<p>So my latest fear is that I'll get rejected from every college I apply to except my safety.
Has this happened to you or anyone you know?
I'm afraid that if I shoot too high, I might not make it in anywhere :-/</p>
<p>Don’t worry! Just pray that you’ll get into one of your dream schools. Anything can happen! Just think positively. Well, don’t get too cocky though.</p>
<p>Just apply to a safety that you’d at least enjoy going to.</p>
<p>And don’t listen to those people that say that you should apply to all the Ivies because you have an ~8% chance of getting into one, so you obviously have a 64% chance of getting into one. It’s a ridiculous statement.</p>
<p>Just shoot high and find a desirable safety. You’ll be fine.</p>
<p>There was a kid at our school last year who applied to 8 Ivies and a bunch of top 20 schools and got rejected everywhere except his safety and one of his reaches.</p>
<p>^ Haha that last sentence was a bit depressing, but thanks anyway :)</p>
<p>Well at least you have your safety. I know a kid who got rejected from all the schools he applied to, even his safety. I guess, it really wasn’t a safety after all. He’s now taking a gap year. Just make sure you know your safety is really a safety, and hope for the best with your other schools. :)</p>
<p>To answer your question: yes. One of the seniors who graduated last year was like my mom’s friend’s daughter. Her mom attended “How to Get Your Kid Into Ivy League Seminars”, sent her to a pricey private school, and was persistent in bragging to my mom all of her accomplishments like various scholarships and her rank (she urges that she’s in the top 3, but her actual rank was #13). She was set in going to Harvard after graduation, except she was rejected (not deferred). She was also rejected by several other schools, such as Tufts. Keep in mind she had like a 2100 SAT, was president of several clubs, but had a 3.4 GPA (our school is very rigorous). She ended up going to Brandeis, her safety school. </p>
<p>But just hope for the best, and apply to a few good safeties.</p>
<p>Not really, simply because nobody here aims higher than schools such as NCSU or other schools in the UNC system. But as long as you are realistic with your choices (Such as not applying to HYPSM when you have a CR+M+W SAT of 1300) you don’t need to worry about that.</p>
<p>@CantConcentrate: The chance is actually lower than that.
In order to calculate probability, you need to first calculate the chance he will be rejected at all (0.92^8), then subtract it from one, which results in a chance of ~48.68%. Not bad, but putting the caliber of the average Ivy League applicant in mind, the number seem highly daunting.</p>
<p>That is why you will see the recommendation out here again and again to have some MATCH schools that you actually want to go to on your list. They are harder to find than reaches (heck, everybody loves the reaches – that is why they are reaches!). It takes some elbow grease and self awareness of the qualities that are most important to you in order to find matches. It is not too late, a lot of schools that are a bit less selective than the tippy-top schools have applications due on 1/15. Ideally your list should include a couple of reaches, a handful of matches, and a safety or two.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure that’s about to happen to one of my friends. If she even gets in to her “safety.” I keep trying to get her to apply to more schools but she isn’t motivated. Her parents, grandparents, brothers, and sisters all went/go to the same school but she knows that realistically she won’t get in because legacy is all she has going for her, but she still has only applied to that school and one other. Its really sad though because her parents literally moved across the country and left her alone (she’s the youngest), so she has no one to help her with applying and all that:(</p>
<p>I’m scared about the same thing. I got accepted into one of my safeties, and I’ll probably get into one other one, but I’m scared I’ll get rejected from all my other schools where I REALLY want to go. I mean, I do like my safeties, but it’s not the same :(</p>
<p>Yes - me. I have been accepted to my two safeties, but have gotten a bunch of early rejections already. I’m waiting on like five more schools now, but they’re all way more competitive than the ones that already rejected me, soooooooooo not much hope :/</p>
<p>In the grand scheme of things most people probably don’t apply to selective colleges in the first place.</p>
<p>That totes awk moment when you applied to all reaches.</p>
<p>K.</p>
<p>You had better be careful ^. Otherwise, your safety will be community college by default.</p>
<p>CC 4 meeeeee.</p>
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<p>Plus this assumes that nobody got into more than 1. But then not all Ivies have an 8% acceptance rate.</p>
<p>Not anyone that I know. As long as you have a nice mix of safeties, matches, and reaches you should be fine 
Good luck!</p>
<p>Doing yo homework and picking out a couple of matches is always better than only applying to the usual everyone-safety (i.e. state flagship, local college). There’s sooo many colleges in just the States alone, tons of them cover 100% of demonstrated financial need, and out of those there’s bound to be some that satisfy the applicant.</p>
<p>After a couple of matches, I’d go with one safety (if it’s actually a safety, it should be guaranteed, so one is plenty enough) and as many reaches as the applicant wants. This is college admissions! Something people have worked 4 hard years for, so naturally it should be a time to reach and dream (assuming there’s proper backup).</p>
<p>As far as the probability of getting into at least one Ivy League school if you apply to all of them…I think it’s almost impossible to really calculate it mathematically because they’re not really independent events. I mean, technically they are, but they all consider the same things when they’re deciding whether or not to admit you. Not every applicant has the same chance of getting in. It’s not random.</p>