How many schools to apply?

mtlve
Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:27:14 +0000

To clarify my last post, I am only suggesting that someone apply to 10 + schools if they want to attend a top program (or have bad stats). If someone will be content going to a mid-level program (or have very defined interests), you can apply to fewer. Yeah this is lots of applications, but the time/money is well spent if you can find a program that is a good fit. To save money add schools that dont have an app fee (wash U, Baylor, UT southwestern, etc). If you get too many interviews, you can cut at that stage.

In regards to contacting faculty, I do not think that this really helps in general. Many people dont do this and they are fine in this process. If you are interested in a limited number of people in a program, it may be beneficial to talk to those people before you apply to ensure they are taking students. Contacting people on admissions or program directors may be beneficial (esp if it is getting late). This helped me get into a least one school. I know tons of people that talked to PI’s during the application phase. One of my friends at a top 3 program, talked with multiple people at a different ~top20 school. This school was his first choice. The people he talked to said that they really wanted him in their labs and to stay in touch. He did not even get an interview at this school. In summary, I do not think contacting faculty helps much. If you apply to plenty of schools and broadly, you will get into a good school without contacting PIs before hand.

Targetwalmart, I know multiple top applicants (3.8+ from top schools, 1400-1500 GRE, 90%+ subject, 1st author pubs, good recs). Most of these people got into top10s, but they still only got interviews at 1/5 top 10s that they applied too. Even top applicants should not apply to 4-5 schools (unless they dont want top 20). I still say 10 is a good number so that they will have a couple top schools to choose from. I know a number of people that should have gone to a top program, but they did not apply to enough schools. The top programs that they got into were not a good fit, so they are at a mid-level program.