I think the baseline, target, and reach categorization needs some work because it seems to rely too heavily on stats without giving enough weight to mission fit and other school-specific factors.

For example, UC Davis may have relatively lower median stats, but that does not necessarily make it a baseline or target school for every applicant. UC Davis has a very specific mission and places significant emphasis on factors such as ties to Northern California, serving underserved communities, and alignment with its regional mission. An applicant with stats well above the school's median could still be a reach if they do not fit that mission well.

The same issue applies to schools with strong in-state preferences, regional preferences, or unusually specific institutional missions. Conversely, an applicant whose experiences strongly align with a school's mission may have a better fit than the stats alone suggest.

I think the categorization would be much more useful if it considered mission fit, geographic preference, in-state/OOS preference, and applicant experiences alongside GPA and MCAT, rather than primarily using numerical competitiveness.