Dec 8, 2017
As you head into December and draw near to the looming college application deadlines that follow in the first two weeks of January, we are sure you have a lot on your minds, parents. Almost all of you are worried about how you are going to pay for whatever college your teenager eventually enrolls in. Most of you are worried about whether your teenager is going to get into his or her first choice. Many of you are worried about whether your teenager will get into any of his or her top several choices. Some of you are worried about whether your teenager will get into any of the colleges that are your top choices for him or her. And a few of you, undoubtedly, are worried about whether your teenager will get into any college at all.
But, here is something you already know: Parents, you have no control over what colleges choose to admit your teenager, so you might as well stop worrying about that. On the other hand, here is something else you already know, but rarely think as hard about as that first thing: Parents, you have plenty of control over the number of applications your teenager submits. And that is the subject of this episode on the biggest college application mistake you are about to make.
This mistake that you and your teenager are about to make could be the biggest mistake of the whole college application process that has been going on in your family perhaps for the past six months--or longer. And the mistake couldn’t be simpler to recognize or easier to correct.
Quite simply, make sure that your teenager applies to enough colleges. If there are a few colleges that you aren’t quite sure about even at this point in December, our advice would be to go ahead and have your teenager apply to them. One might be a reach school that your teenager hasn’t quite gotten out of his or her system. Another might be a target school that you thought your teenager didn’t need because he or she had enough of those on the list. Another might be a safety school that was an interesting idea, but a bit outside your comfort zone. Frankly, it doesn’t matter what those additional colleges might be. Just go ahead and have your teenager apply. Why? Because having colleges to choose from next April is priceless, as they say.
When we took up this topic about 18 months ago (way back in Episode 77), we quoted from an article by Mike McPhate in The New York Times on April 11, 2016, which explained that students were applying to more colleges than they used to:
In 1990, just 9 percent of students applied to seven or more schools, according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling. By 2013, that group had grown to 32 percent. (quoted from the article)
And, if I had to guess, based on all the articles we read and chatter we hear, I would say that the 32 percent is likely still higher now in the 2017-2018 round of applications.
You already know all of the reasons for that rise in the number of applications--from the fact that The Common Application now makes it so easy to apply to additional colleges with just the click of a button--at least when those additional colleges don’t have supplementary application questions and essays to complete--to lots of talk about how certain colleges are receiving record numbers of applications and, therefore, lowering their acceptance rates. According to a U.S. News & World Report article by Delece Smith-Barrow last September, California placed eight public institutions on the list of the 10 U.S. colleges that received the most applications for fall, 2016. Great for public California higher education institutions, maybe not so great for California kids! As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, UCLA had over 102,000 freshman applicants for this past fall, up another approximately 5,000 applications from the 2016 number in this news article. Joining UCLA on the list are five other University of California campuses (including the flagship UC Berkeley campus, with about 82,000 applications), two California State University campuses, and two private universities whose names make them sound public: New York University and Boston University. Each of these institutions received more than 57,000 applications almost two years ago now.
Of course, as more students apply to more colleges for fear they won’t get into any, more applications are received by each college, and the whole thing becomes a vicious cycle. You might recall that we have talked recently about the fact that high school graduates are shrinking in number and, consequently, that college enrollment is also shrinking. Experts say that the worst of the admissions crunch might be over for high school seniors and their parents. Nonetheless, we have also noted that the great colleges and the most selective colleges (which might or might not always be the same thing) are not really hurting for applicants. And, I don’t think ever will be in my lifetime. So, getting into top colleges and getting into popular colleges (again, which might or might not be the same thing) will still be a concern for lots of you out there, for sure.
By the way, according to The Common Application website, the “total number of applications submitted through November 1[of this year] was 1,518,131 (+20% over 2016) from 510,912 unique applicants (+13.3% over 2016).” By November 15, that number was up to almost 2 million applications and another 100,000 unique applicants. So, it’s not just that more applications are being made; it’s that more are being made under Early Decision and Early Action plans. And we have said that before, too.
According to a Common Application spokeswoman about 18 months ago, about 4 or 5 applications is what the typical student submitted for admission in fall, 2017. Of course, in addition, this typical student could have submitted applications to colleges that do not use The Common App, but my guess is that would perhaps just add one or two colleges to the list.
So, what is the magic number of applications to submit? The first thing to say is that, according to The College Board’s website, there is no magic number. I am sorry to hear that because I was hoping there was a magic number that we could just tell all of you and you could quit worrying about it! But The College Board’s website goes on to say that 5 to 8 applications are usually sufficient to get a good match for a student.
In a more recent July article also by Delece Smith-Barrow at U.S. News & World Report, Ms. Smith-Barrow quotes Matthew Proto, vice president and dean of admissions and financial aid at Colby College, a lovely liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine, as saying, “I don’t know if there is an actual best number.” But she goes on to note:
While there may not be a specific number applicants should aim for, experts say, there is a specific range. Prospective students should have between four and eight schools on their list, experts say. (quoted from the article)
Interesting, because I don’t think that we actually agree with this advice, generally speaking. The article also says this:
Applicants should carefully weigh the number of schools where they’ll submit applications to maximize their chances of being a strong candidate, and to avoid the drawbacks that can come with applying to too many or too few schools, admissions experts say.
Applying takes work, experts say, and submitting applications to a large number of schools may ruin the quality of the prospective student’s applications. (quoted from the article)
Really? A drawback to applying to too many colleges is that you will have to work hard on each application so that each one is of high quality? I would say this to students: “Get over it. If you can’t work hard enough to do a bunch of applications over perhaps four months (when most of them are maybe 80 percent the same), then I am worried about your chances of succeeding in any college. Really.”
While we have talked in plenty of other episodes about the variety of colleges we think your teenager should have on the list of colleges he or she will actually apply to (different sizes, different locations, both public and private institutions), we are not going to go into that here. Today is just a numbers game.
So, what is the right number? Every expert (you just heard from a couple of them) and every college counselor has a number. Some of these numbers--like the 4 to 8 or the 5 to 8 we just heard--seem low to me, but maybe that’s because I like teenagers to have plenty of good options available to them next April.
In our first book (How To Find the Right College: A Workbook for Parents of High School Students, still available through Amazon), Marie and I offered a recommendation of applying to 8 to 12 colleges. We do know that most--though not all--applications cost money. We also know that, if you are eligible, you can get fee waivers for many of them. And, since those of you who listen often already know that I am not very cost sensitive about a decision this important to your teenager’s future, I am going to suggest that several hundred dollars (to even $1,000) spent now on application fees might save your family a lot of heartache next spring.
Now, I am going to say, like the late great Jerry Orbach said in Dirty Dancing, “When I’m wrong, I say I’m wrong.” When Marie and I did our most recent book How To Explore Your College Options: A Workbook for High School Students (also available at Amazon), we said that 15 college applications is probably a sensible average, plus or minus 5. So, that’s a bit more than our earlier advice. We are pretty sure that we are right this time, and we trust that you can keep your teenager working through this month to produce high-quality applications until the very last one is submitted. Good luck!