<p>Is it a school in which you fall within their 25-75% score ranges along with a few other factors (like OOS for UTA or UNC, etc.), or is it a school within some boundary of overall admissions percentage? I know terms are really just subjective anyway, but I'm curious to know (in your opinions) approximately where a reach ends and a match begins, and where a match ends and a safety begins.</p>
<p>There are no hard percentages when it comes to ratings, because predictions are not even close to being a science. That said, only the following qualitative descriptions can be made.</p>
<p>Out of reach- barring extraordinary circumstances (letter of rec from POTUS), there is no chance.
Reach- With excellent essays, powerful letters of rec, and a healthy dose of luck, admission is possible.
Low reach - Same as “reach”, but not as stringent.
Match - The defining feature of “match” is that if the rest of the application such as EC and essays are average, then admission should occur.
Safety - If the rest of the application is average, then admission is almost certain.</p>
<p>There are many parts of the admissions process no one here can possibly see, increasing the uncertainty of predictions.</p>
<p>There are many people with terrible grades and scores getting accepted to HYPS, while it is easy to blow an easy admission away by writing a spectacularly poor essay. </p>
<p>I have read essays on the lines of "I took bio, chem, geometry classes in 9th grade allowing me to understand bio, chem, and geometry. I then took [list2] classes in 10th grade which improved my [list2] abilities. My increased reasoning ability is reflected by my high SAT score… yada yada yada.
(Result: A 3.8/2100 is rejected by Riverside.)</p>