<p>It shows Yale as a match for me. I mean Ivies aren't matches for anyone right ? Everyother Ivy (except Cornell) is a reach for me. Aren't Harvard and Princeton in the same league ?</p>
<p>Also it shows colleges such as Georgetown a reach for me.</p>
<p>That thing doesn't seem to be at all accurate. I read on this board that someone recommended looking at the matches it gives you as reaches, and the safeties as matches. Seems about right to me. Many of the schools that supposedly match my D are outright reaches.</p>
<p>I wouldn't say it's accurate. Called Cornell a match for me...I have 1390/2180 SAT and 3.20/4.12 GPA. Sure, my SAT is around their median, but my GPA is that of a slacker, lol..</p>
<p>It can give you a general idea, but they are rather generous with assigning schools as matches.</p>
<p>It gives you a pretty decent idea. Just about right for me. I have a 3.9 UW, great ECs, community service, etc. Reaches were Princeton, Brown, Stanford, and WashUinSTL. I was a little suprised to see Harvard as a match. </p>
<p>Taynanubin: I really disagree with you. I think that some of the matches might be reaches but a lot of my matches were really safteys and none of my safteys were even close to matches.</p>
<p>I think it is decent for finding schools that you might be interested in but a lot of the schools are really poorly assigned as a "fit". It called Gettysberg College a Good Fit for me. I wanted a college with 5000+ students, I didn't list Virginia, picked a lot of sports teams they didn't have, majors they didnt have, etc. etc.</p>
<p>Matt, apparently it "takes off points" for these selections and doesn't completely eliminate the other choices.</p>
<p>Umm, Matt, Gettysburg is in Pennsylvania...</p>
<p>On Cornell, be careful. Statistics dragged down by contract schools, Agriculture & Life Sciences, Industrial & Labor Relatins and Human Ecology. Hotel school's stats also trail. If you are going for Engineering or a liberal arts degree (or sciences in the Arts & Science College), your SAT's and gpa need to be as high as at any Ivy.</p>
<p>The schools that it selected for me as matches and reaches seemed to be pretty reasonable, IMHO. Do your own research though and move them around. I'm a little more conservative about my chances at some schools than it was. It provides a generally good idea but it's not the silver bullet of your college search.</p>
<p>It seems very scattershot. I just went in and changed my D's stats...lowered them a lot. It didn't seem to make much of a difference.</p>
<p>That thing is useless.......trust me.</p>
<p>It doesn't take GPA into account at all. I got Dartmouth as a good match w/ a 3.4 GPA so I got curious and changed my GPA to a 2.2. Still a good match, when it should have been a high reach from the beginning. Also, political leaning of the campus isn't considered. All things considered however, Counselor-O-Matic is vastly superior to the college board's college finder.</p>
<p>redcrimblue: i know it is, i was looking at the UVA boards earlier so Virginia just spilled out</p>
<p>I actually had the same question. The Counselor-o-matic also showed Yale as a match for me, with most of the other ivies as reaches. I think it might have had something to do with my activities and preferences more matching the social atmosphere of Yale...but maybe not.</p>
<p>It definitely doesn't work for schools, like Yale, that didn't report their average high school GPA. The top line under "Is it a fit" shows you that Yale didn't give them a number, so they can't compare GPAs.</p>
<p>Well.....it gave my son a match at Bryn Mawr, which is a women's college.....so.....</p>
<p>There is a much better site, but I can't quote it here because apparently you can't do that here.</p>
<p>So Cowbell, how did they "know" that Yale is a match for me ?</p>
<p>Do they just base it on the rigor of the classes I take (I put down hardest including APs - which is true) ?</p>
<p>The Counselor-O-Matic said Gettysburg was a good match for me. I got into Columbia ED and was chosen for their scholars program.</p>
<p>What it told me was completely absurd. It said Wellesley was a reach. And Wellesley was a SAFETY for me, according to my counselor.</p>
<p>It's way too limited. Doesn't take into account ECs, character, difficulty of school, etc.</p>
<p>Obviously it is not perfect, but it gives you a general area to start with so you can visit/research schools, especially if you have no idea where you want to go. THAT is the intended purpose.</p>
<p>My son asked me the other day if you are supposed to use your weighted or uw gpa. Does anyone know? If you don't use the weighted how does the matching system account for it?</p>
<p>
I second that opinion. The more I asked for NON-religious schools, the more religious the list became.</p>