Anonymous wrote:For a top student, where and how do you draw the line? How do you define these terms for yourself.

I know none of this matters, I just find lists and categories helpful. For example, no matter how high my kid's scores and grades are, I would say any school with a less than 20% acceptance rate is a reach. Should it actually be 25%? 35?

its all contextual. you have to look at Scoir for your school. some show over 75% acceptance rate for certain T25s for anyone in the top5% of the class, excluding hooks for schools that remove them, despite the overall accept rate of under 20% for that college. this is a detail where college counselors at the school can give accurate information on each student's chances. there are T15 schools that are considered targets for the #1 or 2 kid at our private school if they have top rigor. theres couple of T25 privates that are likelies for the same people. so far they have predicted accurately for all my kids including D25 and his peers so far.

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.

A lot of those schools track demonstrated interest?

It can depend on a number of factors- geography, gender, major, specific school within the college, extracurricular interests, etc.

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.

Anything less than 10% admit rate is a reach.
Anything 10-20% is a high target.
I think BC is a high target for many.

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%).

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.

The bottom of the T50. Lehigh, Villanova, Case Western. Of course, some programs (e.g., Villanova business) will be more difficult than that.

Anonymous wrote:Not only depends on your high school, but it depends on your major. An oversubscribed major can make certain targets into low reaches.

It often just does not “end up working out”
for computer science or engineering or business. Plan accordingly.

If you give us more information on major, we can probably give you some real suggestions.

This is key!!! If you want to major in engineering or CS, the admission rate is likely very different than the overall school admission rate. So it doesn't matter if the AR is 30% overall, if the major rate is 7% that is what you are considering.

Not only depends on your high school, but it depends on your major. An oversubscribed major can make certain targets into low reaches.

It often just does not “end up working out”
for computer science or engineering or business. Plan accordingly.

If you give us more information on major, we can probably give you some real suggestions.

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.

I would split the middle and say 30%. I'd put 20-30% as a low reach and 30-40% as a high target. This would be for a high-stats student. 40-60% target. 60%+ safety as long as the school does not have a certain reputation for deferring and denying high stats; 70%+ would be a true safety.

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.

Anonymous wrote:depends on your school's data.
Everything is HS specific.

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This

depends on your school's data.
Everything is HS specific.

For a top student, where and how do you draw the line? How do you define these terms for yourself.

I know none of this matters, I just find lists and categories helpful. For example, no matter how high my kid's scores and grades are, I would say any school with a less than 20% acceptance rate is a reach. Should it actually be 25%? 35?