I was looking back at some of the other methods of putting in college applications and I believe that it is probably all technology involved. My daughter kept track of her admissions decisions through Cappex and they have a way of applying to 125+ schools with one application (for free). Most of the schools are really small private colleges throughout the US, but it changes the math if one application can apply to so many schools so cheaply. If the student got accepted to 200+ schools and only filled out 10 applications for example, that is not much different from most of our own kids from an application standpoint. If the student filled out 100 applications and got a ton of fee waivers, that is a lot of work being done (shows work ethic), but there may be better ways to use that time. The kids got the ultimate prize (A good shot at getting a college education) so I am happy for each of them, but the hard work has truly just begun.