I think OP is not willing to add any other schools since that advice (the somewhat easier to get into LACs mentioned throughout the thread) seems to be ignored when it is mentioned so I’ll only say this (maybe again): If the worst happens and all the match/reaches don’t work out, it’s very, very nice to be able to choose between two “safeties” than just “have to” go to the one that accepted you.
Also … merit aid! 
YMMV. As someone who initially had to choose between two safeties before getting into Brown off the waitlist, I don’t think I would have felt any worse if I didn’t have a choice and I felt pretty badly about being left with only my safety schools already. If the kid is satisfied with his one safety option that he’s already accepted to and doesn’t want to apply to another school why bother.
@lr4550 , I think you’re right about Earlham; it really does seems to be “all that”. Our impression is that it’s a place that honors all kinds of kids and is genuinely interested in engaging its students. After this school crossed my radar, it seemed I kept meeting people who had gone there, and all gave it glowing reviews. (They also were all really grounded although it’s always dangerous to judge a school by the subset of its grads that you’ve met.) Everyone was super friendly when we visited – students, faculty, coaches. Wasn’t sure if that was just the Midwest. 
Wisteria,
I didn’t mean for my comments to highjack this thread with Colby admission stats. But, for the class of 2019, there were 7591 applications. For the class of 2020, there were 9833 applications. For confirmation, look at the school’s Twitter account or the news section (press releases) of the Colby web site.
To the Opening Poster, I am sure that good things will happen for your son come May.
@iwannabe_Brown, you’re pretty close to the mark. Our S knows that Binghamton is the safety and adding a couple of schools a rung down or outside the geographical comfort zone did not seem to appeal to him. I think he accepts the notion that while Binghamton isn’t his ideal school, if it comes to that, it’ll be fine.
In this case it seems OP’s kid isn’t satisfied and would prefer to attend a LAC.
@Lindagaf, don’t know where you got the idea that state schools don’t offer merit aid. I know students who have gotten merit at U-MN, Ohio State, Michigan State – and not all of them are in-state students. And Alabama and Oklahoma have big scholarships for merit. Some states don’t, but a lot do.
@intparent, have a little patience with us newbies.
I erroneously assumed that state universities didn’t give merit aid because they are already low-priced, but I now know differently.
@rjjxv26: many of the LACs suggested here are as good as Binghamton (Earlham, for instance, is a top producer of PHDs and punches way above its weight) and… Bing is not a LAC so if there’s something as good as Bing but in the preferred model and with no extra work except press the submit button on CommonApp (and, perhaps, a 250 word essay), I’m not sure I see a downside.
In addition, many teenagers say they’re fine with the safety school until it comes down to it. In their mind, they’re fine with it because they never truly thought they’d attend. They always envisioned themselves elsewhere and when they don’t get into any of their other schools, they have a huge internal crisis.(That’s where the “choose between two safeties” comes in handy.) Each Spring there are scores of high-achievers who come post on these forums along the lines of “all that hard work for nothing”, “I was not admitted anywhere”, “high stats yet denied everywhere”… (= “anywhere/everywhere that isn’t my safety”)
While I do think some colleges will admit him, he can’t “count” on it with such colleges and their selectivity rates.
The reason he wasn’t selected at these 2 LACs is that the majority of applicants are turned down, even ED. Selectivity means there may be nothing wrong with his application, he IS a strong applicant, but so are most of the students denied. That’s the law of high selectivity colleges. When he applied ED, he may have pushed his odds to one in two, which is very very high, and due to being a boy and wanting to major in a less-popular major… but the odds of being denied are still even, so denial can’t be explained on just one factor. It could just be luck. With the RD round, his odds are uneven - at best, 30%, so twice more probability to get denied than to get in.
Since the GC’s at your son’s school are experienced, DO have his review the full application: does anything stick out that would indicate why he was straight rejected and not deferred? Is it bad luck or is it something in the application? And if it’s in the application, is there any way to mitigate it?
@Lindagaf: the SUNYs each have a different policy with regard to merit and have changed it a couple times in the past 10 years, so no one would blame you for getting confused on that account.
