@LvMyKids2 I totally agree with you
@LUVMyKids2, if applicants had a better sense of where they will get in, I imagine the number of applications would drop significantly. My son’s high school doesn’t have Naviance and we have felt like we are shooting in the dark with applications, despite him having very high stats and solid ECs and us doing a ridiculous amount of research trying to predict admissions. He applied to way more colleges than he would have if we felt sure of where he would get in, and he isn’t even aiming for super highly ranked schools.
One of the best lessons I have seen on CC is to be sure to have safeties that the student would be happy attending. I commend @KES2022 for covering all of his/her bases.
Exactly. Well said. I know quite a few people who did this same thing. And the safety school is something my college counselors pushed hard on us–especially to pick one you like.
i agree completely with @LUVMyKids2. it is definitely taking away spots from other kids. if he knows he’s for sure not attending a california school, then why apply?
@pickledginger , my daughter’s school doesn’t have navience either but that didn’t mean we had to apply to a ton of schools. it just meant that we needed to do a little more work. i read a ton of boards similar to this, purchased several books, visited a wide variety of schools with my daughter, and in the end we applied only to schools that she could see herself attending. a couple reach, a couple match, and a couple safety. one can never be sure they will get into any school. there are no guarantees and college admissions change every year.
i definitely agree with your last statement saying that the student should make sure that their safeties are schools that they would be happy attending. i constantly had to remind my daughter of this. 
My counselor said, “one stretch, two favorites, and one safety that I would enjoy going to if the others fail”.
It would be terrible for any guidance counselor to advise a California kid wanting to study engineering or computer science to only apply to 4 schools. California public universities have sold many of these slots to OOS and internationals to help alleviate underfunding problems. A sad state of affairs.
@CopperlineX2, @ pickledinger, Thank you for the kind words.
@LvMyKids2, @Coopy1, @teachmama2, I don’t mean to be rude in my response here, and I apologize in advance if this is how it comes off.
I can appreciate your concerns about other students possibly getting rejected from their favorite school just because I applied to more of them than you think I should have, even if I feel I probably won’t attend if accepted elsewhere, but I’m under no moral or ethical obligations to adhere to someone else’s whims and arbitrary limits on where I can or cannot apply to college, or the number of institutions I choose to apply to.
I sincerely hope everyone gets into their dream school—but it ain’t my job to make that happen.
And yes, I do agree that I will benefit from my URM designation, to some degree, at some of the colleges I have applied to. Hopefully, my near perfect SAT score, and my two perfect SAT Subject test scores will also play a part during the admissions review process.
@teachmama2, which post are you referring to where I said that I know “for sure” that I’m not attending a California school?
At the time I applied to these schools, I did not know which ones I’d be admitted to. I still don’t.
I don’t believe that’s true. Not if one makes a good assessment-with one’s counselor-of how strong a candidate the student is for a particular school(honest assessment). This counselor has been doing this job well for almost 20 years. He isn’t a board poster with an opinion, he actually does this for hundreds of students every year. What’s sad is to bash someone who has spent his life helping students.
@Carbonman It might be true 20 years ago but not nowadays, not in California, and certainly not for engineering or computer science major.
D is still waiting too. We are in Califirnia. Her Dad and I are Cal Poly alums … will be a long shot for her to make it in, but we can still hope 
@KES2022 Great job - you should be proud of what you have accomplished. And I agree with your approach to cover your bases on the applications for a ridiculously competitive major such as CS where it is very very difficult to ascertain what might be safe - meet - reach even with fantastic stats.
My DS, now at UCLA for Engineering, went through it 2 years ago and we spread our list quite a bit as well to be safe and very glad we did as 3 “safeties” were "no"s most of the reaches (4) were Yeses (luckily) despite what I thought was strong research. The data from CC and various other sources doesn’t fully help understand the numbers you are competing with for CS and other competitive Engineering majors unless the school provides more granularity.
And with my DD (in State CA) going through this process now but for less competitive major and with a more unique background as a ballerina and strong student (though mixed stats for some of her reaches), I understand how many folks on this board feel upset due to the inflation in applicants at so many desirable California schools. I am a bit more pragmatic for her and don’t worry about the competition as much as placing her with the right range/list of schools for her background and expect various Yes, No, Maybes and decide accordingly next month.
Best of luck as you hear from the rest of the schools!
Tabitha18, the point is that there are many different students with many different needs. One has a month from the time one gets accepted to the time that they have to chose the school. That gives almost NO time to, for instance, negotiate financial aide. How would you do that with 10-15 schools?. What if I want to be in San Francisco. I suppose I could apply to 10 schools? How exactly would that work (only a few colleges to attend in SF)? Another point is: You Have Specific Needs That Only a Few Colleges Meet. If only a few colleges fit your specific needs, then you don’t have to apply to a ton of colleges. For example, when I was applying to college, I knew I wanted to compete for an NCAA Division I gymnastics team. At the time, there were about 15 NCAA Division I men’s gymnastics programs. Even before I started doing college research or waited to see which schools recruited me, my options were very limited. I believe I ended up applying to 4 colleges, and admittedly, I only applied to one of those because I wanted to go on another recruiting trip.
If you want to be in a very specific location or pursue a major that only a few schools have, then you may only need to apply to 3-5 colleges."
Can we keep this thread about Cal Poly decisions only?? People can apply to whatever colleges they please and there is no point getting worked up over it now.
@doodlebop06 Probably the thread will instantly revert back to Cal Poly decisions only once we actually have some Everyone is getting antsy.
Honestly ^^ it’s better not to come at people on here for their choices. Some kids apply to a lot of schools due to the simple fact that they’re fearful of complete rejection. No student is applying just to take spots from others.
And it’s safe to assume that we aren’t getting a response today right?
Why criticise the number of schools someone applies to? If someone is willing to do the application work and pay the fees, they can and deserve to give themself options, as you never know what might happen when decisions come out. They may initially take someone’s spot, but it will later open up to someone on the wait list anyway. Also, if your like me, apply to some schools you’re not sure about in case my opinions change by the time of commitment (and they did for me!). Everyone has different people guiding them through the process and goals but it all works out in the end anyway _(••)/
College admissions is a competitive process. There is no implicit agreement that I am aware of where you have to concern yourself with taking away a spot from another applicant. If you have the time, energy and money to apply to 30 schools, then that’s your right. I’m also very wary of anyone telling students of color to ease up, or blaming the fact that their child didn’t get accepted because a URM had taken his/her spot.
So slo isn’t coming out today? Most likely next week?
@venm1337, my son’s roommate is a CS at Cal Poly. Last summer he had an internship that included a SF apartment, BART pass, meal allowance and paid $44/hr. This summer he’ll be at Apple. I don’t think any school is going to offer a significant boost in recruitment over CP for CS. I think you’ll be fine.
You’ll also notice, not one single Ivy nor Chicago cracks the list for Silicon Valley.