Why a College-Bound Student Should Apply to at Least 10 Colleges

1. Your student's chances of getting in are improved. The chances are good of getting into some college, but your choice of a right-fit college must consider these critical elements: location, costs, major, costs, size, costs, academics, and costs. The more right-fit colleges you apply to, the better your chances of getting accepted.

2. More financial aid is available. By contrast imagine a student who applies to 5 colleges: at best the student gets maybe 2 decent offers, each of which will be different. That means you only have 2 buckets of money (read: discounts) to pick from. On the other hand, if you have 4 buckets to pick from, that's doubling your buckets which makes your choice more attractive and easier.

3. You're in control. College marketing strategies are very good at making you think they are in control. The fewer colleges you apply to means the more control you have given to the application process; the more colleges you apply to means the more control you have: you have a far greater variety of options that you don't have with fewer colleges.

4. Take an offensive posture. No, I don't mean that you ought to be nasty, but to take the attitude that you don't need any one particular college as the be-all and end-all; that's a dangerous approach to selecting colleges. Just as you don't need any one particular college to meet life's challenges and survive, having ten to choose from makes the choosing of a college on your terms, not on someone else's. This is taking real ownership of the process, something admission people love to see in an applicant.

5. Reduce your stress. This is the ultimate emotional objective, isn't it? Your student may not have to do more paperwork: with the popularity of the Common App, your student can apply to many schools with only one application.

6. You're in the driver's seat. Contrary to what you continue to hear, despite the rising cost of college, it's always a buyer's market when you INCREASE the amount of your college applications. Applying to only 4 or 5 colleges can prove to be a very expensive exercise because you're limiting your choices. Consider your choice of colleges like you would a choice of cars on a dealer's parking lot. There are many makes and models to choose from, and in the case of colleges, you have the pick of 4,000 colleges.

Instead of the "Less is more" formula, go for "More is more."

Colleges loathe the fact that you're reading this. They'll claim that I'm adding to the problem of college admissions - making it harder to get admitted because so many more applications are being submitted. Cold fact for me to live with: there aren't a lot of people reading this. At least not yet. The fact is...colleges don't like the increased work load, and besides, for what they are gouging you for in costs, do you really care what these colleges think?

Paul Lloyd Hemphill is the web's Video College Coach, and he specializes in designing, marketing, packaging and selling a student to a college by using the very same techniques colleges use to design, market, package ans sell their services to unsuspecting students. Visit his website: http://www.videocollegecoach.com