<p>As you may be able to tell, I like to shoot high and have an abundance when it comes to reach schools. I do have a good amount of safety and matches, too. With that being said, is there anything wrong with shooting as high as possible? We have the money, and I figure if I want to go a school that I have an extremely low chance of being accepted into, why not try it?</p>
<p>“We have the money” and therefore that’s the justification you need to (possibly) just waste it? What if your 5’2" son told you that he wanted you to spend $20K for him to go to the NBA tryouts the summer after HS graduation b/c he wanted to ready himself for the draft? You’re rich so the $20K doesn’t really hurt your bottom line.</p>
<p>There’s aiming for a reach but there’s a point where adding money to the coffers of colleges foolishly versus adding extra to charitable giving or even spending it in your local economy is a better idea. It’s not as if a subpar app is just going to sneak by the admissions committee b/c half the group is asleep one day.</p>
<p>There’s nothing inherently wrong with being the child of someone wealthy. You should always act as a steward, however.</p>
<p>Applying to reach schools is not a lucky draw. It is more like an aggregated distribution. Applying to too many schools not only is expensive, it also would dilute your effort and affect the quality of essays. There are also a lot of follow up to do too.</p>
<p>You’d probably be better off saving all the application fees and putting them in an envelope to slip to an admissions officer at the school of your choice. You’d have better odds. @T64E4 is correct, subpar applications don’t just slip by because you happen to send a lot of them in and you get lucky - it just doesn’t work that way.</p>
<p>Too many kids seem to think “If I apply to 10 schools that accept 10% of applicants, I should probably get into one.”</p>
<p>Sadly, neither statistics nor college admissions actually work that way. Many of the kids accepted at one of those schools will be accepted at 3, 5, or even 7 of them.</p>
<p>As @billcsho said, it’s not a lucky draw. It’s not a lottery ticket.</p>
<p>Luck may be a factor, but it’s far from being the primary determining factor.</p>
<p>@DreamSchlDropout thank you for actually giving legitimate insight, it’s so rare on this website.</p>
<p>It really depends on how high you’re reaching. If your stats are below the fiftieth percentile, but not much below the 25th percentile, then there’s no harm. If you’re talking about the most selective colleges, and your stats fall well below the 25th percentile, then you are just making $75 contributions to the institutions that need it least. If you think that you have some unique accomplishments that would put you ahead of students with stronger stats, then anything is possible, but you should understand that those need to have drawn recognition beyond your school and immediate community. </p>
<p>@woogzmama that is very true, thanks so much.</p>