<p>I don’t think, in this climate, it is fair to criticize kids for applying to that many schools. Schools don’t have spots for all the qualified applicants, and even applying to three or four schools of comparable difficulty doesn’t guarantee admission to one. Schools also play games - colleges a kid may think of as pretty safe bets might reject them because they think they are unlikely to attend. In such a climate, how can you blame a astudent of increasing his odds of having, not just a school to attend, but a few good choices.
Fit is importanat to most kids, but not important enough to dictate where one applies. Most people could be pretty happy at most schools. Just because someone likes Brown and Columbia better than Dartmouth and Penn doesn’t mean he couldn’t be happy at any of those schools. The choice over which he want to attend most should come after the acceptances come in, not before.
The truth is, today’s student doesn’t have the luxury of applying only to best fit schools. It is hypocrticial for the colleges to criticize them for increasing their chances to get into the best school possible.</p>