<p>I know what a reach is, but I'm not sure if I've got down the difference between a match and a safety. Is it a safety only if you're at or above the 75th %ile?</p>
<p>Son's SATs are 740 CR; 690 math. Here are some examples: </p>
<p>School 1 50th %ile is 560-670 CR and 580-670 math. (% accepted: 76%)
This should be a safety, right? </p>
<p>School 2 50th %ile is 530-690 CR and 540-690 math. (% accepted: 76%) Is this a match because Son's math score is within the 50th %ile? </p>
<p>School 3 50th %ile is 650-760 CR and 680-780 math. (% accepted 24%)
I'd assume this is a reach, even without the low admit rate, right? </p>
<p>I know that GPA and other things are important. I'm just trying to figure out where we stand as far as test scores are concerned.</p>
<p>Match/Safety/Reach is pretty subjective anyway, but a true safety should be somewhere that he's virtually guarenteed at getting in and that you can also pay for. For example, an instate school with automatic admissions for his GPA/SAT or something like that. That doesn't mean you shouldn't apply to other safties where you aren't as assured at getting in (for school 1 I'd say he'd almost defineately get in all other things being equal, but is that "almost" something you want to face without an automatic admission in your back pocket?) so yes, it'd be a safety.</p>
<p>also -- a safety school should be a school where the acceptance rate is over 50%. for instance, even a student with a perfect SAT score (which would be in the top 25% of accepted applicants) can't count the University of Chicago as a safety since the admissions rate is 38%.</p>
<p>As chuy said, admission should be virtually guaranteed (some schools will list scores/GPA/class requirements on their website to let you know). The student should like the safety and be willing to attend, parents should be able to afford it.</p>
<p>Given your assumptions that everything else is good, and judging only by test scores, I'd say School 1 is a safety. If your son isn't interested in studying science and his background shows that he's clearly a humanities/social sciences kid, I'd even call School 2 a safety given its high admit rate. School 3 is a reach based on its low acceptance rate, even if his scores were in the 75th percentile.</p>
<p>Automatic admits are not available in all states to schools that kids would like to attend (in our state, automatic admits as by chuy are available only at community colleges).</p>
<p>What do you make of the schools that have relatively low academic requirements, but fairly low admit rates? Consider Baylor, for example.
Their SAT 50th %ile is 540-650 CR and 560-660 math. Based on that alone, I'd say that a 740/690 would be a safety. BUT, their acceptance rate is only 43%. </p>
<p>Is that because so many people with scores below 540 are applying?</p>