Not sure how common this is, but some of schools s24 selected in common app, he left them open for weeks and eventually 3 of the school offered him fee waivers just to have him submit the applications.
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My kids were happy with the dining at all of their schools, Tory couldnât understand why students complained, there is always something edible (and they all had sushi). Of course, if they wanted takeout they were free to pay for it. Dd21 is on her second year off campus so only had a dining plan for freshman year (and she misses it dearly since her only option is shopping and cooking).Another daughter also went off campus after freshman year, the rest as juniors.
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Fayetteville, AR is 36.0627° N
Knoxville, TN is 35.9606° N
So UTK is further south than U. of Arkansas! But yes, theyâre pretty close. 
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Do any of the schools on the list have rolling admission, or pseudo-rolling admission (Auburn did this - they had 4 EA deadlines with response turnaround of 4 weeks, so it was basically rolling admission)? My kid applied to 7 schools, 2 of them safeties (one of which kid really likes) after hearing here that there was no guarantee about several schools on our list of possibilities. Kid was accepted at all of them and is now really struggling to eliminate any of them - we finally managed to decline a second offer today. They are all good schools with some similar characteristics, and kid would do fine at any of them. Had we planned differently, I think we would have just done the rolling admission safety that kid likes (UA-Huntsville - itâs still on the list) early in the process, and after that we could have just picked a couple of others that kid really liked and been done.
Even with the common app, there are essaysâŠand schools that didnât have essays to apply had essays for the honors college, or scholarships. My kid really appreciated that at a couple of schools they used the same essays for everything, or used the same application for honors and scholarships. It was sometimes frustrating to feel like you were done with the application process only to have more applications to do after the acceptance. It wasnât a crisis with the smaller number of schools, but would have been rough if there were more colleges.
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In terms of number of apps, I see 3 (or 2?) Cal States on your list.
SDSU
Cal Poly (is this duplicate, or is it Pomona or Humboldt?)
Cal Poly SLO
At any rate, these are combined on 1 application, and with no essays. So thatâs an easy way to apply to 3 places without too much burnout. The only ECs that would be relevant are work experience #hrs for the Cal Poly SLO part of the application.
SLO engineering is a Reach for anyone, but SDSU may be a Target once you figure out his CSU gpa that will include pts for AP/Honors. I think that average gpa last year was 3.89 for SDSU College of Engineering enrollment.
Of these 3, the biggest football/basketball spirit is at San Diego State. SDSU was in the NCAA basketball championship last year, and their football program was good enough to be on the cusp of joining what was left of the Pac12 conference before the implosion.
Not all kids/families agree. For instance, close friend from North Carolina has a senior. She applied mostly to southern schools because of proximity, major, and price, but also visited a more northern state school where she was invited to participate in a scholarship weekend. She immediately saw a difference on the campus and among the students, from appearance to visible signs of support for different groups to the general vibe. Some kids/families might not be sensitive to the differences, but that doesnât mean they donât exist or arenât an issue for many.
To the OP: You have enough rolling acceptance schools on your list that as long as your student is fine with those options and gets some early admits, there is no reason to add to the list and you may be able to cut it.
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I donât know - i spent lots of time at my kids school and having nose piercings and purple hair, is all over.
Now governments or certain areas may have different thoughts and that I get - Alabama is following the Florida lead on banning anything DEI.
Nonetheless, like I noted, thereâs not a shortage of schools for this OP.
But based on your comment about the SEC, then OP likely shouldnât look at Va Tech either. And thatâs the top choice - itâs not far from the SEC - and after they break up the ACC, it will likely try to become an SEC school - but thatâs a different discussion.
There are equal stories of what you described where people from the North canât believe how welcoming those in the south areâŠitâs likely a campus by campus thing.
So Iâd research before stereotyping is my point.
Some schools are very diverse geographically vs. homogenous - was the point I was getting at.
I didnât comment on the SEC. It was not mentioned at all in my post.
Also, both of your kids attended school in the south. How much time have you spent on campuses in the north lately?
OP did though
My kids went all over from Maine (Bowdoin) to Bing, Syracuse, and Penn State. Iâm a ânorthernâ alum, born and bred in NJ and down here they call me Yankee.
And Iâve read enough Clemson and UGA parents posting on here about their kids canât believe how friendly everyone is. Heck I tailgated at Clemson as the enemy school - and was invited into tailgates with welcome arms.
