Anonymous
12/23/2025 08:20
Subject: How many applications are too many (or too few)?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I have a junior who sounds like many of the kids that people are posting here. Highest rigor, dozen+ APs, 4.0UW, 1560 SAT, captain of sports team, solid ECs but not state/national level of anything. I'm biased, but also a great kid and will likely do well wherever she ends up.
Her college counselor is clear-eyed, saying she's a reasonable candidate for any school she wants to look at but she could get in somewhere highly competitive or be completely shut out. When we look at the colleges that match what she is looking for, we are still over 15 colleges! That seems crazy to me, but with single digit to very low double digit acceptance rates, we are not sure what to do. I'd love to hear advice from parents with recent grads or with seniors this year.
When you say 15, does this include just the reaches or does it also have targets and safeties? You definitely need a well rounded list with reaches, targets and safeties. Keep in mind that schools with less than 20% admit rate are reaches for anyone regardless of stats.
My kids had a final list around 12-13 with reaches, targets and safeties.
If you have not visited schools of interest yet, get going. A lot of potential schools of interest came off the list after a visit.
Keep in mind that each application is a lot of work, even with the common app. A lot of schools have supplemental essays either for admission or for scholarships. Some have interviews too. So you want a list that makes sense and then focus on putting care and attention into every application.
For very high stats kids, there are no targets — only reaches and safeties. That’s why these kids end up applying to so many schools. And that’s why safeties with rolling admission / early notification (like Pitt and St. Andrews) are so popular and get a lot of applications in early September.
This is true. My kid ended up applying to, what felt like afterwards, as too many safeties. There were horror stories shared about kids who kepts getting rejected, so DC had a big safety net. They didn't ED anywhere and got into their favorite school EA.
If you're at one of the large competitive public school in the DC area, 15 seems low. Class of '25, DD did 25+. That included too many safeties, but the results at the top were a few acceptances (good options), a bunch of waitlists and only 1 golden ticket, where she is now a very happy student.
Anonymous
12/23/2025 08:06
Subject: How many applications are too many (or too few)?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I have a junior who sounds like many of the kids that people are posting here. Highest rigor, dozen+ APs, 4.0UW, 1560 SAT, captain of sports team, solid ECs but not state/national level of anything. I'm biased, but also a great kid and will likely do well wherever she ends up.
Her college counselor is clear-eyed, saying she's a reasonable candidate for any school she wants to look at but she could get in somewhere highly competitive or be completely shut out. When we look at the colleges that match what she is looking for, we are still over 15 colleges! That seems crazy to me, but with single digit to very low double digit acceptance rates, we are not sure what to do. I'd love to hear advice from parents with recent grads or with seniors this year.
When you say 15, does this include just the reaches or does it also have targets and safeties? You definitely need a well rounded list with reaches, targets and safeties. Keep in mind that schools with less than 20% admit rate are reaches for anyone regardless of stats.
My kids had a final list around 12-13 with reaches, targets and safeties.
If you have not visited schools of interest yet, get going. A lot of potential schools of interest came off the list after a visit.
Keep in mind that each application is a lot of work, even with the common app. A lot of schools have supplemental essays either for admission or for scholarships. Some have interviews too. So you want a list that makes sense and then focus on putting care and attention into every application.
For very high stats kids, there are no targets — only reaches and safeties. That’s why these kids end up applying to so many schools. And that’s why safeties with rolling admission / early notification (like Pitt and St. Andrews) are so popular and get a lot of applications in early September.
This is true. My kid ended up applying to, what felt like afterwards, as too many safeties. There were horror stories shared about kids who kepts getting rejected, so DC had a big safety net. They didn't ED anywhere and got into their favorite school EA.
Anonymous
12/23/2025 07:41
Subject: How many applications are too many (or too few)?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I have a junior who sounds like many of the kids that people are posting here. Highest rigor, dozen+ APs, 4.0UW, 1560 SAT, captain of sports team, solid ECs but not state/national level of anything. I'm biased, but also a great kid and will likely do well wherever she ends up.
Her college counselor is clear-eyed, saying she's a reasonable candidate for any school she wants to look at but she could get in somewhere highly competitive or be completely shut out. When we look at the colleges that match what she is looking for, we are still over 15 colleges! That seems crazy to me, but with single digit to very low double digit acceptance rates, we are not sure what to do. I'd love to hear advice from parents with recent grads or with seniors this year.
When you say 15, does this include just the reaches or does it also have targets and safeties? You definitely need a well rounded list with reaches, targets and safeties. Keep in mind that schools with less than 20% admit rate are reaches for anyone regardless of stats.
My kids had a final list around 12-13 with reaches, targets and safeties.
