{"id":6221,"date":"2016-03-24t12:00:23","date_gmt":"2016-03-24t19:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/?p=6221"},"modified":"2016-03-24t15:11:13","modified_gmt":"2016-03-24t22:11:13","slug":"how-many-schools-should-i-apply-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/how-many-schools-should-i-apply-to\/","title":{"rendered":"how many schools should i apply to?"},"content":{"rendered":"

the college application process can seem like a scary experience \u2013 but it doesn’t have to be! with more and more students applying these days, it\u2019s easy to get swept up by the competitiveness of the college application process and swept into the mentality that the more schools you apply to, the better your chances. however, is it really worth applying to more colleges than you have fingers (and, in some cases, toes!)?<\/p>\n

when you ask the experts, they all seem<\/a> to agree<\/a> that for most students, five to eight<\/strong> applications to a combination of reach, right-on-the-money, and safety schools is enough to secure at least one acceptance letter. as completing college applications, even with the aid of the common app<\/a>, is truly an exhausting enterprise that can eat up a lot of time and money, there\u2019s really no reason to put yourself through the unnecessary stress of applying to more than eight schools, especially if the majority of these schools are not where you want to go anyway. your time would be much better spent \u2013 and your chances of admissions actually greater \u2013 in carefully choosing a handful of colleges that you truly see yourself being happy at and crafting quality applications that make a solid case<\/a> for why x university is the best place for you to achieve your academic, professional, and even personal dreams. here\u2019s how to get started on that process.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

do some soul-searching<\/h2>\n

contrary to popular belief, you don\u2019t actually have to have your whole entire life figured out when you\u2019re applying to colleges.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

 
\nyes, really! although it definitely doesn’t hurt to have a dream profession or field of work, what colleges are mainly looking for in their candidates is a passion, a commitment to said passion, and a convincing argument that their school is the best place for you to develop said passion. so prior to researching colleges, try to have a good and honest idea about what you\u2019re passionate about inside and\/or outside the classroom. you can then use those passions to either guide you as you pick your schools or serve as a starting point for crafting your application \u2013 or both.<\/p>\n

it\u2019s also important to note that unless you\u2019re interested in a specialized line of work, like nursing or engineering, or if you want to go to the absolute best program for your field of study, overall academic and social fit may matter more to you than rankings for specific programs or whether or not certain degrees are offered. taking all this into account, you can then\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

look for and apply to schools that match your interests (and your profile)<\/h2>\n

there are a myriad<\/a> of services out there geared toward helping you figure out what kind of school is best for you based on a variety of factors such as academic and social fit, financial aid considerations<\/a>, and your level of competitiveness. broaden your horizons beyond well-known universities and that state school that everyone ends up applying to \u2013 although sometimes that state school can end up being a really excellent deal<\/a>. as a proud graduate of a dinky school in iowa that most people have never heard of, i am beholden to share the benefits<\/a> of attending a small liberal arts college to those who otherwise might not be aware.<\/p>\n

in fact, i myself was very much set on applying to well-known research universities (because it was all i knew) and did not hear of grinnell college until i wikipedia\u2019d it on a whim after receiving an (unsolicited) email from the admissions office. upon discovering that grinnell had a strong reputation for social justice (which is what i was passionate about \u2013 see above point), i quickly went from \u201chow did you get my e-mail?\u201d to \u201cthank my lucky stars you spammed me!\u201d sometimes the best school for you can present itself to you in the unlikeliest of ways, so the biggest favor you can do for yourself during this exciting process is to stay open-minded and honest about what\u2019s best for you!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

