Thoughts on Limiting Number of College Applications

Pre-College Issues High School Life
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<p>Warning: this is a bit lengthy, but please read.</p>

<p>What are your thoughts on limiting the number of colleges that a student can apply to? </p>

<p>See, back when I was a late sophomore/early junior and I heard a rumor about how Stuyvesant students were only allowed to apply to 7 colleges in the past, I thought it was quite absurd. I thought to myself: "Why would any school do that to their students?" Limit their success and potential chances at getting into a good college?</p>

<p>Now, 1-2 years later, as a senior who made his dream school ED and has watched some of his closest friends get shattered by the RD college application process, I'm starting to see the potential wisdom of limiting the number of colleges a student can apply to. </p>

<p>Regarding the situation, one of my close friends is a pure boss through and through. Throughout his years, he has attained a >4.0 UW GPA and >5.5 W GPA (out of 6.33 max, 5.9 maximum GPA possible because of gym classes), easily making the top 5% of an NJ public high school that is extremely competitive, with an asian population of over 50%. >2350 SAT, 2 800 and 2 other >750 SAT subject tests. 5s on all APs, yadda yadda yadda. </p>

<p>However, it is his consistent 12 seasons of varsity sports, 3 captain roles (X-country, Winter Track, Spring Track), 3 medals in Science Olympiad, and artistic skill (creative type with >7 years of classes) that has always impressed me. This isn't even mentioning his garden club volunteering every Sunday and a few other possible activities he hasn't told me. His essays, knowing him, were no doubt amazing, and he slaved over his supplements, polishing and crafting them endlessly. He sent art supplements to most of his schools.</p>

<p>Now, the colleges he applied to were admittedly very selective and not easy at all to get into. He was accepted to Rutgers, UIUC, and Berkeley engineering (where he will probably be attending) and rejected from Duke Engineering, Stanford Engineering, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern Engineering, MIT, Columbia and waitlisted at Cornell Engineering. </p>

<p>As for the idea of limiting the number of apps, it's related to how a few students at my school applied to all these schools + more (basically the top 20 schools or so according to USNews rankings) and making nearly all of them. From a practical standpoint, it'd be fine since they're just increasing their own chances, but one of these girls has been telling everyone that she had no intention of going to Stanford (my buddy's dream reach) whatsoever, but just applied for the chance to get accepted. A few of the other students, who are quite aware of their academic/extracurricular excellence and knew they were going to get into their schools, went ahead and applied to 15-20 schools (all top schools). I can't help but feel that my buddy, who meticulously narrowed down his list of schools from 20 to the few schools that he would actually attend if he made it, got steamrollered by these super-applicants. Colleges may say that they don't compare students from the same school, but I honestly think that's ********, since I find it hard to believe that the regional officers don't take a mental note when seeing two applicants from the same school.</p>

<p>He's going through a bit of a confidence/identity crisis (who wouldn't after being rejected from their dream schools?) and I can't really help him since I'm not especially emotional or sensitive at all. </p>

<p>What do you think happened to him? And what do you all think about the idea of limiting the number of college applications?
I'm obviously now very biased on the topic, so I'd love to hear what you all think about it.</p>

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<p>In the UK and many other countries, you can have a limited amount of applications sent. Usually less than 6 or 7. I think the US should do it. Maybe less than 8, and only one ivy league choice.</p>

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<p>I think for the extremely above par private schools where all or most of the students will be accepted into more than one Top 20 school, then yeah. But, I don’t agree with that for the rural public school, where a valedictorian can’t choose between an affordable state university, or living out a dream at an Ivy League.
Six or seven schools MIGHT just not be enough for them to weigh their options, especially when they’re in a situation where great financial aid, a free ride, or a Top 10 school are all serious options.</p>

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<p>I see no reason for limiting college applications. If someone wants options, let them have options.</p>

<p>It’s not like there’s even a legal way to do this, anyway, aside from a giant collective action by all colleges (won’t happen, they like having more applicants).</p>

