<p>Georgetown, Tufts, UCLA and UC Berkeley should be viewed as reach.</p>
<p>Because she’s a California resident in the top 1% at her high school she’s assured of getting into at least one of the UCs, possibly Santa Barbara, and most certainly Riverside. In other words the UCs can be the safety. My sense is that even one of the lower UCs is as good as the two safeties on her list.</p>
<p>The notion that applying to a large number of very selective colleges to increase the chances of getting into at least one of them is rarely borne out by the reality of acceptance statistics. Those very selective colleges have somewhat similar ways of looking at candidates. It’s very dispiriting come April 1 to face a long list of denials.</p>
<p>The application process for each of the (private) reach colleges on your daughter’s list requires a great deal of effort. Essays matter and they cannot be easily reused. First semester senior grades also matter. So she may not have the time to prepare exceptional applications.</p>
<p>I agree with a previous post that American is a good addition to the list (as a Match). There are many smart students there.</p>