Anonymous
Post 01/16/2026 09:30     Subject: Please suggest target schools
As usual, there is disagreement here at DCUM about how to categorize reaches, matches, and safeties. Some say you consider only how your stats compare to the college's. Others say you need to also consider the acceptance rate, with acceptance rates under around 25% (or so) being reaches for all. Still others say to look at the scattergrams (major error).

I am in the camp that not considering acceptance rates is foolish. They are an essential part of the reach/match/safety categorization.

All T20s, for example, are reaches for all applicants
Anonymous
Post 01/16/2026 08:21     Subject: Please suggest target schools
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If Rice is a Reach, Why wouldn't Emory, Vandy, WashU be a target?

They all have an admit rate below 12%; Vanderbilt has an admit rate even lower than Rice.


But they are all TO. So, if kid has a lower ACT or SAT can apply TO and may not be a reach if everything looks good. This is not a thing with test required schools. So, the test required schools with already lower admit percentages would be more of a reach
Anonymous
Post 01/16/2026 05:30     Subject: Please suggest target schools
DD had similar stats/interests.
ED to Swarthmore
Other schools on her list:
Pitt (in, honors and merit $$)
UMd (safety from her private with her gpa according to college counselor)
W&M oos
Haverford
Wash U
Macalester

She was happy enough with Pitt for her STEM major that she did not add more safeties. Honestly unsure what we would have added.
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 23:37     Subject: Please suggest target schools
As a general comment, the availability of a data science major may be desirable for a student interested in computational chemistry.
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 23:22     Subject: Please suggest target schools
Though Scripps is small, the consortium is 8,000 students. I think that is a likely admit.

Food is fantastic and campus is quite beautiful. Plenty of guys around at CMC and Mudd etc… kind of cool to have an all female college and guys to date right across the lawn….
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 22:34     Subject: Please suggest target schools
Anonymous wrote:If Rice is a Reach, Why wouldn't Emory, Vandy, WashU be a target?

They all have an admit rate below 12%; Vanderbilt has an admit rate even lower than Rice.
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 22:23     Subject: Please suggest target schools
University of Rochester, WPI, RIT… if she isn’t mainstream you can skip Lehigh which otherwise would be a decent target.
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 22:21     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.


First, U Washington is NOT a safety OOS for anything related to chemistry. It's a target at best



I agree and neither is UC San Diego where they don’t care about test scores a 4.0 GPAs are rejected routinely
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 20:30     Subject: Please suggest target schools
Anonymous wrote:I noticed you have Swarthmore on your list. Have you also considered Haverford?


Haverford is an excellent target.
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 20:27     Subject: Please suggest target schools
I noticed you have Swarthmore on your list. Have you also considered Haverford?
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 20:26     Subject: Please suggest target schools
Oberlin (not mid-size but good chemistry department and might be a good fit socially)
William and Mary
UGA Honors
Bryn Mawr
Mount Holyoke
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 20:22     Subject: Please suggest target schools
If Rice is a Reach, Why wouldn't Emory, Vandy, WashU be a target?
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 18:50     Subject: Please suggest target schools
Anonymous wrote:This is going to be school specific. Our school has 50% RD acceptance rate to Emory.

Did 4 apply?
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 18:36     Subject: Please suggest target schools
Anonymous wrote:
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).


What ECs does Emory or Washu require? What extraordinary level you need to get into Emory or Washu?

They are the same PP.
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 18:27     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.


First, U Washington is NOT a safety OOS for anything related to chemistry. It's a target at best