<p>i know a kid's who's applied to 20 and another who's applied to only 1. what's a healthy number to apply for?</p>
<p>in terms of</p>
<p>number of</p>
<p>reaches
matches
safeties</p>
<p>total:</p>
<p>if you have 1 safety that you would be happy at, then you only need 1 safety (if it is truely a safety).</p>
<p>for the matches and reaches, prolly 3-4 matches and a couple reaches. Remember that the more applications you do the less likely each one is going to be the best you can do.</p>
<p>Why apply to 20 schools? You can only go to 1. You should definitely be able to narrow down a list more than that.</p>
<p>And as for the person who only applied to one, if you know you can get in, and that's where you want to go, then there's no reason to apply to any more than that.</p>
<p>I'm applying to nine, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else really. It's a lot of essays and I'm already going crazy.</p>
<p>six reaches, three matches, one safety</p>
<p>Depends on the person. I was told by my GC to apply to around 6 or 7, too many more will be hard to handle.</p>
<p>I am aiming for about 3 reaches, 3 matches, and a 2 safeties (but I plan to apply to one [VANDERBILT! :)] ED), so I'd say anywhere between 6-10 is a good number. If you can handle more, go for it. And if you only have a few favorites, then don't bother applying to places you don't want to go to. There's no "right" or "wrong" number, it's all about personal preference.</p>
<p>so is 12 too much? i really don't know how to narrow it down. i really want to bring it down to 9 though.</p>
<p>2-3 reaches
3 matches
2-3 safeties</p>
<p>Under 6 you run the risk of not having enough options, and over 9 you run the risk of spreading yourself too thin. </p>
<p>I disagree with soccerguy and collegehelp about only applying to one safety for several reasons.
1) Safeties often provide substantial merit aid. Having several scholarships to consider (or as leverage :) ) is much better than one.
2) Some safeties have a nasty reputation for rejecting or waitlisting "over-qualified" applicants.
3) Just because a school is a safety doesn't mean it's not a great place for you. I liked my safeties every bit as much as my reaches, which is how it should be.</p>
<p>3 of each for like the max.</p>
<p>2 of each would be a GOOD match.</p>
<p>i'd say, 3 safety, 3 match, 3 reach.
it really depends on the person - how sure you are about what type of school you want, how much cash you have to spend on app fees, how much time you have to write essays.</p>
<p>Collegebound hit the nail on the head: it really depends on the person.</p>
<p>That said, the most critical schools to focus on are NOT reach schools, but rather good matches and safeties. You should have more matches and safeties than reaches on your list.</p>
<p>If finaid is an issue then I would say apply to more then the usual as there is a huge discrepancy between awards. 2 of my D's schools she would have considered did not award enough aid and the rest were similar with 1 or 2 being way above. It was nice to have had a few extra schools on the list so she had some options when she had to eliminate the expensive ones. It was hard to predict the schools and their awards based on research, although Carolyn did warn me about Pepperdine! And Carolyn is so right, some students have mainly all reaches on their list, not a good idea.</p>
<p>Safety first! If you can recognize what you want and truly need and where it can be found at a quality acceptable to you, but is not as competitive as other schools...then the rest of the schools will be easier to narrow down.</p>
<p>If you are matched up with highly competitive schools then you may need to lengthen your list because it is not uncommon for people who look like a match for top tier schools to get rejected. If you get rejected from one, you could get rejected from a few.</p>
<p>If a student came to me with a list longer than 9 schools, I would wonder if they had really thought about it enough.</p>
<p>warblersrule86</p>
<p>that's why I said 1 safety "if you would be happy there", and that you only need 1 "if it's truely a safety". If money is an issue, then you definitely need to apply to multiple safety schools, as you said, to bounce offers off each other. A safety is where you can attend if others don't work out. If you need money to go to a safety, then it is not completely a safety, more of a "mostly safety", unless you can be sure of merit aid. Some schools don't like to be safety schools, but those are usually Top 50 schools. A state school a few notches down from where your stats match will most likely accept you, and offer an honors program spot.</p>
<p>as many as you want, but it gets to be a ridicolous amount of work after like 8</p>
<p>I agree it depends on the kid but it also depends on the FA situation with the family.</p>
<p>D is applying to 11. But hear me out.</p>
<p>One is a need only reach that she deserves to have a chance to apply to if she wants , just so she can feel her backbreaking effort in high school was worth it. So we really don't count that as there is such a small chance of acceptance and a huge almost guaranteed chance that even if accepted , FA won't be there.</p>
<p>One is a state school intensive honors program that accepts ten students a year from literally hundreds (1 to 2% acceptance rate). D has no real interest in the school other than the "program". Can't count that,either. Too farfetched (but dirt cheap and sets her up for her career).</p>
<p>Four are schools where her stats are over the 75th percentile but where significant merit aid would be difficult at best, but all are supposedly 100% of need. That's 4 reaches where she is well qualified for admission.</p>
<p>One is a school with guaranteed merit for accepted students at a particular combination of stats (which makes it affordable and she LOVES it). One safety.</p>
<p>One is an OOS Honor's College of a state school whose COA is affordable (barely, and she loves it.). Two safeties.</p>
<p>And finally, three are schools that her profile places her in the top few percent of applicants and she appears qualified for significant merit awards (although the schools are NOT guaranteeing 100% of need , and merit awards of the type she needs are few and far between). 3 admission and financial matches.</p>
<p>So , it looks like 11, but it's really only 9. LOL. 4 reaches (mostly financial)-3 matches-two safeties. Anything less starts feeling really skimpy.</p>
<p>I'll be applying to about 15 (if I don't get into my ED school, which I won't.) It's actually quite manageable, as all but 1 take the common app, and many even use it exclusively. All I have to worry about are the supplements. FA is a concern for me, so I want to apply to as many schools as possible so I can compare the prospective awards. Also, my list is extremely top heavy. I have 3 safeties, 1 probable match, and 11 reaches. My stats are sort of low, so I want to play the probabilities a bit in an attempt to get into at least one of the reach schools I love.</p>