<p>My S had to be pushed into applying anywhere. He finally applied to two in-state public schools, and since one of them used the Common Application, I talked him into applying to two out-of-state LACs (no additional effort on his part). All of them were safeties/low matches, which was fine with me–he needs to be a big fish in a small pond, and has some other issues to deal with.</p>
<p>He was accepted by all four, started classes yesterday at one of the publics, and is happy as a clam.</p>
<p>Younger S applied to only 2 schools, got into his first choice (a match/safety), and is happy.</p>
<p>Older S applied to 5 schools including a ridiculous reach that I insisted on and that he really had no interest in. He got into all but the ridiculous reach, and was happy going to his safety, which he had always said he would have been happy to go to, and he was very happy there.</p>
<p>Frankly, I think it’s only on CC where such a high proportion of students are applying to 12-20 schools. Most students – including top ones --really are applying to only a couple of colleges, and in general, those colleges are match and safeties.</p>
<p>I’d suggest one more safety, just to make sure he has a school to go to in the fall.</p>
<p>I only applied to five. Out of high school I had two safeties, two matches, and one slight reach. I got into all of them except the reach and went to community college anyway, and when I applied to transfer this past Fall I applied to two reaches, two matches, and a solid safety (ie average gpa was a full point beneath mine) and got into all of them. For me that was perfect, I always had choices and those were really the only schools I wanted to go to-- I even loved the safety and would have been happy there even if it wasn’t exactly a fit academically. However I suppose it is worth mentioning that I refused to pay for out of state which limited my choices anyway, and my distribution was more safeties and total matches than reaches whereas your son has more reaches and only one safety.</p>
<p>I dunno, when I graduated in 2007 I don’t know if I know anybody who applied for more than five. That was pretty typical, people who went out of state probably applied for more like seven I guess.</p>
<p>I think a lot of the kids who want to limit their visits and applications are afraid of colleges and minimize their visits and applications because it is safer to stay in their HS life. Virtually none of our son’s many friends talk about it at all to each other. </p>
<p>My fear for such kids is that their safeties will not accept them for whatever reason (sudden surge from the HS, focusing on the one weak point in the application, etc) or, for those seeking $, not offer enough–and the bad news will come in too late because the schools do not offer rolling admissions.</p>
<p>I don’t see a problem with your S’s list. It can relieve a great deal of stress if the safety also is a rolling admission or early action school that he’ll get an admission to during the fall. By the second week of Oct., older S had been admitted to his safety, which was a place that he loved and that he eventually chose, turning down higher rated colleges for it and the merit aid they gave him.</p>
<p>He has 4 schools he likes…what’s the problem?</p>
<p>;)</p>
<p>He sounds like a typically busy kid; I wouldn’t stress him anymore about this.</p>
<p>Our DD only wanted to apply to three colleges (including her top choice where she is now a senior). We STUPIDLY insisted that she apply to more. It was just plain a waste of money. She applied EA to two of the schools and rolling to one. She was accepted to all three by the middle of January (she was accepted to TWO by December…her top two choices). We insisted that she apply to a school close to home just in case she changed her mind about college distance. She also decided to apply to one reach…and we said ok to that too. In retrospect all of us, including DD, agree that we should have left her with the original three schools…and not wasted money on the other applications.</p>
<p>my niece wants to apply to only one .</p>
<p>My son was like Packmom’s son. He only applied to one state university. He knew he would be accepted. He is now a junior and loves it there. To have done more would have just been a waste of money in our case.</p>
<p>Here’s my opinion (and it’s just MY opinion)…if your child really only applies to ONE school…it should either be EA, ED or rolling admissions. Apply early to that one, just in case you DO NOT get accepted. That leaves time to apply to others.</p>
<p>So long as one school tells him before winter break starts, he’ll be fine. An acceptance will mean he only needed to apply to 4 schools. A rejection might whip him into shape and have him fill out more apps. I know people who applied early to a HYPS sure that they would get in, just to fill out 10 applications in a 2 week winter vacation. </p>
<p>I only applied to 4 schools, thanks to ED. I had 3 acceptances by winter break (ED, EA, rolling). I still had 4 apps waiting just in case i was rejected ED though. I also had my transcripts, recs, and SAT scores at nearly 20 schools by my parent’s request (and their dime) just in case. Some of those schools were decent suggestions just in case things didn’t go as planned. Some were just excessive because I had expressed deep disinterest in going there. Some extra suggestions are fine. Too many will make it seem like you’re trying to control where your son goes to college.</p>
<p>It is a different story if you could get an acceptance to a school you like before the RD deadline. Otherwise, 4 schools going into RD is cutting it close.</p>
<p>I think it’s important to talk this through with the student so his reasons for applying to those schools is clear–both to him and to you. I think there can be plenty of good reasons for only applying to a few schools, and others have mentioned them. But I think there can be some bad reasons, too, and a parent might want to use some persuasion to overcome them. One reason would be an unreasonable expectation that the student will be accepted to a specific reach school, and a feelilng that if he doesn’t get in there, he might as well go to a much lesser school. I think a student like this should be urged to look at more schools that are like the preferred reach, but less selective (or even equally selective). Another bad reason (in my opinion) would be a fear that it would be embarassing to be rejected, and so the student plays it safe by only applying to safer schools (a variation of this would be the student who is selling himself short). Another bad reason (again, in my opinion) would be a failure to do a minimum amount of due diligience in researching what is a major life decision, and a major expenditure. A final potentially bad reason is that the student really wants to go to the safety school, but only because a friend or boyfriend/girlfriend is going there.</p>
<p>My son only applied to 4 schools, Amherst, Williams, Middlebury and Harvard all RD. Middlebury being his safety and Harvard his reach. He went to a small k-12 school with 60 kids in the graduating class and only 2 going OOS. I asked him to apply to more but he was confident in his decision. At this point I figured I did all that I could and that he would be fine either way. He would either get in somewhere or learn a very good lesson early in life and have to figure out a plan to move forward. I had to let it go. It was a very stressful time for me until April 1st. He planned to take a gap year if he didn’t get in and go another round the following year. They have to make their own decisions.</p>
<p>
Wow. I guess he had a plan B in case he didn’t get in anywhere, but I don’t think this an approach anybody should emulate. There are hardly any students who can reasonably think of Middlebury as a safety school.</p>
<p>No it isn’t the normal plan and I was going out of my mind. However, the point I am trying to make is that he knew who he was as a student and was confident in everything that he had completed. I was the nervous parent and wanted to cover all the bases. He felt he did that with his plan B. They have to live their lives even if it means taking a gap year if that is in their bigger plan. He was correct in his thinking…he was accepted at Middlebury, Amherst and Williams with full tuition to all three. Denied at Harvard.</p>
<p>I don’t get why a parent would be upset for their child applying to 4 or so schools they really wanted to go to.</p>
<p>Undispu7ed–I agree completely. I tried to have my son apply elsewhere and he was sure that he would only be happy at the 4 schools he applied to.</p>
<p>In retrospect, S could have gone with four schools – but there is no way I would have let him apply with just MIT, UChicago, Mudd and UMD, even though he had a financial and admissions safety who loved him in the mix. While he had targeted his apps for those schools and he was really well-suited for them, it’s not like he could assume he’d get in.</p>
<p>I would make sure that safety and match are VERY attainable and that OP’s S is in the high end of the mix for those schools. Has he visited all four of them? Are they schools that will care about showing the love (so they know he is serious about attending if accepted)?</p>
<p>I have a niece who is applying to one, maybe two schools. Works for her, though I’d wish she’d broaden her horizons a bit.</p>