<p>This admissions season has been especially brutal on those applicants who included only very selective schools on their list, so I applaud you for being very practical in your approach. Those ultra selective colleges are a reach for everyone and many highly qualified students are turned down every year. </p>
<p>There is also the financial aspect of attending college that is every bit as mysterious as the admission process, so unless you are able to pay full tuition, you need to have parents who understand the game, or become educated about it yourself. My son was admitted to all 13 colleges he applied to, but was unable to attend the most highly selective because they gave only need based aid and their method of calculating our need was very different than the reality of what we could afford. One of these was a “need blind/ meets full demonstrated need” school. They used their own unique formula for calculating our need. The middle-class is the most vulnerable to this kind of financial aid gap. My philosophy after several years on CC and personal experience is: expect anything to happen with college admissions, both the good and the disappointing. It might have been a disaster, but because my son researched and visited all his choices, up and down the selectivity ladder, he had excellent options of schools he really liked that gave merit awards.</p>
<p>The schools where your stats are in the top 25% of applicants, and that have an acceptance rate of 40% or more, (and give merit aid if you need aid) can be considered matches. The higher up you’re stats are in the applicant pool, the safer it gets. I see that you’ve already checked out the CTCL schools, and thats a great list. My son is attending Whitman and loves the environment, he’s also finding the academics quite challenging. They have a championship debate team, a fabulous theater program and a student run radio station.</p>