<p>i agree with rachel212. it's just crazy to apply to 15, 20 or even 30 colleges. the reason app numbers were so low back in the 80s is that people were sane. when i looked at the "how many are you applying to?" thread, i was shocked. i mean, i definitely understand the need for security, but please! being decisive and being able to make important choices between colleges (or anything else) is an incredibly important skill that a lot of people overlook. it took me forever to narrow my list down, and it was agonizing! but i wish more people would take the time to do so--it's a necessary evil. and as more and more apps are sent into admissions offices, the time and attention that can be given to each one must decrease.</p>
<p>of course, the baby boomer thing, and the fact that you need a college degree to do anything these days, are also factors. they can't be avoided, though--but the growing # of apps per student can.</p>
<p>lol i know i'm going to take a lot of heat for this, b/c i know the average app # for kids on cc is so high--but that's really how i feel.</p>
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it's just crazy to apply to 15, 20 or even 30 colleges
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<p>So let me see here: IVY=8 add the state schools and a couple of other dream locations.........I don't see your sum here. It isn't too hard to get the number to 15 in a hurry.</p>
<p>yes, but is it really necessary to apply to all the ivies? to me, "dream locations" should be unique and important enough to an applicant that they don't have 10 of them, plus safeties, plus whatever...</p>
<p>Sometimes those safeties just don't happen. If that happens it will be too late to regret sending in a couple of more apps. Then when that great reach school makes an offer, you can be happy you kept it on the list even though you had already had a couple of other reaches on the list.</p>
<p>If the safeties just aren't happening, it's because the colleges are swamped with excess applications from people who don't want to go there but feel obligated to send in 30 applications. I understand what edad is saying: it may be in each student's personal interests to apply to a vast army of different schools. On the larger scale, though, it makes the process more haphazard, since admissions offices can't tell which applicants have a genuine desire to attend their school and which are just throwing in another "panic" application. A small number of applications per student means, on the large scale, that the applicants are more likely to get into the match schools they really want to attend because there are fewer excess applications cluttering the system up.</p>
<p>i think maryceleste put it very well. and edad, i see your point, but you can be "safe" without completely overdoing it. and you can reach for some really great dream schools as well.</p>