article about number of college applications

[JennyD]

I saw this article about students applying to many colleges at once and thought that folks here might find it of interest.  

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/16/nyregion/applications-by-the-dozen-as-anxious-students-hedge-college-bets.html

 

And here are some letters to the editor from today's paper:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/19/opinion/applying-to-college-race-to-the-summit.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

 

 

[G5052]

Yes, a friend whose DC goes to a local prep school ($30,000/year) said that 30 is the norm there.  Her kid is on a need-based scholarship, and she is stressing about stretching the budget to apply to six!

[MBM]

My son would rather eat both his feet than fill out any more college applications. He applied to six schools and was fully cooked when done. 30? Crazy!

[Barbara H]

While 30 is ridiculous, it makes sense for a lot of students to put in somewhere in the neighborhood of 7-12 applications. Everyone has a different situation but for students with high financial need and students who are looking at top tier schools it is smart to put some effort and money into applications. Some students end up with pretty predictable financial/merit aid offers but other students have widely variable offers. The same student may have offers from free to pay us $65,000 a year.  One of the best ways families can lower their cost of college is develop a carefully selected list of colleges and to put in an adequate number of applications.

[TechWife]

 My son is putting in one application. If he doesn't get in, he will go to community college and try again next fall. This is his choice. I think it's a fine plan. 

[EKS]

I applied to one.  My mother was freaking out (which I now understand!), but I got in.

 

My son has applied to five.  He has gotten in to one so far (yes!).  His plan was that if he didn't get into that one, he would apply to five more over Thanksgiving break.

 

 

[8filltheheart]

My older kids each applied to 1. Ds applied to 7 last yr. In hindsight I'm glad he did bc the school he is attending might have been one that he wouldn't have applied to bc it was way down on his list when he started. And now---he couldn't imagine being anywhere else.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

Hmmm....DS had his first interview on Sunday and the alumnus interviewing him was surprised DS was ONLY going to submit 6 applications.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I expect ds to do at least 6. Possibly more like 12-18.

 

He plans to apply to service academies and schools with ROTC units. But he has to list the schools where he wants to use a ROTC scholarship if he gets one. Many schools don't have units for every service. So he might not have great overlap.

 

Then he also needs to apply to schools he could attend without the scholarship.

[Hoggirl]

Ds applied to 11 last year, but his list was reach-heavy. I do think the numbers are creeping up each year. A couple of students with similar stats to his from his alma mater who are applying this year have 14 and 19 schools, respectively. Ds thinks that is excessive. It is certainly more than any in his class applied to.

[creekland]

My guys did 3, 6, and 1 respectively.

 

We culled quite a few schools before application time based upon fit or projected finances.  All three are at their first choice schools, so no regrets at not putting in more apps.  In hindsight, the first two could have done one or two fewer apps.

[J-rap]

Wow, we definitely don't fit into that category!  It just seems like so many things are getting out of control.  Maybe that has to happen, and then things will balance out again.  My youngest applied at five, but children 1, 2, and 3 each applied at one.

 

 

 

[Gwen in VA]

I talked with a local girl I know who is applying to umpteen colleges.

 

Knowing that she is not well-off, I mentioned the application fees and the cost of mailing SAT scores, etc. The girl replied that she was fee-wavered at all the colleges and the Common App makes it ridiculously easy to apply everywhere, so her parents told her to apply to all the places she could imagine going. She is following their advice. Aaargh!

 

:confused1:

 

 

[Jenny in Florida]

My son applied to 11, which felt kind of crazy. In retrospect, though, I wouldn't done much differently.

 

Because he was applying as a performing arts major, admission at most colleges required two steps: First he had to be admitted to the college, and then he had to pass an audition for admission to his preferred major. (Some schools did not require auditions to enter the program, but did for placement or for scholarships or for other purposes.) Although most of the colleges to which he applied were not very selective, competition for entrance to particular programs was still a consideration.

 

We also knew that he would need a nice scholarship package to make it possible to attend the kind of small-ish LAC in which he was most interested, which essentially meant another step in the process of finding a viable placement.

 

I very much wanted him, when all was said and done, to have at least three good options from which to choose: schools at which he was accepted to both the college and to the program(s) in which he was interested and at which he was offered enough merit aid to make attendance financially feasible. (We knew we would not qualify for much or any need-based aid.)

