<p>Ultimately, you will have to make a choice about where you want to go. Nonetheless, I think its entirely acceptable to decide later and have more options now.</p>
<p>15, to me thats tooo much, i remeber applying to under 7,you shoud pry apply to 2/3 automatics, 3 maybes and 1/2 reach schools, no more in my opion but everyone is different i guess</p>
<p>just a philosophical note: an excess of options is not always the most desirable outcome. almost all the hardest decisions i've ever had to make (and i'm a bona fide 'grownup') have been complicated by TOO MANY CHOICES.</p>
<p>If your an international, you should definitely apply to at least 10.</p>
<p>Iam applying to 17, is that too much? i get fee waivers for 15 of them so money isnt an issue</p>
<p>except in special cases, no one needs that many schools. All it says is you really don't know what you want in terms of a college</p>
<p>wow...i feel so overwhelmed by contradictory opinions...i know exactly where i want to go, and i have a definite rank for every school on my list and would be delighted to go even to #15...hence, i will not be overwhelmed by any number of choices... however, i think i'd be even happier at one of my top choices (the location, academics, EC's...everything i could have dreamed of in a college, all of those schools have! i'ts like i have 7 dream schools!) but as i said earlier, all of these schools are reaches...but yes, i have visited and done major research</p>
<p>This issue has been discussed on several forums. My s's school allowed a max of 6 applications. Any more after that went at the bottom of their priority pile, and they threatened to charge for the extra paperwork. If you do your HW, you can get your selection down to 2-3 reaches, 2-3 matches and 1-2 safeties, in any combination. His school always, ALWAYS has 100% acceptance to 4 yr colleges. Personally, I feel 15 is ridiculous. Narrow down your choices and apply to 6-9. Even if you are applying to the top schools, they are so different you can't possibly want to go to all of them. Why tie up a spot that would affect someone else, who might then get put on the WL, or rejected? It just doesn't seem right. Plus, your sr yr is stressful enough-- don't spend all of it filling out apps. And if you do it all with the common app, schools know that you are doing this, and the shotgun approach backfires. If you really like a school, use their app, not the common app.</p>
<p>I'm really surprised that you have found 15 schools that you would be EQUALLY "delighted" to go to! But, ultimately, you have to trust your own instincts on this - if you feel you honestly have found 15 schools that would be equally "perfect" for you and are willing to invest the time, energy and emotional commitment into applying to all 15, go for it. Just remember, figuring out the real differences between them and making a decision won't be any easier in April then it is now. Best of luck!</p>
<p>i just found out that last year someone from my school applied to 21 colleges and got rejected from every single one (she had excellent test scores, 4.0, much leadership, and great EC's and recs)...turns out guidance messed up her apps
hmmm...maybe i do need to apply to all of them...to ensure my school gets at least one right...what do you guys think?</p>
<p>No, sounds like you need to put your energies into following up with your guidance counselor.</p>
<p>About the person who got rejected - maybe the school messed hers up because the counselor had to write so many recs...</p>
<p>Anyway, 15 is too many! Although there are a lot of reaches - but that means you won't do justice to all of them if you have to do so many. I'm doing seven total and I already think that's too much. At least narrow it down to 10.</p>
<p>I'm with Jym, though I'm tolerant to the point of about 8: 1-2 safeties, 3-4 matches, 2-3 reaches. </p>
<p>You can't possibly pay the attention to each of 15 apps the same amount of care and attention you give to 6-8. And from talking to admissions reps and high school counselors, it shows. </p>
<p>Applying to so many schools betrays insufficient attention to "fit", imo. If you like all 15 equally well, then perhaps you haven't found all the right questions.
And contrary to the thought that more apps equals more choices, I've seen a couple of studies that more apps yielded <em>fewer</em> choices on average. My advice is: take fewer shots but better ones.</p>
<p>You guys are awesome! :) I have decided to take your advice and slash the number in half...how's seven?</p>
<p>hey if they mostly use the common app then i would think the quality of the apps would all be the same. i think if you really want to get in to these you should schedule an interview at all- if they are reaches, adcoms like to see you show lots of interest in their schools. yea i think i'll apply to 8, 2 were free online and the rest are 50 or 45 each. I decided not to apply to villanova, whose fee was a whopping $70! I'd apply to more if they werent so expensive!</p>
<p>But there's more to that than just the number 15. The actual amount of time you'll need depends on how many essays you can recycle and how many CAs there are. Ultimately, everything depends on your "strategy."</p>
<p>One incentive to apply to mulitple schools is that at elite schools, admissions are random. If you have a 15% chance to go to a HYPSM (for example, hypothetically), and apply to all five of them, you have a 55% chance of getting into one.</p>
<p>Think about this:</p>
<p>You are going to pay anywhere from $50 to $70 a pop in application fees
The cost to send all of the score reports to multiple schools
The cost of sending the CSS profile to multiple schools</p>
<p>For schools that are not need blind in the financial aid process, they will see from your FAFSA/CSS profile the other schools which you are applying to (15 schools means that you will have to update your FAFSA atleast 3 times, and hope that they have been sent out before making the corrections. IF a particular school gets the FAFSA where your list of schools are ll over the place it will appear that you are indecisive and really don't know what you want (or are just using them as a safety) they may not want to "waste and admission" on you. Admissions committee's are savvier than you think, especially when it comes to the question - what other schools are you applying to.</p>
<p>I think its good. My sister applied to 19 schools and got in 15 including some elite and ivy schools.</p>
<p>I think 15 is an ok number. Better start on those apps early though. I had 14(15?) but I filled out most of my apps around August and pretty much finished it before school began. However, now that I look back, I probably would've taken out nearly half of those applications. You really really really need to ask yourself, "would I REALLY consider going there if I got admitted?" and "do I see myself going to that school?"</p>
<p>15 is fine to apply to...last year I applied to 13, because I honestly didn't know what I wanted. I had visited all but 1, if you can knock some off by visiting do so.</p>