Creating a balanced college list is essential to student success. Students should apply to no more than 10-12 colleges. This includes 2-3 safety schools that they would attend if admitted, 3-4 likely or target schools, 2-3 reaches, and 1 wild card. Likely or target schools are those with similar GPAs and test scores (if they have them) to theirs. Typically their scores are in the middle 50% of admitted students. Reach schools are those that have much higher academic qualifica