My point was simply - and Iâm not disagreeing with you - but welcoming communities or ânicetiesâ or signage/inclusion type things are more likely campus to campus vs. assuming something by region - especially as Northerners proliferate the South.
Also - the OP made a comment about a nose ring - no need to go off in political leaning type thing. I simply noted a kid with a nose ring will be find in the South (short of Bob Jones U) is all the comment I was making (I threw in purple hair).
And I didnât mean to stereotype Southern schools either. I just know that from being on UTK campus and say, U WashingtonâŠitâs a pretty different vibe. But agree that most of the SEC schools mentioned have a very high OOS enrollment and climbing. So def not homogenous.
Just 2 schools. Cal Poly SLO and SDSU. He needs to figure out his Cal State recalculated GPA as he did take almost all honors or AP classes. Hopefully it will be above a 3.8.
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Really I was just responding to this - not to a political type thing. Yes, UTK is conservative - because Chancellor Randy Boyd and Governor Lee are remaking the state in this way and bringing in all the NY and California heroes (i.e conservatives) to bolster. Heroes in their mind anyway.
But even so, the alternative kid with nose ring would be fine.
And weâre the first southern state to get in n out too
But we got off track - and if your student didnât feel so, thatâs fine too. Not sure youâd find a different vibe 3 hours up the road at Va Tech though - but youâll find a beautiful, wide open campus vs. one that IMHO isnât attractive
But different issue.
Again, back to the main point - heâll be fine - and whether itâs CPSLO or Colorado State or Arizona, if he wants to study engineering there is 99.99999999% chance he can study engineering - and at a really great school - so he can do as few as one (but not if it were Va Tech) and as many as however many apps he wants - but that initial list could definitely be culled and youâll still have options!!!
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Low blow! We love Knoxville! And that itâs a little gritty. 
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Letâs get back on topic please! The title of this post is how many applications are too many.
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As stated by others, there are several factors which should drive the size of your list:
- Cover the range from safety to reach
- Strategically curate your list of REA/ED1/ED2/EA
- Minimise work: Search for schools which are strong academically BUT require no additional essaysâŠ.basically VISA/Mastercard completes the application
- Scale work: apply to UCS, one set of essays and 5-6 VISA/Mastercard rolls
That should allow you to keep your âworkloadâ within 15 application files, but will easily cover 20-30 schools
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As someone who applied to 55 schools (WAY to many), I think the 15-20 range is the perfect number, especially if you can reuse supplementals sometimes. My advice is to start August 1. Get as much as you can submitted before the school year. When you donât have as much going on in the summer, itâs no problem pumping out the applications, but it gets hectic when schools arrives with homework, after school ECâs, etc. Good luck!
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Sorry, I wasnât thinking about your student being out of state. I donât think any oos Honors courses would count in the GPA calculation. @Gumbymom or @lkg4answers would be able to give you a better answer as to how that works, and also comment on making sure your student meets the a-g requirements. I know the Visual/Performing Arts one seems to catch oos students off guard.
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The students I know actually wrote their common app personal statement by end of summer before their senior year.
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Cal Poly SLO uses 9-11th grades for the a-g course requirements with the 8 semester Honors point cap for only AP/IB and CSU transferable DE courses for OOS applicants taken 10-11th grades only. Non CA HS students Honors courses are not weighted but they are still reviewed for rigor.
SDSU uses 10-11th grades for the a-g course requirements with the same 8 semester Honors point like all the rest of the CSUâs and no weighting for Non CA HS Honors.
SLO GPA calculation is the exception for the CSUâs.
CSU GPA calculator and just add in 9th grades for SLO: GPA Calculator | CSU
The CSU application will have a CSU GPA calculated when you fill out the academic courses and grades. This the CSU GPA used by SDSU but not SLO which will recalculate based on the information above.
Average admitted CSU GPA for SDSU was 4.04 in 2023.
Average admitted SLO GPA was 4.19 for the Engineering College 2023.
Both schools admit by major so the GPA admitted range for each major will be different but unfortunately not disclosed.
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In my opinion, everyone thinks about stress differentlyâ for some, the actual applying to college is more stressful, and for others, getting decisions back is more stressful. For me, FOMO is a huge stress factor, so Iâm closer to the latter case. I applied to 26 schools, which most people say is a lot, and although it was a lot of work, I think it was the perfect amount for me. Your son should do what will make him less stressed and more comfortable with the college process!
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