<p>Don’t worry about ratios or other random mathematical stuff. Think strategy.</p>
<p>What’s the point of a safety? It’s the ensure the best possible worst-case scenario. Start by adding enough safeties until you’re comfortable with the idea of only getting into one of those colleges. If you’ve got guaranteed admission for your major on financially friendly terms at just one school, that’s all you need. You might want two anyway, though, just for the illusion of choice and maybe to maximize financial aid.</p>
<p>Then come the matches. How good are your safeties? Think of flaws they have that could be improved upon- or just other schools you’ll be more content with the thought of going to. Make sure you visit and test fit if possible. Add matches to maximize your odds of not having to go to a safety school. If it takes 5-6 matches for you to feel like you won’t end up at a safety school, then do it. Of course, stop if you feel the total number of applications is too many; you don’t want to overstretch yourself.</p>
<p>Reaches work differently than the other two categories: you want to maximize your odds of getting the best-case scenario. So just add them to your list until you think the list is too big. A top-tier applicant with a good safety likely won’t be able to avoid a reach-heavy list. However, keep in mind that you really need to research your reaches because they demand the most from you in your application. One reach application does not take the same amount of work as one safety application. So be careful so that you can churn out really good reach applications, because that’s where you really want to go.</p>