Misread the question I thought it meant impact on the kid themself
Hi! I applied to about 40 schools this year so I can tell you some of the advantages and disadvantages of applying to so many.
Advantages:
So many options for college, I was never worried that I wouldnât find the college for me as I knew I would have so many options and more likely than not I would get into at least one
Your essay writings skills get really good and you can apply to your dream college with the most refined essay you could possible make it
If after visiting your dream college or colleges (if you get in) and you donât like them after all you have many more options to choose from
Applying stops becoming stressful after a point and you get a lot of decisions so after being rejected or deferred from one you get an acceptance typically
Most will have a wide variety of safety/target/reach/dream schools they apply to
Disadvantages:
costs a lot of money
can be really overwhelming
although you are getting a lot of acceptances, the same goes for bad news and it can take a toll on your mental health
takes A LOT of work on your own time and could cause you to forget about school work
may have to postpone hanging out with friends but if time is managed shouldnât be a problem
for one or two you may get lazy and forget to proofread it since you think itâs the same every time but then catch a mistake after submission
For kids, the impact is that their senior year will be more stressful for those who aim for more popular colleges (both private and public).
For colleges (other than a few super elites), the impact is that they will face greater uncertainty in enrollment. More of them, even some publics, will admit a larger percentage of their class via more certain admission mechanisms such as ED, which in turn makes RD even more uncertain for students.
The cycle repeats itself every year with no end in sight.
Yes, this helps a lot and does an excellent job spelling out the pros and cons of applying to multiple schools from a first-hand student perspective. Can I ask where you are in the process in terms of making a final decision? Did you end up getting into one of your top choice colleges?
So what do you consider top flight schools? Top 50 out of 5300 colleges in the US? This kind of thinking is why top students are applying to more schools since so many apply to the same âtopâ schools. UCR and UCM have been listed on the US Newsâ top 50 schools and I can show you other rankings that put all of the UC schools in the top 100.
I do not think that some California parents and students understand how lucky they are to have 9 UCâs, 23 Cal states and 83 private colleges in their state.
Rant over. Too many people have a narrow view of a âtopâ or â goodâ college can be these days or is it just CC posters?
I think it is mostly CC posters and other UMC parents that are fixated on a small group of schools. Out in the real world kids are applying to a handful of schools, mostly local, and arenât too concerned about their chances at Harvard and the like. Their biggest concern is likely to be how to afford college - not fit, prestige or anything else. On CC I think the scarcity mentality is especially prevalent among those with kids who have very high stats as there is the feeling that those students âdeserveâ to get into certain colleges. And, you are 100% correct - CA parents are lucky to have so many excellent public schools available to them that are affordable.
I donât think it is just CC posters. The idea of what is or is not a good or top school is totally subjective. Our neighbor believes a top school is top 25. He has four kids two Wash U, one Vanderbilt, and one Harvard. That is his view; is he wrong?
I also have a different view on what a good school is vs. a top school. From my perspective, I would call UCR and UCM good schools, but I would not call them top schools. If I told someone I went to UCR or UCM on the east coast; the majority would not have heard of them. However, if I said UCLA or Berkely, they would say great school.
We have 40 million people in California, so it would stand to reason weâd have a big public college system. While the csu system serves an important function, you canât tell me going to Cal State Dominguez Hills will give you the same education as UC Irvine. It wonât. I went to my good local csu for grad school because it was near my house when I was a young mom. But why would high stats students want to go to lesser quality, low graduation rate schools if they have other options? My oldest was not terribly academic. We toured many csus. He didnât like the commuter feel of the schools he could have gotten into, so he chose a WUE school. As for UCR, my high stats kids werenât interested so it didnât make sense to apply. If we lived out in riverside maybe the school would hold more appeal.
I agree that the definition of a âtopâ school is subjective and name recognition is important for many people. Maybe I am becoming a grumpy old lady but I have seen an attitude shift in the tone and expectations of many of the CC posters here and not for the better.
There are studies done (I think itâs every other year) on âname recognitionâ of various colleges across various demographic groups. My company subscribes-I donât believe the findings are public.
Anyway, what is fascinating to me is that the âtop collegesâ list tracks so closely with football, basketball and whichever social media/movie actor/athlete is touting a particular college. So back in the Gilmore Girls days, Yale was always near the top. But Notre Dame is almost always in the Top Ten as I recall (US News be damned) and various colleges like Seton Hall and Canisius appear to âpunch above their weightâ. SMU- I think itâs in the top 25, ratings be damned.
My point- do you really care what your neighbor thinks? if you have a kid interested in the military and becoming an engineer, is there anything âbetterâ than West Point (or the other academies?) If your kid is a cello prodigy, are you going to listen to the clerk at the grocery store or is your kid exploring various conservatories which may not have the name recognition of Julliard, but may in fact be the top place to study cello right now? If your kid is interested in Paper technology, youâre going to be tickled the day you all discover U Maine (arguably one of the top programs in the world).
I think academic rigor is important- very important in fact- but many folks disagree with me and thatâs fine. I know kids in real life who head off to the college with the nicest frat houses and the best parties and âphone it inâ academically and some of them do just fine in their adult lives.
As a product becomes more scarce, more popular, or more âvaluableâ, more people will want it, regardless how the product is suitable for them, driving up its desirability and making it more scarce, more popular and more âvaluableâ. Itâs the psychological bandwagon effect. Elite college admissions arenât immune to this effect.
If people are rational, they should, IMO, put academic fit at the top of their college selection criteria. After all, a college education is first and foremost about academics. A poor academic fit will likely result in a student being either insufficiently challenged or overly stressed.
I agree with everything you wrote, but thatâs for an ideal world. The reality is that for many students the idea of considering fit is out of reach because their number one factor when deciding on a college, or even if they can go to college, is their parentsâ budget.
As @Mwfan1921 notes, affordability is often the actual #1 fit factor in choosing a college (or going to college).
Also, it seems like many people define âacademic fitâ as âthe most selective college a student can get admitted toâ, as opposed to consideration of academic offerings that the student is most interested in. This leads to disdain of any college that could be a safety for admission.
