There is very little randomness in the college application process. And while everyone seems to believe that they just might be the single outlier, there comes a time when you need to make decisions about how to best spend your time. This week, we’ve been focusing on creating and refining your college list. This blog post will help you categorize your list into reach, target, and safety schools.

Depending upon your goals and how much time you have, we typically recommend applying to at least 8 schools and no more than 12 schools. Long school lists are often born out of anxiety and speak to a lack of focus about what will truly make you happy in a college experience. School lists are usually too short for one of two reasons: laziness or overconfidence. Neither are good.

But let’s just say that you have 15 schools on a list that needs to be cut down to 10, and you want to have 3 reach schools, 4 target schools, and 3 safeties. We want to show you how to figure out where you stand with a school. Let’s use Michigan as an example.

For the class of 2020, the median high school GPA was 3.9 and the ACT range was 32-35. You can find the infographic here if you’d like to dive a bit deeper.

If your high school GPA was 4.2 and you got a 36 on the ACT, Michigan is your safety school.
If your high school GPA was 3.9 and you got a 34 on the ACT, Michigan is your target school.
If your high school GPA was 3.9 and you got a 32 on the ACT, Michigan is your reach school.

A safety school is a school where your grades and test scores exceed the school’s range. A target school is a school where your grades and test scores fall right within the school’s indicated range. A reach school is a school where your grades and test scores fall towards the low end of the indicated range, but you’re still within range.

The last bolded sentence is very important. Most people think that a reach school is just any competitive school that they like. But if you’re not within range, it really doesn’t make much sense to apply. Our blog readers write to us often telling us that they’re out of reach at USC and need us to help them wow the admissions team with their common app essay. And while we understand why you might think that, essays, supplements, and extracurricular activities can only do so much for you when you don’t meet the barrier of entry. A great essay can give you a much-needed boost and be a huge difference maker, but you need to have the grades and test scores to back it up. If you’re going to apply somewhere, you should feel confident that you’ll make it through the initial round that weeds out those students whose metrics are too far below the minimum requirements. So, instead of spending 10+ hours trying to finish Harvard’s beast of a supplement, find schools similar to Harvard. Identify specific offerings that you’re obsessed with and look for them elsewhere.

We’ve all heard and read stories about the one senior who didn’t seem that smart who got into Princeton, or the person who got into every single school on their list. Unfortunately, we can’t help everyone with their school lists and yes, there are considerations that we can’t help you make. But if you’re looking for a quick guide that can help you make hard decisions, see above.

Get in touch with us here if you need help getting started. We’ll help you find what you need.