<p>My daughter is interested in applying to 5 or 6 of the ivy league colleges. Her counselor told her that if she applys to too many, it might hurt her chances at any one of them because these schools compare lists of the kids that apply, and that if she sends too many, the colleges think that she is just interested in "buying a name" and not interested in the college itself. Does anyone know if this is true? She goes to a very large public school, and I was wondering is this a technique the high school uses to keep down the number of applications.
thanks</p>
<p>There is no "comparing of lists" of the sort you mention. These days, applying to 5 or 6 colleges would actually be on the low side of average for students hoping to attend a highly competitive college.</p>
<p>The only risk in applying to too many is that it might make it harder to do a good job on all the essays, etc.</p>
<p>I do not know the right answer, but my kid's is applying to many Ivy schools from a very reputable prep school. His safety schools are excellent colleges too. I am nervous about this high list but when counselor gave us list in writing, I am hoping that based on school’s college counselor’s experience they know what they are doing. Based on early admission the list may shrink drastically. Let us see. I am also nervous. But kid has to make his choices and live with it.</p>
<p>It's not true that it will harm her chances. My D was accepted to all 6 of the Ivies she applied to, along with a number of other top schools.</p>
<p>Right. Thjere are hundreds of cross-admits, which means there are thousands of cross-applicants.</p>
<p>Funny...my counselor says the same thing (insists upon it, in fact). I don't buy it, and neither did either of my brothers who graduated before me. But they had to push quite a bit before she'd let them apply to "too many top schools". It ended up being a pretty nasty situation with the guidance dept.</p>
<p>They ended up getting into every school they applied to (including the elitest of the elites), and now I think guidance has given up on trying to advise any member of my family :p.</p>
<p>It could, perhaps, be an effort in part of the school to reduce cross-applicants from the school so that students don't "get in the way of one another". Furthermore, if students apply to fewer elites, then the college receiving the application would know that it has a greater chance of that applicant matriculating (assuming the college is familiar with the school), and thus increasing its yield.</p>
<p>I know private schools tend to do this with early apps, forcing students not to apply to other schools if they get into their early-application school. Students thus don't get in each other's way, no one student hoards all the acceptances, colleges know that the student is likely to matriculate there, and the school gets to boast a more impressive list of matriculations.</p>
<p>It's a win-win for everyone involved...unless you count students who don't have one "dream school" in mind...</p>
<p>I know that happens, but I view it, cynically, as a decision for the benefit of the prep schools, and the guidance counselors themselves - and not the students.</p>
<p>I think it is outrageous for any prep school of high school guidance department to place an artificial limit on how many colleges a kid can apply to.</p>
<p>I have also heard that some schools will "force" you to enroll at an EA or SCEA school where you get admitted, even though, theoretically, you should still be free to apply to an unlimited number of schools RD, compare financial aid, etc., and then decide.</p>
<p>This process should not be "owned" by the guidance counselors.</p>
<p>It's mostly an effort by the guidance counselors to reduce their workload at the expense of the students' future.</p>
<p>Too often, I believe, that is the case; either that, or to curry favor with certain college admission contacts at the expense of those whose interests should come first - the students depending on them.</p>
<p>let her apply to any and all ivies, it doesnt make a difference.</p>
<p>She should apply to whichever colleges she wants. Don't let the machinations of a few colleges stop her from pursuing her dreams. If she truly likes the school, it will show through on her applications and it won't matter. Best of luck to her!</p>
<p>A Columbia adrep told me that they do not know where else the kids apply.</p>
<p>Yep. Like beprepn, I asked an adrep [Harvard, btw] if they know. She said no they dont. It's not their business, she said.</p>
<p>Yes. My question is WHY is she interested in all 6? They are all so different - in different locations and specialize in different things - why do the SIX of the ivies interest her? She should consider whether the name game has something to do with it.</p>
<p>My D can give you detailed explainations of each of the schools she applied to, what departments interested her, what great professors each school had that she wanted to study with. Not all the schools were great in the same areas, but they each had an element that she found interesting and would be happy studying. She was genuinely disappointed to have to turn down each and every one of them. That probably showed through in her applications, and hence was the reason she was accepted to all of them. With the crap shoot that is Ivy admissions, it makes sense to have options. We also found a pretty wide variation in financial aid packages.</p>
<p>Oh. That's good! I feel like there is a certain negative connotation with applying to so many ivies and I'm pretty sure I'm a casualty of that. I guess one of the reasons that connotation exists (especially here on CC.com) is that so many 'newbies' ask for their chances at the Ivies. I suppose it is a rite of passage here, but the high number of topics entitled 'What are my chances for the IVIES?!!!" just invalidates the motives of people who have actually done a good college search.</p>
<p>Students do indeed get in the way of each other. If a valdictorian applies to six Ivies, s/he might get into all of them and thus keep the top five in the class out, especially if the Ivies have a history of accepting only one from a given school.</p>
<p>Guidance counselors want to get as many of their students as possible into top colleges. The students want excellent options. Sometimes these goals are at odds with each other. (Some schools will charge the parents for administrative fees if the applications exceed a certain number.)</p>
<p>Bottom line: do what <em>you</em> want. You should, however, act responsibly. For example, if you apply to Dartmouth but don't really want to go there, then don't apply. It is not fair to wrack up the acceptances for the sake of an ego boost when a fellow and almost-equally qualified student <em>really</em> wants to go there.</p>
<p>Exactly. Unfortunately as Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner say in their book Freakonomics, everyone is driven by incentives, and the incentives of having an ego boost of getting into all the Ivies is MUCH higher than the guilt you probably wouldn't feel about potentially stopping an equally qualified person of getting in.</p>
<p>you can only go to one school, so you are hardly stopping anyone from getting into the others.</p>
<p>Good point, Byerly.</p>