Is he aiming too high?

midwesterner
Sat, 10 Jan 2009 15:09:52 +0000

And, conversely, it hurts to be applying to MIT as a white, middle class male. So, IMO, her son is reaching quite a bit without top scores and ECs. Would he be happy at a school where he may be in the bottom half of the class?

Having a few reaches is not bad, but focusing on schools with super-low acceptance rates is a poor strategy. The goal is to have a reasonable variety of acceptances come next April, and match schools (aka 50-50 schools) are the most likely place to find a student’s peer group.