By Will Geiger
Will Geiger is the co-founder of Scholarships360 and has a decade of experience in college admissions and financial aid. He is a former Senior Assistant Director of Admissions at Kenyon College where he personally reviewed 10,000 admissions applications and essays. Will also managed the Kenyon College merit scholarship program and served on the financial aid appeals committee. He has also worked as an Associate Director of College Counseling at a high school in New Haven, Connecticut. Will earned his master’s in education from the University of Pennsylvania and received his undergraduate degree in history from Wake Forest University.
Reviewed by Bill Jack
Bill Jack has over a decade of experience in college admissions and financial aid. Since 2008, he has worked at Colby College, Wesleyan University, University of Maine at Farmington, and Bates College.
Updated: July 9th, 2024
One of the most important questions in the admissions process is “what are my chances?” All students should be thinking about this well before they apply to college. In this post, I’ll explain to you how college counselors think about “admissions chances” and how you can use data to put together the best possible list.
College counselors and admissions professionals almost never think about “admissions chances” in a super precise way. Trying to assess your percent likelihood of getting into a college is not useful.
Instead, college admissions professionals think about admissions chances in terms of broader buckets. These three buckets are:
Reach schools are schools where your GPA and test scores are below average for accepted students. Reach schools can also be schools that are very competitive (think Ivy League schools and other highly selective institutions).
Target schools are schools where your GPA and test scores are about average for accepted students.
Safety schools are schools where your GPA and test scores are above average for accepted students.
These rough categories ensure that students will have good options and will not sell themselves short in the admissions process. A successful college admissions process will also probably mean that you are denied from some schools (which is okay!).
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