<p>It depends. Most schools are need-blind, meaning admissions and financial aid are completely separate. There are some schools that consider family contribution when deciding acceptance, but most of the top schools are need-blind.</p>
<p>Thanks carbs2</p>
<p>There is nothing really mystical with most colleges and universities admissions. The data is there and unless the student has some very real outside the norm issues - either positive or negative - and applies to an appropriate list they will have a choice come spring. They can only attend 1 college. I think sometimes applying to a vast number of colleges is more of a fishing or wishing expedition hoping that some outlier will either come in with a ton of money or simply wanting to postpone some decision making because there are simply so many colleges out there it “feels” like an overwhelming task to whittle the list down for both the kids and the parents.</p>
<p>I admit my kid applied to applied to more than 25 because we could not decide on the priorities.</p>
<p>Sent in an UCAS application because it is a single app for 5 schools in UK. Oxford was the target but it fizzled out quickly while 3 other schools gave admission.</p>
<p>Applied to several combined programs for BS/MD (Northwestern, WashU, Pittsburgh, Caltech/UCSD, Rice/Baylor - withdrew two when the interview did not come)</p>
<p>Applied to Chicago and USC for scholarships (withdrew USC when scholarship interview did not come)</p>
<p>Applied to one safety - UT - auto admit</p>
<p>Applied to one or two other state schools who sent free apps and promised all kinds of money for national merit.</p>
<p>As a full pay it did not matter which non merit scholarship school gave an admission and so applied to most top 15 schools.</p>
<p>Commonapp is limited to 20. So it is hard to apply to 30 unless several are publics and/or one is willing to apply by paper. </p>
<p>I do see lots of BS/MD applicants applying to 15-20 since no one knows who will pick them.</p>
<p>
I think this lays it out quite nicely.</p>
<p>But I wanted to add a couple of points. First, I don’t think applying to a lot of schools necessarily means that a kid hasn’t done his homework–on the contrary, it could mean that he’s done a lot of homework and has identified a lot of schools that would work for him. Similarly, it might not be that hard to decide which school to go to if he gets into a lot of them–if his research has helped him develop criteria (i.e., a balance of best program and best financial deal).</p>
<p>I’d say the main reason not to apply to 30 schools is the risk that the quality of your applications (essays, interviews, etc.) could suffer from doing so many. But if they were all Common App schools with no interviews and no extra essays, the only real downside is the cost.</p>
<p>My son applied to 9. In hindsight had too many matches and safeties but when applying were a bit unsure how it would all fall out. Good stats, (30ACT, 3.8 GPA) good EC’s, but no AP courses, only honors, and was 28 out of 63 class rank. He ended up being admitted to all, including his two reaches - which we thought he had no shot at.</p>
<p>texaspg - this is exactly the type of situation where students from our high school will apply to large numbers of schools, and it makes sense to me.</p>
<p>I do not see that there is anything so terrible in applying to 20 or more schools that have low and unpredictable rates for admission, admission to special invitation only programs with perks, or financial aid. At our school, most students with the highest stats could apply to Pitt or Penn State Schreyer or both in Septmeber or October and then forget about the rest of the process. Many in fact do exactly this and do not look back.</p>
<p>Sometimes undecided students also learn more about themselves and their priorities in the application process, and often they learn even more once they are admitted and attend scholarship interviews and accepted student days, where the shoe is on the other foot. The school with the great marketing in October might not seem as enticing in April, etc.</p>
<p>Sometimes after all is said and done, students with fancy offers end up taking Penn State or Pitt anyway, but I don’t know that they necessarily feel that the effort to look around elsewhere was wasted. And students who were turned down at all but their safeties even though their stats and such “should” have gotten them at least one if not several offers from lottery schools might get a sense of closure as well.</p>
<p>No but ultimately kids applying to so many colleges has resulted in increased admissions staff, increased financial aid staff, or worse, the hiring of lessor qualified readers to get through the applications. All that results is that there is LESS attention paid to applications and increased costs. “We” reap what we sow.</p>
<p>FWIW, my kid attended 4 separate admitted student events to decide where to matriculate to and currently attending a school at full pay after turning down good money at several schools. </p>
<p>I do know kids who turned down top 20 schools to attend UTexas honors programs because the parents did not think their price tag was worth it. One shoe does not fit all and it is usually a family decision.</p>
<p>On a side note, I do wonder how UCLA reads 100,000 applications.</p>
<p>P.S. - The residency forum says one needs to apply to 100 residencies to land a dermatology residency.</p>
<p>30+ is excessive. However, if you have impressive stats and are un-hooked (not URM, not an athlete, not legacy, not artistically hooked, etc) - applying to more elite schools gives you a better chance of being accepted to one of them. Then applying to several at the next level down as well as some state flagships and seeing whether merit money turns up is a reasonable strategy. This approach can add up to quite a few schools. </p>
<p>While our family does not qualify for financial aid, merit money would really help. So college admissions does feel like a fishing expedition - fishing for entry into the highest-rated school, fishing for merit money and comparing offers in April. You can’t win the lottery if you don’t buy a ticket.</p>
<p>My third child is currently applying with strong GPA, high test scores, and very focused and intense extracurriculars. But he is still just a high school kid who participated in his high school programs. He didn’t do research in a college lab, he didn’t win a national science award, he didn’t write a novel or win a national history award and he didn’t start his own non-profit. Like my other two, he just showed up everyday, did his work, studied hard, and participated in his high school community. For the elite schools, its very possible that this won’t be enough since my son doesn’t have national or international presence, but then again it might be… With all my children, I have witnessed the capricious nature of college admissions and the various strategies employed by students and their parents. I’m glad to be nearing the end of this journey.</p>
<p>BfloGal–</p>
<p>If a student is full pay, AND if the student is well qualified to attend school X, AND if the school has accepted via needs-blind the students they really, really want—THEN when they are filling the last few spaces in the class the school will begin to look at ability to pay and if all other things are equal between, say, 2 applicants, then the one whose parents can pay it all will have that as a hook. </p>
<p>But if they are not strong candidates already–grades not that great, etc – then don’t count on your ability to pay it all doing that much for them.</p>
<p>The students at my child’s school who apply to the most number of schools are those who are determined to attend the highest ranked school that accepts them. With admission to the Ivies and Ivy equivalents being a lottery system, this can easily mean applying to 20+ schools, especially if they also throw in a few more applications to places that award full merit scholarships.</p>