My D is only a junior but I can already see the disappointment coming next year amongst some of my closest friends. They have kids in the same HS and are have started their college visits. Their kids have very similar stats to mine and they all seem to be looking at reaches or as I call some of them “no chance in hell”. They think their kids stats align with the acceptance stats when they are barely in the 25% range and their rigor is one or two AP’s or honors. When they ask me why my D isn’t looking at higher ranked schools I simply say that we are trying to find somewhere she’ll be happy. Our HS is public but considered “prestigious” so they all think this is going to give them some big bump in admissions. From what I’ve heard it does help but it’s not going going to get you in if you are at or below the 25th percentile at any school.
Sometimes I get so frustrated with them because I feel like they are doing their kids such a disservice. One of them went on a spring break trip and saw 7 schools. I’d say 2 were a high match and the other 5 were compete reaches. Seemed like a complete waste of time to me but they somehow seem to think they are matches. I guess I just need to bite my tongue and worry about my own D. They are all successful college graduates but don’t seem to understand how the landscape has changed in the past 20-30 years at all. I’m sure my D will be rejected at some of her match schools and probably at any of her reaches (if she applies to any) but we’ll make sure she has somewhere that she’ll be happy to attend.
So I totally see where all the disappointed threads are coming from. Most of the parents & students I know are simply not doing their due diligence.