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<p>You can’t, without SAT scores. You need to take it in May or June (and SAT IIs!). Only then can you make a solid list.</p>
<p>Exactly I am planning on taking the SAT May 1st ans the SAT IIs in June. I am taking the Math 1, Chemistry, and English SAT II because I want to go to an Engineering Program.</p>
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<p>Basically, that’s about right. However, it’s a little misleading to say that a reach is a school “where you don’t meet the criteria”. If you truly don’t meet the criteria, then it’s probably not a reach, but out of reach. People often define these categories in terms of percentiles. So you might consider a school a reach if your stats (rank/GPA and scores) place you in the lower 25th percentile of enrolled students, or if (as you said) the school has a very low admit rate (say, lower than 20-25%). This information and much more is available in the “Common Data Set” published for many schools.</p>
<p>MIT and Princeton may be unrealistic. About 25% of MIT students score a perfect 800 on the Math SATs. Some of them are getting high SAT scores in special programs (like CTY) before they even reach high school, and would consider the math SAT a very easy test. Many kids admitted to Princeton not only have solid grades and scores, but also county, state, or even national level awards in their ECs.</p>
<p>Now is a time to start thinking about what kinds of schools you’d like in terms of size, location (N/S/E/W), setting (urban/rural) , and atmosphere. Go visit a few places when college is in session to start narrowing that down.</p>
<p>That’s a great idea. I visited Princeton, Columbia, Brooklyn College, NYU, and a few southern colleges. But I agree, maybe I should look at more schools that are more of a fit for me. Instead of applying to the honors college at CUNY, I may just apply regular admission to 6 of them depending on my SAT score.</p>
<p>Say that PSAT score was your SAT score…</p>
<p>You wouldn’t get into any of your listed schools…</p>
<p>I would cry man. X)</p>