What is the suggested number of schools to apply to?

I would suggest to only apply to schools that you absolutely see yourself at. Of course there should be a range of safety, target, and reach schools, but don't waste your time on applying for schools you ultimately don't want to go to. Nursing being a more competative major, that may require applying to more schools than average, but I think spending more time on making those few applications their absolute best will better pay off than 15+ applications.

Applying to colleges is really about what you think is right for you, despite what most people think. It's great to apply to a number of schools, but you should really research more schools, and if you already know what schools, the programs they have that particularly draw you in. They will usually ask you this in the supplements and it might be easy to make stuff up, but these admission officers have read tens of thousands of similar essays for years and definitely won't be fooled by a typical essay without any real substance or meaning. Make sure to take your time, at least an 15 minutes a day, to really think hard about it, and to use services like collegevine or collegeai to help find colleges that match your stats.