<p>One of my closest friends just posted a picture on Facebook with the caption "You know you're applying to too many schools when Common App tells you to stop"</p>
<p>And she's applying to OVER 20 schools, here's just what Common App let her fit, she has more to add to the list.</p>
<p>Boston College, Cornell, Emory, Princeton, UChicago, University of Rochester, Washington University in St. Louis, Brown, DePauw University, George Washington University, Santa Clara University, UMich, Vanderbilt, Yale, Case Western Reserve, Duke, Harvard, Stanford , UNC Chapel Hill, Wake Forest University</p>
<p>Yeah, so that's 20 and there are more.</p>
<p>I'm trying to tell her to take it easy a little but I don't want to come off as trying to discourage her. What would you guys do?</p>
<p>My 5 first cousins are older than me and have already gone through the college admissions process. When they were in their senior year of high school, each of them applied to 10+ schools. One of my cousins applied to 16.</p>
<p>Every single one of them is now counseling me, the youngest in the family and the last one to go through that experience, to apply to 8 schools. Max. </p>
<p>Their reasoning is that the stress isn’t worth it, and that almost everyone has a similar college experience, no matter where you end up.</p>
<p>There’s absolutely no reason to apply to 20 schools, and your friend is going to drive herself insane trying to finish all of these apps. Not only that, but when she begins to get her acceptance letters, she’s going to go crazy trying to decide where she wants to go.</p>
<p>Point is, you shouldn’t have to apply to so many schools. Find schools that fit your specific needs and interests and shoot for those.</p>
<p>Nothing wrong with applying to that many schools. What if you apply to 5 and get rejected by all of them? You want to have a good range of schools.</p>
<p>Seems like she is just applying to the schools because they are “good”. Doesn’t seem like she is sure that they would be a good fit. That’s where the problem is.</p>
<p>^^ Exactly.
Judging by that list, she’s applying to most of those schools simply because they are ranked among the top schools in the country. There’s nothing wrong with shooting for the best, but this list is all over the place. Cornell, DePauw, Boston College, and GW all on the same list? Along with Case Western, Chapel Hill, Santa Clara, and Stanford?</p>
<p>Also, I don’t want to assume anything, but I have to ask: How good are her stats?</p>
<p>A girl last year blindly applied to all Ivys, Stanford, etc.; and one safety she openly disliked but applied to for no reason. Guess where she is now? Granted, her stats weren’t amazing, but she ignored the issue of fit.</p>
<p>Scenarios like this are what cause the proliferation of applications at top colleges. Since you said you’re close friends with her, it’d be ok to gently bring the topic up like “Wow, that’s ALOT of schools you’re applying to” and see how she responds. Improvise from there but if she’s really sensitive about the subject, just forget about it. It’s her life and if she insists on overloading on work in order to have a shot at numerous schools, be like The Beatles and “let it be”.</p>
<p>Lol. I applied to one school–a state school–despite being co-valedictorian with a 32 ACT and many ECs not limited to being a state-qualified athlete. </p>
<p>I know what you’re thinking. “Egads, how could you!?” But see, the whole “fit” thing is BS. It’s four years and you’re there to get an education. What the hell are you worried about “fit” for? I mean, how much money do your families have? Be rational in your choice.</p>
<p>Oh my gosh. That’s crazy. I applied to 9, and my friends all thought I was nuts. I would have gone insane doing all those essays, and my parents would have laughed if I told them I wanted them to pay for 20+ application fees and score reports.</p>
<p>If you’re concerned about your friends sanity/emotional state, try gently asking how the applications are going. If they’re stressed and wanna talk, they could be grateful for the opportunity to chat. They could also see nothing wrong with their behavior, in which case there’s no reason for concern (just reason for confusion). </p>
<p>You may also want to ask if there’s a safety on that list…</p>
<p>To all the people who are saying, “20 schools? What’s wrong with that?”
…are you serious? I’ve applied to 12 schools (because my parents are making me -.-) and I’m already going insane. The things is, I’ve finished 9 applications, and she hasn’t submitted even a single one. And she has less than 10 days. I understand wanting to have a good range, but I still think 20+ is going overboard.</p>
<p>@TheJuanSoto–you’re absolutely right. She doesn’t know where she wants to go. She decided to apply for all the top tier schools, and then saying that she “knew she wouldn’t get in” went on a website listing the top 100 schools and then chose random ones, hence this completely nonsensical list. And her stats are fairly good, I’d say she and I are on par (but I’m only applying to Harvard, Penn, and Duke as my reach schools).</p>
<p>My friend applied to 15 colleges, got rejected by 3, and got deferred by 9. Applying for every single college you can think of doesn’t guarantee success… :/</p>
<p>She took out 3…So now she has between 19-21 schools on her list. And she refuses to get rid of any more! </p>
<p>I mean, there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s her choice. But I still think she’s going to end up overworking herself, every single deadline is the 1st of January except for WashU St. Louis, the 15th.</p>
<p>Either she’ll put out a lot of bad work, or she won’t be able to finish.</p>