<p>What is CTCL?</p>
<p>Colleges that change lives
ctcl.org
A group of liberal arts colleges with three tiers of selectivity and a focus on residential undergraduate education.</p>
<p>I have to agree CC is a wonderful resource, although you need to be selective. I try to response as much as I can to counter balance those random nonsense misleading posts. ;)</p>
<p>Honestly, I never had a first college choice and I still really don’t even though I got accepted into most of my reaches. But thats a combination of my kinda low esteem and the fact that I thought it’d be better to not get attached to certain colleges (whether they be reaches, matches or even safeties) in case I didn’t get in. </p>
<p>But I definitely had at least 4 matches out of the 12 I applied to and when I hadn’t heard back from my reaches yet, I was already deciding in between a safety and a match I’d gotten into, and I was perfectly content to choose between them. But then I got accepted into my reaches and now I’m deciding between them. I wasn’t surprised I didn’t get into Stanford, but I was surprised I got into my other reaches. </p>
<p>So I think it’s just a matter of expectations. Now I know this is slightly pessimistic but it kinda helps to have lower expectations so that you’ll apply for matches and safeties instead of thinking they’re not good enough schools to apply to. And it makes you happier when you’re accepted into a match than if you had higher expectations. </p>
<p>^agree completely. And doing a very careful search for matches can turn up several wonderful schools that one might not find if one is looking only for reaches/safeties. A match may offer the right combination of challenge and opportunities that safeties do not offer, while not being as daunting as reaches. </p>
<p>I needed a big chunk of merit aid to afford college, so I applied to almost all matches and safeties. I was also very conservative with designating “matches” and “safeties,” so several of the colleges I applied to as MERIT matches were probably admissions safeties. My first choice was a match with ~40% acceptance rate. I was accepted with a generous scholarship and now I’m beyond thrilled to be attending next fall. Your dream college doesn’t need to be a reach!</p>
<p>^ Agree. My D has decided to go the in state flagship instead of a school even though the cost difference is minimal. Also one thing I have heard over and over again her is a safety school should be one that has high chance for admission, affordable, and one will go to it (if there is no better alternative). It sounds reasonable for all 3 criteria until one day I suddenly realize the last point is actually nonsense. Why would one apply to any school (may it be safety, match, or reach) that one would not want to attend at all?</p>
<p>I agree that matches should be where a student targets a large percentage of their applications provided that they are waiting for decisions until April. My son took a slightly different approach. He applied in September and October to a safety will rolling admissions, a match with an early application process (Michigan) and an ED reach (Penn-Wharton). Once he was accepted into his safety and match he narrowed his additional applications only to reaches. He planned on applying in December to HYPS, Cornell, Duke and Georgetown. Luckily he was accepted into his ED choice and the remaining applications were shelved. </p>
<p>^This approach works if you prefer only your reaches over your match/safety.</p>
<p>One college blog I read a while back compares the idea of reaches/matches/safeties to crushes. The lottery ticket reach (or a school you’re simply not qualified for) is your celebrity crush-- nice to dream about but nearly impossible. The reach is the cute older brother of your best friend-- possible but unlikely. The match is your best friend-- the one who you really like, and everyone knows the two of you will get together eventually. The safety is the guy who’s been in love with you for months-- you like him fine, but maybe not in that way.</p>
<p>It’s an imperfect analogy, of course, but a good way of explaining the importance of matches.</p>
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<p>Seems like there are a lot of students posting here who are very disappointed at getting into only their undesirable safety (or only being able to afford their undesirable safety) that they apparently just threw in at the last minute because they got fixated on dream school reaches and spent no time finding a safety that they liked.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus
That is like someone going to get drown and try to grab on whatever they can without much thinking. Obvious, the safety school may be the least favorable one on the list, but it should still be a feasible one. And one need to at least plan for it from the very beginning.</p>