<p>Some schools are going to offer earlier deadlines and notification than others, so you might be able to use that to your advantage. For example, say UIUC is a mid-range pick for you and you’d go there over about half the schools on your list, no matter what. UIUC has a Priority application that lets you know by Dec. 13 whether you’re in or not - if you’re in, the schools with application deadlines after Dec. 13 that you would not pick over UIUC drop off. Check for early application opportunities, particularly for your higher ranked schools, and see if you can eliminate some applications that way.</p>
<p>Pfft, casuals.</p>
<p>Seriously though, I applied to 23 colleges. About 10 of them were in a search for scholarships (specifically full rides, and I did get a few), but the rest were all matches/reaches. I don’t regret it and like the options I had come decision time. I still went with the very first school I applied to (applied in September and was set on going there; decided on applying to 22 other schools in December), but it was nice having options.</p>
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<p>+1, this +1000. Finances are the reason I made the decision I did.</p>
<p>vctory,
Is it options or really bragging rights as to how many colleges you can get into.
Complete waste of time not to mention application fees.
Real easy to figure out approximately how much money you can get from any college before you apply.</p>
<p>It was for the options. I liked them all and seriously considered all schools I was accepted to (excluding four where I got less money than expected). Personally, I didn’t feel as if it was a waste of time. Had I decided on one of the full rides, the increase in app fees would’ve been worth the price in comparison to the school’s (lack of) cost. As I didn’t, it might not be worth it on paper, but I appreciated having many doors open. </p>
<p>First step is to use the Net Price calculator to see if you can afford the colleges you want to apply to. Then start to really make your list. Check the college admits for the previous year for your major (if they admit by major) and see where you are academically (making sure you calculate the GPA they require – sophomore/junior year GPA’s for CSU’s & figure out your eligibility index, sophomore/junior year for UC’s, and freshman/sophomore/junior year for SLO. SLO has a very different method of calculating admissions which goes far beyond regular gpa/test scores). UC’s are holistic, so sometimes unpredictable. Make sure you have at least one safety (better yet, two) – a college you know you will be admitted to and that you can afford. </p>
<p>My son applied to 6 UC’s, 3 CSU’s and 2 privates. That was enough! IMO 17 is a bit much, unless cost is no concern and time is available. </p>
<p>@TomsRiverParent, you have said a few times that it’s easy to figure out how much merit money you can get before you apply. That’s true for “automatic” merit, but not for the “big reach” merit, i.e., Vandy, Emory, UNC, Tulane, etc. That’s why some kids may have the larger application lists.</p>
<p>With just a few clicks… here is some info on Vandy perse.</p>
<p><a href=“Vanderbilt University Tuition | CollegeData”>http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg03_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=1562</a></p>
<p>It even provides a link to the net price calculator.
There is ZERO reason for a large application list.</p>
<p>Why is there zero reason for a large application list? I wanted options, so I applied to a large list/wide variety of schools. I was accepted to certain schools (and to certain programs w/i schools), so I visited the schools, and then made a decision from quite a few options. Had I decided to only apply to a short list of schools (5), then I wouldn’tve considered some schools I almost attended. </p>
<p>Example: U.Va OOS, UNC Chapel Hill OOS, and Carnegie Mellon were thrown onto my list somewhat haphazardly due to my “low” SAT (2120). My final four choices (last day before decision was due)? UMD Honors College, U.Va as an Echols Scholar (top 2.5% of non-STEM students), UNC Chapel Hill Honors Carolina, and Carnegie Mellon University. Had I gotten scholarship $$$ from either U.Va or UNC (or fin aid from CMU), I wouldn’t be heading to UMD in the fall. </p>
<p>Also, money’s easy to predict for a traditional applicant, but I was offered full rides where I expected nothing (due to my SAT) because of my research (proposal on the efficiency of the Nordic model; UNC Chapel Hill also offered me a 10k stipend for living/research expenses to spend a summer abroad conducting the research) and business experience (founder and owner of international, online organization based on YouTube; I interacted with advertisers, drew up contracts, etc etc etc). As an untraditional applicant, it was hard to predict my cycle.</p>
<p>Large lists make sense for some applicants. OP, if it makes sense for you to have a larger list, then 17 might be the right number of schools for you. If not, then take a few safeties off. </p>
<p>vctory,
You didn’t want options. You selected your 1st choice! Almost attended doesn’t count. smh
Merit money is the easiest to find out. It is all based upon SAT scores and every college has a grid with some flexibility but not much flexibility.</p>
<p>vctory…
