<p>That would have drastically reduced the number of colleges I applied to out of my own volition, and most likely killed my chances of going to college at all. Why? Because five out of my ten applications were to universities my dad basically arm-bent me into applying to. And they were all at the ‘top of the list’ where I was certain I wasn’t going to get in. But I felt okay because the other five were of my own choice, and I ended up going to my personal first choice. My dad originally wanted me to apply to even more Ivies. Now if I had been limited to half that amount, then my personal preferences would definitely have been pushed aside and I wouldn’t be going to college at all. I think high schools should just leave the decisionmaking (and the monetary investment involved in applications) to the student. It’s necessary to take into consideration what other factors might be in play in terms of applications.</p>
<p>Your parent may have not pushed as many of the most selective schools if only six schools were permitted. I know that having no real ceiling on the number of apps can cause some, “why don’t we throw in an app to College X”. That there are no limits does result in some apps that are not serious. That is one reason that colleges, high schools hate it when kids apply to so many schools. When a student has a truly valid reason, the college counselors can be understanding.</p>
<p>Knowing my dad, he most likely would have been even more assertive that placing my chances on the Ivies would have been more of an investment than what he believes to be ‘easy schools that you’ll no doubt get into but will get you nowhere in life’. (You would be insulted if I were to name some of them.) Some people are just not realistic at all, yet have substantial power over the application process. As it was, I was assured by the lack of application limits that I could ensure my own choices and also accommodate his fancies.</p>
<p>I’m of two minds about this issue. littleKHAN makes an excellent point and not all young adults can successfully combat a well-meaning but aggressive parent on these issues. At the same time, I was educated in Canada, where we were allowed to select THREE universities on the equivalent of a common/centralized application form. So, as a portfolio-based student, my #1 pick was the riskiest. My middle match and then safety consumed the others. In truth, there were at least three schools I <em>should</em> have applied to that were portfolio-based “long shots” but I couldn’t afford to do so with only three picks. Fortunately for me, I got into my top pick (and unfortunate for the other 750 who didn’t get in…or risk 3 tough apps instead of match and safety). I believe today in Canada you CAN apply to more by doing a second round app (not sure, live in US now). But I use that example to illustrate valid reasons why restrictions are or could be risky. For example, what about a top music student, audition-based? For some instruments, eight auditions would not ever produce a safety.</p>
<p>At the same time, it blows my mind how regularly a talented student will apply to a plethora of schools with a rather casual attitude, kind of like shaking the trees to see what comes out and without due respect for the resources it takes to process applications. I think this seriously inflates the COST of running an admission department, beseiged with gratuitous applications, and I am not sure that I feel students should be able to apply to a school they’re not willing to save the money to go visit in junior or early sr. year (my one rule with my son, and to his credit, he DID go visit NYU, Princeton and IU, but did NOT visit USC.) I realize many might say that students of modest means cannot afford to visit distant schools, but I reason that if they’re able to assume the debt for Out of State tuition – or expect a hefty grant or scholarship – they should first be willing to investigate their investment and demonstrate a suitable level of interest. Greyhound goes anywhere for $99 bucks.</p>
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<p>I must respectfully disagree.</p>
<p>I applied to my schools on fee-waiver and did my research via google.</p>
<p>It’s kinda hard to physically visit schools you know, when you’re taking 6 APs and 4 dual-enrollment courses a year. </p>
<p>Does an admissions department exhibit a diseconomy of scale?</p>
<p>THen I have a question that I alluded to earlier.
