Do we need a refresh on “reach, target, likely?”

As families start looking at colleges this time of year, the focus is on balance, as it should be. There should be schools that are easier to get accepted to, a little harder, and much harder. This way, every student should have at least one option for college when all is said and done. 

This is becoming extraordinarily important given the amounts of applications received by every school each year. (Note: I’m using the word “applications,” not “applicants”). Students are increasing the sizes of their lists in hopes of having several schools to choose from at the end. 

Balance still matters, no matter how many colleges you’re applying to. Applying to just the top 25 because it “just takes one” is a huge risk for every student.

I’ve seen students over the years have lists that swing both ways: top heavy and bottom heavy. So while I’m providing alternatives to the top 25, I must also encourage others to just dip their toe in the pond.

The movement from the term safety to likely is very helpful to all students, as yield management is a common spectre amongst less-selective colleges wanting some sort of guarantee that a high performing student will attend their school in the fall. And sometimes the high performers might overwhelm a school, causing students who should’ve easily gotten in, on the doorstep.

The mantra stated above of “it just takes one” does need to be tampered. It seems like reach may be not strong enough of a word for some. I’ve put it more as: are you more like the 5% of the applicant pool that will be admitted, or the 95% that won’t? How many students do you think have your same stats? 

A couple years ago, I heard the Duke Dean of Admissions say that if they took everyone off their waitlist, there would be no drop in academic talent. 

But most of those students didn’t get off the waitlist and aren’t attending Duke. 

The more reserved students do need some type of pep talk around their chances of gaining admission to lesser selective schools. I work with all students to craft the application that represents them the best to admissions officers, but some are still hesitant. These students already understand their chances at some schools are very low. With just a little effort tweaking an essay or two, it’s not too difficult to convince them to throw a “dream school” on their list.

As we think of how to categorize these schools that we feel are beyond our student’s profiles, it may be time to reframe the word reach.