College Tip of the Week #7: Safety, Target, and Reach Schools

Having trouble coming up with a list of schools you should apply to? You are in the right place! To make sure that you are guaranteed to get into college, but also have the ability to apply to more prestigious institutions, we are going to discuss safety, target, and reach schools!

Safety schools are the colleges that you are pretty much guaranteed to get into, meaning that your GPA, SAT/ACT test scores, and class rank is above the qualifications that the college typically accepts students at. You usually want to apply to 2 to 3 safety schools

Target schools are the colleges that you are likely to get into, meaning that your academic performance (GPA, SAT/ACT scores, rank) is at the same level as most accepted applicants to the school. You also want to apply to around 2 to 3 target schools.

Reach schools are your dream schools! These are the colleges that you are not likely to get into based on your academic performance, but that you still can be accepted to based on the other aspects of your application. This means that these are the colleges in which your academic performance is below that of the average range of accepted applicants to the school. It is also a good idea to apply to 2 to 3 reach schools.

You will need to research the average GPAs, SAT/ACT scores, and class ranks of accepted students to compare them to your own, and compile a list of dream, reach, and safety schools. Though the number of schools you apply to will vary depending on your preferences and personal factors, we encourage you to apply to 10 schools that are diverse in their difficulty to gain acceptance to, suit your preferences (which we will discuss more in-depth in next Monday’s college tip), and may offer you the proper financial aid if you need it.