Is shotgunning basically cramming apps?
I did that too!
Was stressful.
No biggie… just a few late ones though.
Nah, shotgunning just means applying to a lot of schools. I mean, I did cram, but I’m definitely not proud of that…
That’s a dangerous assumption. I haven’t closely examined your list but almost all selective institutions use holistic admissions, which exist so that colleges can look beyond test scores.
Well, I have already been accepted to Fordham, Villanova, and Rutgers, so I’m safe. 
We took a semi-shotgun approach too, but we did it for different reasons. My son really needs a full-tuition or very close a to full-tuition merit scholarship somewhere, in order for us to afford college. So we applied at about 14 schools, all of which have a reputation for giving out good merit aid packages.
Still, I really wish we had narrowed this list down to fewer than 10. There are some schools I’m not super hopeful about for merit aid (like Santa Clara), and there are some that I’m not super hopeful about with regard to admittance (like Harvard). And already the financial aid forms and trying to show interest at all the schools are becoming problems. It will be a real job to juggle all this over the next few months.
Statistically there might be something to be said for shotgunning, but in practice it gets tricky.
Good luck though, I hope you get into a school you really like!
This approach seems to me to embody procrastination. Say you get into even a third of these schools. You will have to make an extremely difficult decision, between 10 very disparate schools, in an incredibly short time period. Will it be H, Y, or P? Maybe you already know, in which case your approach seems just a bit disingenuous. Would it not have been more efficient simply to apply ED to your top choice?
So, you considered those your safeties?
@chris17mom Thanks! I’m sure your son will get a full ride somewhere.
@MidwestDad3 I, like many applicants, don’t have a clear idea of what exactly I would like to major in (although I’m leaning strongly towards finance), whether I prefer urban or suburban, whether I want big or small, etc. It is much easier to decide out of 10 schools that I’ve been accepted to than out of 300+ schools that I could potentially apply to. That’s why I applied to a broad range of public and private, big and small, liberal arts and non, etc. etc.
@JustOneDad Yes, those were my safeties. So are U Pitt, Indiana Bloomington, and George Washington. The next level up is basically Lehigh. Then Boston College, Vanderbilt, etc. Perhaps I might have benefited from a few more targets, but I concentrated mainly on reaches.
OK, but you can expect to get in the safeties, right? I think many observers are looking to see if the strategy pays off at the reaches…unless I didn’t understand the point of it.
OP, if you have the stats to back up that list then why not? I don’t see the harm in shotgunning a slew of highly selective schools, just as long as you have some back-ups in the bag. Many of the those schools meet full need, so if your in need of “needs based aid” the app fees seem like a reasonable gamble.
As far Fin Aid becoming “nightmare”, well, speaking from experience, I disagree. Here’s some hints to make real easy:
Your parents only fill out the FAFSA once and then send it the schools electronically. Just remember that they can only send 10 FAFSAs at time. They have to wait a few days to send the next batch. YOU MUST give them a list in date order so they don’t miss any deadlines.
Likewise the CSS Profile is only completed once and sent to schools electronically. Not all schools use the CSS. So give your parents a CSS specfic list too.
The 1099s, Tax returns, pay stubs, et al mentioned above don’t normally come into play unless the school is serious about admission. Your parents should scanned copies of the douments at the ready. So give your parents a list of what the schools expect so they can scan the docs.
The 6 hours I spend each year to process Fin Aid docs for my two kids equalls about 70K / over 10k per hour .
Make list of deadlines that you and your parents can access.
Best of luck.
Bravo to the OP for applying to so many schools. The cost of the applications is small compared to the potential benefit of the scholarship. We will be doing something similar with our kids, mostly to extract the best merit aid package possible. For the OP, did you consider any of the schools with guaranteed full rides for high SAT/ACT scores like Alabama?
What I really don’t get is why so many posters even bother applying to places they are unlikely to get admitted into or are unlikely to afford.
