<p>If you want to see how you match up for a particular school, you could read the thread where students indicate if they were accepted, deferred, waitlisted or denied for that school. Once you see the stats of those accepted vs. denied, you realize how difficult it can be to get into the very selective schools. </p>
<p>When someone asks about chances at schools that have single digit accept rates and most of the applicants highly qualified, what kind of answer does one expect? </p>
<p>I have to agree that some people on here are pretty harsh. I understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinion but that doesn’t give them the right to be rude and downright mean! 
Just because you’re online and anonymous doesn’t mean you should be nasty - everyone is in the same boat. Anyways, good luck to everyone who is awaiting a reply! 
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<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>
<p>Chancing is just cursory. However, it can be helpful. The vast majority of people who post here are motivated students who are qualified for the places they want to be chanced. </p>
<p>I don’t really think CC is too harsh. Yes, it can be harsh but it is better to expect to be rejected and get accepted than get one’s hopes up for nothing.</p>