Is it bad to only apply to one college? I know exactly where I want to go and what I want to major in so when the application for the college I want to go to opens on September 1, I want to apply very close to that date. I’m afraid my guidance counselor is going to be hesitant to send my transcript to the college because she might want me to explore my options.
Depends, will you get an answer back from the college before 1 Jan? If so then applying to one college and getting accepted is GREAT! However if you don’t get accepted, 1 Jan is the deadline for a lot of US colleges to apply to; there are others with later dates but now you’ve really limited yourself.
I think I have a pretty good chance of getting in, my GPA is a 3.2 and the average is a 3.0. My ACT score is a 22 and the average for the school is a 19.
Then you are probably good, so apply early and hopefully you will only have to submit one app.
If you’re sure that it’s the one you want, then go for it.
There should be no push-back from your counselor re: sending your transcript.
When you request that he or she submit it to your target school, then that’s what they’ll do.
If the counselor encourages you to apply to some additional schools,
you can take that in whatever way you want – either apply to a few more or not.
The counselor is not going to be in your college classes with you, nor paying the tuition bills.
If you and your parents both really like the single school you’re applying to, and it’s affordable, then it’s no one’s business outside of your family’s.
I think that it is fine to apply as soon as they are accepting applications, then wait a month or two and see if you get a quick response. If you get a quick acceptance from your top choice and if the finances are okay then you might be done early (while still keeping up with your high school studies of course). However, you probably should be ready to apply to other schools before their deadlines if you don’t hear back quickly.
Some schools respond quickly, some take a while. If you are closer to the cutoff for admission, it might take longer but you never know (I am aware of one student whose top choice was an excellent fit that should have been a “quick admit”, but it took a lot longer than it should have. It ended up being because someone had left from the admissions office and they were just behind. The student was accepted as soon as the school caught up on their backlog).
Would it hurt to apply to 1 or 2 more schools? Don’t go crazy maybe just one more, but a back up plan is always good. And honestly I have seen more than one senior completely flip flop on what they want from August 1 to May 1. Even kids that were 100% sure, from middle school, that they just had to be a “_____.” (Fill in the blank, Aggie, Longhorn, Trojan, Tiger). Given the admissions process these days don’t count anything a sure bet (unless you are guaranteed/assured admission).
If you go that route be 100% sure you get an answer back before December (in case of a surprise rejection) and be 100% sure the school is affordable. And if you have one iota of a doubt, then there is no harm to putting in a couple of additional applications in case you have a change of heart down the road.