Finalizing Your List of Colleges

Before the start of senior year, you should finalize the list of colleges to which you will apply.

When you're finalizing your list of colleges, you should:

Decide How Many Colleges to Apply to

Our experts recommend applying to four to eight colleges. Fiske has some guidelines to help you decide how many colleges to apply to.

Understand Your Chances of Acceptance

Make sure you include of mix of reach, good chance, and safety schools in your final list of colleges.

Figure Out When You Will Apply

There are several different types of admission—Early Decision, Early Action, Restricted Early Action, Regular, Rolling. You need to decide if you will apply early admission to any school on your list. To find more information about admission time frames, please see Before You Start in the Applying section.