How many colleges to apply to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no magic number. DS did 3 safeties, 4 targets, and 3 reaches. But he really liked all his targets and safeties.

We also had DS apply to one rolling school (he got admitted in October) and apply EA whenever available. So by Christmas, he already had about 5 acceptances. He didn’t need to apply to more schools with January deadlines because he liked his EA acceptances, but he would have had time to submit more applications if EA hadn’t gone well.

This should be part of the decision/process. The list of places to apply may be longer than where you actually end up applying. My friend's daughter really liked Pitt and it was a good Target for her. Got accepted in August, I believe, or maybe early September!! This was a couple of years ago. Anyway, she only applied to three more schools (all reaches) after that despite 15 or 16 schools on her original list. She did not get in to the reaches and is at (and loves) Pitt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last year, 20.

2 safety, 2 target, 16 reach. Accepted to all safeties and targets. Reaches 5 accept, 5 reject, 6 waitlist.

Do you recommend this? That is a lot of reaches

I would imagine PP will say yes because look at he results. Of they had selected 3 reaches, what are the chances they'd be among the 5 acceptances out of 16?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last year, 20.

2 safety, 2 target, 16 reach. Accepted to all safeties and targets. Reaches 5 accept, 5 reject, 6 waitlist.

Do you recommend this? That is a lot of reaches

I would imagine PP will say yes because look at he results. Of they had selected 3 reaches, what are the chances they'd be among the 5 acceptances out of 16?

This is important. There is a great degree of variation in what a school needs in RD. If they need your profile, maybe, you are in. If you only apply to 3 super-reaches, maybe those 3 just don't need your profile, but other reach schools might?

To do this effectively, you should research the reaches that seem to "match" your kid's profile, value their ECs, need more of that major in RD, like your HS etc. Make sure to look at how your high school does in RD with that specific university this year.

Past performance DOES matter and IS an indication of future performance here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last year, 20.

2 safety, 2 target, 16 reach. Accepted to all safeties and targets. Reaches 5 accept, 5 reject, 6 waitlist.

Do you recommend this? That is a lot of reaches

I would imagine PP will say yes because look at he results. Of they had selected 3 reaches, what are the chances they'd be among the 5 acceptances out of 16?

You are correct, answered, no way to know how it would have landed. It was time consuming, but they streamlined essays and all were quality. Not for everyone, but no regrets.

[Anonymous]

My ds applied to 5 and dd to 6. Going to our flagship which was the goal.

[Anonymous]

If you can lock in a safety at a rolling admission school and find out early October'ish that you're in, it is a great way to cut back on extra "safety" applications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last year, 20.

2 safety, 2 target, 16 reach. Accepted to all safeties and targets. Reaches 5 accept, 5 reject, 6 waitlist.

Do you recommend this? That is a lot of reaches

I would imagine PP will say yes because look at he results. Of they had selected 3 reaches, what are the chances they'd be among the 5 acceptances out of 16?

I would have had a world of regrets if my kid had only applied to 3 reaches.
And this was the outcome of applying to 16 reaches -- in at 5!
Wow.

[Anonymous]

3

[Anonymous]

Agree that RD 2025 is proving to be a complete and utter crapshoot for reaches.

I regret supporting this approach simply because it's pretty unpleasant to be rejected so many times. Writing the essays were not a big deal for my DC as most could be tweaked to be used for several schools.

[Anonymous]

Adding in as the 16 teaches poster. My kid is type that finds positives in all, had preferences but could be very happy in a lot of places. Their main requirement was being surrounded by a highly motivated student body. If they had picked what I believe would have been top 3, it would have been 2 reject and a waitlist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Adding in as the 16 teaches poster. My kid is type that finds positives in all, had preferences but could be very happy in a lot of places. Their main requirement was being surrounded by a highly motivated student body. If they had picked what I believe would have been top 3, it would have been 2 reject and a waitlist.

Wow. I am so happy for your kid.
Mine did something similar this year. 10 reaches, and it's surprisingly working out very well so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Adding in as the 16 teaches poster. My kid is type that finds positives in all, had preferences but could be very happy in a lot of places. Their main requirement was being surrounded by a highly motivated student body. If they had picked what I believe would have been top 3, it would have been 2 reject and a waitlist.

Very inspiring for all of us.

[Anonymous]

13 total

EA: 2 reach, 5 safeties
RD: 4 reach, 1 safety

prob didn't need that many safeties but I was in panic mode. In hindsight I'd have cut those down from 6 to 3 and maybe added another reach.

[Anonymous]

33 including CommonApp, individual school applications, Coalition, and UC App. $20k in essay writing fees later and the kid is at an Ivy! No, I don't feel bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:33 including CommonApp, individual school applications, Coalition, and UC App. $20k in essay writing fees later and the kid is at an Ivy! No, I don't feel bad.

I think you're pulling our legs