<p>S1 applied to four schools, 2 match/safeties (safety matches?) and 2 match/reaches (lottery schools). Fnancial aid was not a consideration.</p>
<p>S2 will probably also apply to four schools; which is a full third of the schools in the country that offer the program he is interested in.</p>
<p>
[quote]
so it seems to me from this therad & other reading, that we have 3 general buckets here...the ED/EA's with 1 or 2, the middle of the road pack with 7 or 8, and the 12+ group....interesting
[/quote]
true and if I had to guess ... most often something like this ... </p>
<p>1 or 2 ... ED/EA and in addition the financials will work ... probably at one of the two ends of the spectrum (no financial aid ... or lots of financial aid)</p>
<p>12+ .... either looking for merit aid or applying to a lot of highly selctive schools</p>
<p>7 or 8 ... have a nice targeted list without the mitigating issue of needing merit aid or all the crap shoot highly selective schools.</p>
<p>3togo... good summary.</p>
<p>Point of my post is that with more info we'll see it sometimes makes total sense to apply to 8-12. I've seen some threads about appling to 4 should be enough... going that route could be a big financial mistake for many people (especially middle class).</p>
<p>S1 applied to one ED and got in; had 2 other apps ready to go, just in case</p>
<p>S2 applied to 8 the first year and 9 the second year</p>
<p>21.</p>
<p>But that's between two kids, lol.</p>
<p>And they only had two of the same schools on their lists!</p>
<p>(includes several extreme reaches - one of which, so far, worked out, and quest for financial aid)</p>
<p>My son applied to 9 schools, accepted at 4 so far. My daughter applied to four and was accepted to all four. Daughter was an ed major so she had a wide selection to choose from and had four very different choices in the end: Large public University (PSU), Elon (medium size, well priced private LAC), honors college at medium size public University (Millersville University of PA) and the tiny Christian college where she ended up which gave enough financial aid that it cost only as much as PSU. Because PSU has rolling admissions, she applied there at the end of Sept of her senior year, but by the time she was accepted (early Jan.) she had decided she didn't want to go there. </p>
<p>My son applied to so many because the major that he wanted was only offered at one of the schools (interactive game design), but he's not positive that's what he really wants to do. Also, he needed financial as well as academic safeties. He would have been able to use the common application at only 2 of his schools but since the majority had open-ended essays he was able to cut and paste one or two of the essays to most of the applications. The other reason is that he only had to pay for three of the applications. All the rest were free either because he visited or he had a "VIP" invite on-line. In hindsight, he probably could have applied to just 5, but at the time the applications were due, he was much more up in the air about how he felt about each college.</p>
<p>S1-applied to 1 EA accepted in Dec, nice and easy</p>
<p>S2-applied to 8, accepted-6 waitlisted-2</p>
<p>I hope this trend doesn't mean that S3 will be in the 12+ group :eek:</p>
<p>Son applied to 10 or 12. I believe we paid application fees for about half of those. DH thinks that was WAY too many, and wants to keep the total around 5-6 for daughter. However, I keep reminding him that while it may appear to be too many in hindsight, each and every choice was important at the time. We needed merit aid, and the results from the schools were all over the board (free tuition to virtually nothing). Large awards from some schools, also helped raise his final award from others. Just as important, my son's preferences changed considerably during his senior year ( varying from small LAC to large state U.), so I was also happy he had choices in April. </p>
<p>Okay, he may have been able to drop about 3 from his list, but that is only looking back. For example, one college he could have dropped from his final list, was a rolling admission school. At the time, I was delighted he had an acceptance, and had things not turned out the way they did, he would probably be a happy student at this particular school. </p>
<p>8-9 sounds like a good number for #2 ;-)</p>
<p>What I am understanding as I read this thread is that it is better to have too many than too few (both for aid, and if a senior changes their mind about a school). In the past I have read that fewer is better b/c you can do a better job with each application. Frankly, if an applicant begins the process as early as possible, and develops a common app essay over the summer, and perhaps writes a few other essays before senior year begins, there is plenty of time to apply. However, if one is first exploring colleges in the fall and deciding where to apply, then time can become a problem in really doing a good job with larger number of applications.</p>
<p>6.......accepted at 4 so far....money from 3 of them offered. Waiting on Cornell and VT.</p>
<p>s1-three
s2-one</p>
<p>High School allows students to apply to 8 schools. </p>
<p>Daughter applied to 7 accepted at all 7 . </p>
<p>Money was a consideration. </p>
<p>Between her first and second choce schools, school # 2 gave a better aid package that first choice school. </p>
<p>Spoke to FA office, requested a financial review (they stated you could ask for one even if it meant sending them some one elses offer). Sent School #2's offer. </p>
<p>First choice matched the package that school #2 offered. Attending her first choice and is very happy.</p>
