Get Into College

Reaches, Matches, and Safeties

Reaches = Profile

You probably heard your friend mentioning their ‘reach schools’, and you probably wondered what they meant. Put simply: reaches, matches and safeties are categories of likelihood of admission to a particular university.

A ‘reach’ college is a college where you would love to attend, with only your stats holding you back. What are stats? Stats cover your GPA, rank, ethnicity, and all the other things that the colleges look for in you as an applicant. Another word is ‘profile’, but there is little difference between the two and they are often used interchangeably.

What are Reaches?

If you say to yourself, “I'm not sure if I should apply, because I might not get in, although I love this place,” then it means you have found a reach school. In terms of percentage, you have a 25% chance of getting being admitted. Some schools like Harvard and Princeton are reaches for everybody, because of their extreme selectivity. Others will largely depend on your stats and whatever hooks you may have.

What are Matches?

Matches are schools that you will be comfortable in, and have a good chance of getting in. This means that your SAT scores fall within their range, your GPA is around the average GPA of the incoming class, and they feel you will be a good match for them…. put simply, you have a 50%-75% chance of being admitted.

What are Safeties?

Think of them as safety nets. These are schools that you have a very high chance of getting in. They are also the school students tend to pay the least attention to.

It’s very difficult to get rejected from a safety school, unless:

 1. You murdered someone after applying
 2. You cheated in an exam and got caught
 3. You lied in your application (e.g. stating you have a 5 in AP Biology, and you never took AP in high school)

May be I'm exaggerating, but you get my point. A safety school has a 90% chance of admission. There is still a 10% chance that you will not get in. To be more realistic, let me give you an example of what will jeopardize your chances at a safety school (or any other school for that matter):

Flunking your finals!

That’s right. If you screw up your finals, just because you think you got a place somewhere, think again! Colleges are academic institutions, and nothing is more important than your transcript. Schools will doubt your ability to excel in a university environment if you flunked a high school test just because you received an acceptance. And believe me, they can, and they will revoke their offer of admission. There are enough other applicants begging to get in.