Just to preface things, I’m a prospective CS major but also want very strong humanities options at any school I attend, just in case I change my mind or want to double major. I’d prefer schools with a strong sense of community and a noncompetitive atmosphere, and great sports teams would be a bonus. The only thing that I don’t want is a massive state school.
Here’s my tentative list (not allowed to apply to more than 9 schools):
[ul]
[]Stanford(SCEA)
[]Princeton
[]Brown
[]Cornell
[]Williams
[]Georgetown
[]Notre Dame
[]Duke
[li]Vanderbilt[/li][/ul]
UNC Chapel Hill and Wash U just missed the list.
Here’s my profile:
[]2400 SAT (single-sitting)
[]35 ACT (35 E, 35 M, 35 R, 34 S, 36 essay)
[]800 Math II, 760 Chem
[]3.9 UW at a very tough private school, no APs offered there
[]Average ECs: some debate, economics stuff, tutoring, publications, all with multiyear commitments. I have ~400 hours of community service in a very specific field. Over the summers, I’ve had relatively prestigious internships and done some academic programs (for privacy, won’t reveal specifics).
[]Very, very strong personal statement about identity. Might be the best thing I’ve ever written. Really speaks to who I am, and I’m sure it’ll positively impact my candidacy everywhere.
[]No FA needed
[]Multiracial URM
Anyway, with all the information above in consideration, do you think I need a “safety”? I’d say I’m competitive at everywhere I’m applying, and I doubt that I’ll be denied everywhere. As of now, I can honestly say that I love every school on my list, but I can’t find a safety where I can say the same. Can you guys think of any?
Another concern of mine is that even if I do add a safety, I might be waitlisted due to the school protecting its yield rate. Is this a valid concern in your experiences?
Bottom line, given my strong testing profile, are safeties even necessary? What would you do in my situation? Thanks in advance for any help.
Safeties are always necessary, at least one, no matter how good your stats are. Those schools reject well-qualified applicants all the time. But if you want to take a risk, go for it.
Cornell is relatively massive with about 14,000 undergraduates, and is partially a state school.
You are fine without a safety in your application list as long as you are comfortable with starting at a community college as your default safety in case you get shut out.
@anxiousenior1 But what I’m worried about is applying to a safety and being waitlisted because they don’t believe I’ll go there. This has happened to plenty of friends, and I’ve read a host of those cases on this site. Is my line of thought here warped? I mean, I don’t see the benefit of potentially dumping an app on a school that I’m not crazy about, only to be waitlisted because they don’t think I’ll come.
The schools in question were not safeties. When looking for safeties, be very wary of schools which consider “level of applicant’s interest” (see section C7 of the school’s common data set, or the admissions tab for the school on http://www.collegedata.com ). If applying to such a school, be sure to show it that you are really interested in attending, rather than just throwing an application there as a last-choice “safety”.
@ucbalumnus What I meant there was like ASU or Penn State massive. Thanks for providing reassurance on the no safeties thing. That said, the looming option of CC as my only backup intimidates me.
In my case, do you think I’ll get accepted to at least one of my schools? Just one, that’s all I need to be happy.
I would do at least one safety because a lot of colleges waitlist or reject high stat students because there are many of them. Another thing, can your family afford for you to go and do you want to go into debt especially if you might be planning to do graduate school. I know you said no financial aid is needed but you have to consider just how much your family is willing to pay. You could try Wake Forest and Northeastern. You might want to try a school in-state. You will most likely be offered a huge merit scholarship. Also a noncompetitive atmosphere? I would assume from what I have heard from current students and stereotypes that most Ivies have a competitive atmosphere…
With only “average ECs”, you stand a non-trivial chance of being shut out of all of those schools. Check on whether starting at a community college is suitable for you; if not, find a real safety.
Some high schools which limit the number of college applications do not count state university applications in the limit, or even require students to apply to at least one state university for the state that they are residents of.
UNC-CH strictly limits OOS admits, and it attracts very large numbers of OOS applicants due to its good OOS financial aid (rare for public schools), so OOS applicants should not consider it to be a safety.
Cornell regards all of its seven undergraduate schools as being privately controlled and administered. The relationship of its four statutory schools to New York State is primarily financial, though presumably includes responsibilities in consideration of this support.
I don’t regard myself as hardcore STEM at all, so it’s not an absolute must to have an amazing department. If I don’t major in CS, I’ll likely major in Econ, and those schools more than pack the punch there. Also, I’ve seen the Williams CS curriculum and talked to the professors there, and they’ve got a solid program.
Would a good STEM school safety be like a Case Western? What are some other options?
Rochester seems to meet some key criteria with respect to your interests. As a “safety” it would offer a nice combination of both relatively easy admission for you and academic programs that would rival those of schools already on your current list. Whether at Rochester, CWRU, or elsewhere, this is what you should be looking for in your last inclusion. UR, if you are not yet familiar with it, has a classically arranged campus on the edge of a medium-sized city, and, fairly uncommonly, has functional tunnels between buildings.
My mention of Georgetown and Williams was with respect to engineering only, not STEM generally.