If you have not visited schools of interest yet, get going. A lot of potential schools of interest came off the list after a visit.
Keep in mind that each application is a lot of work, even with the common app. A lot of schools have supplemental essays either for admission or for scholarships. Some have interviews too. So you want a list that makes sense and then focus on putting care and attention into every application.
For very high stats kids, there are no targets — only reaches and safeties. That’s why these kids end up applying to so many schools. And that’s why safeties with rolling admission / early notification (like Pitt and St. Andrews) are so popular and get a lot of applications in early September.
Well, you are choosing to call Pitt a safety but most of us wouldn't (I didn't) even for my high stats kid. I only call something a safety if it does not consider interest and has over 70% acceptance rate.
For OP’s kid, Pitt is a safety if the application goes I. The first week of September.
The kid’s stats are top 1%. Unless a school is known to yield protect, both Pitt and St Andrews are safeties if the apps are in at the very beginning of Sept.
Anonymous
12/23/2025 07:26
Subject: Re:How many applications are too many (or too few)?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If your student is willing to complete 15 apps, then 15 apps is fine.
Most do about 9 with 3 reaches, 3 matches, and 3 safeties. To be blunt, once one has identified and applied to at least 2 safeties, then the rest doesn't matter as much.
There’s a difference between having 15 on the list and applying to 15. My 2 high stats kids only applied to 6-8 each and had good results.
For fall EA/ED/rolling you want to have
- 1-2 rolling/safety
- 1-2 target in-state public schools EA
- 2-4 out-of-state EA/SCEA
- 1 ED if kid is really sure
You hear back from rolling, ED, and some EA/SCEA before RD deadlines. If you’ve planned well, you’ll have a 1-2 acceptances. Any defers/declines help you know if you are in the ballpark for competitive schools. Then adjust the remaining RD application list.
My kid with strongest profile only did 4 EA/SCEA (no ED), accepted 2, deferred by 2 (both very competitive). Then only 4 RD to ivies, accepted to 3.
Doing 15-20 applications is really just a recipe for stress and not necessarily better results.
Nope. My DD was rejected REA from HYPSM. I’m glad she did not give up as she applied to three of the 4 remaining schools and was admitted to 2 and waitlisted at the other. Each school is different and kids who are a fit for Stanford might be rejected by MIT….
Agree.
Many small colleges will reject a well qualified student if it senses that it is being used as a back-up school. Students admitted to more than one Ivy League school can be rejected by an LAC/SLAC that realizes that the applicant's first & second choice are other schools. The point is to not be discouraged by a rejection and to apply to a good number of schools.
Anonymous
12/23/2025 07:20
Subject: Re:How many applications are too many (or too few)?
One thing to keep in mind is that even top 10 SLACs really care about demonstrated interest. My DC was mostly focused on SLACs, and the number of webinars, webchats, etc in the fall of senior year was overwhelming even with a small list of about 10 schools. I also think fit is important in supplemental for many schools. I think it’s better to do fewer apps but really do them well and show them the love rather than scattershot. How many apps your kid has the energy to do well depends on the kid, but I can’t imagine 20 apps if Ivies with many essays and/or SLACs requiring a lot of DI and tailoring of essays are mixed in. There may be larger schools with no supplementals and where DI doesn’t matter where it is more manageable, but most kids at my DCs private stayed at around 12.
Anonymous
12/23/2025 07:11
Subject: How many applications are too many (or too few)?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I have a junior who sounds like many of the kids that people are posting here. Highest rigor, dozen+ APs, 4.0UW, 1560 SAT, captain of sports team, solid ECs but not state/national level of anything. I'm biased, but also a great kid and will likely do well wherever she ends up.
Her college counselor is clear-eyed, saying she's a reasonable candidate for any school she wants to look at but she could get in somewhere highly competitive or be completely shut out. When we look at the colleges that match what she is looking for, we are still over 15 colleges! That seems crazy to me, but with single digit to very low double digit acceptance rates, we are not sure what to do. I'd love to hear advice from parents with recent grads or with seniors this year.
When you say 15, does this include just the reaches or does it also have targets and safeties? You definitely need a well rounded list with reaches, targets and safeties. Keep in mind that schools with less than 20% admit rate are reaches for anyone regardless of stats.
My kids had a final list around 12-13 with reaches, targets and safeties.
If you have not visited schools of interest yet, get going. A lot of potential schools of interest came off the list after a visit.
Keep in mind that each application is a lot of work, even with the common app. A lot of schools have supplemental essays either for admission or for scholarships. Some have interviews too. So you want a list that makes sense and then focus on putting care and attention into every application.
