Which Colleges Should You Apply to? Reaches, Targets, and Safeties
/“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
-Norman Vincent Peale
When it comes to college applications, we agree with Mr. Peale—shoot for the moon! However, to ensure you still land among the stars in the case that your dream college doesn’t work out, it’s essential your college list has a good mix of reach schools, target schools, and safety schools.
This article will break down what reach schools, target schools, and safety schools are, help you figure out which schools are reaches, targets, and safeties for you, and direct you to some excellent resources for college research.
What is a reach school?
A reach school is one you’re unlikely to get into. This might be because you fall a bit short of their expectations when it comes to SAT/ACT scores, high school GPA and transcripts, or extracurriculars.
However, it also could be because the school just has an extremely low acceptance rate, even for highly qualified students. Any school with an acceptance rate of below 20% is always a reach, for everyone. Straight As and near-perfect test scores are no guarantee, as almost all applicants to these schools share those qualifications.
For emphasis: a reach school is one where you fall just a little short. Schools where your test scores, grades, and experiences are nowhere near their standards are not proper reach schools for your college list. For example, a student who gets As and Bs in mostly non-advanced classes probably shouldn’t be applying to Princeton.
But what’s the harm in just taking a shot? You never know.
When applying to colleges, you need to consider not just whether or not you’ll get in, but whether or not you’ll succeed there. If a school is extremely rigorous and its students are on an entirely different level academically, will you be able to keep up there? And just as importantly, will you be happy?
What is a target school?
A target school is one you’d love to go to and you’ve got a real shot at getting in. This is a school where your SAT/ACT scores, GPA and high school transcript, and other credentials match or (ideally) exceed those of students who have been accepted in the past.
Keep in mind that just matching a school’s academic averages won’t guarantee your acceptance. The admissions process at most colleges is holistic, meaning they consider far more than just academics. You’ll be evaluated on your passions, hobbies, activities, leadership, community service, intellectual devotion, essays, letters of recommendation, selected academic program, demonstrated interest, and more.
As you assess your likelihood of acceptance, it’s important to stay realistic. If you don’t have any flags on your application (i.e. you’re a recruited athlete, legacy, or underrepresented minority) and if you don’t have excellent extracurriculars, essays, and recommendations, then meeting the average test scores and grades likely won’t cut it-- you’ll need to be above average.
What is a safety/likely school?
A safety school is one you have a very good chance of getting into. Your GPA is well above their average and your test scores are at or above the 75th percentile for that school.
We prefer to call these schools “likely schools,” as “safety” implies that it’s only on your list as a backup plan or last resort. When choosing a likely school, imagine that it’s the only college you end up getting into. Would you go? Would you be happy about it? If the answer to either of those questions is no, save yourself the effort and don’t add that school to your list!
To repeat, a likely school is NOT just a backup plan. There are many benefits to going to a likely:
Financial benefits. Less selective schools sometimes offer merit aid to overqualified students, which can reduce the financial burden of college. Likelies are also more likely to be state schools, which offer excellent education at a lower price. Even if you’re not as thrilled about the name on the t-shirt, you may be more thrilled to graduate with tens of thousands less in debt.
Social and academic benefits. At a reach school, there is a chance you could find yourself struggling with the rigorous coursework and feeling out of place among students that are more advanced academically. On the other hand, a likely school might be a place where you can not just keep up but excel. Being towards the top of your class could lead to many exciting opportunities, like research with professors and intercollegiate competitions.
Overall, students that graduate from likelies often do so with less debt, a higher GPA, and the feeling of confidence that comes with spending 4 years thriving academically. That’s definitely worth considering!
How to figure out if a school is a reach, target, or safety for you
Our team can evaluate you holistically, as your colleges will, and help you put together a strategic college list with a good blend of reaches, targets, and safeties/likelies.
In the meantime, you can do some research of your own! For each college you’re interested in, look at the average SAT/ACT test scores of the students they accept.
When searching for average SAT/ACT scores, you’ll typically get a range. For example, Temple University’s SAT range listed on their 2019 Common Data Set report is 1140 to 1310.
Temple University Common Data Set (2019)
The lower end of the range is the 25th percentile, meaning that 25% of students admitted to Temple scored at 1140 or below. The upper end of the range is the 75th percentile, meaning that 25% of students scored at 1310 or above. The remaining 50% of students scored between 1140 and 1310. Take the average of these two numbers to find the exact 50th percentile, which in this case is 1225.
