<p>Okay, my junior is really starting to narrow down the search-from the entire Princeton Review book (seriously) to about 14 school. How many schools do people normally apply to? She is a competitive student with high ACT scores, GPA and rank. Her EC's are good too. She is looking all over the board though... how to narrow it down even more....???</p>
<p>Most people visit the schools and see what it's really like to be on campus.</p>
<p>Irishcali, Welcome! How well I remember that feeling of infinite choices. Theres nothing wrong with having a wide spectrum at this point, but it is time to help your junior focus on general descriptors like big/small/medium, urban/suburban/country, sporty/not so, Greek/not, coed/female (if applicable). Once s/he has a general wishlist, with must haves, would likes, and dont cares in order of priority, then s/he needs to make sure that the short list includes a wide range of selectivity. Meaning reaches, matches and safeties.</p>
<p>The right number to apply to is highly individual. If s/he is looking at competitives, then Id say 8-12 is a good range. If one of the favorites is an Early Admission school and if the results are positive, then the final list can be shorter. If your family needs substantial merit based aid, then you may need an even wider net. </p>
<p>The best way to narrow in is to visit. Midway through junior year my sons list was about 25-30. He selected 14 for visits. Id say that 10-15 is a good shortlist visit number for a child who is undecided on what kind of ambience s/he wants. My sons experience as shared by many who post here was that after visiting his #1 fell off the list and his I didnt think Id like it rose to the top. Just be sure to plan to devote more time and energy to the less selectives as the super-selectives. Good safeties are out there, but theyre harder to identify than the big names and visits are essential.</p>
<p>Good luck and let us know how it goes.</p>
<p>Chances are that list of possibles will continue to grow. I agree that campus visits will start to direct the choices. Initially a few quick tours might be useful. My D had already spend a few days or weeks at numerous colleges so we skipped this step. I am a firm believer in the value of intensive visits. Don't just take the tour and leave with some general impressions. Schedule interviews with admissions and faculty. Do departmental tours and interviews and sit in on classes. Spend time on campus, talk with students, look for the good and the bad.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! Good to hear that we are not overboard in the number of schools at this point. We have visited a few, but I agree it is probably best to see some more... This is tough! But, thanks again for all your insight~</p>
<p>I think one way to narrow the field is to look at schools that are strong in her department. Not that kids don't switch majors, but a science-type will always want a strong science dept. Its also good to have her talk to some of the older students about their experiences in college. My S felt more comfortable applying to schools that came recommended from older HS friends.</p>
<p>Please take a few visits to see if big vs small, city vs country etc. etc. the BIG obvious questions then start to refine the list..Ps It all works out in the end. successful students become successful adults !!</p>
<p>We narrowed it down last year for S geographically first, since he had preferences in terms of weather, red/blue states, culture, etc... Then we narrowed the choices down further on the basis of urban/rural and university/Liberal Arts College (i.e. size), since he had clear preferences there. Finally, we looked at predominant student culture (i.e. preppy, nerdy, sporty, Greek) and strength of the department (it seems funny that this one shows up near the end of the list, but his interest is political science and the research universities that made the cut that far all had good to great departments in that field). We visited 7 or 8 schools and ended up with a list of six, which is rather small for CC families, I guess. We had two safeties (financial and stats-wise) that he would have been quite happy to attend, two matches (financial and stats-wise) and two very high reaches (top two ivies). He got into four of the six and waitlisted at the two reaches. He currently attends his financial match school and couldn't be happier (first-year student).</p>