For very high stats kids, there are no targets — only reaches and safeties. That’s why these kids end up applying to so many schools. And that’s why safeties with rolling admission / early notification (like Pitt and St. Andrews) are so popular and get a lot of applications in early September.
Well, you are choosing to call Pitt a safety but most of us wouldn't (I didn't) even for my high stats kid. I only call something a safety if it does not consider interest and has over 70% acceptance rate.
Anonymous
12/23/2025 07:08
Subject: Re:How many applications are too many (or too few)?
Anonymous wrote:If your student is willing to complete 15 apps, then 15 apps is fine.
Most do about 9 with 3 reaches, 3 matches, and 3 safeties. To be blunt, once one has identified and applied to at least 2 safeties, then the rest doesn't matter as much.
I think this is fine for most students but if you have a kid applying to top 30s, I don't think it makes sense at all. For one, you really don't need 3 safeties. Second, you could so easily be rejected from all of your reaches even when qualified. The irony here is that the more competitive the student, the more likely they are to be rejected multiple times simply because of the schools on the list.
Personally, I think 1 true safety, 3-4 targets, and as many reaches as the student is motivated to do. For what it's worth, my kid applied to 20 schools.
Anonymous
12/23/2025 05:13
Subject: How many applications are too many (or too few)?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I have a junior who sounds like many of the kids that people are posting here. Highest rigor, dozen+ APs, 4.0UW, 1560 SAT, captain of sports team, solid ECs but not state/national level of anything. I'm biased, but also a great kid and will likely do well wherever she ends up.
Her college counselor is clear-eyed, saying she's a reasonable candidate for any school she wants to look at but she could get in somewhere highly competitive or be completely shut out. When we look at the colleges that match what she is looking for, we are still over 15 colleges! That seems crazy to me, but with single digit to very low double digit acceptance rates, we are not sure what to do. I'd love to hear advice from parents with recent grads or with seniors this year.
When you say 15, does this include just the reaches or does it also have targets and safeties? You definitely need a well rounded list with reaches, targets and safeties. Keep in mind that schools with less than 20% admit rate are reaches for anyone regardless of stats.
My kids had a final list around 12-13 with reaches, targets and safeties.
If you have not visited schools of interest yet, get going. A lot of potential schools of interest came off the list after a visit.
Keep in mind that each application is a lot of work, even with the common app. A lot of schools have supplemental essays either for admission or for scholarships. Some have interviews too. So you want a list that makes sense and then focus on putting care and attention into every application.
For very high stats kids, there are no targets — only reaches and safeties. That’s why these kids end up applying to so many schools. And that’s why safeties with rolling admission / early notification (like Pitt and St. Andrews) are so popular and get a lot of applications in early September.
Anonymous
12/23/2025 05:07
Subject: Re:How many applications are too many (or too few)?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If your student is willing to complete 15 apps, then 15 apps is fine.
Most do about 9 with 3 reaches, 3 matches, and 3 safeties. To be blunt, once one has identified and applied to at least 2 safeties, then the rest doesn't matter as much.
There’s a difference between having 15 on the list and applying to 15. My 2 high stats kids only applied to 6-8 each and had good results.
For fall EA/ED/rolling you want to have
- 1-2 rolling/safety
- 1-2 target in-state public schools EA
- 2-4 out-of-state EA/SCEA
- 1 ED if kid is really sure
You hear back from rolling, ED, and some EA/SCEA before RD deadlines. If you’ve planned well, you’ll have a 1-2 acceptances. Any defers/declines help you know if you are in the ballpark for competitive schools. Then adjust the remaining RD application list.
My kid with strongest profile only did 4 EA/SCEA (no ED), accepted 2, deferred by 2 (both very competitive). Then only 4 RD to ivies, accepted to 3.
Doing 15-20 applications is really just a recipe for stress and not necessarily better results.
Nope. My DD was rejected REA from HYPSM. I’m glad she did not give up as she applied to three of the 4 remaining schools and was admitted to 2 and waitlisted at the other. Each school is different and kids who are a fit for Stanford might be rejected by MIT….
Anonymous
12/23/2025 04:46
Subject: How many applications are too many (or too few)?
Life is too short and the process too unpredictable to not approach college admissions systematically. Plenty of rolling admissions schools that offer a great education. Apply to 1 or preferably 2 rolling admission early in the process. Then pick 3 or 4 safety schools ( greater than 75% admit rate) 3 or 4 target schools (where your stats GPA and test score place near or above the 50% range) and 3 or 4 reach schools (less than 30% acceptance rate). Apply RD if you have a school you have fallen in love with and EA where you can.
Unless admitted by ED school enjoy the holiday season and rest of your senior with 1 or more admissions in hand early. Visit as many admitted student days as you can and decide in May.
