<p>What is a true safety school? How many safeties should I have? Is it bad to have 5 reach schools and only one safety?</p>
<p>In a word, “YES”. You need some matches and probably two safeties. A true safety is a school where you are a little above their freshmen profile for the previous year, where you can afford the tuition without major scholarships, where you can be happy if you end up there. To have 5 reaches and only one safety is a very bad idea. Sometimes a safety will decide that you are not going to enroll and may not accept you. </p>
<p>If you want further advice/information, post the list of your reaches and your safety and some basic stats: GPA, SAT scores, geographic area, ECs, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply ebeeeee! Here are my stats/info:</p>
<p>Gender: M
Ethnicity: Asian (Cambodian)
Location: CT
College Class Year: 2012
High School: Public
High School Type: sends many grads to top schools</p>
<p>Academics:</p>
<p>GPA: 4.21
Class Rank: top 5 students (probably 4th)
Class Size: 290</p>
<p>Scores:</p>
<p>SAT I: Math 800, CR 690, Writing 710 (TOTAL: 2200)</p>
<p>SAT II Math Level 2 (IIC): 800
SAT II Chemistry: 740
SAT II Spanish: 610</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
(1 year) Biology Club (vice president 12th)
(3 years)Math Team (captain 12th)
(4 years)Student Forum (corresponding secretary 10th, treasurer 12th)
(4 years) Asian Cultural Society (Vice President 11th, President 12th)
(2 years)Mu Alpha Theta
(2 years)National Honor Society
(4 years)Christian Youth Group
(1 year)Talisman (men’s small choir)
(3 years)Drama (spring musical)</p>
<p>Honors and Awards: Rensselaer Medalist, AP Scholar, National Merit Commended Scholar</p>
<p>Colleges I’m Applying to:
Brown University (Early Decision)
University of Pennsylvania
Dartmouth College
Harvard University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Yale University
Cornell University
Johns Hopkins University
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Georgetown University (maybe)
Williams College (maybe)</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>My safety is Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, by the way. My matches are Cornell, Johns Hopkins, and Georgetown and Williams if I apply to them. My reaches are Yale, Harvard, MIT, Dartmouth, and UPenn. I’m not sure about Brown. I think it’s a low reach for me, and I’ll be applying early decision there.</p>
<p>bump…</p>
<p>I only have one safety as well. In Texas, if you’re in the top 10% of your class you get admission to the public university of your choice, so I have a nice 100% guaranteed safety. As long as you’re sure that you’re okay with the school, I don’t see why not.</p>
<p>I would recommend adding UConn as a safety, just so you have another option. Just my opinion though.</p>
<p>One safety here also. But it’s UMich (instate) and I absolutely adore the school. I think as long as you’re comfortable with only one backup you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>I’m not sure that Williams should be considered a match</p>
<p>Cornell rejected some beasts from my HS last year, so don’t be overly optimistic about it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies everyone!</p>
<p>tickytock—I would consider a match/lowreach…from the history of acceptance rates to williams from my high school, i’ve deemed it a match. But you’re right; williams probably shouldn’t be considered a match just because of how competitive admissions is there.</p>
<p>So long as you’re 100% positive that you can get in and would be happy there, then only one safety is fine.</p>
<p>Boy do I love the fact that I’ve got guaranteed admission to Tulane (but I do have 3 other safeties because I’m slightly insane). One can be more than enough.</p>
<p>I think that you may be overshooting a little bit, but it could just be me. </p>
<p>No leadership positions, a very good SAT score but not spectacular, light on the ECs, lack of awards, not very stellar of a match oriented student i dont know, i think you need to reach lower for your match schools, and the top Ivys may be unrealistic, i could be alone on that though.</p>
<p>Thanks Johnson and Tyler.</p>
<p>Tyler—I’m only applying to Yale and Harvard because my parents want me to do it for the heck of it. Realistically, I think I have a good shot at Brown Early Decision, but a slim chance at Penn and Dartmouth. I should be able to get into Cornell though. I agree about my SAT scores, and I think my EC’s are decent (I wouldn’t call them light though)…and I do hold leadership positions, as I mentioned on my other post (President, VP, Treasurer, Captain, etc.). Do you think I’m still reaching? (I’m not trying to convince you to say otherwise…I’m just making sure you caught that I do have leadership positions and such). Thanks for the reply btw.</p>
<p>You go to Choate?</p>
<p>That’s one ridiculous list…
6 Ivies.</p>
<p>your state flagship school</p>
<p>@ tyler</p>
<p>r u stupid? there are leadership positions in those clubs. “No leadership positions” clearly understates that.</p>
<p>But I do agree the EC’s arent noticable</p>
<p>What are you planning to major in ? I agree that you need more safeties. UConn would be a good choice. Perhaps I or someone else can suggest others if you give your intended major.</p>
<p>I also think your list is top-heavy, and could use another safety–Georgetown and Hopkins are probably matches. All the Ivies are a reach for everybody–even Brown, Penn, and Cornell. Although your stats and ECs are very good, they are not unusual.</p>
<p>I think the schools you think are matches are close to reaches in most cases, and truly a reach in the case of Williams–don’t be fooled by the fact that Williams in not an Ivy and that some people have not heard of it. Perhaps being Cambodian will help in terms of ethnic diversity, but I think you really need to add at least one real match to your list, especially if you don’t love the idea of going to RPI. </p>
<p>It is not clear to me where you are getting your sense of what a matcfh or reach might be for you, but aside from class rank being very good and coming from a good high school, I have to say it sounds to me as though coming from a specific underrepresented Asian minority may be your only real trump card. If this sense of matches is coming from your school college counselor, I am surprised adn hope he or she knows something that is not coming through in this forum. (I would say on the basis of long observation of results at my children’s high school, which is very successful in terms of college admissions, that while it is fine to apply early to Brown if that is where you really want to go, do so knowing that it is not a “low reach” for you–it is a reach, as it is for almost anyone who is not either a recruited athlete or very well connected or otherwise irrestible to the admissions office.)</p>