When I applied to colleges, I applied to 11 schools. All the applications were regular applications. The main reason behind that is that I didnt really know a lot about the process and didnt know how the other options (early decision or early action) could affect the final outcome of getting into college. Looking back at it now I would have most definitely applied early decision or early action to some school. I dont know if your counselor told you about how to split up the colleges you are applying to, but this is how my counselor taught me. You divide the total amount of colleges you are planning to apply to into three categories. Reach schools, good match schools, and safety schools.
The reach schools are schools where you would like to be accepted to but dont quite make the admission criteria that they want to achieve. It is a long shot, but if you are certain that it would be a great school to attend you should apply. Please bear in mind that those high standards probably mean that that is what will be expected of you if you will be admitted there. You have to take into consideration if you are going to be up for the extra work or not, and if you decide that it is not for you, then you better not apply at all to that college and save the $50 for the application fee.
The good match schools are schools that you fall in the middle of the application pool and have a pretty good chance of getting accepted. It is not 100% certain that you will get in but your chances are good enough that you can expect to get in most of the times.
A safety school is a school that you know for sure that you are going to get in. It is a school where you place near the top end of the application pool and combined with a great essay will ensure your acceptance. With the stress of applying to colleges getting a few admission letters will make you feel a lot better. Trust me. I know.
So then what to do, you ask. The thing about early decision is that it is binding and one can back out of the binding agreement of early decision if accepted only if the financial aid offered is not enough. Early action is not binding so on the first look it seems like the better option. In my talk recently with one of the professors, I found out that even if you apply early decision to a school, it probably wont do anything about it because of the media response it will get about it. I dont really know what to think about this. It is a risk. I havent looked that much into this but if you really want to get into a school, do some research on this matter and if you really apply to reach school the chances that you get into both schools with the early decision and get enough financial aid are pretty slim.
Good luck. Dont worry, you are bound to get in somewhere.
