Would it be necessary?
“Safety” or whatever other term means assured admission and assured affordability.
If a school is only affordable if one earns a merit scholarship, then the school can be put into “reach”, “match”, or “safety” categories (however they are named) based on the scholarship, not admission.
Of course, there is also the category of “out of reach”, meaning either no possibility of admission or no possibility of affordability.
Hmmm, would it map to something like:
(almost) safety = slam dunk
low match = free throws
match = layup
reach = 3 point shot just behind the arc
super reach = 3 point heave from back court
Of course, the 3 point shots are more valuable if you make them, perhaps reflecting that most students value their reach schools more than their matches. (But then a reach can also be a big scholarship.)
For the Harry Potter fans perhaps Hermoine, Harry, and Ron??
I have been confused for few decades, I simply do not understand what is the purpose of dividing the schools into some categories. It seems like a waste of time and other resources. Why not simply apply to schools that fall under your personal criteria and match your stats and see what happen? If one really wants to divide, how about divide them depending on the level of attraction for the specific student? Like “excellent”, “good”, “satisfactory” or something of this nature.
We did not divide schools when D. applied. However, she measured each school against her personal criteria list and organized her list in her personal preference sequence. She ended up attending at her #2 and looking back few years later, still strongly believes that she attended the school that matched her personality and very wide range of interests in the best possible way. One thing we all forgot to check was the ranking of each school, we still have no idea about the ranks of the schools on her list. Ranks reflect the others’ opinions of the specific place, the level of research money flowing into institution and all other criteria that was very irrelevant to my D. and was not anywhere near her personal criteria list.
@MiamiDAP these particular categories aren’t about ranking or preference but about managing risk.
Snug, fit, baggy
Unless you are okay with a gap year, the only important thing is to have a safety or two you like. I never thought there was much point in trying to figure out what was a match vs what was a reach.
@ucbalumnus wrote
At least in our household, if the school comes back with an acceptance but is unaffordable, that’s a rejection as valid as an outright “no” from them. We’re going to need to see the love for her to attend, and that’s driving a lot of our picks.
So it could be “You Love Me, You Really Love Me”, “Show Me The Money”, and “Life Is Pain, Highness.”
my D and I have jokingly been categorizing schools as:
probable, reasonable, and who knows?
but she’s not going to bother applying anywhere that isn’t genuinely appealing. I’m always a little confused when we see posts from kids who “hate” all the schools they got accepted to. There’s got to be some program or aspect that makes her think ‘yeah, this would be cool’ or what’s the point?
@thermom finances
"these particular categories aren’t about ranking or preference but about managing risk. " - this makes it even more confusing. Is there a risk of being killed or getting sick or whatever when applying to colleges? What kind of risk could be there if one is just creating a list of colleges that matches her personal criteria and stats? I mean, I do not care how people waste their time, but we were asked for our opinions, so I am trying to figure out why people get so busy with this. And another very confusing thing is how people get accepted to schools that they absolutely hate? One cannot get accepted if she did not apply, correct? So why they wasted their time / money and other resources on applying to schools that they absolutely hate? None of it makes any sense to me.
As usual, you’re the only one who doesn’t “get it”. @-)
@MiamiDAP-you can’t go solely by statistics when it comes to the most selective schools. I will use my son as an example.
He has a 3.95 UW GPA, 35 ACT, top 5% of his class. If you look at Brown’s Common Data Set you will see that he is above the middle 50% with his ACT, 92% of Browns’ accepted students are in the top 10% of their class and they do not report GPAs on the Common Data Set.
Despite the fact that my son seems to match up nicely with the statistics at Brown you will also note that Brown only accepted about 11% of males who applied. So despite the statistics matching up there is only a small likelihood that he (or any other student) will be accepted. He can’t just fill out applications at schools where his stats line up and his interests line up. He has to find some schools where the likelihood of acceptance is greater.
If you look at University of Miami you will see that the the top of the middle 50% is ACT 32 and that around 38% of males are accepted. That is more of a match or safety for my son as he stands a much greater chance of acceptance at Miami than Brown.
For very high stats kids you can’t go just by stats. They have to find other places where they would be happy to attend.
"For very high stats kids you can’t go just by stats. They have to find other places where they would be happy to attend. " - This is EXACTLY what I am saying. Instead of going thru some kind of division, just apply to places where you will be happy and that match your stats to the point of the guaranteed 100% acceptance. So, instead of application cycle with tension and stress, you will have an enjoyable process with the memories for the rest of your life. I would not have my kid applying to Brown if she had only 11% of acceptance, I would look at this only as a stress generating type of activity. My kid applied only to schools with “the likelihood of acceptance” of 100%. I guess, that is what I am trying to say. Why not? I guess, I am totally stupid about this process.
What if you are okay with going to U of Miami, but like Brown much better? What if you are in a need category where Brown might even cost less. Of course you should apply to Brown, just go into the process with open eyes. My kids did not find it that stressful to apply to places they were likely to be rejected and they got some pleasant surprises in the process. They also got a fair number of rejections because they had reach heavy lists. What made the process less stressful for them, was that they both had colleges that they got into early that they were perfectly willing to attend if the rest of their list didn’t pan out.
I do like the term likely better than safety. My favorite of the suggestions so far is Locks, Targets, Hail Marys. I think too many people think Matches are locks or very close to locks.
Jeepers, Miami. Some kids aren’t your kid.
S will be applying to a number of schools with acceptance rates below 10% and a few with significantly higher acceptance rates. He wants to be at a school where he isn’t the smartest kid in the room. How hard is that to understand?
@mathmom -I don’t think there is any reason NOT to apply to Brown. I just don’t think a student should make a list consisting entirely of schools with sub 20% acceptance rates.
@Proudpatriot Who is advocating that?
Goomba
Koopa Paratroopa
Bowser
Yes
Maybe
Improbable
Snowball’s chance in Wisconsin
Snowball’s chance in Maryland
Snowball’s chance in Alabama
Chevy
Cadillac
Rolls Royce
Intramural
Varsity
Pro
Solid
Liquid
Gas
Pine
Maple
Teak
Easy
Average
Hard
Hamburger
Meat Loaf
Roulade
Nobody. But I didn’t advocate not applying to Brown so I thought I would clarify.