Over the last few years, college and universities all across America have received applications in record breaking numbers. These numbers can be interpreted as every high school senior’s increasing desire to obtain a higher education, which is great because isn’t that why we have higher institutions of learning in every state? But these record-setting numbers can be also interpreted as a small percentage of high school seniors are applying to more schools than is necessary. While having a lot of options of colleges is great, sometimes less is more.
Usually, counselors tell their students to fill out around five to eight applications. But still, about twelve percent of high school seniors submit more than 8 applications, and some apply as many as 20 schools, according to collegeboard.com. Twenty applications are a bit much for me because the fact is these applications are not easiest things to make. Students have to write essays for each application and additionally just the effort to fill out around 10 applications can be quite challenging.
Students who are thinking about applying to over 10 colleges should narrow their lists down and research their colleges more precisely, because it only make sense to apply to colleges that you would fit in academically, socially and geographically. These admission officers made their applications hard enough to entice only the ones that really want to go there.
Also, college applications are pretty expensive. The fee for applying is quite high, each one around 40-50 bucks. Plus, you have to also send SAT or ACT scores and your high school transcripts to your selected colleges, and although they are not as expensive as the application fee, adding that to the application price will be a pretty hefty application fee. The more colleges a student wants to apply to, the more the money that student has to spend. Think about this: let’s say a student applies to around 8 schools and application fees are averaged around 60 bucks: you are spending around $500 to get into some schools that maybe you had no chance of going to even if you were admitted.
College applications are like makeup for women: sometimes less is more. The amount of money and the effort you save from doing those college applications might be actually more than what you save from GEICO in 15 minutes.