Hi @MYOS1634. Once again, you amaze me with your work rate. Since you’re an uber-poster I can understand you losing track of some of my S’s details. Earlham, being in Indiana, is well outside the radius of acceptability. Also, S was deferred at both Williams & Middlebury not straight up denied. I don’t have a clear sense of what the distinction means but I take it deferral is at least marginally better than denial.
I will take a new look at schools that are still open to applications tonight. Thanks for taking the time to post.
OP, I’m guessing that you are reluctant to bring this up to your S – have you talked with him? I do agree that making sure he has an LAC safety is a good idea – you might just put it that way to him – just in case. He may not need it. But really, it is better to have more choices vs fewer in the spring. There is not a lot of harm in asking him to do 1-2 more apps this week.
https://www.wooster.edu/academics/areas/classical/
http://acclassics.jherrman.net/
“Northeast” is pushing it if you mean New England but Allegheny is in PA and Wooster, one of my favorite colleges ever…is in eastern Ohio. Both are taking apps for another week.
I understand that Indiana is too far for him, but if your son had to pick one LAC, it wouldn’t have to be Earlham… it was just an example. Or ask him if he’d reconsider his radius, that sometimes happens :p. He could think of it as “a little trip to take” or something.
Some have 2/15 deadlines but few will have Classics so pickings will be slim. I’m just worried hat if push comes to shove, he’d feel “stuck” and would feel really bad - it happens very often, alas.
However, I apologize, I keep confusing your son’s details with another thread 
(I don’t do this often and must really apologize. Thank you for being so gracious).
You get the idea though: you said the GC’s are good at this (I checked: I was worried I’d get mixed up again!:p) and have them review the whole application.
Yes you’re right, being deferred is much better than being denied, it means he’s qualified and thus has a shot.
(I suppose he’s confirmed his continued interest, etc).
I would recommend reflecting on geographic requirements and reconsidering. What MYOS1634 was communicating is that, in order to have a choice among safeties, and if your kid’s preference is truly a LAC and not a bigger school like Bing, then a family needs to look outside the northeast. Your son has a great portfolio, but admission at the top northeast LACs is so competitive, they reject many top kids simply because they are building a class and are admitting very specific individuals, not just high stats, high achieving kids. Being deferred from both schools at ED1 and ED2 is better than an outright denial, but many schools defer their unhooked, qualified candidates to the regular pool in order to see how applicants fit into their needs in crafting a class. Functionally, at a LAC, a 20-30% acceptance rate still means most kids, including most high achieving kids, are not admitted.
For a student who truly feels most at home in a LAC, Earlham is a terrific suggestion, as is Kalamazoo and Wooster. Perhaps Centre in KY or Sewanee, if those applications are still open.
I’m from the east coast originally, here in the midwest for career reasons. Knowing we needed merit aid for our younger kid, we visited up and down the east coast and all over the midwest and know a number of these schools very well. Although most will not ooh and ahh back home about Kalamazoo, Wooster or Earlham, these are excellent schools, with faculty comparable to top LACs, just less name recognition because they are in flyover country.
OP, I encourage your son to think about his geographic constraints. Unless, of course, he has an issue that requires him to be close to you. I guess I have a different outlook, as we live in NY, and our families are all over the world, but a short plane journey, or a ten hour car ride are nothing in the grand scheme of things.
I should add, for the OP, the Dean of the College at Williams is the new President at Wooster and is taking over the helm at Wooster this summer. I anticipate that Wooster will continue to enhance its reputation under her leadership.
@OHMomof2 “satisfied with” is not the same thing as “prefers.”
Midwestmomofboys, there are a ton of LACs in Pa that are close to NY and less competitive. I would be loath to have my kids 10 hours away. But that is not at all necessary.
I think the thing that worries me here more than anything is the statement that your son has not yet visited Binghamton. If he had visited it, and thus knew from firsthand experience he was satisfied with it as a safety, then I would not be advocating so strongly for additional options. Without a visit, that feels risky to me. (And yes, we’re suggesting adding other safeties there’s now no time to visit, but again, it’s all about choice.)
All that said, he’s a strong candidate, and this is not meant to predict gloom and doom later this spring – just to ALLOW for gloom in doom, which we’ve all seen happen to others.