number of applications

[yoga3]

Hi all:

Just wondering: how many applications did you submit? I applied to 8 (PhD programs), and thought it was a decent number, but now I'm nervous. I was talking to a PhD student today about my applications, and she thought I should have applied to more...and so now I'm sweating a little bit. I picked my 8 very carefully (I'm an MA student and have had a chance to try out different graduate classes to find out what I really like), but now I'm worried. (I know it's too late to do anything, but you know how it goes!)

Thanks!

[SmallFishBigAquarium]

You only need to get into one place, so 8 should be more than fine if you picked them well.

I applied to all programs where I found a very good overlap with faculty research interests. It ended up being 13 departments. But if it had been eight, I would have applied to eight. In a way, it depends on how specialized your research interests are.

I think it would have been a waste of money if you had applied to programs even though you knew you would not be a very excellent fit there. More likely than not, those programs would have rejected you anyway.

[flatcoat]

Don't listen to people trying to scare you. Eight is a very acceptable number. I only applied to 3! Basically I see it this way: if you have a strong application, you'll get into at least one of the 8, probably more (and if you're an MA student already chances are your app is strong). If you have a weak application, you wouldn't get into any schools, no matter how many you applied to. I have a friend who applied to 7 schools and was rejected from all because his application wasn't great (which he knew at the time and freely admits).

[CatallaxisOfEvil]

I also applied to only three. Though I am starting to wish I'd tried a few more on the basis of the law of big numbers... hmm. I mean, you apply to 20 places you'd have to be pretty unlucky not to have ANYTHING bounce back.

I think my main concern was tasking my reference writers with too much bureaucratic nonsense.

[natofone]

just have them send submit once to interfolio and you send them all

[CatallaxisOfEvil]

What a clever idea...

[flatcoat]

I also applied to only three. Though I am starting to wish I'd tried a few more on the basis of the law of big numbers... hmm. I mean, you apply to 20 places you'd have to be pretty unlucky not to have ANYTHING bounce back.

I think my main concern was tasking my reference writers with too much bureaucratic nonsense.

Yeah, I hear you. I study a somewhat rare topic and want to attend school in a specific region of the country so there weren't many places to choose from. But now I wish I had applied to places I don't really want to go to just so I'd have word from one school by now. I know I'll hear in a couple weeks, but like everyone else, I'm having serious difficulties dealing with the waiting.

[CopperBoom]

Very well said. I am too having "serious" difficulty with this waiting period. I heard from one school and it is a rejection. Thanks to this site, I can share my anxiety.

Good Luck

[biginternational]

Maybe we should consider what our propensity for applying to high numbers of programs does to complicate the admissions process, what with a lot of departments within a particular tier / specialization sifting through a similar pool of candidates and (likely) making offers to many of the same qualified individuals, then waiting for those offers to be accepted or denied before filling the ranks with a second or third round of selections. Obviously no one wishes to compromise their chances for the sake of exercising a little moderation, but com'on, submitting 12-20 apps is ridiculous. No one should feel the need to carpet bomb the length and breadth of the higher ed universe in order to get a feel for whether they're qualifed to do grad work. This could be done a lot quicker and simpler.

[oscarwildebeest]

I selected 8 schools pretty carefully. In retrospect, I can think of at least one that I should have probably not applied to based on program match, but I think the other 7 were solid choices. And I didn't apply anywhere if I couldn't say "if this was my only choice, would I be happy going?"

[andrewc2005]

One.