<p>With a news report on "colleges are harder to get into than ever" emanating from my radio this morning, I'm wondering about the number of schools kids are applying to these days. I had been thinking 5 made sense - one reach, one safety, and 3 that appear really good fits and have a lot of appeal to D.</p>
<p>But more and more I'm being advised that kids these days should apply to 10 or 12 schools! Geez, the HS teachers must get tired of writing letters of recommendations. </p>
<p>Are the rest of you really applying to that many schools?!</p>
<p>I think it depends totally on the selectivity of the schools to which your student is applying. If a student has chosen matches and safeties with reasonable acceptance rates I think 5 or 6 is fine. If, on the otherhand they are counting a school which accepts fewer than even 40% as a safety they should probably add more schools.</p>
<p>Half of the safeties that my peers used jumped enormously in selectivity, rejecting folks who appeared to be a shoe-in. Just being at the 99% spot on last year's stats is no guarantee any more. Redundancy was a safety net on the safeties.</p>
<p>I applied to five schools this year - the highest acceptance rate was 37% and the lowest was 8%.</p>
<p>I was accepted to all five, but I had friends that did similar things and are SERIOUSLY regretting it. I would make sure your child applies at least two places they're reasonably sure they'll get into and wouldn't mind going. After that, it doesn't matter how many other schools you apply to.</p>
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Geez, the HS teachers must get tired of writing letters of recommendations.
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As a high school teacher who writes rec letters quite often, I thank you for the sentiment! However, high schools send the same letters to all of each applicant's schools; we don't have to write separate ones for each college! And, as a parent of a current college freshman, I would say that 5 might be too few. These days, there is really no rule of thumb, but there is no such thing, actually, of safeties, reaches, and matches. It's quite the toss up with little predictability (obviously there are wide parameters, but still...) So, my recommendation would be closer to 10. The VERY IMPORTANT things are 1) that the student can imagine him/herself at each and every school s/he applies to 2) the list is wide ranging as far as selectivity goes, even though it's not predictable and 3) financially the family is able to handle the bill. Financial aid is currently changing all over the place-- usually for the better, but it still must be taken under consideration. And the bill is getting higher and higher ($50k is not unusual... :( )</p>
<p>My son applied to 8 schools in all last year. Selectivity rates for 6 of them ranged from 8 to about 25% I think. He had two safeties, for which we figured he was 100 % guaranteed an acceptance. He could have had just one safety.</p>
<p>However were a little shocked that RPI's acceptance rate changed from 75% to 38% that year - it got listed as a hidden Ivy in Newsweek that fall. Luckily they had a priority application which meant he knew he was in by Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>There is no one right number. For a kid who is aiming at the elite schools with acceptance rates under 20%, you may have to apply to a fair number of schools. However I highly recommend finding schools with EA, rolling admissions, or priority notifications so that you have at least one acceptance in the bag early.</p>
<p>My S applied to 7 ranking top 20 schools, After receiving EA financial aid package, We decided to apply 1 state U for financial safety. total 8 schools.</p>
<p>Thanks very much for the advice. I am trying very hard not to succumb to the lure of the "hot" schools, especially given the increased cost/selectivity. I especially enjoying hearing from you, franglish, since you are straddling both sides of the fence on this issue.</p>
<p>NorthMinnesota - enjoyed the spring break trip visiting LACs in the PNW immensesly. Have told D that if one or more of those 4 schools gets onto her final list, travel cost will definitely be figuring into the decision of whether the school is doable. I have heard stories of other kids who originally want to go far from home, but as the date nears, they scale back on that a little. I've got my fingers crossed for the same experience.</p>
<p>Glad to hear the trip went well. Have a neighbor girl who has been at L & C for past two years and absolutely loves it. Unfortunately her parents are forcing her home kicking and screaming due to cost. Will see how that goes.</p>
<p>Well, L&C was the only of the 4 colleges that came <em>off</em> D's draft list after visiting. So that is one less distant school I have to worry about. </p>
<p>One week away from ACTs. It will be interesting to see how D fares.</p>
<p>First of all, make sure you are being honest with yourself, ie, are you really a "match" for that school? I think this year's crop of applicants is dealing even more with the reality of sheer volume. </p>
<p>My D & S are in college now, one a junior, one a senior. They had good choices, but D, who had excellent credentials, set her sights on more "reach" schools, and applied to 12. S, who didn't have those credentials, applied to 6.</p>
<p>If I were advising them today, particularly after seeing the results of this year's students, I'd certainly be suggesting they add more "safeties".</p>
<p>And the most important thing you can do for yourself is APPLY EARLY. I'm convinced that applicants at S's school (Tulane) fared much better this year in the early rounds than later on. They had a record number of applications (34000?).</p>
<p>I also think it's imperative for your mental health to apply to at least one or more rolling admissions school so you know very very soon in the process that you have secured an admission somewhere.</p>
<p>Friends of D's and S's who did not do that were overwhelmed with the stress. I think students who put themselves in that situation this year had it even tougher.</p>
<p>If you have a rolling admissions school on your list, you may be able to cut back on the number of schools you apply to before the applications are due.</p>
<p>Many rolling admissions schools will notify you by early December. If you get in, then you don't have to apply to any of the other schools on your list that you like less than the school with rolling admissions.</p>
<p>Ok, doing a little investigating since the rolling admissions was mentioned - this is a naive question, but does early action = rolling admissions?</p>
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does early action = rolling admissions
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No. (Though they may serve the same purpose mental health-wise...)</p>
<p>Early action has a due date for applications, and you get your decision at an early date (usually Dec 15). It does not matter when the app is sent, as long as it is before the deadline.</p>
<p>Rolling admissions schools are accepting qualified applicants on a rolling basis, untill the program is full. Applying to those schools early greatly improves your chances of admission.</p>
<p>I just discovered that there is a very helpful list of colleges with early action and/or rolling admissions posted in College Search. Think I'll see how many on D's draft list show up there!</p>