<p>8-15 is pretty normal at my old school. I have no problem with it. People have different priorities and if you’re aiming for super selectives for FA or for just the general experience, applying to many places you like is your best bet. The people I know who got into tons of places slacked off 2nd semester and spent April visiting places. Our school didn’t really mind and we have no “get out of finals” thing besides taking the AP. It’s an individual choice.</p>
<p>I cant think of a situation where you would need to apply to 30 schools, however I will admit my kids probably applied to more schools than was necessary because I would find these great very selective merit scholarship opportunities and encouraged my kids to add “Just one more”. On the other hand, S’s best friend applied to only 5 selective schools- because he could never imagine himself at a “lesser” school - got rejected or waitlisted from I believe all but 1 where he is now attending . Mom had about 1 year of tuition saved, had struggled the past 4 years to pay a much lower private school tuition and was thinking that they certainly would qualify for at least some finanical aid - which they did until they submitted their final tax return and all the need based grants were pulled - even his work study. So he is at this very expensive school - with no merit money and no financial aid - and will graduate probably with well over $100,000 in debt with a political science degree. </p>
<p>I don’t know if this kid would have made a different choice since he was so focused on going to a “big name” school but when the financial aid package changed - if it were my family - I would have liked to have had at least a back up plan.</p>
<p>I think if you are going to error on one side or the other - too many or too few - you are better off with too many apps. The down side of the app fees and the time committment to apply is far less than not having enough choices at the end of the process.</p>
<p>No, there is no reason. :p</p>
<p>We are a public school community with lots of high-achieving students who are not also athletic recruits- 1500 plus M/CR SAT, top 10% GPA, 4’s and 5’s on several AP exams by senior year, and good history of EC achievement and recognition at a regional, state, or national level. Compared to students with similar stats at private schools, they tend to receive far less tutoring, programming, or “coaching”. I never even saw S or D’s applications before they were submitted, and neither did any of their teachers. I do not think this is atypical for our high school. </p>
<p>I know of only two public school students whose families have hired independent college consultants. (Perhaps there are more who did not broadcast their family’s use of private consultants.) I know several more students than that who applied to half a dozen “lottery” schools where their stats placed them in the top 25% of entering students (and who were personable, had decent grades and EC’s comparable to or even exceeding those of some students accepted at these schools, and no red flags) and who got turned down by all of these.</p>
<p>I am pretty sure that at least some if not most would have gotten into one or more top thirty schools had they doubled their number of applications. I do not know where “diminishing returns” would kick in, though. At some point, the energy required to complete application supplements and scholarship applications does become too much, even if the cost is not an issue.</p>
<p>But, especially for schools that practice holistic admissions and choose among students with scores that are compressed at the top ends, whether for general admissions or scholarship programs, and have admissions rates under 20% or even under 10%, it has become very difficult for our counselors to advise students to limit applications, especially if they would like to have some choices come spring. They do advise all students to apply early to a rolling admissions safety or two in the fall, and up until a few years ago for the typical student in this category, this has been Penn State Schreyer or Pitt honors with full tuition, but I am told that in the past few years even these programs have become unpredictable.</p>
<p>Many merit scholarship programs at top schools also have low acceptance rates, and a student who is competitive for a merit scholarship at one of these schools but not for need-based aid and for whom this would make a big difference in affordability is also advised to apply to several of these. While some that I know of (Chicago, Rice) are automatic but unpredictable, others require on-site interviews, and this is where students sometimes need to make decisions about which schools they will visit.</p>
<p>If the same students are satisfied with programs that are entirely or mostly numbers-based (such as many state schools) or merit programs at schools where they are in the top 5% or 10% of applicants, I suppose there is less of a need to apply to many schools. Students whose primary goal in attending college is to qualify for medical school admissions, or to major in an area that is offered at an advanced level at large numbers of moderatelyl selective colleges (many STEM majors, for instance) might have less of a need to apply to large numbers of schools. (OTOH, most medical school hopefuls, even with top stats and even if they did not apply to more than a few schools for undergrad, will find themselves preparing many, many medical school applications just to get an acceptance or two.)</p>
<p>In our case, frazzled kids ran out of steam long before they got as far as ten applications. My only stipulation was that they appy to a rolling admissions safety or two in early fall. After that, they were entirely on their own, unless they wanted transportion to interviews or accepted student days. </p>
<p>I do think I would have raised an eyebrow if they had applied to more than a dozen schools and stepped in to tell them that enough was enough had they neglected studies to appy to colleges and scholarships.</p>
<p>Say you get into 20 of those colleges? How do you pick?
