Applying to colleges is obviously a big part of being a senior in high school. However, many students struggle with an essential part of the college applications process: deciding how many colleges is the appropriate number to apply to.
There is no magic number, but six to eight applications are generally enough to guarantee that a student is accepted into an institution of their choice. The number should be made up of a combination of “safety,” “range” and “reach” schools.

Even if a student has a suitable number of colleges on a list, those are not necessarily the best choices for him/her. Each college a student plans to apply to should be thoroughly researched either online or by visiting the campus.

One of the most important things to look for is whether or not the colleges of a student’s choice have the courses and programs that they want to study. Other important aspects to look for when applying to colleges are a student’s financial needs and whether or not it fits the academic/social needs and interests of the student.

Quite a few students tend to apply to way too many colleges, sometimes up to 15. First of all, each application process costs around $50. If a student applies to 15 schools, his/her whole applications process cost would come out to be around $750. Now that is a lot of money to spend on just college applications. Secondly, once you get that acceptance letter, you have even less time to make a choice.

Students need to figure out what they need and want during the applications process. They should then apply to six or seven schools, at the most, which offer them what they’re looking for. Forget about trying to get as many acceptances as possible to places that don’t speak to you. When April comes and you need to decide where you’re going to school, you’ll be glad you followed this piece of advice.