How many applications is too many?

[sokratis]

Hiya everyone!

Those of who who have already applied to grad school in philosophy (or are planning your applications), how many schools did you apply to (or are planning to apply to)? And, those of you who've already gone through the process, would you change the total number of schools you applied to in hindsight?

I have a list of 18-23 schools I'd like to apply to. I've looked at each program in detail and each has faculty I'd love to work with. I'm also fortunate in that I can afford to apply to that range. My main hesitation regards my letter-writers: do you think it's inappropriate to ask my referees to submit so many letters of reference?

[nęm0]

Tell your refferences how many school you plan to apply. If they dont want to submit that many, find yourself other refferences.

[platonetsocrate]

I applied to 23. I got 6 acceptances and 3 waitlists, the rest rejections. So, yeah, I definitely would apply to as many as possible, provided each school you apply to is one you'd be happy to attend. The one I am going to attend is one that if I had narrowed my list more, I wouldn't have applied to (because it felt like a long shot in terms of whether i could get in, not because it wasn't a good fit - it is the BEST fit). My letter writers were happy to do it but I met with them beforehand and showed them the list and talked over my decision about whether to apply to all of them or not. They were all supportive about my decision to apply so widely. As in, they agreed that given the competitiveness of admissions, it was best to apply to as many as I could afford.

[PolPhil]

I'll be applying this upcoming cycle, but it's worth mentioning that my letter-writers have been extremely supportive of my plan to apply to 18 programs. They all understand the basic logic: more applications = higher chance of admission. I will be using Interfolio to cut down on their work (after all, they're doing me a big favor with the letters themselves, as well as looking over all my app materials). If you can afford to use Interfolio (it's not that expensive anyway), maybe that's something you should consider. Not all programs accept Interfolio recommendations, but it will probably cut your letter-writers' work in half

[PolPhil]

33 minutes ago, platonetsocrate said:

I applied to 23. I got 6 acceptances and 3 waitlists, the rest rejections. So, yeah, I definitely would apply to as many as possible, provided each school you apply to is one you'd be happy to attend. The one I am going to attend is one that if I had narrowed my list more, I wouldn't have applied to (because it felt like a long shot in terms of whether i could get in, not because it wasn't a good fit - it is the BEST fit). My letter writers were happy to do it but I met with them beforehand and showed them the list and talked over my decision about whether to apply to all of them or not. They were all supportive about my decision to apply so widely. As in, they agreed that given the competitiveness of admissions, it was best to apply to as many as I could afford.

Congrats on getting in!

[Marcus_Aurelius]

I applied to 13. Given that I was applying for Ancient programs specifically, it was the right number (a program weaker than those in Ancient wouldn't be particularly helpful for a specialist in that subfield). If your interests are such that most/more strong programs would be a good fit, go for it, as platonetsocrate and PolPhil mention. As they note as well, involve your advisors in the decision.

[Olórin]

It’s really up to you. I applied to 6 programs because there were only 6 programs I wanted to go to. If I didn’t get in, I would have done something else with my life.

If I was adamant that even a bad fit would be better than nothing, I would have applied to a lot more programs, probably in the vicinity of 15-18. 

Your letter writers might roll their eyes if you apply to more than 20, but they’re used to it. Schools that use interfolio will make the work easier for them (as others say above).