<p>When it comes to the top colleges (eg. HYP, Stanford, MIT, Caltech), are they always reaches for mostly every student?</p>
<p>Is it normal for most of the admits to those to feel like they have only a little chance of getting in?</p>
<p>Basically, when it comes to admissions for the top schools, is it supposed to be a situation where everyone seems "better" than you?</p>
<p>No. There are going to be kids who have a much better chance, who are 'better' applicants because of great scores, ecs, recs, achievements, etc.</p>
<p>Admissions is tough for everybody, but there are always kids that people would be shocked if they were rejected by anybody.</p>
<p>That said, these kids aren't most admits. Not every one of the 20,000 kids who apply to each school are qualified. But you can bet that 5-10% of them are more than competitive.</p>
<p>For example, my sister knows a kid who made straight A's at a private prep school in Florida and then spent the first few months of his senior year touring Europe with his rock band. He was accepted at Harvard. Some kids are just special. I imagine for Chelsea Clinton that Stanford wasn't a reach. Every college was probably dying to have her. However, there are thousands of kids who make good grades, take AP courses, and have a variety of EC's with leadership. Luckily, there are thousands of spots in colleges. It's just never a guarantee for any one college.</p>