<p>Okay, now that deadlines are coming fast and furious, I'm curious:</p>
<p>for those who are applying to PhD programs, how many are you applying to and in what field(s)?</p>
<p>I applied to a mix of Biochem/chemical biology programs. 9 in total.</p>
<p>I’m only applying to 3–two in public policy, one in IR (not poli sci).</p>
<p>(Note: D is applying to 12 in Econ. Someone thought that excessive. I looked at some of the acceptance statistics and blanched. She’s a very strong candidate, imho, but nothing is guaranteed above her Super-Safety.)</p>
<p>10 in total to Econ Ph.D. programs</p>
<p>I’m applying to 7 history Ph.D. programs.</p>
<p>My son is applying to 12 Computer Science programs. He was originally advised to apply to 6-7, but the list grew (for much the same reason as TheDad stated).</p>
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</p>
<p>Where do you find such things?</p>
<p>I have never seen data on how many offers the departments my kid is applying to make, and very few disclose the number of applications they receive. So, yes, at each institution the number of students enrolled is tiny compared to the (approximate) number of applicants. But the total number of students who enroll at top-20 programs isn’t necessarily tiny compared to the number of unique individuals applying to them, if each of them is making the same kind of choices people seem to be making here. </p>
<p>BTW, S’s number is 9, basically following his advisor’s recommendations. I’m not certain there are any safeties, although there are clearly some programs that are hypercompetitive and some that are merely very competitive.</p>
<p>I’m applying to 12 cognitive neuroscience PhD programs.</p>
<p>Having 4 of them be free applications certainly helped my budget :P</p>
<p>JHS, I’ve seen some stats when I was browsing departmental websites. (D had asked me to research a now-irrelevant question as to how various programs treated a second GRE attempt…she got the requisite score on the first go, so it was “Never mind” but I learned a lot in the meanwhile.)</p>
<p>But looking at some profiles, someone in another CC thread posted links for results of applications to Econ programs.</p>
<p>Here’s the CC thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/graduate-school/1048441-top-graduate-economics-programs-globally.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/graduate-school/1048441-top-graduate-economics-programs-globally.html</a></p>
<p>Meanwhile, based on advice from her mentors, D applied to 9 Top 15 programs that were good matches for her area of interest, 2 Safeties, 1 hyper-Safety.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be surprised if similar for other programs existed.</p>
<p>D1 applied to 5; D3 is applying to 7, because she got two free app invites 
Don’t even ask how many the med school kid applied to!</p>
<p>
Thing is, there are a finite number of med schools, something less than 50, I think. (Though there are even fewer schools that offer doctorates of veterinary medicine, meaning your vet probably had more rigorous hoops to jump through than your doctor.)</p>
<p>Wikipedia to the rescue:</p>
<p><a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_medical_schools_in_the_United_States[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_medical_schools_in_the_United_States</a></p>
<p>Surprisingly, there’s actually 159 medical schools in the U.S. Dozens of really small ones nobody’s ever heard of (University of South Dakota has a medical school?) but M.D./D.O. granting, nonetheless.</p>
<p>Five in electrical engineering, one in materials science.</p>
<p>Six schools in the biomedical sciences.</p>
<p>I’ve applied to just one, but may apply for one more.</p>
<p>I applied to 7 schools/7 PhD programs in neuroscience. I was going to apply to 9 programs in those 7 schools but the quality of the programs plus finances and time considerations made me think twice about it.</p>
<p>S1 is applying to 9 or 10 math PhD programs. D is applying to ~8 MA programs in anthro or sociology.</p>
<p>S is applying to 14 Ph.D. physics programs (per advisor recommendation): 7 “top ten”; the other 7 “top twenty or twenty-five”; all are a good fit, as his interests at this point are quite broad…plan is that if no acceptances (not likely, given profile, but you never know), then he will find a job…</p>
<p>With acceptance rates running 5-8% for highly ranked doctoral programs in political science, here is my rundown: 11</p>
<p>2 area studies PhDs
7 political science PhDs
2 area studies MAs</p>
<p>I am now officially reduced to poverty!</p>