you want unc info… click on the link</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg03_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=1600”>http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg03_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=1600</a></p>
<p>A few phone calls and I can approximate plus/minus 10%.</p>
<p>My S applied to 20 schools, although several were free applications (can’t remember the number). He was rejected at three reaches, wait listed at another reach and accepted to the rest (few safeties, mostly matches). I disagree that you can always figure out merit money, especially for large awards that are few in number. My son with NMF had a couple of in-state full rides that he was ok with, but really wanted a smaller LAC, so we applied to multiple schools with his major, specifically looking for merit possibilities. Our income is right at the point where we don’t qualify for much need based aid, but cannot afford $60,000/yr. While most of the schools offered small amounts of merit aid, he was given two large offers - 30,000/yr and 40,000/yr and he is very happy to be going to a school that we can afford and he is happy to attend. With the application fees, college visits and visit for interview for one of the merit awards, we probably spent around $3,000, but I would definitely consider that money well spent given the outcome. If this is your situation I think it can make sense to apply to a large number.</p>
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<p>In all fairness, I wanted any school but UMD. I was extremely debt averse/wanted to attend a cheap school until my parents told me I could attend any school I was accepted to. (read: my parents told me I could afford any school I was accepted to, and I wanted to leave my home state.) With that in mind, I decided to finish the applications to the scholarship-friendly schools since I’d already started them (and did, at the time, thought they could all be viable options). I also tacked on some schools that were reaches, matches, etc. that I’d be happy to attend if accepted. </p>
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<p>Come April, I’m deciding between 13 schools (and writing LOCI’s for WL’s at Hopkins and Chicago), and my parents separate with intent to divorce. Whoa! My family’s finances are now up in the air. I couldn’t afford the schools I thought I could. I forced out the full ride schools as I wanted to stay somewhat close to home (so I could help my mother) and narrowed it down to UMD (10k/year), U.Va (33k/year), UNC CH (33k/year), and CMU (~50k/year) (also withdrew my WL from UChi and Hopkins–this is including money I’d saved for college), w/ strong preference towards UMD or U.Va as they’re closest to home. No schools were ready to reconsider financial aid as my parents hadn’t officially divorced. Had I still been in a stable situation, my larger list would’ve made more sense and I would be a Cavalier this fall. Assuming OP is in a stable situation, tacking on some other colleges they would consider if accepted could potentially make a difference. </p>
<p>As I originally thought I could choose any school from a list, I did want options. My personal situation made it so I couldn’t use the larger list. However, if the OP is in a stable position where he/she could make a decision from multiple options, then a larger list might be sensible.</p>
<p>Edit: Should also note that many of the “scholarship chasing” schools had waived app fees.
Edit2: Anecdotal, but I’d heard from my neighbors/classmates with relatives attending that UNC CH and U.Va were friendlier with scholarship money/fin aid than they actually were. The statistics on the CDS supported this.</p>
<p>@TomsRiverParent, the Vandy link exactly illustrates why some kids might have more applications than you think necessary. There are many of us in the “donut hole” who will qualify for little or no need-based aid, but can’t afford to pay full-freight. Here’s what Vandy’s link says about Merit Aid:</p>
<p>Merit-Based Gift
Received by 429 (52.3%) of aid recipients
Merit-Based Gift 126 (7.8%) of freshmen had no financial need and received merit aid, average amount $20,968</p>
<p>Vandy’s COA approximately $61,500. The average merit award leaves an annual COA at $40K. That’s still out of reach for many of us. So if you have a high stats kid (or are a high stats kid), you may still have a shot at attending if you apply for and get one of the very few but very generous scholarships that bring that cost way down. That’s why some kids apply to more than 10 schools. </p>
<p>OP if you actually have the stats to think you might get into Berkeley, UCLA, or Carnegie Mellon, you could probably get some very generous merit aid at a number of other excellent schools - mostly out-of-state, but if you’re considering CM it seems you are open to different locations. </p>
<p>Have you considered this idea? </p>
<p>I bet you can find a lot of places you’d rather spend the next four years at rather than Merced! </p>
<p>(BTW do you really have to pay for each UC application separately? I thought you submitted one app. and picked your preferred campus(es), and then they get back and tell you if you got your pick or got sentenced to Merced . . . or something like that. I could be wrong. My kids did not apply to UCs but I have friends whose kids did.) </p>