5

<p>

It would be a great idea, an would way increase the acceptance rates at certain schools. People would actually be forced to choose a balanced list, without too many reaches.
The reason this wouldn’t work, though, is that the college application process is independent of any organization that could make and enforce rules such as that. The only thing common to the admissions processes of any two universities is the common app, and if the common app tried to make a rule like that it would result in a mass exodus by colleges (aka common app goes out of business, aka horrible business decision by them, aka not going to happen).
The only schools that could do that are public schools, but even in a public school system there would be no way to prevent you from applying outside of that system.</p>

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<p>tl/dr 10 char</p>

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</p>

<p>Do colleges say this? Jaques Steinberg is pretty clear in his book that Wesleyan explicitly compares students from the same school. They actually order their applications BY SCHOOL, and then by name.</p>

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<p>

Somewhat, but not as much as you might think.</p>

<p>As the applicants to School A apply to fewer and fewer other schools, the likelihood that they will choose School A if admitted increases. Thus, colleges would have higher yields. So, while they might have fewer applicants, they would also have fewer acceptances. Though there would be some increase in admissions rates.</p>

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<p>Oxford and Cambridge in the UK have their acceptance rate at ~20%. Are they easier than Harvard? Worse than Yale? No; UCAS only lets you apply to six schools and unless you’re sure you would actually attend when accepted, and have a realistic shot, you wouldn’t apply. That weeds out a large amount of crapshoot applications. I admit I applied to Williams on a crapshoot- I didn’t actually care about the school and I’m not sure I would go even if admitted. I’m guilty of this too, and with a limit I would have chosen my schools more conservatively and realistically. I think this is a great idea, and allows colleges to only focus on kids who actually want to attend their school.</p>

<p>For those who applied to 20 or 30 schools, how is it really possible to care about all of them? It wasn’t about the school then, just crapshoot.</p>

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<p>If students want to go to a certain school and have the credentials, apply early decision.</p>

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<p>i go to an american school overseas and our limit is 10 applications (the average sent is about 5). they say this on the school profile so i think this helps more students get accepted because colleges will know that all applicants are serious about attending</p>

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<p>I think we’ll see this happening anyway with H and P reinstating early programs. The very top applicants are likely to have an acceptance from their HYPS of choice early and not apply very many places regular. This means that the next “tier” (subtier, whatever) like the “lower” (other five) Ivies, Chicago, Duke, JHU, Northwestern, Vandy, and the LACs will probably see far fewer RD apps, making their process much less bizarre. A good thing all around.</p>

<p>My problem with actually placing a cap on the number of apps is that it’s very hard to understand the process from the outside. My initial college list included many of the schools that later waitlisted or rejected me, while my expanded, last-second, “maybe” list included schools I never thought I had a shot-in-hell at–and which then accepted me. Admittedly, part of the randomness is a function of the increased applications, but another part is that it’s exceedingly difficult to guess for what, exactly, each school is looking.</p>

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<p>

Eh. Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, and Yale will each accept what, a few hundred students EA? So yeah, maybe <em>most</em> of those students won’t apply to many other schools, but you’re talking about a couple thousand at best. As applications swell, I don’t think you’ll see a dramatic drop. The other top schools and their ED programs have a bigger impact.</p>

<p>

I agree, you’re right, the process is to the point where one cannot truly predict outcomes anymore.</p>

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<p>I don’t think it’s fair at all. A high school shouldn’t be able to stop someone from applying to colleges after x amount; that’s the student’s personal business. As for only being allowed to apply to one Ivy… that’s just blatantly unfair. What if someone really genuinely likes Harvard and Brown? And why limit it to Ivies and not Stanford, MIT, etc? It’s just an arbitrary line that’s being drawn.</p>

<p>Aaaand, most importantly, there’s always the people applying to many schools because money is an issue. It’s not fair to stop them for that.</p>

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<p>Hm, very valid points all around.</p>

<p>Regarding the ED factor, what if a student isn’t 100% set on one specific schools but rather a few? Or in my friend’s case, what if a student wants to compare financial aid packages?</p>

<p>That school strategy of limiting applications to 5-10 apps but stating that on the school profiles that are sent to colleges is interesting. Wouldn’t something like that help limit the rumored “Tufts syndrome?”</p>

16

<p>I don’t think it is productive to actually limit the number of applications. But I do wish I had applied to fewer.</p>