There are students w completely middling profiles (no hook + mediocre stats) who take a blind shot at uber high reach schools, and OOS students who apply to public schools that give no aid to OOS. Why waste the time, money, aggrevation?
Do u care to attend ANY of these 3 schools? How many spare tires does a person really need to carry in the trunk of their car?
@JustOneDad They are absolutely independent of each other, unless we’re assuming that every applicant is limited to at most one Ivy acceptance letter.
@austinmshauri The “green marble” analogy is apt enough, I suppose, though grabbing a fistful of marbles might be a better way of envisioning it. Do your chances of getting accepted to AN Ivy increase if you apply to all of them? Sure, assuming your statistics are up to snuff. My issue is with the kind of thinking that ingrains the idea that AN Ivy is the goal, rather than the college (which may or may not be an Ivy) that is ideal for a particular student. I kind of shotgunned, myself, (there’s one of those “the importance of commas” phrases for you) but for reasons entirely unconnected to the schools’ prestige.
I do feel for the poor teachers who have to write letters of recommendation to all those schools now.
You have a RATIONAL reason for applying to so many schools-- a well defined theme: merit money. No doubt each school on your list was deliberately chosen bcs of merit aid potential.
The OP’s list, by comparison, has no rhythm or reason.
Interesting theory.
I wonder if it is correct.
I agree with the OP’s implication that “fit” is overrated and kids can fit in at many schools. Our son used a similar strategy but combined with a mix of EA and RD schools. As the EA decisions started coming in he decided where to apply. He started with a list of ~30,.applied to 8 EA, 4 early from a merit scholarship deadline(but really RD), UC’s and when he got some pretty good EA results, he just applied to 3 more RD high reaches.
The strategy my son used also spreads out the workload to write essays and can work for a not-so-quick writer as well. We did have a spreadsheet with all the dates, portal login info, ad-com contact, etc…it can be an organizational nightmare if you don’t do it right.
So would you accept Colorado School of MInes over Fordham, Villanova or Rutgers? If not, why even apply? There will be little or no financial aid for an OOS student (there is little for instate students). Major in finance? At an engineering school?
To me, that’s just throwing $50-100 away. You’ll get in, you just won’t go there.
@JustOneDad It is. There’s no way for the outcomes not to be independent. It’s mathematically impossible unless acceptance letters are somehow mutually exclusive, and they’re not.
@momneeds2no Thanks for the advice.
@Evan111 I don’t want to open another can of worms here, but I think people sometimes forget (just as @calipapa said) that the main purpose of college - at least for someone most likely majoring in finance, like me - is to set you up for recruitment, job opportunities, and a high salary. Things like the “college experience” are great, sure, but you don’t go to college for the college experience. You go to college to get a degree which gives you validity and credibility in the job market, and the more prestigious a school is, the better, in that respect. My strategy was to apply to all of the top schools, hopefully get admitted to at least more than half, and then out of those pick out a school that I actually like based on more superficial factors like aesthetics, particular courses or concentrations, and student life. I do intend to spend a good chunk of April visiting colleges so I can make an informed decision on May 1.
@LongRangePlan The teachers do not have to write recommendation letters to each school. At least, that’s not how it works in my high school. The teachers only write one recommendation letter and it is sent out to all the schools.
@GMTplus7 I agree with you on your first point. There’s no point in applying to completely unrealistic schools. I think for someone like me, however, with a 35 ACT, two 760 SAT 2’s, and plenty of leadership and EC’s, any school is worth considering (not trying to be pretentious, it is what it is). Also, just because you see no rhythm or reason, doesn’t mean there is none, as I explain above.
@twoinanddone: I only threw in CSM in case I had a sudden change of heart and decided to go with engineering. I always like to keep my options open until the very last minute. Anything can happen. Besides, the CSM application is free, so no throwing money away there. Took me all of 5 minutes to fill it out - I just recycled essays.