How Many Colleges Should You Apply To?
Something students often want to know is the right number of college applications to submit. And the quick answer is that it depends on the student, but hopefully we can give you some insight here.
In our Safety, Target, Reach post, we talk a lot about the mix of colleges you might want to apply to, but our general suggestion is this:
| School Category | Recommended Number of Schools |
|---|---|
| Safety | 3 |
| Target | 6-7 |
| Reach | 3+ |
Safety
For every student, safety schools are an absolute must. If you’re taking the time to apply to college, then you likely have an ardent interest in higher education. Safety schools are your safety net, and they should give you confidence that you’ll have this opportunity at least on some campuses.
Target
Target schools are the other necessity. If you’re going to apply, always apply to some schools that roughly match your strengths. These schools may be a better fit for you academically and socially, and it’s possible they align with your interests, major choice, and/or overall college preferences.
Reach
Finally, we suggest applying to 3 or more reach schools, because you just never know. Reach schools are often reserved for the dream schools, whether it be MIT, Georgetown, or UC San Diego, and if you never give it a shot, then you’ll never know. We’ve said this before, and we’ll say it again:
📣 "Never close the door on yourself. Let others do that for you. Try to keep open as many doors and options as you can, and don’t self-limit.”
So, that’s a grand total of 12-13 schools at a minimum that we suggest, but let’s discuss the nuance. 🤔
For some students, they may want to apply to even more than 3 reach schools, and the mix often changes depending on the goals and the schools themselves. The more difficult the reach schools are, the more schools the student often applies to.
You may have heard the term “shotgun approach”, which entails applying to as many as possible and seeing what sticks. This is especially common with students applying to the top 20 schools (e.g. the Ivies, MIT, CalTech, University of Chicago, etc.). In these cases, students may apply to many more schools, with a disproportionate amount of reach and/or super-reach schools. Sometimes students will apply to 15-20 different schools, and it’s not unheard of either for students to exceed 20 schools.
Applying to schools in California?
In CA, this isn’t actually that difficult to do because of the UC and CSU systems. Since you can apply for up to 9 schools through a single UC application, and up to 22 different schools through the CSU system, it becomes much simpler to apply to a higher number of schools with fewer applications.
Fewer applications translates to fewer supplemental essays and ultimately less work, but of course it still costs a separate application fee per campus.
Ultimately, our suggestion is to apply to 12-15 schools for the typical student. If you’re ambitious, you can push it to 20. And if you really want to go beyond that, buckle up: it’s going to be a lot of work and you’re going to have to be persistent, dedicated, and full of verve.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed about how to choose your colleges or want help finalizing your list, feel free to reach out to us at hello@eritus.co or click the button below to contact us.
