<p>It’s entirely possible to want to go to 20 different schools. Each college offers its own experience academically and socially.</p>
<p>For many students writing can be difficult. For others, it’s not a problem- they know what to say about themselves and how to say it. Because the topic of the essay is not so important as the writing style and presentation of the content, a lot of colleges use the same hackneyed topics because they allow for a lot of room to write within them. An applicant probably can reuse the same few essays a few times, and if he starts his applications early enough, should have time to write all the essays he needs to.</p>
<p>Yes, admissions inflation is a problem. Limiting students to five choices is clearly not the answer. If a student chooses to apply to a lot of different schools, that is his prerogative. It gives him a potentially larger choice of schools that he’s accepted to to choose from in the spring and a better chance he’ll be happy with at least one of his schools. With five schools, there’s a good chance, especially for those applying to top schools, that he may not get in anywhere but a safety school, some place he’s likely not happy with. This is how you play the admission game now- work harder than any other generation before you, do more in and out of school, send out your twenty applications and hope to high heaven you’ve done enough.</p>