<p>Or safety?</p>
<p>If the school is in the top 10, I would say it’s too hard to judge b/c those schools look heavily at many other factors. If it’s a slightly less selective school, I would say it’s a match.</p>
<p>If it is a state school, I would most likely consider it a safety or match. Any top 20 school does not rely on SATs as much as you think - honestly, they could fill their classes multiple times over with people who have 2250+ on their SAT. For that very reason, someone with astronomically high test scores and a 2.7 GPA with one extracurricular will not be accepted into a top school. </p>
<p>For example, the 75th percentile SAT at Northwestern is a 2280; Chicago -2320; Duke - 2290. I got a 2300 on my SAT so I was essentially at the 75th percentile at all of these schools and within range at almost any school. I know a kid in my class who got a 2320 on his SAT, but he was an average student with a high intellect. As an all around applicant, he would not have been admitted to any of the top schools, but he went to a very good state school. I did not consider any of the schools I applied to as matches because that would be exhibiting some form of arrogance. I treated almost every school as a reach so that I would put as much effort into one application as another. </p>
<p>To repeat, tests scores do not matter as much as you think; there is a reason why a good amount of people at top schools do not even have 700s on one or more sections of their SAT - it is because scores are treated whether they are “within reason” more than anything else. Will poor scores hurt you? Yes. Will great scores help you? Yes to an extent. But there is so much more to an entire application than that to simply say that if you have x SAT score this college will be a match. That is the general rule for top schools. Go to collegeboard.com and peruse the SAT breakdown by section for some of the top schools - you would be surprised to find the results. Take a school like Stanford where roughly 33-42% of students have below a 700 on any given section. They value much more than scores so be very careful when you use the term “match” and “safety.”</p>
<p>A match at most top 50, still a reach at top 20.</p>
<p>If you’re an unhooked applicant at a top 50 school applying RD, a match. If you have a hook (URM, legacy, major donations, athlete, etc.), then it’s most likely a safety. For certain schools though (e.g. Stanford), it’s a reach for everybody no matter what your test scores are.</p>