How Many Colleges Should You Apply To?

Applying to colleges has become a stressful chapter in many students’ lives.  In the town where I live it I believe it has gotten a little out of control.  I hear from students that they have applied to an outrageous number of schools to see which ones they would get in.  To them it’s almost like a game of ‘let’s just see if I would make it into this or that school’.  They have no interest or financial means to attend many of them, but just want to see if they are ‘good enough’ to be accepted.

When colleges accept students, they always ‘over accept’, knowing that many students will not end up choosing that school.  However, what students may or may not realize is that when they are accepted to a school, they are taking up a place on that school’s potential list of enrollees.  For other students who really want to go to that school, they might be either wait-listed or rejected because of other students’ acceptances.  It is a numbers game.

Here is a good example.  A few years ago, I spoke to one of my son’s friends who I will call “Bob”.  He told me he applied to 20 schools.  Twenty!  I never followed up to see how many he got into because of how ridiculous it was in the first place.  I am sure his acceptances ultimately made a wonderful list, but who would ever ask him that question in life?  It will never appear on a job application form nor will an interview question be, "What were the other colleges you were accepted to before choosing ___?"  In the end, it was a bad move to apply to that many schools for a number of reasons.

First of all, Bob spent the money on 20 applications, or more accurately, his parents spend the money.  Knowing his family, the application fees were not a hardship, but if you do the math and average $100 per application, that totals $2,000 for fees alone.   For students who do have to consider the expense of the application fee, it is even more ridiculous to apply to too many schools.

Secondly, although some colleges use a ‘common’ application, many don’t.  Let’s assume Bob wrote about 20-30 essays, recycling them through and making them fit the application questions.  Was this a good way to spend the fall of his senior year, writing all those extra essays?  I hear all the time how stressed high school students are, trying to balance academics, sports, jobs, and a social life.  What is the point of adding that extra work and stress filling out an exorbitant amount of college applications?

Probably the worst part of all is that when Bob got accepted to some of the schools that he had no intention of ever going to, he took up a space on their quota for how many incoming freshman they could accept, keeping into account that not all students will end up choosing that school.  For Bob, this school was a mere feather in his cap, but for another student who really wanted to go to that college, this other student may have been wait-listed or rejected even if his or her qualifications were equal to Bob’s. 

It is a vicious cycle.  I hear from high school students frequently that they didn’t get into a school that they were more than qualified to attend.   Yes, of course this happens, but you have to wonder how many spots on that college’s list were taken up by students like Bob?

When our older son applied to college, he knew he wanted to go to a music school in Canada.  Although we looked at some schools in the U.S., he ended up applying to 2 ½ schools.  Once he was accepted to the first two, he didn’t finish his application to the third, because he got into his top choice.  Our younger son ended up applying to 4 ½ schools, the half being for the same reason as mentioned above. 

I remember one experience where Kevin, our younger son, was auditioning at the Hartt School of Music for jazz drumming.  The department has about 8-10 jazz drummers in total, meaning that they accept about 2 incoming jazz drummers.  We were told that generally about 40 students audition for those two spots.  While waiting to audition, he spoke to another boy who said that Hartt was the only school he was applying to because it was the only one he wanted to go to.  When Kevin ultimately got accepted with a nice scholarship, I made sure he quickly wrote a letter to the school thanking them but also letting them know that he chose another school.  This boy in particular was on my mind when he wrote that letter.  We didn’t want Kevin’s acceptance to take up another student’s spot, especially when that other student was really hoping for an acceptance letter.

When I was growing up, I don’t remember all this hoop-la about college admissions.  I applied to a few state schools in New York using the common application, graduated with a $2,000 college loan to pay off, and that was it.  I am an educated and productive member of society, and it isn’t because of the name of the college I went to, because heaven knows it is not a big name school.  We have to keep it all in perspective.  

So how many should you apply to?  In my opinion, pick about 6 that you would attend if accepted.  If you wouldn't pick it, why bother to apply?  Make sure some of the ones you pick are "safety" schools, ones where you meet their qualifications.  

The values we instill in our children carry over to other aspects of their lives.  We need to remember that the college application process is a very teachable moment and take advantage of it.  Although there will always be stressful anticipation waiting to hear from a college, it would be great if we could try to make it a fun, celebratory experience for our children as well.  

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