If you’re at the 25th percentile or below, that school is likely a reach.
If you’re at the 50th percentile, that school is likely a target, as long as the other aspects of your application are also in line with or above the school’s expectations.
If you’re at the 75th percentile or above, that school is likely a safety/likely.
Then, consider how your high school performance compares to accepted students at that school.
One way to do this would be to look at the average high school GPA and/or class rank of accepted students.
On a school’s Common Data Set, you’ll find information about class rank, GPA, or both (examples below from Temple University’s 2019 Common Data Set).
With this information, you can figure out where your GPA and class rank stand compared to accepted students. If you’re far below the average GPA, the school might be a reach. If you’re above or at the average, the school may be a target or safety/likely, as long as your other credentials meet or exceed the school’s standards.
You shouldn’t focus entirely on GPA, though, for a few reasons.
Some GPAs are reported on a scale of 4, some 5, some 6. Each school gives different weight to honors and AP classes. Some schools use pluses and minuses and some don’t. Some use class rank and some don’t. This inconsistency makes GPA an unreliable way to compare students’ academic performance. Similarly, class rank can be misleading, as an average student at a lower-performing school might be in the top 10% of their class, whereas an excellent student at a stronger school might only make it into the top 50%.
College admissions officers are aware of all of this and will be focusing more on your grades and the difficulty of your courses. They want to see students that are pushing themselves academically, taking advantage of the most rigorous curriculum available at their school, and succeeding.
Are you taking honors/APs? If they aren’t available at your school, are you taking any interesting or challenging electives? Are your grades excellent, strong, average, below average? Now think about the schools you’re applying to. What kind of student goes there?
In college admissions, the GPA is a number without context and therefore, without much meaning. Instead of fixating on GPA, try to evaluate your courseload and grades holistically, as an admissions officer would.
Finally, consider the other aspects of your application.
Do your activities and honors show you’ve been actively pursuing your passions? Do your letters of recommendation give the school a sense that you’ll be a valuable contributor in class and around campus? Is your personal statement vulnerable, personal, and interesting?
Any weaknesses in these areas, while not as easily measured, have the potential to drag down the value of your test scores and grades. So make sure these other elements of your application are as strong as possible—they might make the difference between getting in and not getting in, if the school is a reach or a competitive target.
You want to give colleges something to root for beyond raw academic data. Read more about how we can help with your essays and applications here!
Where to find a college’s average SAT/ACT scores, class rank, and high school GPA
On CollegeData. They’re mostly reliable when it comes to this sort of data, but it’s always good to be thorough and cross reference any data you get from CollegeData elsewhere too.
On the school’s Common Data Set report. Search the school name along with “Common Data Set” and you should be able to find a PDF of their report for the most recent academic year. Scroll until you find the Freshman Profile section, which will have the school’s average SAT/ACT scores, class rank, high school GPA, and more. This is the best way to be certain of a school’s expectations, and this report will also likely give you other valuable information about the school that might be hard to find elsewhere.
How many colleges should you apply to? How many should be reaches, targets, and safeties?
The consensus among college counselors seems to be that most students would do well to apply to 6-10 schools. That being said, every student’s situation is different. Students that are determined to go to a highly selective college may want to apply to more schools to increase their odds of acceptance. Students that have specific needs (uncommon major, recruited athlete, etc) may end up applying to fewer schools.
However many schools you apply to, strive for an even balance between reaches, targets, and safeties/likelies. You want the majority of the schools on your list to be ones you have a good chance of actually getting into.
Resources We Love for College Research
In addition to in-person and official virtual tours, YouVisit and CampusReel provide excellent campus tour videos. These can be great for taking a peek at schools you’re interested in but not ready to visit.
Corsava is an excellent free resource that can help you identify, through strategic questioning, the college features that matter most to you.
CollegeXpress is great for finding new colleges you might be interested in. You can search schools by location, keywords, interests, and ranking. You can also find further detail about colleges on your radar, such as enrollment and admissions data, cost, financial aid, and more.
Get the insider scoop on colleges at Unigo and Niche, where you’ll find reviews of various schools, written by students who actually went there.