As far as having reach schools go, that is really up to you. One thing I have heard is that it can be harder to get Fin Aid from reach schools, most schools tend to give the best aid to kids who are the top students and have GPA’s and test scores that are either above or well within what they are looking for…
Then again, it is really up to you. My D only had one reach school and it wasn’t a huge reach. My S had a couple of schools that were reaches, but not huge reaches…