p>Win-win, right? And who is paying for the application fees and college? Somehow, I suspect not you.</p>
<p>^ he and the colleges may be happy. But what about the other applicants who get waitlisted or downright rejected because he’s taking up a valuable slot in 20 effing colleges? What about the person who desperately wants to attend State U more than anything in the world, and he applies to it “just because” as yet ANOTHER safety school, gets in, and shuts the other applicant out?? Selfish prick…</p>
<p>I still want to know what the parents are thinking of this. Is this poster paying on his own for all those apps and test scores? </p>
<p>My sons applied to 4 and 6 schools. Most of the students I work with have a list of somewhere between 5 and 8 schools. I think it is overkill and may backfire on the poster, but also it is selfish. Each spot you get will take one away from another student…</p>
<p>hookem–look up the word sarcasm.</p>
<p>lol I think if you are worried about being accepted, the good composition will be 2 safeties, 5 matches, 5 reaches</p>
<p>A few comments on this thread:</p>
<p>With more than 3,000 schools in this country it is the rare student that could be happy at less than ten different schools. Most students, if they put in the effort, should be able to find dozens of schools that they would be happy at. Most students don’t put in the effort either because they can only afford to attend a few instate public schools, or because they don’t see the need after they have identified a minimal number. </p>
<p>The single safety rule applies only if the student does not either expect or need merit aid. Applying to multiple safety schools is a justifiable means of minimizing costs through merit aid. You are more likely to get merit aid if you are ranked well above the school average, and it may be possible to predict total costs for any given school only after acceptance.</p>
<p>With the over admissions policies at high ranked schools being admitted at a school does not truly take a place away from another student. An increase in the average number of applications per student results in a need for more admissions officials (which can be compensated by admissions fees) and decreases the matriculation rate which negatively impacts the abilities of schools to predict their incoming class. If too many student matriculate they may need to convert double to triples, and limit class availability to room sizes. If they realize late in the game that not enough students have matriculated there may not be sufficient uncommitted students on the waiting list to reach their optimal class numbers, impacting the schools bottom line. A thoughtful student, no matter how many schools he applies to, should be prompt in letting schools know that he is not attending them so the can make better use of their waiting list.</p>
<p>Because there are not enough thoughtful students, I am surprised that there are not more limits placed on the number of schools that can be applied to.</p>
<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I have been following this post closely. Lots of good points for and against. </p>
<p>Here is our situation. We (daughter & parents) got a late start looking into all of this. We have a huge lack of guidance at our local schools as far as college planning goes. We have a great State University system (Wisconsin), and many people assume “just go to the best one you can get into”. My daughter is capable of getting into any of them with her stats, and most Privates in the midwest with a few that would be a reach such as Carlton, Grinnel, etc…</p>
<p>Part of our situation is, because of the lack of Guidance at our local schools, and the fact that neither parent ever attended college and went through “the process”, and she always heard “you are smart enough to go wherever you want to”, we are getting a VERY late start - our fault.</p>
<p>She is still undecided if she wants to go to a “State U” or a smaller LAC, and she is not sure about a major, but has 3 in mind. Only 1 of the State U’s has strong programs in all 3 areas - and it is the largest and most expensive one. </p>
<p>For the LAC’s, we need to visit more because they all have such a unique flavor. I think the samller the school, the more you need to make sure that it is a good fit personality wise. Looking at the Financial Aid packages on average from these schools, there could be a HUGE difference in cost out of pocket. </p>
<p>Many of these schools (LAC’s) have early app. dates to get possible better financial aid, so it pays to apply early to them, even though their cut off for addmision might be later. </p>
<p>So… our delema is that we cant get around to visit all of them left our her list (about 20 - which we are trying to reduce to <15) before the “early app. dates”, how many should we apply to? Part of my thought is apply without a visit, see where you get in, and take a look at the financial aid package, and then narrow the LAC’s down to maybe 3-4 to visit if we hadn’t got there yet. I think the State U’s we can narrow from 7 down to 3 or 4 before applying. This would give us a total of about 14-15. </p>
<p>As I keep reminding her, be thankful that we live in an area with an abundance of good schools close by (4 hour - one of her critteria) and you are smart enough to go to most of them.</p>
<p>DJD</p>
<p>Applying to a ton of colleges is becoming more and more common. Good luck. Hope you get lots of scholarship offers and can silence the naysayers.</p>
<p>bump…</p>
<p>I don’t have a problem with anyone doing that. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I encourage you to make the most of it.</p>
<p>Yo, I know what you’re going through! I’m applying to 19 places - but I’m international so it’s a bit different. If you’ve thought about it though and visited then places then I wouldn’t say you’re nuts. However, I’m sure the hard part will come in having to choose betweent he school’s you’re accepted to. Predicting that you get into about 2 reaches and maybe 3-4 matches and all your safties, you’re looking at having to decide between a lot of places. I’d try cut some safties and reaches. I know it’s hard but it’s possible - I went from 36 schools to 19!</p>
<p>Good luck and let us know how you do!</p>