Definition of reach vs high target

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For my high stats DD, any school with an admission rate under 15% was considered a reach. Her rank and stats were in the top 50% for most of these schools, so we knew that she had a shot at some of the sub-6% schools and a pretty good shot at the schools at the upper end of the range. For her reaches, we expected DD to get into some and rejected or waitlisted at most. I guess there was one school she applied to with an acceptance rate close to 15% that could have been considered a high target, but we didn't really think of it that way.

Her target schools had admission rates in the 15-30% range. For these schools, we believed she was likely (more than 50%) to be admitted. But it wouldn't have been shocking to get rejected or waitlisted to any particular school in this range.

Her safety was a public university with an admission rate over 50% at which admission was virtually guaranteed.

DD's results out of 13 apps: Reaches: 5/8 Admits, 2/8 Waitlists, 1/8 Rejections. Targets: 3/4 Admits, 1/4 Waitlists. Safety: 1/1 Admits. FWIW, most of DD's reaches were in the very competitive T11-20/WASP range rather than the hypercompetitive HYPSM/T10 range. That wasn't strategic; it was more because DD wasn't particularly interested in most of the T10 schools.

what schools have admit rates in this range? They seem impossible to find.

DP: The 15-30% admit rate range: Wesleyan (16-17%), College of the Holy Cross (18%), Skidmore (23%), Franklin and Marshall (28%).

In the 30-40% range included Lehigh (30%), Lafayette (31%), Bucknell (33%), and William and Mary (33%).

Admit rates are not always the best proxy for selectivity. Do Holy Cross, Skidmore, and Franklin and Marshall have higher stat enrolled students than all the schools in the 30-40% range? I don't think so.

They have just as many high stat students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For my high stats DD, any school with an admission rate under 15% was considered a reach. Her rank and stats were in the top 50% for most of these schools, so we knew that she had a shot at some of the sub-6% schools and a pretty good shot at the schools at the upper end of the range. For her reaches, we expected DD to get into some and rejected or waitlisted at most. I guess there was one school she applied to with an acceptance rate close to 15% that could have been considered a high target, but we didn't really think of it that way.

Her target schools had admission rates in the 15-30% range. For these schools, we believed she was likely (more than 50%) to be admitted. But it wouldn't have been shocking to get rejected or waitlisted to any particular school in this range.

Her safety was a public university with an admission rate over 50% at which admission was virtually guaranteed.

DD's results out of 13 apps: Reaches: 5/8 Admits, 2/8 Waitlists, 1/8 Rejections. Targets: 3/4 Admits, 1/4 Waitlists. Safety: 1/1 Admits. FWIW, most of DD's reaches were in the very competitive T11-20/WASP range rather than the hypercompetitive HYPSM/T10 range. That wasn't strategic; it was more because DD wasn't particularly interested in most of the T10 schools.

what schools have admit rates in this range? They seem impossible to find.

DP: The 15-30% admit rate range: Wesleyan (16-17%), College of the Holy Cross (18%), Skidmore (23%), Franklin and Marshall (28%).

In the 30-40% range included Lehigh (30%), Lafayette (31%), Bucknell (33%), and William and Mary (33%).

Once you take out those admitted through ED the admission % drops by about 10% so they become reaches for most.

[Anonymous]

In reality, a "reach" school is any school that rejected the applicant, while a "high target" school is one which accepted the applicant.