when you ask the experts, they all seem to agree that for most students, five to eight colleges is enough to secure at least one acceptance letter, as long as you are smart about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[24874],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nhow many schools should i apply to? - magoosh blog | high school<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"when you ask the experts, they all seem to agree that for most students, five to eight colleges is enough to secure at least one acceptance letter, as long as you are smart about it.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/how-many-schools-should-i-apply-to\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"how many schools should i apply to?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"when you ask the experts, they all seem to agree that for most students, five to eight colleges is enough to secure at least one acceptance letter, as long as you are smart about it.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/how-many-schools-should-i-apply-to\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"magoosh blog | high school\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/magooshsat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-24t19:00:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-03-24t22:11:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/media2.giphy.com\/media\/impu4mes3ry8o\/200_s.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"anika manzoor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@magooshsat_act\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@magooshsat_act\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"anika manzoor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"article\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/how-many-schools-should-i-apply-to\/#article\",\"ispartof\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/how-many-schools-should-i-apply-to\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"anika manzoor\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/5efb1d4d282056e5d91f56740f655dd0\"},\"headline\":\"how many schools should i apply to?\",\"datepublished\":\"2016-03-24t19:00:23+00:00\",\"datemodified\":\"2016-03-24t22:11:13+00:00\",\"mainentityofpage\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/how-many-schools-should-i-apply-to\/\"},\"wordcount\":693,\"commentcount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#organization\"},\"articlesection\":[\"college admissions\"],\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\",\"potentialaction\":[{\"@type\":\"commentaction\",\"name\":\"comment\",\"target\":[\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/how-many-schools-should-i-apply-to\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"webpage\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/how-many-schools-should-i-apply-to\/\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/how-many-schools-should-i-apply-to\/\",\"name\":\"how many schools should i apply to? - magoosh blog | high school\",\"ispartof\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#website\"},\"datepublished\":\"2016-03-24t19:00:23+00:00\",\"datemodified\":\"2016-03-24t22:11:13+00:00\",\"description\":\"when you ask the experts, they all seem to agree that for most students, five to eight colleges is enough to secure at least one acceptance letter, as long as you are smart about it.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/how-many-schools-should-i-apply-to\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\",\"potentialaction\":[{\"@type\":\"readaction\",\"target\":[\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/how-many-schools-should-i-apply-to\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"breadcrumblist\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/how-many-schools-should-i-apply-to\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemlistelement\":[{\"@type\":\"listitem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"home\",\"item\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/\"},{\"@type\":\"listitem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"how many schools should i apply to?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"website\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#website\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/\",\"name\":\"magoosh blog | high school\",\"description\":\"act, sat, college admissions, life\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#organization\"},\"potentialaction\":[{\"@type\":\"searchaction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"entrypoint\",\"urltemplate\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\"},{\"@type\":\"organization\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#organization\",\"name\":\"magoosh\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"imageobject\",\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/files\/2019\/02\/magoosh-logo-purple-60h.png\",\"contenturl\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/files\/2019\/02\/magoosh-logo-purple-60h.png\",\"width\":265,\"height\":60,\"caption\":\"magoosh\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameas\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/magooshsat\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/magooshsat_act\"]},{\"@type\":\"person\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/5efb1d4d282056e5d91f56740f655dd0\",\"name\":\"anika manzoor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"imageobject\",\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/a905363542a5d5a2579a9d1458d37f95\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/78b3214bdc92ed073b96ccc35f8d82a0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contenturl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/78b3214bdc92ed073b96ccc35f8d82a0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"anika manzoor\"},\"description\":\"as one of magoosh\u2019s blog editors, anika relies on her nearly 20 years in education and youth leadership spaces to produce empowering, student-centered content across magoosh's blogs. anika has a ba from grinnell college and an mpp from harvard university. her experience includes serving two years as a fulbright english teaching assistant in malaysia, an sat tutor for kaplan, and currently, as the executive director of youth activism project, a nonprofit that she co-founded when she was 12 years old. anika's work has been featured in the washington post, the boston globe, and yahoo! money. she has also spoken at panels and given presentations at new york university and harvard university. if you'd like to keep up with anika, you can check out her linkedin, instagram, and twitter.\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/author\/anikamanzoor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ yoast seo premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"how many schools should i apply to? - magoosh blog | high school","description":"when you ask the experts, they all seem to agree that for most students, five to eight colleges is enough to secure at least one acceptance letter, as long as you are smart about it.