<p>thank you both, Johnstucky & momof3boys.</p>
<p>I have a question re: the book that has been mentioned - Eight First Choices. Is there any commonality suggested for the eight? As an example, does a student choose a “size” of school that seems to fit them and then choose their eight? Do they choose between LACs and large state universities as a preference and then choose their eight? Or is there a variety of <em>types</em> of schools among the eight? </p>
<p>Hope I am making sense!</p>
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<p>Maybe in YOUR circumstances there is no reason, but not for all. I don’t know about 30 schools these days, but my D was applying to 18 five years ago. If you are low income, you cast a very wide net across schools that give great aid, whether it be merit or need based. Thankfully she got in ED and didn’t have to submit the others, but the apps, rec’s, additional essays were all done and in place. For somebody applying these days with our same circumstances, I would still advise that they do the same. I jokingly told her it was practice for medschool, where she applied to 32 schools, all with secondary essay’s. Curmudgeon on the premed forum mentioned of medical students applying to 92 programs for residency. :eek: Gotta do what you gotta do.</p>
<p>@Hoggirl: I can’t summarize the book in a couple of sentences, but basically, the author says, “Until you collect information from each college on your [initial] list, you should not make judgments about any of them. It’s from your collected data that you will decide which eight college will be at the top of your list.” She then goes on and enumerates the general “research questions” you should answer (about the schools and yourself) in collecting this data. </p>
<p>I found the book in the public library, and ended up buying a copy for us to keep. Found it very sensible and helpful.</p>
<p>In my opinion, THIRTY schools for undergrad applications is too many.</p>
<p>^thank you, bookmobile. I have ordered one from Amazon. My ds is a junior, and if he were to choose eight schools to apply to today they would be all over the map in terms of admission criteria, type, and size of school. Personally, I think he should hone in on certain aspects (like size, type) before choosing what to really look into. I will be glad to see what this title has to offer. Thank you for sharing!</p>
<p>Hoggirl–in our case, our son wanted a really quirky place with serious students, no Greek presence, little money spent on sports. I went through the Fiske guide and put sticky notes on schools at every level of selectivity that could be a good fit. My son picked 20 to visit (I know not everyone can do that but we could and had fun doing it). Then he picked 10 to apply to. There were so many that were academically great and he didn’t have a major in mind though he loved history and French and he could get those things anywhere, so I was helping him look for social fit.</p>
<p>10 seems like a good number, if one has the grades and standardized test scores that make some of the most unpredictible school “reachable.” I could even see 12. But 30? IMHO . . . no, there has got to be a sound method for narrowing it down below 30.</p>
<p>Bethievt and hoggirl, that is very similar to what I did with all three boys. They had a general sense of the type of college and the region and their major(s) of interest. I made lists of possibilities based on what they told me. S1 and S2 were adamant about not going to any school bigger than 5,000 so that pared their lists down. S3 want half big and half small because he wasn’t sure and a very specific major so he took alittle more time. Then they went on-line and did their research thing. They each paired their list down to around 10 - 12 and we visited. Each eliminated a few after visits and then they applied to the remaining.</p>
<p>Hi, I know this is the parent’s forum but I just wanted to throw my opinion in here. </p>
<p>I’m currently a senior in the midst of the crazy wait for decisions to come out. I applied to the most schools out of my class - 16 schools.</p>
<p>I started off with a list of 8 or so schools - I absolutely wanted to get into Stanford and my sister is at Berkeley so that was definitely on the list. After working so hard these last four years, I decided I would apply to ivies even if I didn’t have a great shot at them. So onto the list came four more schools. As my list became more and more full of reaches, I began to feel terrified! So I added some safeties. </p>
<p>In retrospect, I wouldn’t have applied to so many safeties. But it’s honestly a lot easier having sixteen schools on my list than only eight. With the ridiculously high chance I have of possibly being bombarded with rejections, I’m grateful to be able to offset the depression with some acceptance letters. </p>
