D20 will probably apply to 13 or 14 colleges. I don’t think it will be too bad as 5 or 6 will be on the UC application and she has already starting the application process.
My feeling is that admissions can be very unpredictable and applicants should apply broadly to many different reach, match and safeties. Also, teenagers change their minds a lot and how they feel about colleges in November might be different by May 1 the following year.
Lastly, if you are looking for merit it will be beneficial to apply to a lot of colleges to compare the best packages.
@MuggleMom, good points. Her list is made up of schools we feel pretty good about her getting in to and the big question will be merit aid. That will definitely play a major role in where she decides to go. Florida out of state cost is similar to PA in state costs but with Florida we’d have to add in a lot of cost for travel. But if she’s able to get the OOS tuition waiver, then it becomes a much lower cost. Though of course she’d still need to decide she wants Florida weather and is okay being so far from home. And she might not feel either Florida school is a good fit for her.
I have a friend whose son had very high stats and he probably applied to 2-3 safety schools and I think around 10 top tier (MIT, Princeton, Stanford, etc) so while the 12-15 applications seemed high to me, I also understood he could have been rejected from all but his safeties.
We haven’t nailed down the final list yet. Could be anywhere from 2 (ED + 1 UC, if she gets into the ED school) to 12 or so, although more likely to be around 8. D20 has been away at summer camp and pretty much off the grid for 4 weeks except for laundry day 2 weeks ago but is coming home tonight, yay, so I think over the next few weeks we’ll need to figure out the actual list. Also a repeat visit to the potential ED school to see if that’s really going to be the absolute, total, favorite.
For comparison, my oldest applied to 10 (4 were UCs and 1 was Cal Poly which doesn’t have essays).
For those applying to a long list of schools are there a lot of them with no application fee? DS would happily just apply to one (the only one we’ve visited so far) but I think I’m going to make him apply to two or three others and we’ll visit them as well, but those application fees add up! It’s going to be about $200 to apply to those 4 and only 2 of the 4 received the free ACT score, so we’ll have to order a couple of those at $13 each.
We’re touring Iowa State and UW-Madison next month. S20 actually already applied to Iowa State. We took U of Iowa off the list because it looks like it would cost more than Iowa State, Madison, or UMN-TC would (as MN residents).
The “teenagers change their minds” thing is what has me nervous about S20 only applying to a couple of universities. I’m thinking of asking him to apply to a couple of smaller local schools that don’t have an application fee, just so he has options this spring if he changes his mind.
On the other hand, he doesn’t change his mind as often as the average teen.
On the other, other hand, if I take him to tour those schools this fall when class in in session, he may find he likes them too. He only visited one LAC so far and didn’t like it, but they were on spring break and his little sister was with us, which may have affected his experience.
S20 had a longer list, but after we visited his safety and he loved it, that took some others off the list. His safety is The Ohio State University, and his stats are good there and he’d get some merit aid so I don’t think he’ll apply to some of the other similar schools, such as Penn State and Syracuse. They cost more and he really loved the spirit at Ohio.
@cshell2, only one of my DD’s schools that she plans to apply to has a free application (though we have to pay for test scores to be sent). Some (or at least one anyway that I’m sure of) have self reporting for ACT and SAT scores until you decide to accept an offer and then you have to send the scores in as proof. So that shaves off $12 for those at least. But yes, between the fee for Common App and sending test scores, when you’re applying to several schools, it definitely adds up fast!
@NYC2018nyc My older three kids graduated from Ohio State as well as two of their girlfriends so we are a big OSU family. I assumed D20 would end up going there but she has no interest.
D20 only applied to one school 1200 miles away, which makes me nervous but she is certain that’s where she wants to be. I hope she feels that way next year. We had a fee waiver so no application expenses.
Right now I think there are 12 on my D20’s list. We’ve prioritized vising potential ED schools - others we’ll wait and see what happens with admissions and potentially merit to narrow down visits in April.
Our S20 currently only has 4-5 on his list. At one point he had over 10, but some have been knocked off when he decided he didn’t want to be too far from home and then others came off after we visited Sonoma State and he loved it. All on his list are really safeties, so I don’t feel the need to push him to apply to more.
Does it cost $11.25 to send each subject test (is each its own report?) or $11.25 per seating or $11.25 per transaction (can send two scores from different dates as long as they are sent at once)? The SAT would be a separate report so an additional $11.25, right?
DS16 applied to 6 schools. DD20 is required to apply to a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 10 (unless she presents a really good case for up to 2 more). At least 2 of those must be in our state or the two that border ours. Any more would be unmanageable given her plans for chasing merit and honors programs which require extra essays, potentially interviews and set weekends to visit.
@NYC2018nyc I hope that OSU is a safety for your DC if they love it that much but keep in mind that OSU does not notify on a set schedule and it can get really late in the process before some kids hear back, regardless of when they applied. It may be good to apply to a school or two that notifies earlier and on a set schedule to take the pressure off.
They usually start releasing decisions on student portals the Friday before Thanksgiving and release another wave most Fridays after that. There were kids still waiting to hear last year at May 1st. Deferrals stretched out final decisions even longer. You can read last year’s decision thread if you want the full story.
Our HS limits students to 10. It forces everyone (kids, parents and GCs) to build the list carefully. I have been amazed at how much time my son’s GC has put into my son’s list.
My son won’t be applying to 10. He might only apply to 2! No way he would do more than 10, even if he could.
@lkg4answers it’s my understanding you pay for one SAT score report and then that score report has every SAT and SAT subject test on it. You can select Score Choice and eliminate some of them if a school doesn’t require everything to be sent, but the fee to send it to one school stays the same no matter how many tests are on there.
Thanks for your responses all, it seems 9-10 schools, or 5 schools as was the case with my son, is all perfectly normal :-). I think my big concern will be fitting in spring visits with far away schools if it turns out she gets good merit at a few different ones. Time off from work for me will be a challenge as I teach, but we’ll figure it all out when the time comes. My husband has much more flexibility with his work so perhaps it’ll just be the two of them that visit. She’s away all summer as a counselor at a sleep away camp, so even if we did want to visit some of the far away schools before we know about final cost, we can’t fit it in before the school year starts.
My D17 had 18 schools on her list (ok, my list ) and she applied to 11 before most acceptances came in and she had to focus on a decision instead. D20 will have 6-8 probably.
I don’t understand HSs with the rule that you can only apply to 10, maximum.
) and she applied to 11 before most acceptances came in and she had to focus on a decision instead. D20 will have 6-8 probably.