<p>I have asked CC about my chances MANY times, and the overall opinion was that Northwestern, U of Chicago, and Notre Dame were my "reach" schools.
Well, I managed to get into 2 of them. You can check my stats by clicking on my username.
Has this happened to anyone else? or am I just really really lucky? Is this supposed to happen?
So there is a point to applying to reach schools?</p>
<p>So far, I got into Michigan, my reach school, though some would argue that it was a match, i considered it a reach.</p>
<p>Reach doesn't mean you won't get in... And I don't get this whole culture of chance threads on cc. It's not as if adcoms will come on here to let you know; the students here really can't say for sure whether or not you'll get in.</p>
<p>Besides, I personally would argue that northwestern would be a reach for just about anyone.
For all of my 'reaches,' I'm qualified academically. But so is just about everyone else who applies.</p>
<p>i got into my reach school.</p>
<p>vc - I would say michigan is not your reach... don't bring yourself down.</p>
<p>As said, reach =/= you won't get in. It means the odds are against you. Reach is usually defined at 40% and below.</p>
<p>People said forget about Yale because I'm ranked 53/524 outside the top 10%. And I'm an Asian Male whose parents both went to college in Minnesota who is #5 on the school tennis team i.e. was definitely not recruited (though I do aspire to be Yale's starting Middle Linebacker).</p>
<p>In my mind, all "reach" means is that you're on the tail end of the first standard deviation of admits to a school. It doesn't mean that you're unlikely to get in, but it means that you're probably not in the creamy center of the admitted cohort at that particular school.</p>
<p>I see your point.
but i'm not saying that it's impossible to get into reach school but that it is pretty darn difficult.
No one (hopefully) believes 100% that the chance threads are accurate.
I knew my schools were reaches for me, and i'm just surprised at the results.</p>
<p>Well, remember that all any of us can really do is look at previous years' admitted cohorts, compare the "chancee" to that cohort, and try to figure out where that person would lie within a distribution.</p>
<p>Obviously, if a person is closer to one of the tails, then he/she is less likely to get into a school. That's all this is, really-- putting you in a distribution and applying labels such as "match, reach" etc.</p>
<p>of course there's a point in applying to reach schools, as long as you want to go to those places. I see a reach as in 1-30% chance ;)</p>
<p>OP: You applied to both Northwestern and UChicago? Whoa...two rather different schools, those are!</p>