<p>I (not my child) applied to WAY too many schools, but I was did not get in to my EA choice, so I panicked. Also, 7 of them I would not have considered if they hadn't given me merit scholarships, which is why my list had so many more than I needed. I only wrote one full-length essay, and no application fees for 3 of the schools.</p>
<p>In the end, I got merit aid from 6 (though only significant amounts from 4), and was rejected from 3 (including EA school) and waitlisted at 1. I still only attended 1 :)</p>
<p>The most I know of was the son of a friend who applied to 19 and was accepted at all 19, including HYPS.</p>
<p>My D applied to 6 ea and 3 rd. Merit aid was a consideration.</p>
<p>In at all 6 early schools - 4 privates have all offered significant merit aid; the two state schools will award merit in March.</p>
<p>Of the RD - 2 match/reaches and 1 reach, I don't expect merit aid, but one of those would still be affordable.</p>
<p>I applied to seven but I really wished I would have added a couple more schools. If I could go back in time I would have added Amherst, Dartmouth, and Penn. I ended up transferring to one of those schools lol!</p>
<p>Those who say its not worth applying to that many schools are flat wrong in my opinion, especially if they are aiming for the top. Each applicantion isn't THAT much work. Perhaps I could have filtered a little better, but honestly its hard to judge a school without at least visiting. Accepted students days give you so much insight. Its nice to have choices.</p>
<p>To clarify my post in light of questions that just arose in another post....my kids number of schools was not affected by financial aid or merit aid. My kids are on financial aid, however. Neither opted to do the ED route, but FA was not the reason. For my youngest child, only one of her schools, I think, had ED (ironically it is the one she is attending) but was not ready to lock in. Older D also did not want to lock in at that point. Neither was going for merit aid. My older D applied to very selective type schools (though had a balanced list) and most do not offer Merit Aid. We did not know that two of her 8 schools gave it until she received it, but the others did not have Merit Aid. Younger D...did not realize her schools gave Merit Aid either and scholarships were offered at all of her schools, in addition to need based aid. My kids' number of schools was not due to aid reasons even though they are financial aid recipients. </p>
<p>My personal opinion is that 8 is about right for most students. Less schools work particularly if you are not applying to any highly selective schools where admissions is unpredictable in terms of those reach schools with very low acceptance rates. If a candidate it truly in the ballpark of highly selective schools and has some of those on the list, they would likely need about 8 total schools (while maintaining a balanced list). For someone seeking merit aid, a wider net of up to about 10 should be about right. Much more than 10 should not be necessary for the majority of applicants and in fact, the amount of effort and exploration of each school becomes diluted. I think with a very balanced list, there are hardly any students who need more than 10. Each circumstance is different and I can think of a few where maybe 12 would be justified but only for particular reasons. I think about 8 is right for MOST candidates. Again, the circumstances would drive the number. For some circumstances, five schools would work and for some 11 would work. For a great many, 8 is about right....3 reaches, 3 matches, 2 safeties. Even my kid who was going for the highly selective BFA route which are all considered reaches, she still did 8. Rather than focus on the NUMBER, what you need to do is to have the RIGHT LIST. I think my kids' outcomes bore the validity of their lists. I'd say for those who do not get into barely any schools on their list, then their list was not the right list. The list must be appropriate, balanced, and fit. </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>How many did she actually FINISH the applications to? Or how many did she send Part I to along with school reports and recommendations? My D started with 9 schools on the list [4 reaches (1 SCEA), 4 matches (some more reachy than others) and 1 safety (rolling)]. By November she was accepted to her rolling. By mid December, her SCEA reach. Had completed (including essays) 3 other apps by mid December. Dropped all 4 she hadn't finished. So started with 9, ended with 5. Worked for her. And I think the drop from lots to few happens frequently once decisions start rolling in.</p>
<p>Seems like S is in the minority here -- S3 applied to 12 schools this year -- not affected by financial need or merit aid. Since ED choice was a reach and we had plans to be away most of Christmas vacation, we forced him to do other apps before hearing from ED school. He did not get into ED choice. Given ED record for all top kids at our school this year and the fact that many of S3's choices are selective, I am not optimisitc re: outcomes except for safeties. He is in top 10 students (of 400) with several state level accomplishments in music and sports and his SATs are very good but low end for Ivies. Eight years ago, S1 applied to 4 schools and was accepted to all -- just graduated EA school as he took off several years to run a company. S2 applied to 6 schools four years ago and was accepted to his ED school -- applied for a special program so there were only a limited number of liberal arts/universities with this major.</p>
<p>S applied to 12 schools, one EA. So far he has 2 - 1 - 2. That's two rejections (including EA), two acceptances, and one college lost the application file altogether! I can hardly wait to see how PapaChicken scores that one!</p>
<p>Merit aid is important, but not as critical as getting into a school with a department doing research of interest. Lots of reach schools.</p>