Please explain terms like "low or high match," "low or high target," "reach" etc

College Search & Selection
1

I would love if folks here could enlighten me on how people define schools that fall into all these different categories when putting together a full list of schools for application. I’ve seen all sorts of terms here on CC, and I must admit that I can’t always discern the differences among some of these categories. I mean terms like true safety, low match, high match, target, low target, high target, low reach, high reach, etc. etc etc.

I’m helping my D17 put together as good an application plan as possible taking into account her various desires on what she wants out of an undergrad experience, how her stats correlate with good chances of admission as well as merit aid, what we can afford (considerably less than our supposed EFC), etc.

Thanks :slight_smile:

2

From most difficult to least difficult:

out of reach (do not bother applying)
high reach
low reach
high match
low match
safety (certain for admission and affordability)

Note that if a large enough merit scholarship is needed to be able to afford to attend the college (i.e. not affordable at list price or with need-based financial aid estimated from the net price calculator), the assessment should be based on the likelihood of getting the scholarship, not merely admission. A too-expensive school that may be a low match or safety for admission may be a high reach for a large enough merit scholarship, or even out of reach if large enough merit scholarships do not exist.

Note also that if the student wants a popular major, and the college admits by major or division, the assessment must account for whether the intended major is a more selective one than the college overall.

3

Thank you for your reply, @ucbalumnus. I’m still unclear how you distinguish a “low match” or “high match,” and same for reaches. I totally get the “out of reach” ones that neither she nor I want her applying to anyway, but isn’t a “match” a match? Is it that you line up all of the colleges you’re considering and rate them all on this grey scale? I would think the best idea would be to find potential colleges that fit into all the categories to cover all your bases…?

Your points about merit aid are spot-on – we’ve been putting merit aid into all of our calculations, just because we can’t afford sticker price at many/most schools where she’d be a good fit. She has a couple of "safeties,"so labeled because we’d be able to afford the full COA if absolutely necessary, but we’re not certain she’d be happy at them. (One we will be visiting next month & I’m really hoping it’s a good fit as it’s a great admissions and financial safety. I’m not sure what we’ll do if she despises it, which I don’t expect since that hasn’t been her style, but you never know. :wink: )

Thanks for all your guidance!

4

Lots of people do not try to distinguish between “high” and “low” reaches and matches.

5

Schools like HYPSM are high reaches for everyone. If your stats are not at least comfortably within the middle 50th percentile, don’t even bother applying, unless you are hooked. Your stats really should be in the 75th at a minimum to think of those colleges. A low reach might be a college with a sub-20% acceptance rate but your kid has stellar stats there. With match schools, your stats are probably well into the top of the middle fifty and probably above that, ideally into the 75th. What changes things a lot at this point is acceptance rates and what the college prioritizes. High matches probably have a 30% acceptance rate or lower and your stats are high, above the 75th. A low match means your stats are definitely well up there, above the 50th and heading towards the 75th percentile, and maybe the acceptance rate is a little higher, like getting towards 35% and above. Safety schools will have acceptance rates closer to 50% and your stats will be very high. There are many variations and no hard and fast rules. It’s probably easiest to just stick to reach/match/safety:-)

Many colleges that might be considered matches or safeties don’t like it when students don’t express interest. My D was accepted to a college where her stats were in the 90th percentile, but saw scattergrams that showed kids with even higher stats were denied. Colleges need to meet their yield, and they don’t want to admit kids they think won’t attend. D was WLed at a college which should have been a match. She was called off the WL, but this demostrates the need for a balanced list. I think that 8-10 is a good number to apply to, but again, this can vary depending on the colleges your kid likes. Does he love the college with a 60% acceptance rate, and are his stats high there? Then maybe he only needs to apply to a few schools. If his list is reach-heavy, he will need to apply to more.

So many factors come into play, such as essays, recs, ECs. Of course, it is a little different at many public universities where the most important criteria are definitely grades and test scores. Even then, there can be uncertainty depending on the major your kid applies to, or if he/she applies as an OOS student. Were the essay and teacher recs poor? That is never going to help, at private or public colleges.

Grades are King. Above all, your child should always aim for the best grades he can get. Test scores are also very important, and can be really helpful if a student has slightly low grades, especially at public or less selective colleges. Having said that, if your child thinks a high test score will make up for a lot of Cs, they might be in for a rude awakening. Then throw the test-optional colleges into the mix, where grades will be paramount, along with very good teacher recs and strong involvement in ECs.

Probably more info than you needed, but hopefully you have a better idea now.

