For many years, when high school seniors typically applied to a handful of colleges, it was relatively easy for schools to calculate how many students would accept their offer of admission. But with many students applying to 10, 15 or even more schools, it's tough for admissions officers to accurately predict how many will show up on campus.

Students reserve a spot in the freshman class by sending an enrollment deposit by May 1, and as of last month UC Davis had received 1,000 more deposits than anticipated. This creates a housing shortage, and some freshmen will be tripling up in double rooms. The university is adding additional class sections, but it may be tough to get into popular courses.

Even after the May 1 notification deadline, admissions officers at many colleges are uncertain about the size of the freshmen class because of double deposits. Students who are not ready to make a commitment sometimes wait until after summer orientation programs to make a final decision about which college they wish to attend. Some schools are more forgiving than others, but I have heard of cases where a student's admission offer is withdrawn if colleges find out they've sent deposits to more than one school.

But it's not just colleges that lose out when students don't play by the rules. If a school doesn't have a firm count, students who might have been pulled off the wait-list can be left hanging all summer or never get an offer. Since the chance of being admitted from a wait-list is often very small, students are advised to send a deposit to another school. It is perfectly acceptable to then accept a wait-list offer if it comes later, though the first deposit will be forfeited.

As May 1 approached, several of my students felt torn between two colleges. I reassured them that any decision would be the right one because they had made sure that all the schools they applied to would be good matches. Yes, the experience of attending Stanford or Columbia would be quite different, but the student who was deciding between them would be successful and find much to love at either school.

Another student had visited Loyola Marymount University and Elon University several times, and could picture himself on both campuses, making his decision a win-win proposition.

The act of making a commitment helps people grow, and students who learn to make a decision are gaining skills that will serve them well in life. A few years from now, they may need to decide between two attractive job offers. It's not possible to know every detail about what each job or each college will be like. Sometimes you just have to make a choice based on the information you have, and if it doesn't turn out well, then you make changes later.

This new trend of students figuring they can apply everywhere, and will learn more about the schools after they know where they've been accepted, does not serve them well. They may think this strategy will protect them from the pain of rejection, but it can actually lead to more rejection, because if students haven't carefully researched a college, they are less likely to present the kind of thorough application that will get them accepted.

Students who are proactive about clarifying what kind of schools would be good matches can focus their search and they won't need to apply to 15 or 20

colleges. By approaching the application process in a thoughtful way, they are more likely to make satisfying choices.

Audrey Kahane, MS, is a private college admissions counselor in West Hills. She can be reached at (818) 704-7545 or at audreykahane@earthlink.net.