Where Should You Apply?: Selectivity and Your College List

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Wise students distribute their college choices among three categories based on likelihood of admission. The first category is good-bet colleges, includes those where you are almost certain to be admitted. The next category is possible colleges which involves chances that can range from fairly likely to fifty-fifty to not too likely. It is the broadest of the categories. The final category is called  long-shot colleges which includes those where the college’s acceptance rate in conjunction with your own record makes admission unlikely but not impossible. These three categories correspond to popular terminology with which you may be more familiar: safety, target, and reach colleges. The terms—good-bet, possible, and long-shot colleges—more accurately capture the objective reality of admissions, rather than the scale of your hopes. Whatever the language used, the issue is selectivity, not quality. The problem is in confusing the two. Just because a school is a long shot doesn’t necessarily mean it is desirable for you. It is just popular and hard to get into.

How Long Should Your College List Be?

In general, it is a good idea to develop a college list with one to three good-bet colleges that you would be happy to attend. This is important: these have to be schools that you like, not just that you can get into. If you can’t find such schools, it means you are not looking hard enough. It is critical to spend significant time and energy selecting these colleges. Too often students select them as an afterthought, which can prove problematic if, at the end of the admissions process, it’s necessary to choose one of them. A good list of good-bet colleges is a crucial cushion in what can otherwise be a very uncertain process. Two to four possible colleges and two to three long-shot colleges can round out the final list.

These guidelines lead to college lists ranging in length from five to ten. But some students apply to fewer than five colleges (and they do just fine if they’ve chosen well and not picked all long shots), and others to twelve, fifteen, or even more if they are especially eager for acceptance at possible or long-shot colleges, or if they need substantial financial aid. Shorter lists are fine as long as they include at least one or two good bets that a student would be happy to attend. Longer lists add to the expense and time involved in applying, since so many colleges now have their own supplemental questions on the Common Application. So do your research and whittle the list down to a reasonable number. 

I wish I had applied to more “middle range” schools. I feel like I overshot on most of my schools and then didn’t like the others. - High school student in spring of senior year

Some high schools, private as well as public, limit the number of applications a student can file by restricting the number of counselor recommendations they are willing to send in for a single student. By limiting the number of recommendations it will send on a student’s behalf, a high school is telling students to research their choices carefully and to make each one count.