 

We began with the presumption that he'd be accepted to most of the schools he applied to, based on academics. We guesstimated that he was likely to be accepted at seven or eight of the 11. We hoped that he might be offered decent merit aid about about half of the schools to which he was accepted, which would have given him three or four viable options once the dust settled.

 

And that was pretty much how it worked out, actually. He ended up being admitted to nine of the 11 colleges. Following campus visits, he opted not to audition for two of those nine. He was accepted to the performing arts programs at three of the seven he did pursue, waitlisted at one, and was being warmly welcomed at the remaining three, which did not require auditions for entrance. 

 

Once the financial packages came in, it turned out that his three top choices all offered him enough academic merit aid and performance scholarships to bring the total cost of attendance down to oddly similar figures, and all three were tolerably close to what we had decided we could manage out of pocket per year.

 

So, in his case, we guesstimated the math just about right, and he ended up with exactly the number of truly feasible choices I had hoped he would have. (There were two others that I felt certain we could have made work, if my son had been interested in making more of an effort to seek more aid, but he felt very happy with the choices he had.)

 

Interestingly,the college he is now happily attending was never very high on his priorities list. I had insisted he apply there because it was in-state and met most of his other criteria, but he didn't get enthusiastic about it until after he had been admitted and went through the audition process. If we had been insistent about trimming the number of his applications, it would probably not have made the cut.

 

 

 

While 30 is ridiculous, it makes sense for a lot of students to put in somewhere in the neighborhood of 7-12 applications. Everyone has a different situation but for students with high financial need and students who are looking at top tier schools it is smart to put some effort and money into applications. Some students end up with pretty predictable financial/merit aid offers but other students have widely variable offers. The same student may have offers from free to pay us $65,000 a year.  One of the best ways families can lower their cost of college is develop a carefully selected list of colleges and to put in an adequate number of applications.

 

If the schools in question require supplemental essays, there may be some hard decisions about whether time is better spent honing existing essays, or writing a new one for a new school.  

 

From the perspective of the college, I have no idea how they are able to manage their yields effectively.

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

My junior is starting with 6 applications already decided and may add some from there. 

 

My freshman will probably start with about the same number and then be in the same boat as a pp with regard to ROTC vs other schools.  That will undoubtedly evolve over the next couple years.

[Laura Corin]

While 30 is ridiculous, it makes sense for a lot of students to put in somewhere in the neighborhood of 7-12 applications. Everyone has a different situation but for students with high financial need and students who are looking at top tier schools it is smart to put some effort and money into applications. Some students end up with pretty predictable financial/merit aid offers but other students have widely variable offers. The same student may have offers from free to pay us $65,000 a year.  One of the best ways families can lower their cost of college is develop a carefully selected list of colleges and to put in an adequate number of applications.

 

I think that this is key.  In the UK, you are only allowed to apply for five universities (all but two in the country use the UK UCAS common application - you could add in those two to make seven choices, but they are very expensive).  The key is that you know the costs up front: scholarships are rare and are need-based, so you know in advance what the fees will be, what means-tested government grant you are likely to get, and what loans you are eligible for.  With that background, choosing five is not too hard.

 

If you are rejected from all five, then you can choose another five.  If you are rejected from all of those, you can go on 'clearing' - calling round universities to try to find any last places that are left.

 

L

[Timbers6]

Add to all the logistics, a well crafted, entertaining, unique essay (or two) to each school. Some may have help I dare say. It takes time to do this well!

Dd is applying to 12. Received her first except acceptance last week. Honors invite as well so we are happy!

[MBM]

Add to all the logistics, a well crafted, entertaining, unique essay (or two) to each school. Some may have help I dare say. It takes time to do this well!

Dd is applying to 12. Received her first except acceptance last week. Honors invite as well so we are happy!

 

...or six essays. My son had to write six for one school. Three of his choices do not use Common App, though.

 

It is definitely time-consuming. I'm wondering what this will look like in 10 to 20 years.

[In The Great White North]

 

 

From the perspective of the college, I have no idea how they are able to manage their yields effectively.

 

They can't.  Even some Ivies have yields around 50%.