Hi! Can anyone share advice on potential safeties for my daughter (rising senior, New York State )? Her stats as of now:
GPA 3.7 (unweighted and unofficial since school does not report)
ACT 35 comp / 9 writing
SAT2 - yet to take
EC: school swim team since freshman
Two full summers of hospital volunteering
Fiction and theater screen play writing (4 years, outside of school, minor awards)
Her current list (she is deciding for a couple more low/high likelies):
Brown
UChicago
Tufts
BU
CWR
Northeastern
Currently, she is interested in pre-med with major in biology. Any suggestions for safety other than Binghamton and UPitt? She wants non-rural, not LAC. Money is not an issue but with med school a possibility would be good to have a relatively inexpensive safety (will not qualify for need based). Appreciate your thoughts!
Though maybe not the safety you are seeking, URochester aligns well with your daughter’s current choices. Their tuition might be offset through merit scholarship recognition.
Thank you for advice, this is a great school. It was on the preliminary list but, unfortunately, quite far from safety for her, based on Naviance. May end up as one of her targets.
URochester wouldn’t be a safety per se, but at least a very solid match; and it offers an educational experience that is comparable to other elite U’s on her list that are harder to get into (with great medical-related opportunities for premeds), and it hit’s her mid-sized urban-adjacent template. Also, if she likes Tufts, Brandeis could be a good safety-ish option.
Pitt would be great (esp. with automatic honors eligibility), and if she’s comfortable with SUNYs as safeties, it seems like she could have her bases well covered - could add in Buffalo? A lot of the other ones I can think of are more Greek-heavy than the ones on your list (U of Miami, for example) - can I infer from your choices that she prefers less of a Greek scene? There are urban state flagships in great cities that she could consider - UMinn Twin Cities, UW-Seattle - with honors programs. U of Denver is a private U (with an honors program) in a great city, that would be a safety for her.
On the competitive end, Rice is another that shares the attributes that put her current schools on her list. And she’d be a candidate for merit at USC, particularly if she’s NMSF. (Or did she not knock the PSAT as far out of the park as the ACT?)
Her PSAT was far weaker compared to ACT which she passed strongly without much prep. You are right, she doesn’t want a campus with a lot of Greek activity so that eliminated a few potential choices. I will suggest her Minnesota and Denver, these were not on the radar before. Thank you!
Both Temple and Rutgers have honors colleges which means a higher-stat applicants get better opportunities on entrance and they both offer merit aid in your daughter’s gpa/score range. They both have “rolling” or non-binding early admission which is a huge plus for “likely” schools as having a couple of acceptances to good schools provides the applicant with peace of mind for those anxious waiting weeks from Jan-April 1.
U New Mexico would be a perfect safety. She qualifies for the Amigo scholarship which means she will pay in state tuition which is around $20k total including room and board. She would probably be invited to the Honors college.
It only costs a few bucks to apply, which my D did in late summer before senior year. Great to start out with an acceptance in Sept. We didn’t get official notification of the Amigo scholarship till later in the fall, but still in plenty of time in case for some reason she didn’t get it and we needed a Plan B. The scholarship is subject to funds availability so the early bird definitely gets the worm.
UNM has an even better scholarship, maybe full ride, but you have to apply separately and it’s competitive, not automatic like Amigo.
Of course you would have budget in airfare.
Lots of good suggestions in this thread but many aren’t true safeties. She should feel quite confident of admission as well as affordability. Not just “a good chance” of admission and not just “she would probably get merit aid.” With UNM you can know in Sept whether she’s admitted and maybe by Nov. you’d know about the scholarship.
“she is interested in pre-med with major in biology.”
DEFINITELY save college money in the bank for medical school. There are very good premed programs at some of the SUNY’s, as well as at many public state universities across the US. Budget for 8 years, where the last 4 are the most expensive and also the most important.
As such I would definitely apply to some SUNY’s, but I don’t know them well enough to know which ones.
You might add another SUNY or two to the list (perhaps Stony Brook, Buffalo, New Paltz). Fordham might be an option – not sure if she would get merit aid there but it is a possibility with the high ACT score.
Definitely consider adding Fordham. With the same GPA and a lower test score, I received $21k in merit per year. Some others that I can think of are University of Delaware where she would get good merit, Drexel, Saint Joseph’s University, and University of New Hampshire.
Wow, this is very inspiring! So many schools that we haven’t thought about, more research is awaiting. Also, never thought she could qualify for any merit aid, so hearing your stories was very encouraging. Many thanks to all!
First thing about safety schools: apply to somewhere you would consider going to. After picking out those schools, I would suggest checking the student profile of admitted students at those schools, therefore narrowing down the list. ( I think based on her stats, two safety schools might be enough.)
Ooooooh a good safety could be Penn State! SO many kids from my high school apply there and absolutely LOVE IT! As a plus the acceptance rate is pretty high, at 55% or something around there. Some safety schools of mine are American University, George Washington University, Temple University, Pace University, and Drexel happy searching xx
happy searching xx