<p>So honestly - it’s totally subjective. If a person knows where they stand, then they can apply to a few. But if you’re an international student like me, who knows her chances are unpredictable…I liked having a lot of options. </p>
<p>The truth is, money isn’t a huge problem for my family, but regardless, the only regret I have is the amount of money it cost my family. All I want now is to be accepted into as many schools as I can out of the 16 with sweet financial aid so I can pay my parents back and hopefully let my papa retire soon and have my parents and brother move with me to America. </p>
<p>But that’s just me. I get why someone would apply to 30 - though it’s still a pretty crazy number.</p>
<p>It costs $50 for almost every application, some of them offer free applications, but it’s still gotta be expensive to apply to 30 schools! I don’t think it’s necessary! I applied to 7 schools, some of my friends applied to even less. Think about how painful it would be to visit 30 schools. It will give you a large selection and a better chance of getting accepted somewhere, but honestly,you should just pick your favorites and make sure you have a couple safety schools, no need to apply to 30 schools!</p>
<p>My daughters applied to 4 & 6 schools. The oldest was accepted at all 4 (Brown, Rutgers, NW, & Georgetown) and the younger at 4 of the 6 (Rutgers, Loyola MD, UNH & Fordham). The younger did her applying two years ago in the midst of the same hype & panic about how many schools one has to apply to in order to get in. You don’t have to apply to 20 schools. You will be accepted at most of the schools you apply to if you choose them carefully!</p>
<p>And, if you do not have a cat’s chance in heck of getting into an Ivy, then don’t throw your money away on all 8 of them. </p>
<p>By the third one she had gotten it narrowed down pretty well because of doing a lot of visiting spread out over more years than I think a lot of families do. The youngest was dragged along on her older sisters’ college visits! </p>
<p>Relax a little and apply to 1-2 safeties, definitely your state school, and a couple of private schools if that is what the student is looking at. But choose ones where the student would be in the middle or higher part of the student body. I think the upper third or quarter of the student body is good—not the very top because then not many academic peers at most places & they are lonely—not the lowest in the school because then they struggle—on the higher side of the class, the profs love you & you are likely to be invited to do interesting things.</p>
<p>kcwijaya - I can see why you applied to several schools. Come back and let us know where you decide to go. Best of luck to you! Salamat.</p>
<p>My son wouldn’t apply anywhere in-state. The closest he’d consider was Vassar, a 5 hour drive. My H and I had both gone far away too, so we understood that. In response to an earlier post, I don’t think it’s most important to visit your favorites, I think it’s most important to visit safeties until you find one or two you could really like.</p>
<p>No reason.
Some people have to apply to a lot if they’re low income (like me!), so I understand that. But that many? Even I don’t agree with that, lol.</p>
<p>You don’t always need to apply to your state school if you have a financial safety./acceptance safety somewhere else. Like Bethievt, my oldest son did not apply to any colleges in our state. The reality is you only need one safety school. It’s the school that you know will accept you, the family can afford and you are willing to attend if all else fails.</p>
<p>True, momofthreeboys but, in the unlikely event my son didn’t get into any of his other schools, I thought it might be nice for him to still have a choice, so I suggested he pick 2 safeties.</p>
<p>Oh I don’t disagree with that, and yes, I think choice is good 
i was more commenting on the fact that ‘safety’ need only refer to only one school although I’m personally more of the 2 safeties, 2 matches, 2 reaches camp for exactly the reason you give.</p>
<p>30 certainly sounds financially and physically burdensome. But my twins did apply to a high number of schools: DD applied to 13 and DS to 16. They’re very different kids, and applied to very different schools. DD has high stats, has several reaches and a couple lottery schools on her list, which grew by a couple of schools when we decided to add a couple more matches. DS has low stats, and frankly we weren’t sure he could get accepted anywhere. But so far he has 6 acceptances, most with significant merit. She’s still waiting on her all RD list.</p>
<p>Reading this thread with great interest. Question-- in general, if a student were full pay, would that student have a better shot at getting into a reach school, all else being equal?
Thanks.</p>