I recently sat down to interview Evan Forster, college and graduate consultant at Forster-Thomas inc. and author of The MBA Reality Check (Penguin / Prentice Hall, due out April 6, 2010).  Here are his views….

(1) How many schools should the typical student apply to?

In my opinion, a great number is eight. Two reach schools, four targets, and two safeties. The two reach are your dream schools, where chances of acceptance is low. Your four target schools are “even money” (a 50% chance). Your two safeties are a sure thing. But here’s the most important part—all eight schools should be places where you would be excited to go: they meet your academic, geographical, extracurricular, and cultural criteria (whatever they be), and most importantly, you should be excited to go there.

It simply doesn’t matter where you get in if you won’t be happy for the next four years. It’s got to be your choice, not what your parents, teachers, or guidance counselors are excited about. For example, if you’re into school spirit and the big Friday night, you won’t thrive at an artsy school like Bennington—not matter how highly ranked it is. The highest-ranked school you get into is not necessarily the one you’ll be happiest at. Take it from me: I ended up going to preppy Northwestern when I may have been happier in the lower-ranked but much more “downtown” NYU.

(2) Should students always try to apply early?  Does the answer depend on whether the student is applying early action or early decision?

I say yes: Early Decision can give you an edge, because you’re telling the school that you absolutely will go. So, unless you’re very dependent on financial aid, apply Early Decision. Of course, by the time the Early Decision deadline rolls around, you should be completely certain that you will be happy at that institution. Early Decision means you have legally bound yourself to attend if accepted. There’s no do-overs.

You’re wasting the edge that Early Decision gives you, however, if you choose a ‘far reach’ as your Early Decision school. Your stats should fall somewhere in at least the middle 50 percent, if not slightly higher. All too often, students come to me hoping to get into the University of Pennsylvania, for example, when their chances are less than none. They say, ‘Well, I just want to give it a shot.’ But there are many competitive schools you might want to attend that, while still a reach for you, are within the realm of reality—but now you’ve thrown away the edge that Early Decision gives you by shooting for the stars when you could have had the moon.

Early Action is a whole other game; you still get an edge but you’re not locked in. However, make sure you know the Early Action rules of any particular school. Some schools have “single choice” Early Action programs; you’re not allowed to apply to any other schools, whether Early Action or Early Decision.

Note: For low-income students, I always caution against Early Decision. Remember, if you get into that school, you’re locked in—even if they give you a really bad financial aid package. You might have gotten a full ride somewhere else.  (Note that I have known ED schools to renegotiate, so be sure to look before you leap!)

(3) Should a student try to distribute his SAT subject tests among very different topics?  In other words, does it look bad to do subject tests only in math and science?

The answer is a big old “no.” This question has its roots in the same old myth that has been haunting college applicants since my father applied. According to one former Dartmouth admissions counselor, “We want to see a kid who is strong in a specific area. That’s what makes him a compelling candidate, much more so than a student who is ‘pretty good’ across the board. Better to have strengths and edges.”

Good schools are looking for a well-rounded class, not well-rounded applicants. Science, engineering, and business majors have such specific course requirements that there is not much room left to take many liberal arts classes outside the core curriculum. So if math and science are your thing, focus on those SAT II’s. If language arts is your strong suit, be the person who brings that expertise to the student body.

(4) What’s up with Score Choice?  Is it worth bothering with?

Right now, Score Choice is a hot mess, and not all it’s cracked up to be. Score Choice, a fee-based (as in pay mo’ money) method by which you can instruct College Board to disclose only selected overall SAT scores, is intended to relieve stress by decreasing the risk of taking the test multiple times. Score Choice allows you to reveal only the SAT scores you are most proud of. In theory, you can effectively ditch your bad scores. However, you have to hide an entire test taken on a specific date; you can’t only hide a specific date’s poor math score, for example.

Score Choice is almost always going to be a waste of money, however, because it’s not even necessary.

Most schools practice something called “super scoring”—that means they look at all the SAT tests you’ve taken, pick the highest individual math, critical reasoning, and writing scores from your different test dates to create a “single” super score. (In fact, for many select schools, this arithmetic is done before an admissions officer ever even sees your application. The best three scores have already been calculated by the time the admissions officer sees your packet.) The Super Score is what they use when considering the standardized-test aspect of your candidacy. For those schools, Score Choice is meaningless—and, in my opinion, and that of many of my colleagues, a simple revenue-enhancer for the College Board. (For example, when I recently met with a Cornell admissions officer, he rolled his eyes when I mentioned Score Choice. “What’s the point?” he asked. “We super-score anyway.”)

So, what about the schools that don’t super-score?  Does Score Choice work for them? Not necessarily. Many schools’ applications require that you allow them to see all of your test results, whether you shelled out for Score Choice or not

That’s why Score Choice is a big hot mess. Thanks, College Board, for throwing this wrench into the gears and increasing everybody’s stress level. Isn’t that what you were trying to avoid in the first place?

