<p>How many schools are you applying to? I'm applying to ten schools. Is that too little or too much?</p>
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At the risk of being the grammar police, I’m going to gloss over those errors and say 10 schools may be just right. Alternatively, it could be too few if you have no safeties in the mix or too many if your #1 choice is a safety.</p>
<p>I spoke to some AO’s early in the game for us and they told us to cast a wide net, because we are going to need almost 100% Financial Aid. Turns out when they said that, that means 10-12 schools, 15 as the widest net. Since I am not interested in risking the kid to stay here (our local schools are horrible, among other things), so we have applications in to 30 schools. </p>
<p>This is way, way too many. I’m doing paperwork almost all day, and what enthusiasm the kiddo started the process with has dissolved in the grind of a billion essays on top of her regular school work. I’d say 15 as top is probably a good limit. You’re probably going to do fine with 10.</p>
<p>I know some schools aren’t likely to be happy we applied to so many, no one wants to give a spot out that isn’t going to be taken, but given our situation it seemed more risky to not have a couple places admit, and maybe one or two that might be able to meet the FA we need, than get into a couple of schools we can’t actually afford.</p>
<p>@NottheMomma Wow! I wish the best of luck to you and your daughter! Thanks for responding. :)</p>
<p>@skieurope Thanks for the response! Sorry for the poor grammar. 
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<p>Would about 6 #1 schools, 3 meh schools, and 1 safety a good mix of my ten schools?</p>
<p>In another thread someone was talking about how the BS handles the spread for applying to colleges- they do 10, but it’s three reach, three 50-50 shot schools, three safety schools, and an extra you just can’t take off the list. It seem to do well for the students to get into a college that’s a good fit, so perhaps that’s a good split for boarding school apps as well?</p>
<p>Honestly, most of the top tier schools are for a very specific kind of kid- look into fit more than prestige. All these schools have great academics, but the student that will fit there is going to be a different beast. What good is getting into the school if the kid will be miserable there for years?</p>
<p>Good point.</p>
<p>Yikes, I’m freaking out at 6 schools (4 boarding, 2 local private day schools), and DD’s teachers and schools have been complaining about the paperwork being asked of them. I couldn’t imagine 30.</p>
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That’s the recommendation at my school, as well. However for colleges, all have a Net Price Calculator where you can ballpark affordability and cross schools off the list where you will not get enough aid. That does not exist for most schools in the BS world, so if FA is an issue, 10 might be limiting.</p>
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@LifeLongNYer Well best of luck to you!
6: Deerfield, Choate, Groton, Andover, Middlesex, and Hotchkiss but my school has a 9th grade so that is my fall back option.
Exeter, Andover, Deerfield, Choate, Hotchkiss, Lawrenceville, and Middlesex, but my local high school is excellent, so it wouldn’t be terrible if I don’t get accepted to any…
@goldenfygg why thank you!
Me too!!! That’s why I’m only applying to andover and exeter even tho I need a bit of financial aid. Just out of curiousity, what school do u go to?
Same as @whimsicalwhims and @Anonymousia. My current school system is actually not a bad place. It’s pretty good.
The perfect number is: five.
- Impossible Reach (because kids are gonna do that no matter what)
- A Reach (in case you’re better than you think)
3 & 4) A couple matches (nice to have a choice) - A safety.
As long as you can handle writing quality essays for each school, and have the time to tour and interview at each school, 10 isn’t a bad number. I’m currently at Exeter and there’s a huge variety here-- some only applied to 1-2 schools (most of the time, PEA and PA), and some 10+. Originally, I was going to apply to eight, but after touring and interviewing at some schools early autumn, decided to narrow it down to 5 based on which ones I truly liked(the perfect number, as JustOneDad said!). Two boarding schools, and three day schools.
My list looks exactly like @JustOneDad but doubled. It contains two #1s, about two reaches, about 4 matches, and two/three safeties.