How Many Colleges Should a Student Apply To?
If you have been paying attention to the news this week, you have probably heard the story about a Georgia teenager who applied to 51 colleges and was admitted to 49 of them. A feel-good story? Maybe! But is applying to 50+ colleges something we should encourage? No! Definitely not.
While it might sound fun to apply to multiple colleges just to see how many acceptances you can collect, there are numerous reasons why this is not a good idea.
First of all, although there is no “rule” limiting the number of colleges you can apply to, there are ethical considerations to take into account. While application numbers continue to rise at colleges around the country, in most instances, the number of students a college can admit does not change. Therefore, increasing applications directly correlates to a decreasing admit rate. Remember, your “safety” school is someone else’s dream school, and your dream school could be someone else’s safety. Therefore, applying to a large number of colleges that you may consider to be safeties simply to see how many you can get into makes it more competitive for those students who really want to go to those colleges.
In addition to the ethical questions, the increasing number of applications being submitted to colleges around the country is one of the main the driving forces in the uncertainty and madness surrounding the admissions process in recent years.
We understand the thought process many students go through when deciding where to apply: “With admissions rates plummeting dramatically and uncertainty surrounding college admissions increasing, applying to a long list of colleges will increase my chances of being admitted to a “top” college.” Yet, without first creating a balanced college list, more applications does not necessarily translate into increased odds of being admitted to college. For example, applying to 10 colleges, each with a 10% admit rate, does not give you a 100% chance of being admitted to college. Likewise, applying to all the Ivy League colleges does not increase your chances of being accepted to an Ivy League college. Still, as students try to hedge their bets in an uncertain admissions world, the result is increased uncertainty and even lower admit rates.
Did you know that some high schools limit the number of applications their students can submit? Did you know that the Common Application “only” allows a student to apply to 20 colleges (and yes, that “only” was sarcastic)? While students find ways around these limits, we understand why they exist. According to a CNN article written by Deidre McPhillips, “There have been significant increases in high school students reporting persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, considering suicide or attempting suicide over the past decade – and findings from the new CDC survey suggest youth mental health was even worse during the pandemic.” High school students are under incredible levels of stress, and the college admissions process, if not the direct cause, is certainly exacerbating the crisis. Before high school even begins, students feel pressure to be “the best” whether in their academics, their extracurricular activities, their test scores, their honors and awards, their relationships, or their college admissions. This pursuit for perfection is as futile as finding a unicorn at the zoo. However, the pressure to achieve that unattainable pinnacle continues to get worse every year, leading students to feel the need to prove their worth by doing things such as applying to over 50 colleges.
Regardless of how many college acceptances a student receives, at the end of the day, they can only attend one college. Applying to college takes work, even with application platforms such as the Common App that make the process far more streamlined than ever before, Many applications require additional essays or supplemental materials, some require actual test scores while others allow self-reported test scores, some allow several letters of recommendation, others require none, some want a copy of the high school transcript, others want students to self report their classes and grades in supplemental forms such as the SRAR . Simply figuring out the specific application requirements for each college takes time before even completing and submitting that application. Yet, at the same time they are working through the complexities of completing and submitting applications, seniors are also dealing with a full load of rigorous course work and extracurriculuar activities, so ensuring that a student has a manageable, balanced, and well thought out college list is one way to manage the pressure on students and hopefully reduce some of the overwhelming anxiety and depression facing students today.
Are you looking for someone to help your high school student build a reasonable and balanced list of colleges that they are excited to attend? Contact North Shore College Consulting today to learn more about our one-on-one, individual college consulting packages or about the Admissions Key VIP, our comprehensive, monthly college consulting subscription program.