I applied my Kindergartner to 7 schools, she got WL'd by 5, asked to re-apply next year by 1 (they basically thought she was too young), and got accepted to 1. We happen to love the school she got accepted to. And I know everybody says this but she scored in the 99th percentile on the WPPSI... All that to say it is very competitive because there are so many applicants for so few spaces. In my opinion, at that age, it's about little more than numbers...

Agree, depends on your commitment to going private v public. For one of my kids public was not an option - applied to 5. For another, public was actually a good fit and so we only applied to 1 school (sibling's) because we love the school but knew public would be great if we didn;t get in (we did).

I think the answer depends on how many schools you like, and what's your confidence level about getting admitted. If you are determined to go private, then definitely have at least 1-2 safety schools on your list. Here are the results (https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewanalytics?formkey=dFFHRklQWDFuOWNaSlMtdlRPd3hORmc6MA) of a rough admissions survey I set up last year (http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/151144.page). It looks like most people apply to at least 3-4. I believe the high number of people applying to only one school are most likely younger siblings of already admitted students.

How many K's do people usually apply to?

I'm finding the entire process deeply overwhelming!

Thanks!