<p>I love that my daughter applied to several 'reach schools'. The risk is the disappointment of the likely "No" but that's hopefully balanced by the slim chance that the Reach says "YES!". The sentiment in November was nothing-ventured-nothing-gained and it's a terrific approach to this process. A few safeties, a few reaches, and the rest as likely schools. Good plan.</p>
<p>She understood this waaaay back in November when she made her list of colleges. (Is it just me or does November seem like it was forever ago?) She understood that, by definition, her reach schools were statistically likely to say no. I'm sure many of you also made your college lists with similar strategies.</p>
<p>You fire off your apps and then the waiting begins. During the months of waiting you begin to learn more and more about your reaches. A million people have asked you where you applied and dialog ensues. The reach schools start becoming more real. Somewhere along the way they become less 'maybe' and more 'oh jeez, I want this'. The bummer is that your chances of getting in don't change throughout this entire process but your expectations rise.</p>
<p>If SC was in the 'reach' category for you too, then it might be helpful to reset your expectations to what they were way back when you filed your application.</p>
<p>No matter the outcome with any of your reach schools, you'll be left with the satisfying thought that you tried for them all. I'm happy that my daughter did it this way and I'm glad you did too!</p>
<p>Best,
Wheaty</p>
<p>PS. No mail AGAIN in my L.A. mailbox! Grrrrr.</p>
<p>Thank you Wheaty.
I don’t understand the concept of a “reach” school. Does that mean you would not be in their ACT/SAT midrange? Or that you’d be in the lower part of the midrange…? I can’t determine which schools are reaches for me.</p>
<p>jack, there are quite a few sites that will actually calculate if a school is safe, target, or reach for you. You enter some data, including but not limited to the test scores they do the calculation. Idk how accurate. According to the calculation, USC is 72% chance for me. will see.</p>
<p>Yeah but none of those are accurate since usually better achieving kids use them, and most compare you to the other kids that use the program and what they self-report. People can lie about scores, exaggerate, put in their “goal” score to see chances that way, and most students do not report when they get denied. So, honestly, that is a bad way of determining your chances. It would be like chancing yourself based on what people writing on CC. Most people here have VERY high scores and tend only to post admissions and wait lists, not rejections. So it clearly would not be very accurate.</p>
<p>jack - those programs use freshman profile statistics to give you your target/reach/chance/etc. The only things that might be skewed are the charts that compare you to the other applicants on the site, and even those are probably not too far off.</p>
<p>When people asked where she was applying, my daughter refused to name her reach or her match schools - she would only mention the safeties (which she LOVED, btw) that had already accepted her. That way she figured she wouldn’t have to publicly deal with rejection (if any).</p>
<p>Even if any of you (or your child) aren’t admitted, I always like to think there will always be a little bit of “Trojan” in everyone who spent time on this forum. There is so much support and encouragement (and comedy) here!</p>
<p>dreamupsided0wn
maybe the ones you pay for, but the most popular one: <a href=“http://www”>www</a>. my chances. net says it compares you based on other students on that site. Which sites are you guys referring to specifically?</p>
<p>I’m going to guess that that censored link is for collegep rowler… I think what they mean is that the little charts that show who else is applying are other students on the side, but they give you a rating based on the school’s data too.</p>
<p>no i fixed the link. it was for mychances. a lot of kids at my school use that but it really does not seem accurate AT ALL if you look at how they determine your chances. but im going to try the ones you suggested and compare the two now</p>
<p>Okay so according to this one I have a 78% at Georgetown and a 68% at USC…I find this doubtful. I also have only a 60% at Michigan where I already got accepted and a 52% chance at UCLA where I got rejected…</p>
<p>is that for prow? try collegedata, I thought that one was the most accurate.</p>
<p>if you think about it, those percentages could be pretty close… for UCLA it said 50/50 basically and being an OOS student probably lowered that… and maybe you did only have a 60% chance at Michigan, but that doesn’t mean they’d reject you.</p>
<p>Well I guess the Michigan I understand but I don’t think it’s possible to have a higher chance at Georgetown then USC. Georgetown is very very selective. USC is as well, but I don’t think more then Georgetown. And as selective as Georgetown may be, I would think Cornell is even more so. Even if not, I don’t believe a more then 50% chance at ANY of those schools (gtown, usc, cornell).</p>
<p>Yeah I tried collegedata and it only gives you a spectrum. I’m in the “middle” area from schools like UT and Michigan to schools like Cornell and Duke… this is why I don’t find any of this accurate haha.</p>