(By the way, as of September 2009, Harvard and the University of Chicago were the only two highly selective schools that accepted Score Choice.)

(5) If a student’s SAT scores are below the average for a given school, should she refrain from applying?

Absolutely not! By definition, every school’s population has to have a “bottom 10 percent” (it’s impossible to count to 10 without starting at 1). So how do you get into a school if you’re in the bottom 10 percent? That’s where “fit” comes in: Schools will sometimes take stats-weak applicants if they perfectly fit the profile otherwise. For example, if you’re an award-winning creative writer but you’re not an A student, you may be more competitive than you think at a top writing-intensive school like Sarah Lawrence. In other words, you have to really stand out in another area of your candidacy. After all, who do you think plays football at Harvard?

(6) If a student’s SAT scores are above the average for a given school, should she refrain from applying?

No, you need at least a couple of safety schools. And if you are a perfect match, such as that writer applying to Sarah Lawrence—which doesn’t even require the SAT, by the way—then SAT scores may not matter much to you.

(7) What is the maximum number of times a student should take the SAT?

Three seems to be the magic number. It’s not uncommon for the best of my students to bomb the SAT on the first time out. Like any competitive situation, the first time you find yourself faced with actual event, your nerves take over and you don’t give your top performance. The second time is generally when most students do their best. You are familiar with the lay of the land—the timing of the sections, the actual test center environment, the unknown.

If you’ve done all you can, really studied to the best of your ability, and can honestly say “I gave it my all,” then chances are you’re not going to significantly raise your score to make studying all over again worth it. Your time is better spent working on your essays and doing well in school.  But if you didn’t do as well as you possibly could have, and found yourself making a lot of excuses—out loud or in your own head—like “my SAT tutor sucked,” “I didn’t have time because of my job,“ or just plain know that you really could’ve worked harder—and now you actually will—then yes, you are a candidate for taking the SAT a third time.

(8) Is the PSAT an important test for admissions?

Not to the admissions office, but it will give you a rough indication of which areas you need to bolster. It also determines National Merit Scholarships.

(9) What’s the most important thing most students fail to do when it comes to applying?

The biggest mistake a student makes is saying what they think a school wants to hear instead of figuring out what he or she wants to say—what makes you you. Don’t try to second-guess what you think the admissions committee wants to hear. As I’ve said, they want a well-rounded class filled with diversity—diversity of all kinds, including the way you think and what you believe.

By being strategic and trying to figure out how you can sound like the symbol of the class profile, you’re sanding off any edges in your voice/candidacy that make you memorable and interesting. If you want to be remembered, don’t do an impersonation of someone else—like the guy you think they are looking for.  At best, you’ll be remembered for your impersonation, and at worst, you’ll be remembered as an impersonator. None of these is preferable to being remembered as someone with his or her own opinion and voice, someone comfortable in his or her own skin—someone who will be a leader or scholar of consequence.

(10) Are admissions officers impressed by the 500, 600, 700, and 800 “psychological thresholds”?  In other words, is the psychological difference between a 580 and a 590 smaller than the psychological difference between a 590 and a 600?

Higher scores are always better. Certainly “psychological thresholds” make a difference when you’re talking about a large spread, such as that between a 500 and a 550, or the hundred-point spread between a 600 and a 700. But is it worth chasing an extra ten points? Not if that takes away from studying from your chemistry AP. Too often, students and their parents get wrapped up in what I call “chasing a number.”

Think of it as a cost-benefit analysis—what’s the cost for the benefit you’re getting? If you’ve already got all your SAT II’s out of the way, and you want to raise your SAT I from a 1950 to a 2000, then go for it. If you’re still studying for your subject tests or need to concentrate on raising your GPA, however, it’s not a good use of your time to chase that 2000.

In my opinion, in either of these situations, you should be spending your free time beefing up your leadership profile, or at the very least, watching Glee. After all, everyone needs to recharge his or her batteries with a little down time. Forgo the extra 50 points unless you know you can raise your score or if you’ve got all the time in the world to achieve it.

(11) Are admissions officers impressed by the 2000 “psychological threshold”?  That is, is the difference between a 1980 and a 1990 smaller than the difference between a 1990 and a 2000?

At first glance, yes. Upon closer examination, here’s what good admissions officers do. They break it down by section. If you have a real imbalance in your scores, you may want to address that by retaking the test and beefing up your weakest section.

Still, I get this question all the time. The other day, a father asked me if his daughter should try to increase her overall score by 100 points, from 1760 to 1860. I told him, if the 100 points is going to come by raising her 530 math score to a 630, in line with her other two sections, then great. Go for it.

This also of course depends on the school you’re applying to and your area of academic interest. If you’re applying to an engineering program, for example, your math score may be more important than your critical reasoning. On the other hand, if you already have a really strong math score, it’s certainly going to distinguish you to a Carnegie Mellon if you can also demonstrate strong verbal skills.