One of the most common questions that high school seniors ask is how many schools should they apply to? There’s no definitive answer. Some college counselors suggest twelve to fifteen schools, and some students apply to more than twenty schools. Most professionals, however, recommend that students apply to seven to nine schools. When picking a school, you should always research the school thoroughly before putting it down in your list. Thorough research will help you to know more about the school’s environment, student population, academic environment, and cost of tuition.

There are three categories to categorize the schools you want to apply to. The categories are reach, mid-range, and safety schools. On your list, you should have three reach schools, three mid-range schools, and three safety schools.

Reach schools are schools with highly selective admissions. Your grades and test scores are below the average student grades and test scores of these schools. But when you research the school’s admissions data, you realized that you have a possibility of getting into the school.

Mid-range schools are relatively selective schools. When you study the profiles of these schools, you find that your grades and test scores are equal to the average student grades and test scores of these schools. You feel pretty confident that you will get accepted to these schools.

Safety schools are schools that have average student grades and test scores below your grades and test scores. You feel very confident that you will definitely get accepted to these schools.