Say you applied to 15 schools at $50 a piece. </p>
<p>( Which is beyond the finances of our family but if you were able to get fee waivers for that many more power to you. However- I have read that fee waivers are sometimes limited)</p>
<p>If you haven’t decided by late winter senior year which school you really want to attend- what has to happen by early spring in order for you to know where you will attend in the fall ?</p>
<p>Visiting and getting financial aid offers should help out with that, as should the probable rejection(s) which narrow the list.</p>
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<p>You don’t know what families have going on in terms of their finances, parental obligations, other kids at home, etc. I’d like to try to visit every school my kids are interested in, but I have twins, and it may be that we only hit some of them and not all.</p>
<p>I would just like to mention that just because a kid applies to 15 schools doesn’t mean he doesn’t know where he’d like to go. He may have a very definite rank order of the 15–what he doesn’t know is how far up the rank he’ll be able to go–that’s up to the schools.</p>
<p>^^^or needs to pay attention to FA awards or is out there looking for serious merit $$$.</p>
<p>The Greyhound bus mentioned earlier does not have a convenient route from NJ to Los Angeles!</p>
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<p>Absolutely the MOST arrogant post I have ever read on cc. :eek:</p>
<p>^^^^
I SO agree!!!</p>
<p>Obviously somebody doesn’t know what $99, each way at that, plus hotel, plus food, plus other expenses, might mean to a low income family.</p>
<p>I didn’t go to college myself, but I have seen posts here many times over of how “back in the day” of the 70’s or so, most people didn’t visit the school they were going to apply to and attend, beforehand, and that was before technology allowed us to research schools!</p>
<p>It’s a lot for people of various means – 3 plane tix at $300 a pop, $100 hotel room, $100 on food, $200 for car rental. And all this should happen before admission is offered?</p>
<p>I’ll take the $50 app fee, thank you.</p>
<p>3 plane tix at $300 a pop, $100 hotel room, $100 on food, $200 for car rental. And all this should happen before admission is offered?</p>
<p>That is why we found it handy to have location- ease of public transportation and urban setting as criteria.
Cities which have good public transportation- eliminate the expense of a car- for both the student and for visitors.
A city also can have cheap or free entertainment opportunities- not that rural schools do not, but it is nice to go off campus every once in a while.
It is also sweet not to have the expense of long flights, particularly when that flight may originate or transfer in a city with weather than can cause flight delays and problems.
Cities also have lots of hotels available- rural locations may just have bed and breakfasts who can see a captive audience $$$$ although some schools occasionally reserve unused dorms as space for visitors.</p>
<p>I guess I don’t understand if you can’t afford airfare before the student is accepted- how likely is the price going to come down once they are attending?</p>
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You fail. I live over 2000 miles by road from the continental US, and we don’t exactly get Greyhound service on the Alcan.</p>
<p>A round trip ticket from Taiwan to the United States costs an average of $2000. Needless to say I did not visit any colleges before I applied to them. Now if I were to travel a minimum of four times during my time at college, one per summer, $2000 saved from not visiting colleges would replace one full trip home and back.</p>
<p>We should only be limited by number of applications if all schools decide to do rolling admissions and aid offers within a reasonable amount of time, preferably before other schools’ deadlines. Yea, right, dream on. Hey, part of making the team is showing up, right?</p>
<p>Again, some people seem to confuse uncertainty about admission with uncertainty about interest in a particular school. Most students who apply to large number of schools don’t apply because they can’t decide between schools. Our D who applied to 17 schools could easily have narrowed the list down to 3 top choice schools. The problem that would have reduced her chances to less than 15% at best of being admitted at any of them. She had visited most of the schools and knew fairly well what they could offer. She had a pretty clear ranking in mind, and once she obtained offers and we had chance to review the FA packages, it didn’t take long to make a final decision. Her preferences didn’t really change before and after admission. </p>
<p>The number of applications is directly correlated to the selectivity of the colleges. If our D’s target schools admitted 50% of applicants and all offered similar FA, 3 or 4 schools would have been plenty. With most of her colleges admitting unhooked students in the single digits, 17 applications was a very reasonable number. In the end she only had 3 offers with substantial aid, hardly excessive by any measure.</p>
<p>In Britain, we can only apply to 5 universities each. I would say that it makes the system fairer.</p>