Very vague title, huh? That's to draw you in and make you want to keep reading (I was an English major, you know... It's one of those English major tricks!). Anyway, the question in the title is referring to the number of colleges to which a high school senior is applying. How many colleges/universities should you apply to? And how many is too many?

I bring up this question for all of you who will be applying regular decision, and the reason I bring it up is because we have had the question asked multiple times at our campus information sessions in the past couple of weeks. As the college admission process gets more and more competitive across the board, students are applying to more and more schools to make sure they are accepted "somewhere." Unfortunately, that only compounds the issue, as students apply to more schools, schools get more applications, it becomes more difficult to gain admission to these schools, and the circle keeps going and going and going...

(Way) back when I was applying to colleges during the 1999-2000 school year, I applied to five schools, having a clear top choice (Providence College! Who would've guessed it!??!?) and three other schools that I could definitely see myself attending. The last school I applied to was definitely more of a "safe choice" for me, but it did have some of the same criteria I was looking for in the top 4 schools I applied to (such as being in the Northeast... my parents would've missed me too much if I went to the West Coast). Now, I know you'll say that 2000 was a much simplier time and the competition to gain admission to certain colleges wasn't as intense (although some of my high school classmates would beg to differ!), but the majority of my classmates were applying to 6-8 schools at the most...

Fast-forward to the present: The other day, one of my colleagues spoke to a mom whose son is applying to 16 colleges. I spoke with a guidance counselor that has a student who is applying to 27. Twenty-seven?!?? THAT is too many. Can that student really see himself enrolling and spending four years at ALL 27 different places he's applying? I'm going to go out on a limb and bet that he can't... And by the way, if you're looking for my humble opinion (which you are, since you're reading this blog!!), 16 is far too many schools to be applying to as well.

I'm not here to tell you that I think there should be a limit on the number of schools a student should be able to apply to. I am also not here to say that since I applied to five colleges, you should apply to five colleges. It did work for me, but I understand that everyone has their own unique college search experience. What I am asking you to do is to attempt to narrow down the list of schools you are going to apply to. With so many schools on the Common Application, it's now so easy to just press a button and apply to a school you may have never even considered. (of course there is the matter of the application fee that might help to keep that number down... in case you were wondering, applying to 27 schools with an average application fee of $60 = over $1,600! That's just to apply!)... I understand that students are applying to large numbers of schools because they want to cover themselves and make sure they receive at least one acceptance letter, but the best way to make that happen is by narrowing down your choices and applying to the RIGHT schools!

Visit campuses, talk to students, talk to admission counselors, and find out all you can about those 27 different schools on your list. (Believe me, if you visit 27 different campuses, your list will start to become smaller!). Understand the admission review process at each of the colleges on your list and - this is the tough part - be realistic about your choices. It's perfectly fine to have what is commonly called a "reach" school, a place that you are very interested in but you (and your guidance counselor) are not sure about your academic fit to that institution. But they shouldn't all be reach schools. Admission counselors constantly talk about "match" and "fit" to an institution, and those should be words you are using as well. You want to find colleges and universities that are the right fit for you personally, both inside and outside of the classroom, and not fall into the trap of applying somewhere just because 10 of your friends are doing it.

If you were looking for a magic number of schools to apply to, I am going to disappoint you. The purpose of this posting is really to encourage you to narrow down your list of schools as much as possible, focusing on QUALITY (the colleges that truly are the right fit for YOU) rather than QUANTITY (27 schools... see above). Instead of spending hours filling out dozens of applications and supplements and writing essays for 20+ different schools, put that time and effort into the applications for the schools that really are a good fit for you. Spending more time on fewer applications means you'll be making a better presentation of yourself to the colleges you are applying to and I promise you that admission counselors do take note of how the application is presented.

I would love to hear your feedback on this subject, and if you have applied/are planning to apply to double-digit numbers of colleges, I'd be very interested in your reasons for doing it! Please leave your comments and I will respond as soon as I can! Happy Thanksgiving!