As of right now my D will be applying to 42 schools. We want to make sure he gets into at least one reach so we basically put all top schools (most top 30 schools on USNWR and a couple more from other rankings that are major specific) and then couple safeties, couple targets. Some people have told us this is a lot, but is this really too many?
As someone who applied to over 50 schools, don’t do it. Especially for top 30s that each have different essays. You will be writing wayyyyy to much. Don’t do what I did! Trust me, it was not fun!! Cut the list down to 20ish at a maximum.
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I feel like it cannot be that bad. How do we cut it down? What criteria?
That’s what I thought at first. But, it really is that bad.
This is up to you. What is most important to you/your child in a college. Academics, sports, something else? If you tell us what you are looking for a bit more, the people here can help you better.
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IMO that is way, way too many. My D applied to 8 schools and had to write 19 unique essays. In addition to the main common app essay, most schools, especially the top ones, will have school specific essays. Then there are honors college and scholarship essays.
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Academics and reputation are important. Also cost! So we want to apply to many to see what kind of financial aid we get. We truly are so set on applying to all 42 LOL.
But we are hiring a writer.
Run the Net Price Calculator on some of the schools on the list. If they aren’t affordable, cut them from the list.
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A writer or an essay coach? Very, very different.
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That is way, way too many. Anything over 20 is too many. You’re looking at over $2k in application fees alone, and your daughter will have to write 42 individual essays along with the normal general essay and whatever school work they’ll have next year. Each individual essay also needs to be specific to that college’s prompt, so there’s no template copy and pasting. The best advice I can give is to have your daughter look at the schools and look at which ones have a course sequence for her major that she would actually enjoy, not just rankings. It doesn’t matter as much what a college’s rank is if you don’t enjoy your classes. Along with that, what environment does she want to live in? Does she want a college town or a city or a suburb? Finally, what do students think of it? My number one advice is to always read the “opinions” section of the student paper because you’ll get unfiltered opinions there (and note if there isn’t a student paper that’s a red flag). There’s a million factors to narrow the list down, but those are some of the main ones.
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Already did. Most are similar, but I heard schools like NYU can be very unpredictable.
Then you aren’t honestly completing the applications. The student is supposed to write the essays, not a hired writer.
If this is what you are doing, it’s dishonest. Very dishonest.
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Yep! Also would recommend going onto the fourms here to see if the college gives good merit aid or not to students with similar stats/activities. That would have been helpful for me if I knew about CC at the time.
writer
So that is cheating and colleges will see right through it. They know what a high school student should sound like.
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Welcome to CC, your questions seem a bit provocative so I will watch from the sidelines. Enjoy the responses you will undoubtedly cause.
If you are a NMF perhaps apply to University of Alabama as a 43rd.
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Academics and reputation are all over the place. Other factors don’t matter as much. Like tell me why we should take off colgate or middlebury or bowdoin, all top schools but no reason to take one off over another.
So your daughter has little opinion on what type of campus she wants? Or what housing options? Or what region of the country? Or how many credits she wants in her major vs in general education? Or internship and study abroad opportunities? Deciding on those will help to narrow down the list.
Point taken. How do we find an essay coach then? The guy we found advertised himself as a professional writer for college applications who writes simply from an idea given by the applicant.
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If your student isn’t writing their own essays, then quite frankly, they shouldn’t be accepted at any college to which they apply.
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