Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 17:47     Subject: Please suggest target schools
Anonymous wrote:Wellesley, W&M, Wisconsin, CWR, Northeastern, Georgia Tech, RIT
Reachier but might add UVA or CMU


Admission, Class Entering Fall 2025 UVA
64,457 Completed Applications
10,086 Offers of Admission
3,986 First-year students enrolled
(**OOS Acceptance rate lower)
Admission, Class Entering Fall 2025, Georgia Tech

66,912 Completed Applications
8,819 Offers of Admission
4,050 First-year students enrolled
(**OOS Acceptance rate lower)

Admission, Class Entering Fall 2025, CMU
34,867 Completed Applications
3,859 Offers of Admission
1,804 First-year students enrolled
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 17:30     Subject: Please suggest target schools
Anonymous wrote:Wellesley, W&M, Wisconsin, CWR, Northeastern, Georgia Tech, RIT
Reachier but might add UVA or CMU


Georgia Tech is a 9% acceptance rate OOS knucklehead.
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 17:30     Subject: Please suggest target schools
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Below are our DC's reaches and safety schools. The safeties are realistic based on counselor's lists and Naviance. Looking for 4-5 target schools to fill out this list. Thanks!

Rice
Penn
Princeton
Swarthmore

Pittsburgh
UC San Diego
U Washington

Female applicant, chemistry or computational chemistry major, top 10% in a HS that sends 25% to Ivies+. Want mid-size research universities in suburbs or cities but not too rural. Open to anywhere in the country as long as not too conservative, swing states are fine. Not interested in sororities/frat culture and not a big partier. A very social nerd who plans to join clubs (outdoor/camping, theater production, coding/hackathon, semester overseas, etc.). No need for merit/financial aid.


I'm a little confused because you said midsize but then have Swarthmore on the list?

but here:
Case Western
U Rochester
Lehigh
V Tech


Swarthmore is small, and LAC doesn’t really produce research. Also, UCSD is a large university.
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 17:28     Subject: Re:Please suggest target schools
Anonymous wrote:UCal-San Diego
Georgia Tech


lol Georgia Tech is not a target for anyone. Especially OOS.
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 17:16     Subject: Please suggest target schools
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:People are confusing target with certainty. Calling a school a target doesn’t mean there is certainty. Sure there is yield protection. But target is a school that is a good fit by stats, they never have the certainty of getting in. Yet it doesn’t make it a reach.

That’s silly. My kid scored 1560, putting them in the middle 50% at Stanford and MIT. Are you going to try to tell me that those schools are not reaches for them? In your mind, they’re targets??


75 %tile: target
50%tile: reach

You also need to be 75%tile in ECs and spikes to make it a target.

GPA and rigor too.

The comment to which I was responding claimed that “a target is a school that is a good fit by stats.” Last I checked, ECs and spikes were not stats. Which is precisely the point. High-stats kids without extraordinary ECs and spikes have no targets, only reaches (for which they are “a good fit for stats”) and safeties (for which they are well above profile).
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 17:10     Subject: Please suggest target schools
Anonymous wrote:Below are our DC's reaches and safety schools. The safeties are realistic based on counselor's lists and Naviance. Looking for 4-5 target schools to fill out this list. Thanks!

Rice
Penn
Princeton
Swarthmore

Pittsburgh
UC San Diego
U Washington

Female applicant, chemistry or computational chemistry major, top 10% in a HS that sends 25% to Ivies+. Want mid-size research universities in suburbs or cities but not too rural. Open to anywhere in the country as long as not too conservative, swing states are fine. Not interested in sororities/frat culture and not a big partier. A very social nerd who plans to join clubs (outdoor/camping, theater production, coding/hackathon, semester overseas, etc.). No need for merit/financial aid.


Not sure it's a target, maybe a low reach, but Smith College is great for a student with these interests, looking for this culture and top notch in STEM too!
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 17:07     Subject: Please suggest target schools
Wellesley, W&M, Wisconsin, CWR, Northeastern, Georgia Tech, RIT
Reachier but might add UVA or CMU
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 17:07     Subject: Please suggest target schools
This is going to be school specific. Our school has 50% RD acceptance rate to Emory.
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 17:05     Subject: Please suggest target schools
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:People are confusing target with certainty. Calling a school a target doesn’t mean there is certainty. Sure there is yield protection. But target is a school that is a good fit by stats, they never have the certainty of getting in. Yet it doesn’t make it a reach.

That’s silly. My kid scored 1560, putting them in the middle 50% at Stanford and MIT. Are you going to try to tell me that those schools are not reaches for them? In your mind, they’re targets??


75 %tile: target
50%tile: reach

You also need to be 75%tile in ECs and spikes to make it a target.

GPA and rigor too.
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 17:02     Subject: Please suggest target schools
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:EA Case Western
Acceptance came out before the break.

Consider Rochester as well, but they don't have EA.


For high target low reach:
Emory
Carleton


Carleton is not a target.
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 17:01     Subject: Please suggest target schools
Anonymous wrote:CMU, Case Western, Tulane


CMU as a target?
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 17:01     Subject: Please suggest target schools
Anonymous wrote:People are confusing target with certainty. Calling a school a target doesn’t mean there is certainty. Sure there is yield protection. But target is a school that is a good fit by stats, they never have the certainty of getting in. Yet it doesn’t make it a reach.

Imo target typically means a 50% chance. I would way BC, Gatech, NYu, maybe USC are close to 50% chance of acceptance.
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 17:00     Subject: Please suggest target schools
Anonymous wrote:Below are our DC's reaches and safety schools. The safeties are realistic based on counselor's lists and Naviance. Looking for 4-5 target schools to fill out this list. Thanks!

Rice
Penn
Princeton
Swarthmore

Pittsburgh
UC San Diego
U Washington

Female applicant, chemistry or computational chemistry major, top 10% in a HS that sends 25% to Ivies+. Want mid-size research universities in suburbs or cities but not too rural. Open to anywhere in the country as long as not too conservative, swing states are fine. Not interested in sororities/frat culture and not a big partier. A very social nerd who plans to join clubs (outdoor/camping, theater production, coding/hackathon, semester overseas, etc.). No need for merit/financial aid.


I'm a little confused because you said midsize but then have Swarthmore on the list?

but here:
Case Western
U Rochester
Lehigh
V Tech
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 17:00     Subject: Please suggest target schools
Anonymous wrote:OP, my 3.98/1560 kid (OOS) was not admitted to UCSD last year. Maybe your high school has a better track record there, but I think categorizing it as a safety is a stretch.

For targets, look for large publics where the out of state acceptance rate is 25-50%. Maybe Wisconsin?


Did you DC apply to Comp Sci or Engineering? Our school has a 100% acceptance record to UCSD for applicants with 3.8+ and 1500+
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 17:00     Subject: Please suggest target schools
Anonymous wrote:OP, my 3.98/1560 kid (OOS) was not admitted to UCSD last year. Maybe your high school has a better track record there, but I think categorizing it as a safety is a stretch.

For targets, look for large publics where the out of state acceptance rate is 25-50%. Maybe Wisconsin?


UCs are test blind so unfortunately that 1560 didn’t factor into the outcome. (But fwiw I also agree that UCSD isn’t a safety and anyone who thinks it is doesn’t know enough about it)