How many colleges do most students who want to get in top school applied?
gibby
December 25, 2018, 9:19pm
2
Students should apply to a balanced list of colleges: Safety, Match/Target and Reach. Even if you are a 4.0 GPA high school student with perfect test scores, you need to consider HYPSM et al a reach school. If you apply to 2 or 4 colleges in each category, that’s minimum of 6 to 12 colleges . This from a blog on the topic:
In basic terms, a safety school is one where you are almost positive you would be admitted based on your academic profile. Your GPA and test scores will be notably higher than their average admitted student.
A **match school/b is one where you feel reasonably certain you’d be admitted because your GPA and test scores are similar to the average admitted student.
A **reach school/b is one where your academic profile puts you at the lower end of their admitted student spectrum—or perhaps even below. It is less likely that you will be admitted. However, a reach school should still be within the realm of possibility. If your academic profile is lightyears away from the average admitted student, it’s generally not worth the time or money to apply. This isn’t to say you shouldn’t stretch yourself in your college search and application process—you definitely should. You just don’t want to put all your eggs in one ivy-lined basket, if you know what I mean.