<p>Bull****.</p>
<p>Sorry, 10 cars is not ridiculous, or that rare(maybe this is my ‘near Detroit’ bias), and if you are buying a used car, 10 is a low number.</p>
<p>I don’t see why college should be any different.</p>
<p>You’re linking selecting colleges to buying used cars?</p>
<p>To me the bottom line is that the colleges at some point will reach a cost benefit point where they simply won’t put the admissions counselors through what it takes to wade through all these applications and they simply won’t “hire more” admissions counselors and they simply won’t care about another 10th of a percent in SAT scores, yield or any of that. So in the long run with these handful of schools, the kids are harmed, not the schools. I don’t blame the media. I don’t blame US News & World report. The problem lies squarely with the parents and the kids. And yeah, it’s really not all that far of a stretch to compare the process of purchasing a car to purchasing a college education…really, it’s quite a nice analogy.</p>
<p>I think the colleges will be fine and the students will be fine.</p>
<p>A news article today, already reposted on the NACAC website, points out that applying to more colleges gives a student more choices. </p>
<p>[NACAC</a> It’s College 101: More applications = more options](<a href=“http://nacacnet.org/MemberPortal/News/newsfeed/newsarticle.htm?id=I1636140474]NACAC”>http://nacacnet.org/MemberPortal/News/newsfeed/newsarticle.htm?id=I1636140474) </p>
<p>It’s College 101, indeed.</p>
<p>I get frustrated with these college couselors (reference the article from NACAC) who recommend several “reach” schools. This is rediculous. Reach schools are no longer reach schools - they’re UNreachable schools. Such counselors set good students up for disappointment. I don’t suggest you lower your standards, but try being more practical. If you want to apply to a reach school, go ahead, but do it with the high possibility that it’s not in the cards for you. Plus, you’ll get more schools to offer you aid packages that won’t come from reach schools because their aid will go to their best candidates, not to you.</p>
<p>Yes, some reaches are more like lotteries.</p>
<p>Here is a thread on reaches…</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/459462-applying-reaches.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/459462-applying-reaches.html</a></p>
<p>And, I like the common sense notion from the NACAC article that more apps = more choices for the applicant. In my d’s case, there still is a fair amount of net schools to pick from after the decisions, including two non-acceptances. But she still has the the second phase of the admission process, which is the FA package, still to be received. After this phase, more colleges will become virtual non acceptances due to insufficient financial packages.</p>
<p>In reading this thread it seems like it is common for people to apply to 15-20 schools. Thats why many are suggesting that limits be set on the number of applications students can submit. I wondered if there was a way to determine just how common it is. This data is certainly tough to find. However, I was able to look at recent results for one top ranked suburban public high school over the past 4 years. This data represents a sample size of roughly 3,000 students.</p>
<p>Between 2004 and 2007 students applied to an average of 5.4 colleges. If those applying to only one school are removed (mostly early decision acceptances), the average number of schools rises to 6.6.</p>
<p>When the data is examined by class rank, the numbers shift. The top 20% of the students apply to an average of 6.3 schools (7.6 ex-ED), while the bottom 20% only apply to an average of 4.4 schools (5.7 ex-ED).</p>
<p>Intuitively, this makes sense. The top students who are applying to the most selective schools submit more applications to make sure they have choices, while the lower ranked students who apply to non-selective schools submit fewer applications.</p>
<p>As for the distribution of how many applications are submitted, less than 1% apply to more than 20 schools, and only 1% apply to more than 15 schools. This certainly doesnt seem like theres a problem with too many applications.</p>
<p>The mode of the distribution is in the 2-5 school category, where 30% of the students fall, while 20% apply to only one school. Combining these two groups, 50% of the students apply to 1-5 schools!</p>
<p>Filling out the distribution:</p>
<h1>Applications / %</h1>
<p>20+ <1%
16-19 <1%
13-15 2%
11-12 6%
8-10 20%
6-7 20%
2-5 30%
1 20%</p>
<p>One trend is that the average number of applications has increased over the 4 year period, from 5.0 (6.2 ex-ED) in 2004 to 5.8 (7.0 ex ED) in 2007. This supports comments that the common application has made it easier for students. The increase is 16% over 4 years.</p>
<p>I know that this study only represents one school, but it creates a context for examining the issue of too many applications.</p>
<p>Universities plan for the number of students they accept but who won’t attend-- its why there are wait lists. Very rarely does a school not fill close to capacity, and there are no empty spots because someone applied to 20 schools. Those other 19 “seats” are filled by other qualified students.</p>
<p>That would really suck to not get in when some person who has no intention of going into that school gets in. The number of schools should definitely be limited</p>
<p>I didn’t have the patience to read every single post, so forgive me if I repeat something already said. For a student like my D, who is not a top tier candidate, but also not willing to consider safeties as matches, applying to more schools was imperative. She is a match for half of the 15 schools she applied to, but in this climate, that doesn’t mean a whole lot, considering the enormous amount of people applying to school this year. If it was 5 years ago, she would have applied to half as many and gotten in to more.</p>
<p>To be deferred by a match school early on (a 70% match) only spurred her on to apply to more schools. I wholeheartedly believe that somehow the large amount of applications, added to the the record number of applicants, is having an effect on this process this year. </p>
<p>We all want our kids, or ourselves, to succeed and have every option possible. It’s hard to be considerate of others when we are all scared and anxious.</p>