General College Information

The Different Kinds of Colleges

We encourage all students to explore all options to find the right school to continue their education.  Note that each option may have different entrance requirements, costs, and  provide different opportunities on their campuses.


Creating Your College List

Building a college list takes time and research. Some students only apply to a couple universities, but some students may want to build a broader list. Experts recommend making sure you have campuses in three different categories when applying to increase your chances of having multiple choices after admission decisions: Reach/Highly Selective, Target/Match, and Likely/Safety. How many you have in each category may vary on your goals, preferences, and academic profile, but one thing experts agree on is to NOT have all your schools in the Reach/Highly Selective category.

Building a college list is subjective. Consulting rankings and using categories can be helpful, but the most important thing is that you are happy with each college you add to your list. 


Reach or Highly Selective

Your academic profile is below the average profile of attendees of these universities and/or these schools have low acceptance rates that make it difficult to predict acceptance.

RECOMMENDED:

1-3 COLLEGES IN THIS CATEGORY

Example schools in this category: Stanford, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Princeton, San Diego State, Cal Poly


Match or Target

Your academic profile falls within the range of the average student in the most recent class admitted. 

RECOMMENDED:

2-3 COLLEGES IN THIS CATEGORY

Example schools in this category: This will depend on your academic profile, but will include many CSUs and UCs (except those noted in the highly selective that have lower admit rates). This may also include many out-of-state and private schools.


Likely or "Safety"

Your academic profile exceeds the average profile of students in the most recent class admitted and/or these schools have high acceptance rates.

RECOMMENDED:

1-3 COLLEGES IN THIS CATEGORY

Example schools in this category: This will depend on your academic profile, but may include many CSUs and UCs that have higher acceptance rates. This may also include many out-of-state and private schools.


Community colleges, like the SRJC, would also be considered "Likely" because they are open admission.

Ready to get started on your list? Check out the Find Your College Fit section of CollegeBoard https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/plan-for-college/find-your-dream-college


You can search for colleges through CollegeBoard here: https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-search/filters