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[quote]
A generation ago, high school seniors applied to three, four or five colleges. But now students aiming for the most selective universities frequently apply to as many as 10 or 12; a significant number of students, especially in the last three years or so, apply to many, many more, guidance counselors and college admissions officials said.
The main reason for this, guidance counselors and admissions officials say, is a growing anxiety about admissions, stoked by college ranking guides, the news media and, often, parents. Some students are desperate to do anything to get into a brand-name institution including applying to many of them.
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The article mentions some recent developments, including some high schools limiting the number of applications, or charging fees for any above a designated number.</p>
<p>The disadvantages of this sometimes scattershot approach are discussed. One potential problem is having to visit and choose from among a large number of schools within just a few weeks in April.</p>
<p>(We should all have such problems, right?) ;)</p>
<p>The kicker was the applicants last statement. He hopes to become a wildlife veterinarian. Many of his choices don't lead toward that career path...</p>
<p>I find this situation similtaneously discouraging and annoying. As a admissions officer, I'd like to know more about an applicant's background and motivation before I came to an opinion about the applicant's reasons for such a strategy, but I would definitely be disinclined to offer a favorable opinion about whether or not I wanted such a student to join our community.</p>
<p>I agree that 20+ schools is often overkill - it sounds like the students were applying to an unfocued variety of school because they weren't sure what they wanted. Perhaps they could have taken the time used to fill out applications and narrow down the possibilities - they would have to before May anyways. </p>
<p>I don't think schools should limit the number of applications. I can understand the additional fees, but refusing to help a student apply to more than nine or ten schools seems to partially defeat the purpose of a private school - a great education, but also a much more personal experience.</p>
<p>I don't think, in this climate, it is fair to criticize kids for applying to that many schools. Schools don't have spots for all the qualified applicants, and even applying to three or four schools of comparable difficulty doesn't guarantee admission to one. Schools also play games - colleges a kid may think of as pretty safe bets might reject them because they think they are unlikely to attend. In such a climate, how can you blame a astudent of increasing his odds of having, not just a school to attend, but a few good choices.
Fit is importanat to most kids, but not important enough to dictate where one applies. Most people could be pretty happy at most schools. Just because someone likes Brown and Columbia better than Dartmouth and Penn doesn't mean he couldn't be happy at any of those schools. The choice over which he want to attend most should come after the acceptances come in, not before.
The truth is, today's student doesn't have the luxury of applying only to best fit schools. It is hypocrticial for the colleges to criticize them for increasing their chances to get into the best school possible.</p>
<p>It just proves the kids are smart. They figured out the system and devised a scheme to improve their odds. Most companies pay big bucks for creative, driven people who do just that. My daughter applied to and was accepted by 15 schools, just about all of them in the top 20 in the country, U's and LAC's. She had solid reasons why each of them would provide something that she valued in her education. She also was able to articulate those reasons to the schools in her personal statements, hence the list of acceptances. The odds at any one of those schools was less than 20%, and less than 10 % at most. A shut out would not have been out of the question (ask Andi).</p>
<p>what is missing from the article is how many of the 21 are UC schools? (As a prevet, he definitely would have applied to UC-Davis.) With its own common application, a student can apply to as many as 9 UC undergrad campuses, just by paying an extra $60 per campus. Then, the math becomes ~9 UC's and 12 private schools....which doesn't seem so bad.</p>
<p>For those that don't know, St. Margaret's is a competitive, private prep school ($$$).</p>
<p>Agree it's one app for the the four UC schools, but American U? Stong in communications, biz and foreign affairs, but not on anyones radar for pre-med/vet.</p>
<p>I read this article yesterday, and found it sad. Twenty schools? If a kid does a careful search, and has a good balance of reaches and safeties, he/she needs more than nine schools, tops. </p>
<p>The Common App, which was hoped to make things easier for students, has actually just increased the craziness.</p>
