Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost all of the reaches you hear on forums are minorities who checked foster kid, native, black or hispanic box(es).

Or so people with your worldview believe

It's how they explain away their own failures and those of their children. No point trying to dissuade them from the victim mentality.

Anonymous wrote:Almost all of the reaches you hear on forums are minorities who checked foster kid, native, black or hispanic box(es).

Or so people with your worldview believe

Berkeley, Brown, Columbia, NYU, and UVA -- 3.95 GPA (no formal GPA calculation, weighting or class ranking), 1590 SATs, 3x 800 SAT IIs, 4 APs (being phased out at the school). At DC's independent school, college admission decisions are mostly driven by the teacher recommendations among the students with strong schedules, grades and scores (about 1/5-1/4 of the class).

Anonymous wrote:Almost all of the reaches you hear on forums are minorities who checked foster kid, native, black or hispanic box(es).

Or major donor legacy.

Anonymous wrote:Yup -- mine got into Princeton. Top 5% from elite private school in area. Several AP Classes ... near perfect SAT score. No mystery.

Mine with similar stats didn’t.

Almost all of the reaches you hear on forums are minorities who checked foster kid, native, black or hispanic box(es).

Yep. Won't name school or scores - think top 50, but what I can tell you is that by the time he hit "send" on the application , it was a very polished piece of writing. Still sounded like a 17 year old (he polished it, not me), but all the essays hung together to present a complete picture of who my child is, his commitment to his main hobby, and what he intended to study.

Ended up getting in with half off tuition (merit).

Your take on reach schools is outdated. In today’s environment even if you have above average academic stats but no hook then every highly selective (<15% acceptance) school is a reach.

I see what OP is looking for. But first, for everyone's reference, we need to understand what a "reach" school is. Also, a "reach" school is different for every kid as it's based on the kid's stats, assuming we are using only test/GPA stats.

Generally speaking though....this is how it works:

Match Schools: A match school is one in which your transcript mirrors that of the average freshman. Therefore, your GPA, SAT/ACT scores and coursework (college prep, honors, etc.) are all on par with those undergrads typically admitted. While this will not guarantee an acceptance (especially considering that extracurricular activities, essays, etc. will come into play), you can apply with confidence and the understanding that you have a great shot.

Reach Schools: Unlike a match, reach schools are colleges where your academic qualifications are below the average accepted student. When considering a reach school, it’s still important to be realistic. It’s quite unlikely you would gain entry to an Ivy League university with a 1.5 GPA. However, even if your SATs might be 100 points lower than average or you have a 3.4 GPA instead of a 3.8, if you really like the school, throw your hat into the ring. You never know what will happen. It could be a long shot but an admissions officer might just see your potential.

Safety Schools: As you’ve probably deduced by now, a safety school is one in which your academic credentials exceed those of the average accepted student. Consequently, there is a high probability that you will be admitted (though it’s important to recognize that nothing is certain).

Yes, but I would think carefully about reach schools. For some kids it's great,for some emotionally it's very difficult because they might be competing on curves that are too high for them to reach. Friends DD is at UNC it was a reach for her and she's struggling keeping her GPA near a 3.0. Remember average GPA in college is less than high school GPA's.

Anonymous wrote:If no mystery, not a "reach" -- not OPs request.

I think the PP's point (forgive the assumption PP) is that the secret that the OP is seeking does not exist.

By your logic, any college that admits a student means it wasn't a reach.

If no mystery, not a "reach" -- not OPs request.

Yup -- mine got into Princeton. Top 5% from elite private school in area. Several AP Classes ... near perfect SAT score. No mystery.

Something to consider: my child did not get into her reaches.

But I met a mom who pulled out all of the stops to get her kid into their dream school (consultants, SAT PREP, etc). The student crashed and burned freshman year. She actually failed out and had mental health fallout, but did not tell parents for a while because she perceived how important it was to them that she succeed there. With her subsequent children, the mother said she learned not to use their resources to "tilt the scale. " She said the schools know which kids are likely to succeed in their environment. She feels now that she set her first kid up for failure by shoe-horning her into a place that was beyond her capabilities.

So, be careful...sometimes, things work out the way they were meant to. Communicate to your kid that you are proud of where trying their best lands them.

Did your DD or DS get into a school considered a reach?
Which school(s) and what were their stats?