<p>We have all heard about so and so going to some top school, but never seem to hear about those that go to thier safeties instead.. So how bout now?</p>
<p>Well, I only got into one school, and I go there, so I guess I half-count. </p>
<p>Uhhh… Any actual questions? What is your aim for the thread?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t call it a safety, but S2 chose a school ranked lower than four or five other schools to which he was accepted. He is as happy as can be with his choice.</p>
<p>There is another thread about going to your “safety” in this same forum. Is there a different focus for this one?</p>
<p>Well the focus was looking back now, do you regret going to your safety school, especially if you turned down a college that rankings view as better.</p>
<p>DD attended a local state school (ranked in top 50 on USNWR so reputable) and had other private options that were much more expensive.</p>
<p>When she graduated we were all glad we had not taken out loans for schools at $50k+ annually, though she was disappointed to turn them down. She ever got some disrespect from HS friends for only going to that state school instead of that private school.</p>
<p>DD never thought she would end up at the state school when she casually tossed it on the list for a theoretical safety. As she was our first we did not know how financial aid would work and did not know that FAFSA was our friend and Profile was not. </p>
<p>In hindsight, I wish I had known more about how financial aid would work and had insisted on adding more FAFSA small privates so she had that choice.</p>
<p>She never liked that school and had some real ups & downs that made in stressful from afar. However, she also met & liked the prof who specialises in what directed her to her PhD path, so it all worked out.</p>
<p>I would tell people to give themselves better options.</p>
<p>Mr PMK and I both attended our safety schools. </p>
<p>I wound up being asked to leave after my second semester. I was not ready for college, a gap year would have done me a world of good and, in fact, it was the year after that working and living on my own that truly prepared me for the rest of my life.</p>
<p>Mr PMK did a four year program in five years on an ROTC scholarship at a third tier college. He then started flight school, finished top of his class and joined a squadron where he also excelled. Seven years after graduating from college, he applied and was accepted into a top program for his Masters degree. It’s been 22 years since he graduated with his BS, he is now retired from the military, working full time and one year into a four year Doctoral program, again a top one in his field. For him, absolutely no regrets. Not having student debt has given us a lot of financial freedom. </p>
<p>I often think of Mr PMK when making the argument that kids who are ready will soar no matter the college. And I think of myself when people wonder if a gap year is a good idea for their student. </p>
<p>Now our son will be starting a school that was not an academic safety school but a financial one. Like somemom recommends, we cast a wider net with PMKjr’s applications and so far it has worked out well.</p>
<p>My kids are happily attending their financial safety schools. Our EFC is too high because of rental property and we wouldn’t get any aid even with two in school. Since both have more education to do after undergrad, they chose their safety school because then we can help them with those later costs.</p>
<p>So, if your goal is law/business/med school, then attending a financial safety can make a lot of sense if it means that professional school will be more affordable (less total loans or more family help).</p>
<p>My D1 didn’t go her her safety and had a little attitude about it at the time (kind of snobby, that she wouldn’t go there even if it was the only choice). Now she’s looking at grad schools, and she’s seeing how wonderful an institution it is and may end up there after all. </p>
<p>I know someone who went there as a safety and had to give up her dream school for financial reasons. She said by the end of sophomore year she never, ever would have changed her experiences, couldn’t imagine giving up all of the great things she had done and great people she had met.</p>
<p>She’s at Harvard for grad school now, for what it’s worth. So the two of them are kind of a mirror image! Maybe for some people the state safety does sometimes need the maturity of someone older than 17 to come to terms with.</p>
<p>*She’s at Harvard for grad school now, for what it’s worth. So the two of them are kind of a mirror image! Maybe for some people the state safety does sometimes need the maturity of someone older than 17 to come to terms with. *</p>
<p>True…sometimes it’s hard for a 17yo to realize that the grad school is more important than the undergrad.</p>