Simulate outcomes

The acceptance model scores My student against the sample schools, then Monte Carlo simulates 20,000 admissions seasons.

$25,000/yr

Per-school admit probability

SchoolBase rateAdmit prob.Band / tag
University of Michigan18.0%19.5%reach
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign45.0%47.5%target
Northwestern University7.0%10.1%reach
Purdue University53.0%55.5%target
Michigan State University83.0%84.4%safety

Portfolio simulation

How this worksWhat a Monte Carlo simulation tells you

Each school above has a single admit probability — but one number hides what actually matters to a family: the range of ways the season could unfold across your whole list. A Monte Carlo simulation answers that by playing the season out thousands of times. In each simulated season, every school is an independent weighted coin-flip at its admit probability; we tally the results across 20,000 seasons.

How to read the numbers:

  • P(at least one admit) — the share of simulated seasons with one or more acceptances. The single best gauge of whether a list is “safe enough.”
  • Expected # of admits — the average number of acceptances across all seasons.
  • P(affordable admit) — the chance at least one acceptance comes in at or under your budget.
  • Distribution of outcomes — below, the full spread: how often you’d expect 0, 1, 2, … admits.

The admit probabilities are themselves estimates, so read these as a calibrated range, not a forecast — and note this baseline treats schools as independent, while strong applicants tend to get several admits at once (a refinement on our roadmap). See the methodology.

97.5%
P(at least one admit)
2.18
Expected # of admits
97.3%
P(affordable admit ≤ $25k)
76.4%
P(at least one target)

Distribution of outcomes

Across 20,000 simulated seasons, how often you land exactly this many admits.

2%
0
21%
1
40%
2
29%
3
7%
4
0%
5

number of admits

Model accept-v0.1 · baseline heuristic, to be retrained on outcome data.

These outputs are estimates from a baseline model — not guarantees of admission, cost, or outcome.