| This is how it went with my DD
Her entire high school years everyone was sure that she would go to an Ivy college as she was known for her academic excellence, leadership and sports etc. She applied early action to her no.2 match and got rejected. The rejection came a few days before the regular applications dead line for most colleges. She was heart broken and lost her confidence. At that point, she was not even sure whether she would get into her bottom safety. Therefore, she ended up applying for more safeties than she initially intended. At the end, she got into one of her matches which she loves. Happy ending but not without the heart break.
In any case, the best thing is to apply to a quite a few colleges that are reaches, matches and safeties. How many depends on the individual circumstances.
You could use the “Stat Profile” feature to get an idea on stats of kids who had gotten accepted/rejected/waitlisted at various schools.
Also, there is no way to prepare them for the heart break if they fall in love with a school and don’t get accepted. You just have to hang in there with them and hope for the best. | 
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