My DC applied to 5 schools, and I hope the next DC will apply to at least that many.

2 applications. DC applied early action to a safety school and early decision to the top choice school. Yay for early decision!

I agree that if your kid has been accepted early action at "one of his choices," the considerate thing to do is withdraw from the playing field. Maybe he still wants to wait for his very top 1-2 choices, and that's OK, especially if he'll actually go there instead of the EA acceptance. But staying in the game for colleges he's on the fence about, or just to see how many Ivies he can get into, isn't so considerate because some of these colleges may admit him instead of his friends.

Anonymous wrote:Our DS originally planned on doing 11. The thinking was that since he was applying to many Ivies it made sense to throw in more safeties since you can never count on admission to any particular Ivy or top college when admission rates are in single digits. He ultimately pared his list down to 8 after getting admitted early action to one of his choices. We are awaiting additional results of admission so we'll see if his strategy was a good one.

Wow, his classmates must hate him. How selfish.

P.S. While I agree it should be the DC's goal, it depends on the child. I kept my distance and let my child guide the way, but there was lots of procrastination and anxiety. Like so many things, it depends on the child. Parents I know with more than one who've gone through this said they've had to use different approaches with different children.

My child was on track to complete 10 or 12, I forget which, but didn't complete several after early decision acceptance (ED 2) in late January. It is lots of work.

At my child's private, the counselor let the child decide how many schools to which to apply. Limiting the number to six or seven doesn't make sense for all applicants.

We found finalizing the list to be the most stressful part of the process.

Anonymous wrote:What's your goal, OP?

Should be OP's DC's goal. I don't say that to be snarky, but it was one of the most important pieces of advice DD's college guidance counselor gave. The applicants have to drive the process. Parents are on the sidelines, offering assists where necessary. Parents' should not be contacting schools.

I think its fine to look over the list and make sure there are safeties. Other than that, your DC should decide on his own goals.

One did 6, the other 11. It depends how competitive the schools are. But I will say that 11 was time consuming. Each had different essay requirements, some quite extensive. DC has done 8-9 alumni or on campus interviews. So it's a lot to take on.

2 Stretch, 2-3 probably, 2 safety. Max.

Our DS originally planned on doing 11. The thinking was that since he was applying to many Ivies it made sense to throw in more safeties since you can never count on admission to any particular Ivy or top college when admission rates are in single digits. He ultimately pared his list down to 8 after getting admitted early action to one of his choices. We are awaiting additional results of admission so we'll see if his strategy was a good one.

Agree with PP.

After getting into the two EA schools she applied to and was deferred from her first choice, my DD refined her original list of ten schools and applied to just four more schools.

DD did 7. That seems to the about the average at her private. One kid we know applied to 19!

The most important thing is to find a safety that student is happy with. DD likes her both her safeties and got into both EA, so that took a lot of pressure off for the rest of the process.

What's your goal, OP?

I'm assuming your DC is a junior? Don't focus on the number, focus on the schools. Your DC may fall in love with a school and apply ED. Or he may apply EA and get into a school, and then with the pressure off only apply to reaches after that.

If he's applying to reaches and whatever they call schools within reach, then he should add some safeties. But if there are safeties within that 6 or 7 applications, there's no need to add more.

Counselors say if you need 12 then you haven't done your homework (whittling down choices). I totally disagree. At least in our case with 3, it took till a while (sometimes until various acceptances were in hand) for the kids to really decide what they wanted. One kid, for example (said she) really wanted a school with big D1 football with a real campus feel. But with her acceptance, she jump at the chance to go to NYU. If the $70 application fee isn't an impediment, then apply around.

School counselor (old and grouchy) says 6 or 7. Since applications are such a crapshoot, I'm more thinking 12....