As a frequent user of CC, I often see people debating the “level” to which one person is fit to a college. So what entails a college “match”? It is not simply scores, as many people with high percentile scores get rejected from schools they thought were matches. For a “match” than we must evaluate Ec’s, Scores, Essay strengths, and URM/Legacy/Athlete boosts, correct? So a students with a 34 ACT/Good (but not great) Ec’s/no hooks/solid essay would be a match for…? What specifically? Is the “match game” really trivial enough to not play??
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Not every college places the same weight on each factor. To answer your hypothetical, public universities frequently weight numbers (GPA, class rank, test scores) heavily – sometimes providing automatic admission if the numbers are good enough. Many private colleges also primarily look at numbers. As a general rule of thumb, extracurriculars, awards, essays, etc. become more important as selectivity increases; many applicants to Harvard or MIT have amazing stats, so it’s other factors that can make or break an applicant.
The Common Data Sets, though not always made accessible by colleges, are somewhat helpful for figuring out what a college is looking for (see section C7).
You forgot admission rate. If you want to trivialize a 5-20% admission rate and believe that you have good enough odds at a highly selective school with a 34 ACT / decent EC’s / solid essays / no hooks, then go ahead and build a list without regard to the “match game”. Plan out your gap year at the same time.
@Dunboyne This is exactly what I am trying to say; is that no top schools can be considered a match.
I agree. Top schools are a reach for almost everyone (unless they have a parent who built a building on campus or something). There are so many excellent applicants that these schools have to turn down many students who are highly qualified.
IMO a great match school is one where you feel you have at least a 50% chance of being accepted, you believe you can afford to attend, it has your academic interests, it feels socially comfortable, and it has all or most of the other things you want in a college (ex. Greek life, location, size etc.)