School listsMar 2026 · 6 min
When a “reach” is actually worth it
How to think about long-shot schools without wasting an application.
A reach is worth an application when two things are true: you would genuinely thrive there, and you can tell a story about why you fit that the school will believe.
Long-shot schools are not lottery tickets. Each one costs real hours of supplements, so treat them as investments. Two or three well-chosen reaches beat eight scattered ones.
The honest test: if you got in, would you actually go? If the answer is "probably not," that slot belongs to a target you're excited about.