The articles I’ve seen about being admitted to dozens of colleges and receiving millions in total scholarships (often includes need grants) all share one thing in common – the student used the HBCU common app at https://commonblackcollegeapp.com/ , which encourages students to apply to all 56 member colleges for a single $35 fee. Skimming through the CBCA common app, I don’t see a way to apply to fewer than all 56 colleges, although other sections of the website mention that it is possible. According to the website, over a million students have used this common app, so it may not be “quite rare.”
The first example article that came up in a Google search is at https://abc7chicago.com/education/student-accepted-into-39-colleges-awarded-$16m-in-scholarships/5174206/ .
The typical strategy with applying to all 56 colleges at once appears to be first see who accepts me, then review this more manageable number of accepted colleges in more detail including both fit and financial constraints, rather than read through all 56 colleges and learn about them first It’s not a traditional strategy, but it could work well under specific conditions since colleges that many would consider “safeties” appear on the list.
For example, I expect certain subgroups of students using the CBCA common app have subpar guidance counseling and a low rate of attending college. Getting this subgroup to take the relatively short time to fill out the app and pay the $35 fee could give them several good colleges to choose from and increase the rate of attending college. This strategy may be more effective in getting this subgroup to attend college than encouraging them to figure out which of the thousand of colleges they should a apply to on their own and applying to each of those few college individually. It would be better if they had a good GC or knowledgeable parent/family who could help them in the process including figuring out good fits, with good chance of a acceptance, that are affordable. However, not everyone has those benefits.
From earlier thread posts, I expect hard limit supporters were thinking about a different type of situation; such as the mediocre stat CC poster who applies to all Ivies only because they are prestigious instead of recognizing there is little chance of acceptance and/or figuring out which ones are a good fit. The problem with a hard limit is it gets applied to all students within the group, not just certain CC posters who might benefit from fewer applications.