<p>Rather than asking for “chances”, which who really knows what the chances are, it makes much more sense to ask if a student has a good mix of safety, match, and reach schools. Again, no one can know for sure, we’re not the admissions officers, but rather than tell a student they don’t have a snowball’s chance in he double hockey sticks, isn’t it better to ask about a list and hear the list is heavy on reaches? Ultimately the same message, but couched in gentler terms. But then again, if someone thinks folks on this forum can truly tell them the % chance of their getting into Harvard, they’re taking their chances on responses.</p>