<p>I wouldn’t consider Amherst or Harvey Mudd “middle ground”. They are reaches for nearly all applicants. By one poster’s reckoning a few years ago, HMC was more selective than Stanford.
(<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/687793-selectivity-ranking-national-us-lacs-combined-usnews-method.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/687793-selectivity-ranking-national-us-lacs-combined-usnews-method.html</a>)</p>
<p>Match schools might include Rochester, Michigan, Brandeis … or perhaps Carnegie Mellon, Vanderbilt, Wesleyan, Carleton and USC. These schools are all expensive, so they might not be good matches if they don’t fit your budget or (if applicable) your financial aid strategy.</p>
<p>Case Western is a low match that has been rather generous with merit aid.</p>
<p>If Minnesota fits your budget, and you have a good range of low-high match schools (taking costs into account), you may not need another safety.</p>