Is it okay to only apply to 2-3 schools?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Whenever students seek advice on how many schools to apply to, the usual answer is to apply to at least a couple reaches, a couple matches, and a couple safeties. Until recently, I was going to heed the same advice and apply to a couple schools from each tier (and it's good advice, don't get me wrong). Now, with a couple months to go until the Common App opens, I decided that I'd be equally happy at my matches and safeties. It seems rather pointless (in my case) to apply to reaches that, if I do get into them, I might not even be able to afford, depending on the financial aid package. Furthermore, I might not even get into them, and I really don't like the idea of spending $300+ on application fees (not to mention even more money on sending test scores) only to end up at one school in the end. I've gotten over the whole prestige and name thing, would be perfectly happy at any of my safety schools, and my (high) match is UVa, so that's a fairly big name school itself. </p>

<p>But why stop there? Why not trim my list down even more to get rid of the safeties I don't like as much to minimize how much I'll be spending on application fees? So I did, and now I'm left with 2 safeties that I love and can definitely afford. Between these two and UVa (with in-state costs), I feel that makes a lot more sense, financially speaking. I might not even apply to one of my safeties because I don't like it as much as my other safety and UVa. By cutting my list down from 5-6 schools to 2-3, I'll be saving hundreds of dollars, which matters to me, because I'd rather save the money spent on applications to go towards whatever college I'll actually end up attending. And I love all 3 schools, so it's not as if I'm only deciding to apply to them for financial reasons and don't actually like them. </p>

<p>So with all that said, my question is if it's okay to only apply to a couple of schools? It just seems somewhat odd to me, since everyone I know generally applies to at least 4, if not more. Is this a bad idea? I also can't help feeling that I'm letting myself down by not applying to at least one reach, because hey, maybe I will get in. But at the same time, who knows if I'd even be able to afford it, and my thought process is that if I love my safeties and match schools as much as my reaches, then I might as well just apply to the ones I know I'll get into/have a better chance of getting into. My desired career choice is journalism, so I won't be making a lot of money and want to keep the debt minimal, and I might eventually want to go to grad school as well.</p>

<p>What do you all think? In general too, not just necessarily in my situation. Is it okay for a student to only apply to as few as 2 schools? What about even just 1 school, if it's a safety and one they know they can afford and get into?</p>

2

<p>When I see people apply, they generally do it for the name, hence the laundry list of applications they have to send. I know a girl from our school that had a shot at the Ivy Leagues (but they’re still crapshoots ;)), but instead, she just applied to Clemson University and got accepted. She’ll be attending there, and I don’t think she’d choose any other school. I guess the rule people don’t generally follow is to apply to schools that are a good MATCH for YOU. Adcoms will probably see if you’re applying because you fit there or because you’re doing it for the name. Maybe that’s what’s up with the low acceptances these days? I’ve heard they can “see right through” your application, haha.</p>

3

<p>Are any of your schools rolling admission or EA? Unless you have a definite lock by the Jan. 1 deadline, I’d hesitate in applying to so few schools, just in case the safeties prove to be not so safe. Once you have a definite admit, your strategy is viable, although how sure are you you won’t get a good FA package at a reach? You seem to be so risk averse, you may be not be willing to risk $100 for a really great admit with FA package, and that’s not a good risk/reward strategy.</p>

4

<p>If you’re perfectly happy attending your safety to which you know you’ll be admitted and you know you can afford, then yes you can apply to one school. At the end of the day some students do like having a choice, though.</p>

5

<p>There’s nothing wrong with applying to a small number of schools. The reason people apply to so many schools is to either maximize their chances of getting in somewhere they’d accept or to maximize their chances of getting somewhere very good. If you’re content with one true safety (i.e., one that will not only admit you but will almost certainly also provide you with financial aid and a Honors program if you absolutely need those to enjoy that school). You don’t have to max out if you don’t want to maintain the hope that you’ll get the best possible outcome (or if your safety/match schools are your best possible outcome).</p>

6

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<p>I don’t know I won’t get a good FA package, but I figure, there’s always that chance that I won’t, and I figure that if I like my safeties as much as any of my reaches, might as well just go for the safeties. Both safeties are rolling admissions and admit by GPA and test scores, so I’m like 99% sure I’ll get into both. Both also have automatic scholarships (one is full tuition and the other, 2/3 tuition), so I’m set financially. I’ll be applying to my match EA. </p>

7

<p>Your plan is perfectly fine.</p>

<p>Stop worrying about this, and enjoy your summer.</p>

8

<p>If you truly like your safety as much as your reach and you have admission to your safety in hand, then you’re golden. But based on what you write, you seem to think UVa is a match, and I don’t think that’s true for anyone, even in-state. I worry that you’re convincing yourself this is the right decision over a few hundred dollars, when you’ll turn around and regret it later.</p>

<p>Get your rolling admission in-hand, see if you can get your EA to UVa, but don’t absolutely decide you aren’t going to apply - there’s always that chance that as the deadline approaches, you’ll want to just see what happens if you apply to a reach or you won’t have the UVa admission you think you will. Never say never.</p>

9

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And this conventional advice is bad. Instead of Reach/Match/Safety you sound be going for Fit/Fit/Fit. Your approach is fine.</p>

10

<p>I know a lot of kids who apply to just ONE school. if that school is pretty much a sure thing, and that’s where they want to go, it’s no big deal. There are a number of reasons why this situation arises. Sometimes the school is such that the student is truly so well qualified that he’s certainly an admit, or it’s pretty much an open admissions school or the student is applying very early so s/he’ll know early in the process what the results are. Or it’s an ED school and the student is betting s/he’ll get in there (not a good idea not to have back ups in mind and the apps for them well underway though the actual application process can wait until the ED word comes back). So in the real world, there are a lot of kids who do apply to one school because they know they’ll get in there and they are all set to go there. </p>

11

<p>It is totally fine to just a few schools. I would not apply to only one college unless you will hear back before December (ex. rolling, EA, ED) just in case some one in a million crazy thing happens and you don’t get in.</p>

12

<p>You don’t have to “guess” that you will or won’t have financial aid. Run the Net Price Calculators.
I assume your safeties are like JMU or UWM, but you may want to include one more match school similar to UVA, checking for costs based on the NPC</p>

13

<p>I only applied to 3 schools, with similar reasoning: I only applied to places I actually wanted to go to, including 2 with guaranteed full scholarships. I didn’t see a reason to apply to a ton of schools and waste a bunch of money when I was content with my 3 options. It all worked out, and I’m very happy with where I ended up.</p>

14

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<p>Yes, that is perfectly fine if at least one school is a 100% assured safety (assured admission, assured affordability, assured that the student will find it a school to his/her liking).</p>

<p>A student whose first choice is such a safety may apply to just that one school.</p>

15

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<p>Sounds like a good plan. You will know by November(?) about the rolling safeties, and by December about the EA, right? So still plenty of time to apply to more if you change your mind or they don’t work out, though be mindful of earlier deadlines for scholarship consideration. </p>

16

<p>I think if they’re schools you want to attend then your plan is superior to applying to a host of schools that you really don’t know if you want to attend and seeing what sticks. I frankly find your approach refreshing.</p>