Do odds increase when applying to more reaches?

DadTwoGirls
Mon, 04 Dec 2023 01:11:39 +0000

Well, it certainly is possible to get rejected by one reach while being accepted to a different reach.

Multiple applications from one student to multiple schools are not independent events. The various schools will on the most part be looking at the same grades, the same ECs, the same test scores, and the same recommendations. How much importance they put on each of these may vary from school to school. Some schools might for example not care about ECs (particularly outside the US) or not care about test scores. Some schools might not care about freshman year grades, and some others might not even ask for senior year grades (at least until after they made the admit decision). Also, each reach school is looking for students who are a good fit for them, and they might differ regarding what this means.

So I think that applying to a few reach schools is reasonable. Applying to every “top 20” school and every Ivy League school is IMHO probably usually a mistake – they are not all going to be a good fit for every student.

Which might be a slow way to say: “It depends”.

happy1:

Focus on the colleges you feel are the best options – spend the necessary time and energy on those supplements and let your interest/fit for those schools shine through

I think that this is the best approach.