I applied to 19 schools out of my initial list of 31 (!!!). I'm far from the perfect applicant and consequently thought I should cast a wide net. However, in arriving at the final 19, I decided to go for broke and apply to top schools, which will likely bite me in the ass in the end. At present I'm working in a field that I really like (non-profit fine arts, working with kids), so I figured I would apply to only the places that I would be really, truly excited about, enough to up and leave this job. Don't get me wrong, grad school is what I really want to do (I completed my MA in English last semester; initially took this job just to pay the bills during the writing of my thesis). So, I guess my answer is 19. Honestly, I don't have my hopes up, given the climate this season. If schools that would normally have an incoming cohort of, say, 12-15 are downsizing.....However well qualified I and my professors think I am, it's really hard to fathom my app poking its head above the 10 or so superstars who may be applying to the same schools. That said, I'm not giving up til the bitter end. And if it doesn't work out this go round, there's always next year!