With my daughter She didn’t get into ivys, she did get into the State and private schools she applied for and she got about the same Merit aid amongst the state schools, and amongst the privates. Unless you have special circumstances there is no need to spend the time and money for that many if you pick schools that match your scores.</p>
<p>Seems silly to apply to more schools than comfortably fit on a single-page letter-size spreadsheet, maybe a dozen at most. Did the student with the 30 applications do it for “bragging rights”?</p>
<p>Our D applied to 22 schools. Five of them were lottery schools. Three of them were suggested by her guidance counselor. Four of them were UCs. We were looking for financial packages that would work and all were schools that were appropriate for her. She got into one of the lottery schools and will graduate in June with no debt and a job. This is not the strategy I would advise to everyone. It did work for us.</p>
<p>My 2 D’s only were able to apply to a handful - just 5!! (A few state schools, a few private schools and a dream reach school.) It sure made decision time a lot easier and it was cheaper as well! My niece has just applied to about 20 and she told me she is too stressed over it and can’t possibly choose between so many and is actually hoping for some rejections!</p>
<p>One of my D’s friends (a top student) applied to about 27 schools, many of which her parents would never have sent her to (too low-ranked). IMHO, they wanted to brag about how many acceptances she got. They are now doing the same thing with law schools. They are total Black Hawks. Next they will be applying for jobs for her!</p>
<p>Oh well, we found the real problem comes when they have to decide between schools that offer vastly different financial packages, if the more expensive school is especially enticing.</p>
<p>Absolutely crazy! Perhaps they do this for bragging purposes.</p>
<p>“Eight First Choices” was our Bible too. My son applied to 10 schools and so closely followed my advice not to pick a favorite until he had acceptances in hand, that he did have an interesting situation in April when he got accepted by all of them. He narrowed it down, we did some re-visits and he picked a great school, but they were all great schools and good fits, so he couldn’t have really gone wrong. Even with Common App, those 10 apps took a lot of time for fine tuning. I wanted him to shoot them all out fast but he paid the attention to personalize each app. He was right and I was wrong. I can’t imagine paying that kind of close attention to 30 apps and still keep up with school work, ECs and sleeping.</p>
<p>The one student I know who applied to more than 20 schools was an international student who needed significant FA. Sometimes it does make sense, but not often imo.</p>
<p>Probability theory would suggest that the more schools that one applys then the better the chances of being accepted. But beyond basic math, it certainly cloggs up the system any possibly distracts from more qualified applicants. BTW there was a time that applying to 8 colleges was considered too many.</p>
<p>what is a “lottery” school? a poster used this term. i have never heard of it before.</p>
<p>Bethievt - we did similar process, but DD applied to 13. She visited over 30 schools and narrowed her list down to her favorites. FA is important since I will have two in college, so need to compare packages.</p>
<p>30+ seems like overkill and not sure how you can do a good job.</p>
<p>mybobby: harvard, princeton, yale where there are a tremendous amount of applications from kids that are all qualified and only a low amount of freshman openings. The acceptance rates are so low due to sheer volume that it seemingly feels like a lottery to get accepted. Also “parents” like their high scoring kids to attend because those schools have excellent aid for middle class and upper middle class families which just adds to the increase in applications to those schools…hence the name “lottery schools.”</p>
<p>In general, I think most kids start their dreaming with a lengthy list, but it doesn’t take much research to eliminate schools down to a short list. Too many schools is most often a lack of up front research in my opinion. Even if someone is looking for a boost in financial aid with the net price calculators and enough internet chatter, it’s not difficult to target the most likely schools. There’s waay more information on colleges, pricing, acceptance statistics even now than when my first son went through the application cycle in 2006. It’s a ridiculous situation to spend thousands on apps, test sending, profile and what not if you don’t have money growing out of your ears. Heck the money you spend on 30 apps when you only need 8 would easily fund 4 years of books, pens and pencils these days.</p>
<p>I remember reading about someone on CC who applied to around 30 top schools and got into all of them except for like 2 (got into every Ivy if I remember correctly). Seems pretty ridiculous.</p>
<p>myboy123, A “lottery school” is a school where the chances of acceptance are unpredictable, usually because so few people are accepted. If someone applies to a bunch of lottery schools, there is a possibility that the applicant won’t be accepted to any of them.</p>
<p>I guess momofthreeboys beat me to it </p>