Love one of the schools that showed they wanted you.
Unless admitted by ED school enjoy the holiday season and rest of your senior with 1 or more admissions in hand early. Visit as many admitted student days as you can and decide in May.
Love one of the schools that showed they wanted you.
Anonymous
12/22/2025 20:17
Subject: How many applications are too many (or too few)?
Anonymous wrote:I have a junior who sounds like many of the kids that people are posting here. Highest rigor, dozen+ APs, 4.0UW, 1560 SAT, captain of sports team, solid ECs but not state/national level of anything. I'm biased, but also a great kid and will likely do well wherever she ends up.
Her college counselor is clear-eyed, saying she's a reasonable candidate for any school she wants to look at but she could get in somewhere highly competitive or be completely shut out. When we look at the colleges that match what she is looking for, we are still over 15 colleges! That seems crazy to me, but with single digit to very low double digit acceptance rates, we are not sure what to do. I'd love to hear advice from parents with recent grads or with seniors this year.
When you say 15, does this include just the reaches or does it also have targets and safeties? You definitely need a well rounded list with reaches, targets and safeties. Keep in mind that schools with less than 20% admit rate are reaches for anyone regardless of stats.
My kids had a final list around 12-13 with reaches, targets and safeties.
If you have not visited schools of interest yet, get going. A lot of potential schools of interest came off the list after a visit.
Keep in mind that each application is a lot of work, even with the common app. A lot of schools have supplemental essays either for admission or for scholarships. Some have interviews too. So you want a list that makes sense and then focus on putting care and attention into every application.
Anonymous
12/22/2025 19:03
Subject: How many applications are too many (or too few)?
Anonymous wrote:My kid prepared about 25 (includes four uc schools and Georgetown) but didn’t file most because he will be attending his SCEA school.
Congratulations!
Anonymous
12/22/2025 19:03
Subject: Re:How many applications are too many (or too few)?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If your student is willing to complete 15 apps, then 15 apps is fine.
Most do about 9 with 3 reaches, 3 matches, and 3 safeties. To be blunt, once one has identified and applied to at least 2 safeties, then the rest doesn't matter as much.
There’s a difference between having 15 on the list and applying to 15. My 2 high stats kids only applied to 6-8 each and had good results.
For fall EA/ED/rolling you want to have
- 1-2 rolling/safety
- 1-2 target in-state public schools EA
- 2-4 out-of-state EA/SCEA
- 1 ED if kid is really sure
You hear back from rolling, ED, and some EA/SCEA before RD deadlines. If you’ve planned well, you’ll have a 1-2 acceptances. Any defers/declines help you know if you are in the ballpark for competitive schools. Then adjust the remaining RD application list.
My kid with strongest profile only did 4 EA/SCEA (no ED), accepted 2, deferred by 2 (both very competitive). Then only 4 RD to ivies, accepted to 3.
Doing 15-20 applications is really just a recipe for stress and not necessarily better results.
Can you tell us the 4 EA/SCEA schools?
UMD, Georgetown-admitted
U Chicago, MIT - deferred
Nice. I wish my kid had applied to this combo of schools. My kid did ED and ended up rejected from the ED schools and deferred from the rest.
Anonymous
12/22/2025 17:57
Subject: How many applications are too many (or too few)?
My kid prepared about 25 (includes four uc schools and Georgetown) but didn’t file most because he will be attending his SCEA school.
Anonymous
12/22/2025 17:53
Subject: Re:How many applications are too many (or too few)?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If your student is willing to complete 15 apps, then 15 apps is fine.
Most do about 9 with 3 reaches, 3 matches, and 3 safeties. To be blunt, once one has identified and applied to at least 2 safeties, then the rest doesn't matter as much.
There’s a difference between having 15 on the list and applying to 15. My 2 high stats kids only applied to 6-8 each and had good results.
For fall EA/ED/rolling you want to have
- 1-2 rolling/safety
- 1-2 target in-state public schools EA
- 2-4 out-of-state EA/SCEA
- 1 ED if kid is really sure
You hear back from rolling, ED, and some EA/SCEA before RD deadlines. If you’ve planned well, you’ll have a 1-2 acceptances. Any defers/declines help you know if you are in the ballpark for competitive schools. Then adjust the remaining RD application list.
My kid with strongest profile only did 4 EA/SCEA (no ED), accepted 2, deferred by 2 (both very competitive). Then only 4 RD to ivies, accepted to 3.
Doing 15-20 applications is really just a recipe for stress and not necessarily better results.
Can you tell us the 4 EA/SCEA schools?
UMD, Georgetown-admitted
U Chicago, MIT - deferred