As students in high school go into their senior year academics become increasingly important. Between AP classes, extra curriculars and family involvement there never seems to be enough time to get everything done. Yet with college it is very important to make sure all your applications are properly filled out, your essays are edited and your recommendations are turned in. On top of all of these very important things there is one decision you have to make before all of these things—how many schools should you apply to?

Many students who are unprepared will end up applying to college last minute. These students are likely to use the Common App and just click on as many random schools as possible. Although applying to a numerous amount of schools is smart, you shouldn’t apply to random schools. By applying to random schools you’re not only less likely to get in, but you may also miss important requirements that specific schools have for their application. Therefore you are also decreasing your chances of acceptance into these schools so you are practically throwing away money.

Many things play into choosing a college. You need to look at the college’s location, academic difficulty and social life. It is important to choose somewhere that you will fit in and be happy for the next four years. Blake Graves (12) believes that “San Diego State University is a great fit for him academically and socially,” which is why he applied there in the first place. By doing this you should also be able to narrow your list of schools to apply to. This is very important considering each college application is $75-100, depending on the school, so why pay money to apply to a school you wouldn’t want to go to?

Some students have received criticism due to their choice to apply to as many as twenty colleges. Although this is a bit excessive, there is nothing wrong with a student choosing to apply to this many colleges since they paid the fees and completed the applications. One of these students, Michael Brown, received full rides to all of the twenty colleges which he applied to. Fox news discussed his case and voiced their opinions that his choice to apply to so many schools is wrong due to the fact that he can only accept one of these full ride scholarships and in turn he is taking away scholarships from 19 other students. This analysis of his situation is completely unfair since he earned the scholarships, paid the application fees and completed the application so it was his right to apply to as many colleges as he wished to.

When you are deciding which, and how many, colleges to apply to make sure to take into consideration your future on that campus. This will help you decide and potentially save you money. If you are like Michael Brown and can get into any school, feel free to apply to twenty schools, but remember that eventually you will have to select only one.