<p>As the topic says, recently, I saw many post with the lines like "I got 5 rejections, 6 acceptance, 2 waitlisted, and 4 more to hear about".</p>
<p>Just curious about what's the average number of schools that people apply to?
What's the point of applying to so many schools?</p>
<p>I mean, applying to 4~6 schools seems straight to me, 1~2 dream school, 1~2 matches, and 1~2 safeties. But a friend of mine applied to 23........
I am certainly impressed by the fact she wrote 23 essays (probably less), but paying 23 application fees just sound idiota to me.</p>
<p>Why do people apply to 10+ colleges? Just to increase chances of getting in "somewhere"?
or are they just too lazy to find out what schools are reaches, dreams, matches, and safeties?</p>
<p>2015 guys plz feel free to share, we are all waiting on something, so relax and throw a comment on this LOL.</p>
<p>Google “crapshoot” and “colleges” on this site or any other and you will find out why people apply to 20+ colleges. If it is a “crapshoot” – as most posters believe (at least with respect to the top schools) – you need to spread your chips around. You can never tell how the same application will be read among the various readers among the various schools – so much subjectivity and so much variability (human and institutional) will logically drive large numbers of applications precisely to ensure that at least one application may alight in the just the right combination of circumstances. The unpredictability is so severe that is just makes common sense to put out as much bait as possible and maybe one grouper will surface and bite.</p>
<p>^ very well put! Remember though, that safeties usually are less of crapshoot. So I would recommend applying to 2-3 safeties and 10+ matches/reaches. Top schools really are a crapshoot, so your chances of admittance to a premier college increases with the number of apps you send.</p>
<p>There are stats that say overall students apply to 4 or 5 schools. But that average takes into account students who know they will be living from home and applying to the local comm college. So for an average of 5 apps/student, for every kid who applies to just 1-2 schools, there are the same amount of kids applying to 9 - 10 schools. If you are looking for Merit aid, it pays to apply to more schools rather than less? College is the only" product" I am aware of where you go into the “store”, say I’d like to buy this, the salesman says let me think about if you are worthy to buy this and I’ll give you an answer 4 months from now. And as an added bonus, I’ll see if I can give you a better price than the sticker price when I tell you the answer 4 months from now. Couple that with the fact that the sticker price can be more than the price of buying a new BMW every year for 4 years, spending the extra $300 or so and the exrtra effort to re-fashion essays to apply to more schools is a trivial expense. I know others will say, how can you equate your education to buying a car? But the transparency in understanding if you can afford a particular school is really lacking in this process. For some reasons, that cant be helped. Of course, there are also students who can’t make up their mind, and apply to lots of schools based on their inability to decide.</p>
Or, for every four that apply to 1, there is one who applies to 21. So no, it doesn’t have to be on a one to one basis.</p>
<p>The average is around 4; my advice would be to apply to those schools you would really like to go to. Just make sure at least a couple are safeties for admissions and finances. I applied to more than I should have (like 16?), but I’m glad that I applied to certain schools that I might not have otherwise.</p>