When is enough, enough?

[ngower81]

Okay, so as I said in a previous post, I am just getting warmed-up for the circus that will be fall 2009 application submissions. I know many of you have just made your decisions on where to go for fall 2008, so I thought this was a perfect time to get some input. How many applications did you all send out? I'm looking into English Lit PhD programs, and I've got 18 schools on my "interested in" list, which I know is too many (if I'm going to get rejected from 15, I'm probably going to get rejected from 18), but I just want to give myself as many options as possible. When is enough, enough? I guess, to make this unweildy post a little more managable:

How many schools did you apply to?

What kind of variety? (i.e. 3 long shots, 3 safety schools, 4 moderate . . . etc.)

How many offers did you receive?

Of those offers, how many were funded?

Just trying to get a grip on how to narrow my list . . . or if I should.

[bobwhoops]

I think a good amount is:

2-3 reach schools

3-4 in your range schools

1-2 safety schools

It's probably overkill to apply to more than 10 schools.

Though it really depends on what kind of applicant you think you are. For instance, if you think you have a good shot of getting into a top tier school, then you probably ought to send more than 3 to them. But if it really is a long shot, and you think the chances of you getting accepted to a reach school are low, then 2 would be enough.

I sent out 4 applications to top tier schools and 3 to almost but not quite top tier schools. I was accepted to 1/4 top schools, and 3/3 for the others. All of them were funded (though I am in the sciences, so funding tends to be better)

[rising_star]

Application quality will decline once you get above 12, I think. It's a competitive field (English Lit) so I'd make every application as great as you can. Plus there's the expense. Each application will cost you $50-100 once you add in transcripts, GRE scores, mailing things, and the application fees. How much can you reasonably afford to spend?

[luvalicious]

How many schools did you apply to? 3

What kind of variety? (i.e. 3 long shots, 3 safety schools, 4 moderate . . . etc.) Hm, at the time I felt that all 3 were long shots; all were top, competitive programs.

How many offers did you receive? 3

Of those offers, how many were funded? 3 fully-funded (tuition, stipend, health insurance)

My initial list had about fifteen schools on it, but I was very selective (maybe overly so), considering that although I got my BA at a good liberal arts college, I was at that time in a MA program at a state university of little prestige in my field. In short, I knew I was applying to schools that were somewhat out of my league, but I took the risk. Things I used to pare down my list were funding, rank, the number of professors I would be interested in working with, size of the department, graduate placement at the types of institutions I'd like to work at when I'm finished, length of time to complete the degree, geographic location, and factors about where the schools were located - cost of living, public transportation, that sort of thing. All of the schools I applied to gave fee waivers for the application process as well, which wasn't really a huge factor but didn't hurt.

This ranking tool http://graduate-school.phds.org/also came in handy,for helping me prioritize what I wanted.

[4givn1]

It really depends on how competitive your discipline is and how competitive you are.

I didn't do the whole safety-regular-reach thing because there were very few schools with faculty with interest/experience in my specialization of interest. So I applied to every school I could find (eight) where the faculty member(s) could possibly take me on regardless of tier or level. They weren't the highest ranked (probably third or second tier). I don't know where my qualifications would have otherwise put me, but I did what I could. I also had pretty much no time to do well on my apps.

I got on one waitlist and never got off, got directly admitted to one (which could only offer every new student half of a typical assistantship), and one off a waitlist which offered me more, and also a better fit.

[engguy]

18's definitely too many. Had a friend who applied to that many and only got into one w/ full funding -- at least partially, I think, because his app's ended up being so diluted by how many statements he had to write etc. Not to mention that he spent I think $2000 on all the fees and sending scores and postage.

I applied to eight. There was only one that I felt was a super-reach, and I didn't get in there; only one safety -- and I barely got in there :!:

All three of the schools that I really wanted to get into, I did -- again, I think, partially because I really took the time to investigate their programs and write a very focused statement for those schools. Then, of course, that led to a terribly difficult decision to make, which I gather was the case for many folks here. That's yet another reason to sort of narrow it down before you get started.

(Both my friend and I, btw, were applying to PhD lit/english programs.)

Best of luck.

[ngower81]

Thanks for all your help/advice everyone! Yes, I know 18 is way too many. And I know I am merely being paranoid. I think I have a great profile, so I just want my applications to be as strong as possible. I've already narrowed my list down to 12 . . . so I'm making progress. I have given myself a goal of getting down to 10 . . . and I don't think 10 is an outrageous number of apps to send out. Again, thanks for your help everyone.

[Minnesotan]

12 might be better with the predictions of an even larger applicant pool next year. Just make sure you gather as much information as possible from websites, potential advisers, and persons from outside the program before writing your statements. "Fit" really makes the application.

[Quarex]

Thank goodness there is always the one guy who comes in to disagree with everyone else!

I applied to 27 schools, and got into 8, with decent-to-great funding from three. My situation was likely completely different from yours, however; English Literature bachelor's degree (though I guess we can relate there), Criminal Justice master's degree, applying to Political Science and Public Policy programs. In other words, I, and all of my thesis committee, really had absolutely no way to predict how likely I was to be accepted anywhere at all, let alone to any particular programs. I only had the vaguest idea of what constituted a "reach" or "safety" school, as all schools seemed like a reach to me. That said, I knew I was clearly not going to get into an Ivy League school (which did not stop me from trying!). As for the cost, yeah, I had to ask for my parents to make my Christmas present "helping me finish paying for all these applications."

That said, I did get into two pretty well-ranked affairs/policy programs--though ultimately decided that political science was the field for me, and they were not political science programs, so I went with the best program for me.

So, to recap: 27 applications --> 8 admissions --> 3 funded offers. 1/9th of my applications came back as something you would define as "good investments." Hey, sounds like those 18 schools might not be too many after all! Really, though, I do think Rising_Star has a good point about application quality declining. That said, I genuinely did nothing else from September to December other than work on my applications, and if you have that kind of time on your hands, it is doable. Also, if you have neither a great nor a terrible application (not sure how yours is), it may actually be a better idea to apply to as many as you can stand, since the application process really is incredibly random. My best funding offer came from a school ranked better than several that did not even admit me.

[smellie]

I applied to 10 schools, humanities program.

6: reach schools

2: in range schools

2: safety schools

I ended up getting into 1 range school and 1 safety school, with full funding from the range school and partial from the safety. I know I applied to waay too many reach schools, but heck, why not.

[catchermiscount]

I'm in much the same boat - all of the professors in my subdiscipline have left my department, so I'll be leaving after completing the MA. Perhaps because of this diaspora, I've been considering a very broad class of programs - like you, somewhere around 15 to 20. I don't want to apply to more than about 10, but I also don't want to sell a potentially good program short by eliminating them at the wrong time.

Obviously, we both need to whittle the list a bit. I've spent the last few days making Excel spreadsheets with all of the characteristics of the 20 or so schools I had on my original list. The spreadsheet includes basic stuff like admission statistics and rankings, but it also has four columns for faculty I'd like to work with. It's amazing how fast the schools begin to stratify themselves when you look at potential advisors all at once like that. At school X, there are only three faculty I'd really like to work with, but they're all amazing in my very narrow field. On the other hand, at school Y, there are a bunch of people, but none that really stick out like at school X. So, some schools are better in my "Prof 1" column than others...and since I'm wary of putting all my eggs into one fickle professor's basket, I'm really concerned with the top three professors at each school.

Here's hoping we get to manageability soon! Good luck.