I just always thought everything would work out

That’s good. Reaches are called that for a reason.

Honestly, I don’t think that’s a good term. While there are reach schools for everyone, some schools in the RD round for unhooked applicants who haven’t done something amazing are so unrealistic, they should be called “near impossibles”.

It doesn’t help that all the unis at the very top take in relatively small classes, the US is a big country (I believe more than 2.5M HS graduates a year), roughly half their class is hooked and half or more come in through ED/SCEA, so an “average excellent” kid in an over represented demographic essentially has no chance.

It doesn’t say anything about you, how smart you are, how hard you work, etc. Don’t think that college admissions is a pure meritocracy because it isn’t.

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