22 March 2006

College Applications: How Many Is Too Many?

Multiple applications have been one of the major trends in college admissions in recent years. To put it simply, more and more high school students are applying to more and more schools.

Fifteen years ago, a typical high school senior applied to 3 or 5 different schools. A study by NACAC (the National Association for College Admissions Counseling) found that today that number is closer to 7. But news reports tell of students who go far beyond that. The New York Times recently profiled a California senior who applied to 21 different universities and colleges.

Is this really necessary, or wise?

The Common Application and online applications have made multiple submissions much easier (and, in the case of the many schools that waive application fees for online submissions, cheaper). Today, a student can send the same basic application material to a dozen different schools with a few clicks of a mouse.

That's not a bad thing. The greater ease of preparing and submitting college applications – along with greater access to information about school options – frees prospective students to pursue opportunities they might not have been able to a decade ago. Students are better able to identify educational institutions that support their interests and goals, and to compare admissions and financial aid offers.

But there are also social and psychological reasons driving the trend toward multiple applications, and they are not completely benign.

Anxiety about college admissions is a major reason why some students apply to a dozen or more schools. Applicants are so intimidated by the acceptance rates at the most selective colleges and universities that they worry they will have nowhere to go unless they fire a volley of applications off to every institution they can think of.

Peer pressure is another factor in the rise of multiple applications. Some students apply to particular schools just because their friends are, or because there is a sense that 'everybody' ought to want to go there. In other cases, students may simply enjoy the validation that comes with an acceptance letter. A student may not seriously want to go to school X, but likes being able to tell people that he or she got in.

Anxiety about a major life passage and an inclination to be sociable are both normal adolescent (and human) behavior. Acting out those impulses through multiple college applications is not, in the greater scheme of things, all that awful. It's not like someone is burning down buildings. But the time, energy, and money a student has to put into preparing 12 or 15 or 20 college applications could certainly be put to more enjoyable and more productive use.

What's more, college applicants actually harm their admissions chances when they apply to too many schools.

Admissions officers tell us that they know when they're reading an application from someone who is applying to a slew of other schools. The essay has a thin, generic quality that suggests the applicant is not serious about getting in. That sense of a lack of interest on the applicant's part makes it easy to reject them.

Here are 3 steps toward a more practical approach to college applications:

1. Be choosy. Decide which schools you would be happy to accept an admissions offer from before you submit any applications. Don't wait until you have an offer in hand to decide whether you want to attend that school or not. Don't apply to a school you wouldn't want to attend.

2. Be realistic. By all means, apply to one or two stretch schools. But also apply to one or more schools you're bound to be admitted to. Similarly, apply to a dream school that you could only attend if an admissions offer came with a generous aid package; but also apply to a school you could pay for yourself if funding doesn't come through.

3. Be focused. College admissions aren't run like lotteries. You don't stand a chance of winning simply by buying a ticket. The way to beat those daunting admissions statistics is to submit a strong, clear, focused application to the handful of schools you are best suited for. Research the schools you most want to attend and figure out what it is about you that is a perfect match for the school's strengths, values, and traditions – and submit an application that conveys those things.

We always tell our clients to prepare their written materials with a specific school in mind. A metaphor we often use is that an admissions essay should be like a Valentine's note that makes the school feel like it's the applicant's 'one and only.'

Start your college application process by identifying the schools that you want to be a part of your life. Follow through by submitting applications that express your feelings – and that lay out the reasons why your chosen schools should feel the same way about you.

Return to the Blog