How Many Colleges Should You Apply To?
9-15. Exceptions do exist, but you likely are not one of them. Anyone who regularly advises domestic U.S. applicant to apply to over 20 colleges should reconsider their role as a guidance counselor or admissions consultant. Advising students to apply to 30 or 40 colleges is irresponsible—it borders on child abuse. On platforms like Reddit, I've seen individuals proudly declare they applied to 40 or more colleges, as if that’s proof of resiliency or an outstanding work ethic that should be emulated by others. In reality, that's sheer insanity. Even the most desperate international applicants aiming for computer science programs shouldn't approach such numbers.
If your goal is to attend an elite college, and you genuinely have the time to write essays for 25 or more elite institutions, then you likely have far more free time than any high school senior genuinely committed to extracurricular activities at the level expected by elite colleges. Additionally, seniors applying to elite colleges are expected to undertake the most rigorous course load of their high school careers during their senior year. Taking a lighter course load to allow time for applying to 20 or more elite colleges severely disadvantages you against applicants who apply to fewer schools but remain deeply engaged in their extracurricular activities and challenge themselves academically. It is simply a recipe for failure.
Even if you're exceptional, a U.S. Math Olympiad team member or competitive ISEF participant, with enough time to craft essays for 20+ unique elite college applications, you're still doing yourself a disservice by applying to more than 15 schools. No matter your achievements, someone equally compelling is always out there. Rather than stretching yourself thin by exceeding the Common App limit of 20 schools, you should concentrate on iteratively refining essays for the schools you genuinely care about, those whose faculty, traditions, and community you deeply understand and resonate with.
There's no such thing as a perfect essay. Looking back at essays we helped clients write that got them into Ivy League universities despite them already having received Bs in critical junior year classes, I always see areas for improvement. You too will notice this if you step away from your essays for a week and then revisit them. Investing your time in revising and refining is far better than rapidly completing essays, marking them as "done," and moving hastily onto the next set until you've exhausted your Common App quota, forcing you onto platforms like the Coalition App.
If you don't have the strongest applicant profile, the quality of your essays becomes even more crucial. Writing watered-down essays by treating college admissions like a slot machine at a casino, hoping that you can compensate for poor grades or lack luster extracurriculars through sheer volume of colleges you apply to, is also a recipe for disaster.
The real driver behind applying to over 20 colleges for most isn't ambition, intellect, or a passion for essay writing—it's fear. Specifically, it's the fear of universal rejection. Entering college admissions driven by fear sets you up for failure. Your best, strongest self won't emerge on paper if fear of rejection is your primary motivator. Students motivated by fear always lose to those driven by an unyielding vision or dream, unfazed by the admissions outcomes. It's these dream-driven students who gain acceptance into elite colleges, not the "try-hards" who scatter their efforts across dozens of applications.
Valid Exceptions:
International applicants who have guaranteed admission to their home country's top university may justifiably apply to 20 Common App schools, plus Georgetown, UCLA, and UC Berkeley if they seek elite U.S. universities. The acceptance rate for international applicants, even outstanding ones, is notably lower, making numerous applications a legitimate strategy.
Domestic South Asian applicants for computer science programs face extraordinarily competitive admissions standards. Even impeccable candidates have low acceptance odds at T20 programs. Thus, applying to many programs is a reasonable method to maximize admission chances.
In these scenarios, applying to many colleges is strategically sound because, no matter what an applicant did in high school, their chances of getting into a particular program remains low.
If you're a strong domestic applicant who hasn't made major mistakes, focusing thoroughly on completing 9-15 well-crafted applications is optimal. If you've encountered setbacks or missteps during high school, attempting to compensate for them by applying to more schools is counterproductive. Instead, be realistic and focus your efforts on institutions where you genuinely have a competitive shot, even if they're your local state universities with 60%, 70%, 80%, or 90%+ acceptance rates, and produce exceptional applications for those first. If time permits, then cautiously approach more selective institutions, prioritizing essay quality over quantity.
When you cap your number of applications, you naturally focus more deeply on the quality of your essays. You genuinely interrogate your motivations for applying and thoroughly research each college, exploring every relevant detail, from official websites to subreddits and College Confidential, to articulate how their unique offerings align perfectly with who you are. If you have fears about being rejected, capping the number of colleges you will apply to forces you to face those fears head on. In the process, that can be an opportunity for not only genuine personal growth, but to find something deep down within yourself, perhaps something you've only experienced faint hints of, and fully bring it to light by fleshing it out in your writing, the self which conquered their fears decisively. Finding that piece of yourself can put you in the headspace to write incredibly powerful essays that will impress admissions officers.
At Cosmic College Consulting, our clients approach the admissions process without fear. They are confident in their chosen colleges, their essays, and their interactions with faculty and admissions officers. If you're interested in experiencing this confidence and gaining admission to your dream school, schedule a complimentary consultation with an admissions expert today.
