<p>Like many other juniors in high school at this time, I am deciding on schools that I plan on applying to. I understand that everyone should have reaches, matches, and safeties. I was just curious as to what you guys consider as matches and safeties. Would a match be a school where you are within .05 of the average gpa or would it be different? Also would a safety be any school where your gpa is about .10 higher than the average or what? I appreciate your time in answering this question.</p>
<p>A safety would be a school that you’re certain that you’ll get accepted to AND you’re certain that you have all costs covered thru ASSURED grants/merit, family funds, and/or small fed student loans.</p>
<p>A school is NOT a safety if you don’t know how you’ll pay for it.</p>
<p>You can’t just look at GPA…you have to look at GPA, test scores, and acceptance rate to have a better idea of where you’d be accepted. Some schools reject qualified students if they think the student won’t attend.</p>
<p>What are your test scores, GPA, and budget (how much your family will spend).</p>
<p>Acceptance rate is critical here: If you are looking at a highly selective school, than even test scores, grades and class rank that put you in the top 25% doesn’t make it a safety. Some people would say its a safety if you are in the top 25% on almost everything - and the acceptance rate is 40% or more. But that 40% is an arbitrary number. Obviously, if you are not in the top 25% on almost everything for that school, you might want your safety to have an even higher acceptance rate.</p>
<p>At real safety is a place where you are flat-out guaranteed admission. You know that because the college/university publishes minimum requirements for admission right on it’s website. Many publics do publish this for in-state applicants.</p>
<p>If your high school has records going back for years that clearly indicate that no applicant from your school with your profile has ever been denied admission, then you can also consider that particular college/university an academic safety.</p>
<p>When I was doing my applications a few years ago, I found and used a book as a guide. It is called A is For Admission, and it was written by a woman named Michelle Hernandez. She is a former Dartmouth admissions rep who tells it like it is. Brutally honest, she tells how adcoms calculate an Academic Index for applicants. If you can find that book, calculate your own AI to get an idea of your possible chances. Of course, nothing is guaranteed in life, so even if you are a top AI, you can still be rejected from top schools. Good luck wherever you end up!</p>