How Many Colleges Should I Apply To?
The time has come. As we reach the final days before application deadlines, you may be looking at your to-do stack unsure why all this is necessary. Why can’t I just throw out these forms and become a wise mountain hermit? you wonder. Those of you who can answer that question and choose to continue pursuing a college education, you may instead be asking, Just how many of these applications should I really be doing? I offer you a few considerations:
photo by telsky
- Time - How much do you have time for? Keep in mind that many selective colleges have unique supplementary essays, plus a few more if you’re applying for honors programs, competitive majors, or scholarships. (I wrote six full essays for four schools.) On the other hand, cool essay questions are not a reason to choose a school. University of Chicago’s fascinating prompts might somewhat reflect their academic approach, but how do you feel about college in the city?
- Money - Let’s try a little math exercise, shall we? Suppose each application fee is around $40. Add the cost of sending ACT scores at $9 per recipient college ($9.50 for the SAT). For the sake of your cardiac health, we won’t consider the costs of registering for the tests, campus visits, or any extra fees from your high school. Assuming (optimistically) that you’re only sending ACT scores and that you took full advantage of the six free reports you can send on the day of the test - applying to “only” five colleges would cost $200. Two more costs $289. Ten schools? $436. I know people who applied to as many as fifteen or more and had to send ACTs, SATs, and SAT Subject Tests. Please, just save your money for the school you do go to!
- Admissions Chances - Some say it’s better to apply to more colleges to increase your odds. Others say it’s better to apply to fewer to show them you’re more interested. I say you should just build your list wisely and make sure a handful of applications really count. Remember: No matter how many schools you apply to, the most you’ll end up going to is one.
Here are some suggestions for putting together a smart college application list:
- Start with an open mind. Don’t let stereotypes and misconceptions get in the way of choosing the right college for you. Talk to your high school counselor and try an online search site like myUsearch (obviously that’s our favorite) to find a list of colleges that meet your needs.
- Know why you’re applying to each college. Really. Write down pros and cons of each school, taking into account campus visits and other information. Check out this post and this post to dig deeper into criteria for choosing a college.
- Make sure you have at least two safety schools where you’re not only fairly certain to get in, but certain to afford it. You should research admissions statistics as well as the school’s reputation with financial aid. (Remember — college is affordable, even if it takes some extra work. Check out this post for ideas on paying for college.)
- Assemble a diverse application list. Princeton Review suggests three “match” schools, three “reach” schools and two “safety” schools. Also consider different locations (including your home state), settings, and other attributes. You might think you know exactly what you want right now, but you’ll have months of new ideas and experiences between now and May 1st.
- Plan ahead, and start looking early. Juniors, start thinking now about what you want out of your college experience so you can focus your energy on researching your options closely (and so you can send your SAT/ACT free score reports on the right schools).
The reality is, out of the thousands of colleges in America, fewer than 200 colleges reject more students than they accept. Focus your energy on making the right applications shine and keep your stress level to a minimum. And don’t forget to check out myUsearch to find the right colleges to apply to.
Students and grads, how many colleges did you apply to?