<p>It is not necessary to apply to 20 schools --it is a strategy that works in place of true knowledge about admissions, but using greater knowledge to apply in a more careful way to fewer schools would bring a better outcome for the student imo. The missing element for those who do scattershot: knowledge of the admissions process. I suppose in its absence, applying to 20 schools vs. 10 would up the odds. But for those educated about the process, it is not necessary at all.</p>
<p>While our son applied to "only" 7 colleges all but one accepted the CommonApp. It was a great convenience. However if the number of application/high achieving student are increasing rapidly, I wonder if the colleges are rethinking the benefits of the CommonApp or if Common Application organization is considering limits.</p>
<p>My son applied to four thru UCAS, and to ten schools in the US. The application process is very easy for UK schools (other than Oxbridge) - one low fee (with a few supplementary fees at some universities, such as St. Andrew's) and the student can apply to up to six places with no additional information or effort.</p>
<p>I think if you are looking for merit aid, it is an advantage to apply to many colleges. The problem with that is that you have to put your best foot forward with each school, and that takes a lot of time and effort. </p>
<p>My son's public school had no limits, but they did the first five transcripts free, charged $2 for the next two, and $5 for number eight through n. This seemed fair, and was well worth it. For the recommendations, the teachers and GC wrote a letter on school stationary, and other than checking the boxes on the designated forms, they printed several copies of the letter and put it in the stamped envelope you gave them, so it wasn't really much of a problem to ask them to send it to a number of colleges.</p>
<p>Applying to over 20 schools is ridiculous. Sometimes I think these kids and their parents just like to brag later about how many acceptances they rec'd. And no one should be applying to all the UCs, unless he has not done his homework about the differences between the campuses. We told our #4 child to pick 1 or 2 safeties, 1 or 2 UCs, and four reaches max. Personally I think the babyboomer parents have more money than good sense.</p>
<p>This is utterly ridiculous. I am a senior in high school, and I applied to three schools: two safeties and one reach. </p>
<p>It doesn't seem a matter of money to me. It seems that the kids nowadays don't know much about the schools to which they are applying other than that they have big, famous names. A good fit is the most important when applying to college. My reach school was the only school I sincerely wanted to attend. I felt comfortable and at home there, and I only applied to the safety schools at my parents' request. </p>
<p>Yes, the CommonApp might come into the picture, especially if one can simply press "Send" to have it shipped via the Internet to twenty different schools.</p>
<p>The students in question generally (not all) are applying to schools that have a 10-20% admit rate. The schools will freely tell you that they can fill their incoming class 10 times over with quality applicants. There is no guarantee you will be admitted to any so called match schools at that level. If the student has the credentials to go that level of school, and wants to, why shouldn't they hedge their bets?</p>
<p>I think that more than a handful is too much. It has to be contributing to the angst that these kids are feeling. The schools receive a high quantity of apps, kids are waitlisted, kids wait until the last minute to accept because they want the finaid statements. The kids are gaming the schools, the schools are gaming the kids, and the parents play the "my kids got into such and such school". It's an unfortunate set of circumstances that the schools and the government have contributed to as equally as the kids and the parents. I am limiting my son to 6 schools. Two reaches, two matches, two safeties. It's working for him because his number one criteria was location. Number 2 criteria was major and third was size. He's got three locations so he picks two schools in each location to apply to. We've got a prospective list of 8 maybe 9 so he's going to have to whittle abit this summer (he's a junior), but if he's done a good job he'll have a good outcome. Finaid, we'll see, I'm sure that will come into play next year. I guess I'm a novice since this is number 1, but I do think it was easier for us 'rents...I applied to 3 schools, accepted at 3, went to the one my parents said I could!</p>
<p>Its not all about famous, brand names. Many kids need merit aid to go to anything other that state U, so it may make sense to cast a wider net. Search curmudgeon's thread -- his D has HPYSM stats, but didn't even throw an app in that direction bcos she wanted a LAC (for fit), and needed $$. Thus, she applied to schools ranked below 100 and some that were more selective.</p>
<p>SB dad - the CA can be sent separately, school by school, so the competition doesn't know where else an applicant is applying.</p>