@KinglyBill,
Imagine you’ve already spent a hundred hours or more studying for the SAT, and spent 3 different Saturdays taking it. You’ve spent a half dozen hours filling out various financial aid forms. You’ve spent another 3 filling out the basic information on the Common App, plus another couple on a non CA school’s application, making sure you have your classes and extracurriculars listed correctly and in the order you want, sending links to the teachers writing your recommendations, and adding any additional information the school should have. You wrote 3 different versions of your main CA essay, revised the best two twice, met with an English teacher or counselor, rewritten your final essay yet again, proofread it twice, written and proofread your small CA essay. Your two fall long weekends and half your Thanksgiving break were spent in the car with your parents driving to schools for interviews. You’re applying to 10 schools, and 5 of them have one additional essay, and 2 have 2 or more additional essays, all of which also take writing, revision, and proofreading. You’re sleep deprived from trying to keep your grades up while serving as captain of the basketball team and not neglecting your NHS community service responsibilities, cramming like crazy for exams and buying your family members something approximating Christmas presents. You have one day in which to finish the last two essays, one of which is for one of your least favorite schools. Now some application is asking you to reflect on how you’re going to change the world or what kind of tree you’d be. You know you can’t give the same answer everyone else would or punt and write something dumb. Can you see how you might just say, “Maybe 9 applications is enough”?