<p>Too many schools or not? Sorry, but it depends on the student’s personal preferences.</p>
<p>Still, this is how I would do it. Keep the list of 17 but prioritize the list, or at least roughly group the schools in order of priority. Apply first to the ones you feel most strongly about, and move down the list. I bet you quit by number ten or so.</p>
<p>For what it is worth, I agree with “Vctory”
“In the grand scheme of things $1000 is small change compared to the cost of a 4-year college education.”</p>
<p>It is also true that you might change your mind. High school students change their minds all the time. Your first priority school could bite the dust and be off your list if you learn something crucial – especially if you had never thought of it before. For example, your list is almost entirely state universities, which is probably a mistake. Maybe you need to throw in some private colleges which are more likely to give you merit aid (Purdue and U.Washington probably won’t be giving any). Once you start considering private colleges, the whole process changes.</p>
<p>Anyhow, prioritize, and apply to at least 7 or 8.</p>
<p>I don’t understand the emphatic “too many schools!” responses, considering that half of the list is UCs which are essentially one app. That said, I agree with whoever said that if your stats make Cal a possibility for you, you don’t need to include Merced, and if Merced is anything but the safest of safeties, you have no real chance at Cal. No realistic list needs to have both of those schools on it.</p>
<p>Also, did you leave Davis off on purpose or by accident?</p>
<p>In any case, it won’t cost you anything in effort, and not much in money, to include every UC, if that’s what you really want to do.</p>
<p>Where in CA do you live? The sooner you’re able to visit a few campuses the better. It is hard for many kids to decide which school they like better just on paper. </p>
<p>Also, if you care to share information about how much you’re able to pay, etc., folks here can advise you better. If you’re willing/able to shell out for OOS publics, you might also think about whether some privates would work for you.</p>
<p>@aquaelmo I also count the UCs as one since it is a single application. If you want to pay application costs, then you can analyze the list a bit more in light of your qualifications and any ‘holistic’ tips you may have and knock a couple off. But UCs encourage students to apply widely in the system. @Mondut you have it wrong on the way UC works, and the student does have to pay for every college (excepting low income gets a few free)</p>
<p>Out of states you mention may be unaffordable when you have to pay the out of state rates. Use the College Search forum to present your stats and what you are studying (Engineering? CS?) to find more affordable colleges if you want some other options.</p>
<p>OP this is very individual. If your parents are willing and able to be full pay, I would say your list is too long and too varied, as your list is not very focused on certain types of schools. I would encourage you to narrow down basewd on what type of college experience you are looking for. My daughter has a LONG list. Right now there are over 20 schools, hoping to get that down to about 15 applications. She is chasing merit, and despite what Tomsriver has posted, it is NOT that easy to predict merit aid at some schools. She has good but not crazy high stats. She has several schools were we can easily predict what the merit would be, but there are quite a few where they do give some students very generous aid, but don’t have the ‘grid’ where you can easily see it. She hopes to be out on the East coast and we are from the midwest. We have visited some, but have decided we are done visiting until we have the merit offers in hand and then we will visit the three that she feels are the best value. I feel that her list is too long, but is probably necessary for her specific situation. She will apply in a few ‘waves’ and the list may be shorter if some of her favorites come through early with solid merit.</p>
<p>I’ll echo suzy100 here. There will be schools on my son’s list that will be out of reach financially according to the estimated cost of attendance, even with the automatic scholarships listed on the schools’ websites. But his stats are excellent and if he could win one of the competitive full tuition scholarships, he could go. There’s no way to know ahead of time and no way to get those scholarships if he doesn’t apply. Hence, a larger list.</p>
<p>"Merit money is the easiest to find out. It is all based upon SAT scores and every college has a grid with some flexibility but not much flexibility. "</p>
<p>@TomsRiverParent Since you have stated this numerous times in various forms I have to chime in to disagree. Merit is hardly predictable at many schools. </p>
<p>Also, fine if you want to offer advice to OP, that is the purpose of the thread after all, but sweeping statements like this are unfounded: “There is ZERO reason for a large application list.” This is an individualized decision and if the application fees are not cost prohibitive and the kid can handle the applications/essays there are numerous reasons that make legitimate argument for applying to a long list of schools.</p>