Most students Apply to 4 or fewer schools

<p>Edad, no where in my original post did I say that ALL students (or even some) should apply to only 4 schools. I did mention that a national survey said that the majority of freshmen enrolled this year said that they applied to 4 or fewer but I didn’t say that meant everyone should only apply to 4. What I did say was that there may not be a need to apply to 12+ schools if your child has a well-targeted list. Big difference between saying “students should only apply to 4” and saying “may not need to apply to 12+ if the list is well-targeted.” </p>

<p>And, I agree totally with what you are saying – no matter the size of the list, it needs to be well-targeted. If you do a good job of building a well-targeted list, you may not need to apply to so many schools, or to worry as much about getting in. We’re in total agreement there.</p>

<p>By the way, my daughter’s list had 8 schools on it. She applied to 4 EA/rolling admissions schools, including one that was her first choice and a bit of a reach for her. She got into all four and decided she had enough to choose from so didn’t complete applications to the other 8. If she hadn’t been accepted to all 4, however, she would definitely have applied to the others.</p>

<p>But, her list was well targeted, she knew exactly why each of the 8 was on it, and she knew how her special talents and contributions fit with what each school needed/wanted. There were MANY other schools she liked, or that probably would have wanted what she had to offer. I’m sure she could have built a list of 12 or 14 or 16 or 20, but what would be the point of that if she already had a well-targeted list of schools with that match up between her wants and the schools’? </p>

<p>My son, who like your older daughter, is intellectually gifted, may indeed have a longer list than my daughter did. And, his list will probably include some highly selective schools that are reaches for everyone. But, I’ll make sure he understands that there are many great schools at all levels of selectivity where he can get a terrific education equal to his intellect, and encourage him to have at least some of those on his list as well.</p>