Reed has a 35% acceptance rate. If your application, GPA, scores, etc are stellar, I would say that’s a match. Reed only provides need based scholarships. Have you run the NPC? Is it affordable?
A true safety is a school where you will definitely be accepted, that you will be happy to attend, and your family can afford. All three need to be true otherwise it isn’t a safety.
We considered safeties to be schools with 70%+ acceptance rates, where D’s stats were above the 75th percentile.
Assuming this is real…
What’s a safety? Some general rules of thumb, feel free to add:
-Your stats are in the top 75% range
AND/OR
-The school has a high acceptance rate, meaning probably over 60%, give or take, of all students are accepted. BUT, show interest!*
AND/OR
-Your school’s Naviance shows that virtually all students from your school with similar stats get accepted.
AND/OR
-Your stats guarantee automatic admission.
AND
-You like the school.
AND
-You can afford the school. Use the NPC tool.
A school that’s a safety for you might be a reach for someone else.
*Showing interest is very important to a lot of schools because they need to protect their yield. Applying to Reed as a safety, for example, without showing interest, is quite possibly going to result in a rejection. A 35% acceptance rate does not mean safety school. Reed doesn’t want to offer admission to people they think have no intention of enrolling. Reed would be more like a match school, assuming your stats are high. A match is not a safety. There will probably be students with lower stats than you who get accepted because Reed knows they really want to attend.
*Showing interest is very important to a lot of schools because they need to protect their yield. Applying to Reed as a safety, for example, without showing interest, is quite possibly going to result in a rejection.
How do you show interest in a school?
Sign up for emails and open them. Request an interview if offered. Complete the supplemental essays if there are any. Attend any college fairs and meet with the rep, if that college sends a rep to your area.
Visiting is often regarded as a solid way to show interest, but given the current situation, it’s not practical for most people. Look at the websites and see if the college is offering any virtual Q&A sessions, or something else similar.
Also, for some applicants, Reed considers ability to pay when determining admission (i.e., it is a “need-aware” school).
As an academic point of comparison, Reed’s standardized scoring profile registers slightly higher than that of UC–Berkeley.
Have you stated your intended major?
My intended major is in the physical sciences (chemistry, physics, etc…)
There will be colleges that offer application fee waivers. Sometimes you can get an app fee waiver by signing up for emails. Sometimes colleges will send app fee waivers in the mail. If you are low income, you might get fee waivers from your guidance counselor. There are ways to not spend a lot of money on apps.
OK, that makes it a little easier. Your call is very important to us, so please- oops, wrong topic.
For a relatively lightly-enrolled major such as, in particular, physics, you may want to consider using IPEDS to research various colleges with respect to the popularity of their programs. Harvey Mudd, for example, recently graduated a nicely solid 14 physics “first majors”: https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Harvey+Mudd&s=all&id=115409#programs. You also may want to emphasize programs that have mentored Apker Award (the highest recognition for undergraduate research in physics) recipients/finalists.
Harvey Mudd is generally very reachy for anyone. If you apply to just those two, your actual safety is starting at a community college.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1626043-ways-to-show-a-high-level-of-applicants-interest-p1.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/2159554-ways-to-show-interest-to-a-college-p1.html
What?
Closing thread since the OP is not taking it seriously.