<p>what's the magic number?</p>
<p>10-12 if you are reaching for sky high reaches
2 safeties
3-4 matches
4 reaches</p>
<p>10-12 seems like a ridiculous number to me… but if you’re not cash-strapped or time-strapped, go for it, I guess?</p>
<p>I think six is a great number. Mine will probably be 1 reach, 3 matches, and 2 safeties.</p>
<p>The better you research and resolve with yourself what you’re looking for, the less time and money you’ll waste w/too many applications.</p>
<p>I applied and was accepted at UMich, rolling admission early on. This made things very easy going forward. I applied to two other top engineering programs to see what they might offer me (both offered me free applications and quick review). Then I applied to two Ivies – the two I carefully investigated – I didn’t put the time into investigating other Eastern schools b/c I was too busy. I didn’t stress because even if everyone else rejected me, I was going to Ann Arbor.</p>
<p>In the end, all five accepted me and I matriculated at an HYP college.</p>
<p>Don’t burden your GC, your teachers and your parents w/10+ applications because you can’t decide what is a good fit for you.</p>
<p>It seems only in the CC rarefied air do you get people applying to so many. My guess is 80% of college bound seniors probably only apply to ONE.</p>
<p>Results were very random this year. that being said you need to apply to a range, do not only apply to one safety unless it is guaranteed in state safety. matches are funny, this year many students were WL at many schools considered matches. I would suggest a few more in this category.</p>
<p>2 safeties ( more if you need financial safeties to compare)
4/5 matches
4 reaches</p>
<p>I applied to 11. Most people I know applied to an average of 5 or 6.</p>
<p>I applied to 15. Some people I know applied to 20. Some applied to only 1 (RD, not ED). It all depends on what type of schools interest you. However, I would shoot for around 7. </p>
<p>2 reaches
3 matches
2 safeties</p>
<p>This way, you have (almost definitely) two schools to pick from – but you’ll probably have more like 4 - 5 schools to choose from. </p>
<p>You should also definitely apply to more than that if you can find applications that can be submitted for free. Those definitely can’t hurt if you’d consider attending the school. </p>
<p>Just remember – for each school, applications are generally 30 - 80 $. Plus SAT scores, teacher recs (envelopes / stamps / etc), and misc. fees if you’re sending in a suppliment. I would try to narrow a list down to 6 - 7 schools, although 7 seems to be the magic number, especially if you are fond of all of your options.</p>
<p>Use the early action system to your advantage. Find one or two safeties that you would really enjoy attending, and maybe a few matches/reaches. Assuming you get into your safeties, you can focus your regular decision on more reaches. This way you reduce the number of colleges you apply to by not having a fixed number of safeties, matches, and reaches.</p>
<p>“My guess is 80% of college bound seniors probably only apply to ONE.”</p>
<p>How did you get to that conclusion?</p>
<hr>
<p>I thought 12 was okay because my friend this year applied to 12 and a lot of people on CC apply to that large an amount of schools.</p>
<p>Right now my list has around 12 schools and I know I should narrow it down, but I cant find out how! My safety is pretty much set as well as most of my matches. However, I’ve left room in my matches to be randomly rejected or waitlisted because college admissions is unpredictable. But I have a lot of reaches because I want to get in at least one, and I’ve done my research with Naviance and I know I have somewhat of an okay chance.</p>
<p>Should I drop off some match schools that I feel I wouldn’t go to if I got into a better match just to lower the number of schools I’m applying to?</p>
<p>I did 15 as well. 5 were the UCs, so the application is the same, just extra fees for each UC.</p>
<p>I had 10 privates, out of those… 3-4 far reaches [didn’t get in :P], 4-6 matches, 1-2 safeties.</p>
<p>Do teachers get ****ed if they have to keep remailing thier recs for different schools, or how does that work exactly?</p>
<p>In regards to teachers it all depends on which teacher you ask. Obviously it is wise to go with a teacher that you know well and that you feel comfortable writing a rec letter for you. If they know you and know the college admission process then they’re usually use to the fact that you’re going to want a rec letter for more than one college. If this is the case they usually have a standard format that they fill out and then tweak certain aspects of the rec letter depending on the designated receiving college. </p>
<p>Basically you just have to go in and ask the teacher that you want a rec letter from and ask. From there it’s really all up in the air on how they’ll react. I wouldn’t over burden them though, asking for 1-3 is good, but asking for a rec letter for all 15 (as an example) might make them a little flustered. This especially could be the case if there are multiple students asking for rec letters.</p>
<p>Hope that helps :)</p>
<p>Wait so you can’t use the same two teachers for all, lets say, 10 schools you apply to? Can’t they just photocopy the same recommendation 10 times?</p>
<p>Uhm,
2 safeties
4 matches
27 reaches</p>
<p>do the upside-down pyramid–less safeties, more reaches</p>
<p>I applied to:</p>
<p>2 safeties (one guaranteed admission, in state)
2 matches (in state)
5 reaches (out of state, privates)</p>
<p>In retrospect, I think I would have liked to apply to one more reach school for a bargaining chip in financial aid. </p>
<p>Financial aid was pretty important, so I applied to one more safety to see how much more FA I’d get. I only applied to out of state schools for reaches because I’m in California and did not find it logical to go out of state for a match/safety given the caliber of the UC system.</p>
<p>light10491 wrote: </p>
<p>“‘My guess is 80% of college bound seniors probably only apply to ONE.’ How did you get to that conclusion?”</p>
<p>Like I said, it’s my guess. Why don’t you ask your guidance counselor to confirm? the fact is most “average” kids apply to the one or 2 local colleges or community college and are immediately admitted.</p>
<p>They aren’t looking through tons of college preview books. People who come to sites like CC are in a very small minority when it comes to the rest of college-bound HS seniors. Remember, there are about 4500 colleges in the USA. CC tends to focus on about 100 of them and cater to the needs of those looking for hints/advice.</p>
<p>I can bet you that not too many people looking to go to community college stop by CC before making out their single application.</p>
<p>I think it depends so much on who you are. </p>
<p>Here are two examples to make my point.</p>
<p>Example #1 Student has a very good record and a 5% shot at getting into any top 50 college. It really depends on someone reading his essay and saying it’s a good fit. Student’s values are simply that I want to go to the best college I can get into – for learning, for prestige, whatever. Maybe this student should apply to 50 colleges…why not?</p>
<p>Example #2 Same student goes looking for a safety school and visits Penn State and falls in love with it. Can’t imagine there’s anyplace better. Same student should apply to one college.</p>
<p>^Same student doesn’t get into Penn State and is forced to wait a year, or apply to the few other schools he can at that time.</p>
<p>Same student gets into Penn State and finds that it doesn’t offer all he wanted.</p>
<p>Better safe than sorry.</p>
<p>“apply to the one or 2 local colleges or community college and are immediately admitted.”</p>
<p>ONE?</p>