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/how-many-schools-should-i-apply-to\/","og_locale":"en_us","og_type":"article","og_title":"how many schools should i apply to?","og_description":"when you ask the experts, they all seem to agree that for most students, five to eight colleges is enough to secure at least one acceptance letter, as long as you are smart about it.","og_url":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/how-many-schools-should-i-apply-to\/","og_site_name":"magoosh blog | high school","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/magooshsat\/","article_published_time":"2016-03-24t19:00:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-03-24t22:11:13+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/media2.giphy.com\/media\/impu4mes3ry8o\/200_s.gif"}],"author":"anika manzoor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@magooshsat_act","twitter_site":"@magooshsat_act","twitter_misc":{"written by":"anika manzoor","est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"article","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/how-many-schools-should-i-apply-to\/#article","ispartof":{"@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/how-many-schools-should-i-apply-to\/"},"author":{"name":"anika manzoor","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/5efb1d4d282056e5d91f56740f655dd0"},"headline":"how many schools should i apply to?","datepublished":"2016-03-24t19:00:23+00:00","datemodified":"2016-03-24t22:11:13+00:00","mainentityofpage":{"@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/how-many-schools-should-i-apply-to\/"},"wordcount":693,"commentcount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#organization"},"articlesection":["college admissions"],"inlanguage":"en-us","potentialaction":[{"@type":"commentaction","name":"comment","target":["\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/how-many-schools-should-i-apply-to\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"webpage","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/how-many-schools-should-i-apply-to\/","url":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/how-many-schools-should-i-apply-to\/","name":"how many schools should i apply to? - magoosh blog | high school","ispartof":{"@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#website"},"datepublished":"2016-03-24t19:00:23+00:00","datemodified":"2016-03-24t22:11:13+00:00","description":"when you ask the experts, they all seem to agree that for most students, five to eight colleges is enough to secure at least one acceptance letter, as long as you are smart about it.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/how-many-schools-should-i-apply-to\/#breadcrumb"},"inlanguage":"en-us","potentialaction":[{"@type":"readaction","target":["\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/how-many-schools-should-i-apply-to\/"]}]},{"@type":"breadcrumblist","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/how-many-schools-should-i-apply-to\/#breadcrumb","itemlistelement":[{"@type":"listitem","position":1,"name":"home","item":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/"},{"@type":"listitem","position":2,"name":"how many schools should i apply to?"}]},{"@type":"website","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#website","url":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/","name":"magoosh blog | high school","description":"act, sat, college admissions, life","publisher":{"@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#organization"},"potentialaction":[{"@type":"searchaction","target":{"@type":"entrypoint","urltemplate":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inlanguage":"en-us"},{"@type":"organization","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#organization","name":"magoosh","url":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/","logo":{"@type":"imageobject","inlanguage":"en-us","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/files\/2019\/02\/magoosh-logo-purple-60h.png","contenturl":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/files\/2019\/02\/magoosh-logo-purple-60h.png","width":265,"height":60,"caption":"magoosh"},"image":{"@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameas":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/magooshsat\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/magooshsat_act"]},{"@type":"person","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/5efb1d4d282056e5d91f56740f655dd0","name":"anika manzoor","image":{"@type":"imageobject","inlanguage":"en-us","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/a905363542a5d5a2579a9d1458d37f95","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/78b3214bdc92ed073b96ccc35f8d82a0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contenturl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/78b3214bdc92ed073b96ccc35f8d82a0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"anika manzoor"},"description":"as one of magoosh\u2019s blog editors, anika relies on her nearly 20 years in education and youth leadership spaces to produce empowering, student-centered content across magoosh's blogs. anika has a ba from grinnell college and an mpp from harvard university. her experience includes serving two years as a fulbright english teaching assistant in malaysia, an sat tutor for kaplan, and currently, as the executive director of youth activism project, a nonprofit that she co-founded when she was 12 years old. anika's work has been featured in the washington post, the boston globe, and yahoo! money. she has also spoken at panels and given presentations at new york university and harvard university. if you'd like to keep up with anika, you can check out her linkedin, instagram, and twitter.","url":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/author\/anikamanzoor\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":24874,"user_id":164,"is_guest":0,"slug":"anikamanzoor","display_name":"anika manzoor","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/78b3214bdc92ed073b96ccc35f8d82a0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"manzoor","first_name":"anika","description":"as one of magoosh\u2019s blog editors, anika relies on her nearly 20 years in education and youth leadership spaces to produce empowering, student-centered content across magoosh's blogs. anika has a ba from grinnell college and an mpp from harvard university. her experience includes serving two years as a fulbright english teaching assistant in malaysia, an sat tutor for kaplan, and currently, as the executive director of <a href=\"https:\/\/youthactivismproject.org\/whoweare\/about-the-team\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">youth activism project<\/a>, a nonprofit that she co-founded when she was 12 years old. anika's work has been featured in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/outlook\/2019\/03\/01\/why-children-have-such-powerful-moral-authority\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the washington post<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/metro\/globelocal\/2019\/06\/13\/how-chelsea-high-students-took-graduation-back\/ck8crrh0x1jixx1tt7p3pi\/story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the boston globe<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/money.yahoo.com\/raise-child-activist-224232037.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">yahoo! money<\/a>. she has also spoken at panels and given presentations at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tkrzxjdk2hg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">new york university<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/sici.hks.harvard.edu\/2018\/09\/04\/anika-manzoor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">harvard university<\/a>. if you'd like to keep up with anika, you can check out her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/anikamanzoor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">linkedin<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/_anika_humaira\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">instagram<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/_anika_humaira\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">twitter<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.anikamanzoor.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">personal website<\/a>."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6221"}],"collection":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6221"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=6221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}