Anonymous
09/15/2025 17:14
Subject: 8 applications - wild swing in essay number
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:two kids, each applied to 8-9 schools.
one wrote 35 total essay, short responses, etc.
one wrote 7 and three of those were totally reused. So really 5.
both applied to colleges that were in the top 40.
just a reminder you can't really compare w your neighbors. I've been really surprised with kid 2 how easy this all was. I was expecting more of what happened with kid 1, with tons of essays and he couldn't reuse almost anything. Kid 2 has three colleges that literally ask the same question w length exactly the same. what a joy!
I've been surprised by some schools that require one 150-word essay.
We talk a lot about TO vs Test and data. And apparently there's no data on if asking for 4-5 essays helps a school build a class or not
schools with that many essays are looking for something very specific. you can usually pick up on it.
And the first reason is filtering out the kids who just want to add one more school to their list.
Anonymous
09/15/2025 17:12
Subject: 8 applications - wild swing in essay number
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:two kids, each applied to 8-9 schools.
one wrote 35 total essay, short responses, etc.
one wrote 7 and three of those were totally reused. So really 5.
both applied to colleges that were in the top 40.
just a reminder you can't really compare w your neighbors. I've been really surprised with kid 2 how easy this all was. I was expecting more of what happened with kid 1, with tons of essays and he couldn't reuse almost anything. Kid 2 has three colleges that literally ask the same question w length exactly the same. what a joy!
I've been surprised by some schools that require one 150-word essay.
We talk a lot about TO vs Test and data. And apparently there's no data on if asking for 4-5 essays helps a school build a class or not
schools with that many essays are looking for something very specific. you can usually pick up on it.
Anonymous
09/15/2025 16:55
Subject: 8 applications - wild swing in essay number
Anonymous wrote:two kids, each applied to 8-9 schools.
one wrote 35 total essay, short responses, etc.
one wrote 7 and three of those were totally reused. So really 5.
both applied to colleges that were in the top 40.
just a reminder you can't really compare w your neighbors. I've been really surprised with kid 2 how easy this all was. I was expecting more of what happened with kid 1, with tons of essays and he couldn't reuse almost anything. Kid 2 has three colleges that literally ask the same question w length exactly the same. what a joy!
I've been surprised by some schools that require one 150-word essay.
We talk a lot about TO vs Test and data. And apparently there's no data on if asking for 4-5 essays helps a school build a class or not
Anonymous
09/15/2025 16:10
Subject: 8 applications - wild swing in essay number
I take it they did not apply to the same colleges. Also, I don't see the point of your post, OP. If you really want to apply somewhere, you need to jump through the hoops, regardless of essay number.
Anonymous
09/15/2025 15:55
Subject: 8 applications - wild swing in essay number
two kids, each applied to 8-9 schools.
one wrote 35 total essay, short responses, etc.
one wrote 7 and three of those were totally reused. So really 5.
both applied to colleges that were in the top 40.
just a reminder you can't really compare w your neighbors. I've been really surprised with kid 2 how easy this all was. I was expecting more of what happened with kid 1, with tons of essays and he couldn't reuse almost anything. Kid 2 has three colleges that literally ask the same question w length exactly the same. what a joy!
one wrote 35 total essay, short responses, etc.
one wrote 7 and three of those were totally reused. So really 5.
both applied to colleges that were in the top 40.
just a reminder you can't really compare w your neighbors. I've been really surprised with kid 2 how easy this all was. I was expecting more of what happened with kid 1, with tons of essays and he couldn't reuse almost anything. Kid 2 has three colleges that literally ask the same question w length exactly the same. what a joy!