Creating a university list, while exciting, can be tricky. In today’s university admissions landscape, competition is high, and acceptance rates are low. To maximize your chances of acceptance to a school you truly want to attend, it’s important to think strategically about which schools you want on your application list. The ideal university list should hold a balance of safety, target and reach – or sometimes even extreme reach schools! We are here to help you break down exactly what these terms mean, which universities fit into each category, and how many schools you should apply to.
Safety, Target, Reach & Extreme Reach: What is the difference?
What is a Safety School?
A safety school is a university where you have a greater than 75% chance of acceptance. These schools consistently admit students with lower test scores and GPAs than yours. While these universities may be chosen primarily because of your high chance of acceptance, safety schools should still fulfil all your criteria for your ideal school.
While a safety school may lie on the lower end of the scale in terms of academic rigor (in your own personal case), it should not lie below your range. These schools should still be able to satisfy your academic needs and challenge you intellectually. At a minimum, you should consider applying to 2 safety schools.
What is a Target School?
A target school is one in which your academic credentials and grades fall within the average range of students admitted, often between the 25th and 75th percentiles. While admission at these universities is not guaranteed, there is a good chance that you can expect to be admitted. In other words, these schools are not ‘easy wins’ or ‘out of your league’. They sit at the mid-range point of your university admissions goals. At a minimum, you should consider applying to 4 target schools.
Why is the Safety, Target, Reach and Extreme Reach Strategy Important?
So, why is it important to categorize your university list in this manner? The short answer is, that by doing so you maximize your chances of acceptance. While ideally you would probably like to fill your list with reach or extreme reach schools, you do not want to run the risk of getting rejected to every school you apply to. Including target and safety schools decreases this risk and balances your university list, so that you can ensure that you will gain admission to universities that are still a great fit for you.
What is a Reach School?
A reach school (sometimes called a “dream” school) accepts candidates with academic credentials a little higher than yours. These schools are usually the ones candidates ideally choose to go to if grades and cost are irrelevant factors.
Your chances of admission at a reach school are less than 25% on average. Some top US universities, including the Ivy League, are considered reach schools for all applicants, considering their incredibly low acceptance rates. These schools should not stretch wildly beyond your academic range but sit at the very top of this range. At a minimum, you should consider applying to 3 reach schools.
Reach Schools: Increasing Your Acceptance Odds
It’s critical to have a strategy when selecting which business schools to apply to. Typically, applicants will apply to a mix of safety, target, and reach schools to better their odds.
“Most candidates feel overwhelmed with applying to more than the average of four or five schools. Therefore, it’s crucial to think strategically about school selection and develop a competitive mix of MBA programs to target.”
But how do you go about deciding which schools are “safety” and which are “reach” on your list? Leap Quest what you need to know about reach schools, and what it takes to get into one.
What Qualifies As A Reach School?
Prospective students may lack certain accomplishments and experiences, such as impressive extracurricular activities and a track record of leadership, that are typically necessary for acceptance at these institutions.
A big misconception that applicants have about reach schools is that they don’t have what it takes to get in—when in reality, they do.
“It’s common for MBA applicants to misidentify programs as reach schools based on inaccurate assumptions about admissions criteria. Sometimes a personal feature that a candidate perceives as a disadvantage in the admissions process is not viewed as such by admissions officers, who may describe that trait as a plus.”
How To Increase Your Odds At A Reach School
If you’re applying to a reach school with below average test scores or a low GPA, your best bet is to be upfront about your weaknesses in your application.
“For instance, someone who had a personal crisis during college that made it hard to focus on school can provide context on this issue in an optional essay or application addendum. Similarly, someone who had an issue at a testing center while taking an entrance exam can explain this to admissions officers
Remember, that every school on your list, from safety to extreme reach, should be a school where you would thrive. Make sure you don’t discount schools just because they don’t sit at the top of ranking lists, and similarly, you don’t consider higher ranked schools because you may not be at the top of your class right now. Many of our students improve significantly during their time working with Leap Quest, so it’s important to be both realistic and ambitious when building your own perfect university application list!
What are your chances of getting in?
This one is probably the trickiest part of doing business school research.
All the earlier effort will go down the drain if the business schools you ultimately select, are all in the super-ambitious range. You risk ending up with zero admits.
On the other extreme, with an over-conservative bschool selection approach, you may end up missing out on many excellent opportunities just because you assumed they were out of reach.
This is where a tool like the Leap Quest MBA Process can be really helpful. It considers a wide range of dependent and independent factors to categorise bschools as Ambitious, Stretch, Practical, Safe and Backup.
Depending on your appetite for risk, you can choose and pick programs based on real statistical analysis, as opposed to relying purely on gut-feel or others’ speculative recommendations.
Armed with the tools for strategic research into choosing MBA programs, it is important to keep in mind how wide you may want to cast your net.
A wise choice of schools should not only include your tier 1 desirable destinations that might be rather ambitious, but also a range of tier 2 schools that you think you may have a better chance at admission.
Based on the above criteria you can then bifurcate the schools into the following sections “Dream”, “Competitive” & “Safe”
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And remember, this process is lengthy. Relax in order to be thorough. Any haste and you may lose out on a whole lot of energy, money and time. May peace and luck be on your side. Also, to keep in mind are the spread of your applications over the various rounds. Does your research indicate any variation in the admission probability?
Get Help from Leap Quest for your MBA/MS Applications!
Leap Quest MBA/MS Admission service includes all elements of applications that consist of:
- Shortlisting the list of target B-Schools
- Guidance in building MBA/MS application essay/SOP’s write-ups (how to draft essays for MBA application)
- MBA/MS essay editing and guidance in organizing any other aspect of MBA/MS application.
- Guidance in preparing CV/Resume
- MBA/MS Interview preparation service in the event an MBA/MS applicant gets an interview call from a shortlisted B-School
- Any other related part that is inside the scope of B-School application process
- Social Media Consulting
- LinkedIn Assistance
- Drafting Scholarship letters
- Application Form Guidance
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