How Many Colleges Should You Apply To

More Students Are Applying to Dozens of Colleges, But Is That a Smart Strategy? With colleges receiving more applications than ever before and admissions rates dwindling each year, many college-bound students are deciding to hedge their bets and apply to as many schools as possible in order to secure sufficient offers of admission. Just this week it was reported that seniors at a New Jersey high school applied to, on average, 45 colleges each, with one student applying to as many as 70. There have been other reports of students applying to dozens of colleges  ­Ã¢â‚¬â€œ sometimes 30, 40, even 50. But is this really beneficial? How much is too much when it comes to college applications?The truth is, you can apply to too many colleges. Even the Common Application recognizes this, and only lets students apply to a maximum of 20 colleges. However, many students get around this by creating multiple Common Application accounts. But when it comes to making smart application choices, even 20 colleges is too many to apply to.So what’s the magic number? It varies for each student (which is why it’s important to have a good college counselor!), but at we advise students to apply to a maximum of 12-15 best-fit colleges. These colleges should be a mix of target, reach, and likely schools, any of which you’d be happy to attend.Why place a limit on the number of colleges students should apply to? When applying to college it’s important to do thorough research on the schools to which you’re applying. Students should become experts in each college, and it’s hard to learn everything you need to about a school in order to craft a compelling application if you’re also applying to 30 other institutions. In short – the higher the quantity of applications the lower their quality. You want a manageable college list in order to be able to do sufficient research and know that a school is a good-fit for you and how to properly articulate that in your essays.Speaking of essays, most colleges on the Common Appli cation have school-specific supplements, with additional questions and essays. Since each essay should be tailored to the school (again, this is where research is key!), a lot of time will be spent writing, editing, and revising essays. With 2-3 additional essays per school, this adds up to A LOT of writing if you’re applying to dozens of colleges.Even if you start all these applications in the summer, with such a high volume of colleges to apply to, all of this essay-writing will spill over into senior year – a time when students should really be focusing on their grades and extracurriculars. Theoretically, a student’s senior year should be the most academically challenging, and since colleges look for students to improve grades or maintain already high marks, it’s important not to let other things like excessive application essays take away from time that should be spent on current schoolwork.The college application process is already stressful enough w ithout adding a layer of additional, and sometimes unnecessary applications. Students shouldn’t apply to colleges they don’t intend to enroll in just to rack up acceptances. Not only does this create more application stress, it also takes spaces away from students who really want to attend that particular college. It can also get very expensive. Application fees are not cheap and only those who need them most are able to get application fee waivers.Instead, work with your online college counselor to build a small, balanced list of colleges that you really want to attend. Focus your energy on doing comprehensive research on these colleges, identifying the academic and social aspects of the school where you’d be a good-fit. If you start early and plan ahead, you can get a majority of your applications done before the start of senior year, leaving you time to focus on your senior year courses. A smart application strategy like this will leave you with some great ac ceptances come spring, without having to submit dozens of applications in the process.

Osama Bin Laden’s Leadership Essay - 825 Words

Osama Bin Laden's Leadership (Essay Sample) Content: OSAMA BIN LADENS LEADERSHIPNameSubjectDateOsama Bin laden had a consistent and very clear vision, which was to attack America. His reason was that America was an immoral nation full of alcohol, gambling and homosexuality. His mission was highly adopted by other terrorist groups, which expanded the mission to attacking local governments. Osama made an effort to moderate these groups. He achieved all this by his ability to communicate and exert influence upon his organization, its affiliates, and to the world at large. The fundamental rule in any communication effort is to understand the audience. Osama had taken this principle to heart for he regularly applied conceptual distinctions wherever he talked about the enemy. For his organization, the problem had to do with controlling a distributed, secretive and amorphous organization and directing everyone to a common goal. He instilled discipline and a code of conduct on his followers. This way it was easy to control t hem.One method Osama used to communicate and exert pressure to the world is buy using legitimation. Social legitimation involved having the communities in areas where his organization operated know his story, share his goals and support his efforts. Religious legitimation involved having the jihads efforts seen as acceptable under the Muslim teachings. Seizing on the symbols of Islams past greatness, Osama promised to restore peace to people who considered themselves victims of foreign masters. He used the religious allusions of the Quran. He appealed to the people who had been perplexed by change as they confronted globalization and modernity. He also stressed grievances shared in the Muslim world against the United States of America. This way he was able to diverge the attention of the Muslims into attacking the U.S. Despite his claims to universal leadership, Bin Laden had an extreme view of Islamic history. The view was designed to appeal mainly to Arabs and the Sunnis. He dr ew his ideas from the work of fundamentalists who blamed the eventual destruction of the Caliphate on leaders who abandoned the pure path of religious devotion. Osama repeatedly called on his followers to embrace the values of martyrdom since the oppression walls could only be demolished by a rain of bullets. He captured the attention of those who longing for a lost sense of order and offered his ideologies as an alternative to the existing uncertainty. To others he offered conspiracies to explain the world. Again, his videos posted online for the whole world to see illustrated the pragmatic complexity communication principles. One of these principles was deemphasizing control and embracing complexity. In the era Osama lived in, communication and reality were very complex. Communication is about creating meaning and different people will interpret something differently. Osama used this principle to acquire followers and sympathizers worldwide. Another principle was replacing repeti tion with variation. Repeating the same message regularly does not guarantee clarity. Instead, Osama changed tactics in presenting his communication and this helped him to adapt to the existing complex systems of communication. Again, Osama always considered disruptive moves. When an audience already has a response to your story, a change in story can go along way in disrupting their interpretation of your message. This will allow for new avenues of understanding. Osama also expected and planned for failure. He new that his message may not be understood as intended. He always used different strategies to disseminate his messages. This was to allow for testing, strengthen these strategies, and diminish the chances of failure. Osama pursued all his strategies by using public relations and the modern communication methods. He segmented audiences and adapted his message to the audience. He actually used the same public relations techniques used by big corporations of conducting disinfor mation campaigns and then coordinating operations with the communication. He managed to do this by using different means, which include traditional mass media among others. A three-step strategy Osama used was, First, he justified his organization by establishing its social and religious feasibility while engaging in violent acts that on its face seemed to violate the norms of civilized society and the doctrine of Islam. Second, he aimed to expand his organization by spreading messages to sympathizers in areas where he wanted his organization to expand. This helped to prepare the way for political efforts that pave the way to establishing actual operations. Third, he sought to intimidate his opponents . This applied ...