admission to school..applying to only first choice or to several schools?

Regarding the admission to the schools students may have different plans.A few students apply for admission to their first choice school only while others apply to several schools.I prefer the second plan to apply to several schools.This is because of two reasons.First,application to several schools guarantees admission to any one of the choice and second, this helps to compare educational standards of the schools.

If we are applying to only one school it doesnt guarantee the admission even for highly qualified students.The admission requirements of the universities varies.It may be based on academic qualification or may be based on exams like GRE and TOEFL scores. So for students who are applying only to their first choice school , it is not necessary to get admission because of several reasons like lack of number of seats available.Thus applying to several schools helps the student to get admission to one of the school they have applied and also helps to save time and trouble they may pose if not getting admission to the first choice school they have applied.

Another reason to apply to several schools is the opportunity to learn the different standards and the educational options available during the application process.There may be several advantages for a particular school over the other.For example grants ,scholarships,research assistance may be available for an institution at the time of application process which may be informed only during the communication with the school officials.These unpublished advantages are obtained only while contacting the several schools which may not be available with the first choice school.

Therefore during admission I will apply to more than two or more schools.If I am getting admission to the first choice school I will be happy or even if I am getting admission to the second or third choice schools I will be satisfied with that.