6

Thanks, @Lindagaf, your breaking it down for me (especially with the low and high matches) actually helps a lot. So far for my D17, I’m feeling like she has some good matches (low and high) and very good potential at some to get good merit aid. That financial piece is going to be key for us - like for many! She’s only been able to visit some of these, though we’re trying to add some more visits in September and October, hopefully. I’d love if she felt really good fits at the admission AND financial match schools. :slight_smile:

Thanks

7

These are not absolute categories. They are relative categories VERSUS the student.

What’s a safety for one student may be a reach for another.

For merit aid, aim for schools where your D’s stats place her well above the school’s 75th percentile. To find a school’s stats, google “Common Data Set <>”, and look in Section C.

8

Yes, thank you @PrimeMeridian – that’s what we’ve been doing. Sometimes where she falls with her GPA is slightly lower than where her ACT score places her, but the ones we’re feeling are her best bet for high enough merit aid are where both of those are at or above their 75% mark. Still, we’re prepared for anything since there are often surprises and mysteries of school decision-making that we’re not privy to.

Thanks again

9

What does “hooked” mean?

10

^ Recruited athlete, URM, legacy, large donor parents, very famous parents.

11

Thanks, @“Erin’s Dad”.

12

Harvard was a match for the daughter of POTUS for example.

13

I look at them like this:

High Reach: 0-5% chance of getting in
Reach: 5-15%
Low Reach: 15-25%
High Match: 25-40%
Match: 40-60%
Low Match: 60-90%
Safety: >90%

Generally speaking: the lower the acceptance rate, and the higher the average GPA and test scores of admits, the harder it is to get into that school.

14

I echo the be careful mantra when it comes to college admissions. In 2013-14, my daughter applied to a whopping 17 colleges out of an abundance of caution… 4 safeties, 4 matches, 3 low reaches and 6 high reaches, but she was ultimately rejected by 12 out of the 17 schools. She was only accepted to her 4 safeties and one match.

She had created a matrix to determine where her stats correlated with every school on her list, and then came to consider certain schools matches based on such, but with so many applicants these days, being in the 75% or better is still not a guarantee. Everyone has to self-evaluate of course. But if you are simply a well-qualified, over-achieving non-URM with no definitive hook to assist your admissions chances, then beware and tread lightly. You may need to apply to more schools or apply early somewhere to gain an assured admit.

So assume nothing and leave yourself options. Just keep in mind that when an elite college accepts 5-9%, they are also then rejecting 91-95% of all applicants. Even an elite college accepting 30% is then rejecting 70%. And many of those failed applicants had good reason to believe that they would be accepted too. But with so many seniors applying to 10 or more schools and each elite school receiving 25K+ applications (some receive 50K+ and one even received 80K+), the chances of securing that coveted “golden ticket” keep going down.

Good luck…

15

@TomSrOfBoston , surely Harvard was a safety for her? :slight_smile:

@“Erin’s Dad” , is being a legacy a hook these days? I thought that was pretty much a dinosaur now.

16

@Lindagaf Well, maybe a low match LOL

17

Should be “getting in and being able to afford to attend” (i.e. with sufficient scholarships and/or financial aid if one cannot pay list price). Being admitted but without enough scholarships and/or financial aid is equivalent to being rejected.

0% is out of reach and not worth the bother of applying.

18

Depends on the school. But even if it is at a given school, it is probably a much smaller one than the big donor, famous person, or recruited athlete ones.

19

@Lindagaf @“Erin’s Dad” I think each school has its own way to handle legacy. At our alma mater, I know that the legacy kids are put in a separate pile if they aren’t put in the initial acceptance pile. Then, after the acceptance pile is viewed as a whole, they go through the legacy file if they need to fill holes in diversity (this diversity could be anything from ECs to interests to intended major).

So, these kids basically get a second read. I’ve also heard that they’ve taken kids from this legacy pile to replace some kids in their accepted pile once they can see the class more clearly. This being said, MANY legacies are denied. Have to have the high scores like everyone else. Plenty of legacies apply with very competitive apps.

We have a friend in admissions who is willing to share. :wink:

20

@ucbalumnus re: 16

Of course. I tell kids repeatedly that they need to be able to afford – without too much debt – each school to which they apply.

That way they won’t get stuck with the heartbreaking situation of being admitted to a school they’d really like to attend but cannot afford.

Regarding the 0% chance – I’m not sure there’s ever a 0% chance if a kid applies. Maybe 0.00001%, but miracles occasionally happen in admissions. Maybe I should change the “high reach” range from 0-5% to 0.00001% to 5%. :wink: