<p>Last minute application and subsequent acceptance to a safety school has helped keep my sanity during this process,</p>
<p>I agree and think nobody can disagree with you on that. I would like to add one thing though; another main purpose of a safety college is to avoid wasting a year. What Iâm trying to say is this, what if you donât get into any college. Then what? Youâll have to wait for the next admission cycle to start, right.
So yeah therefore applying to at least one safety college is critical.
This is what I did when i was applying to colleges:
Applied to one dream college (where I knew I wouldnât get in but it was worth the shot).
Applied to three colleges where I knew I had a 50-50 chance of admittance.
Applied to one college where I was absolutely sure Iâd get in.
Applied to a community college as a âsafetyâ. </p>
<p>SO there are no hard and fast rules in this, just be calculating when applying to colleges. Gut feeling is fine, given that it is calculated.</p>
<p>This thread is the bomb</p>
<p>Anyone who doesnât apply to a safety school and gets rejected everywhere is an idiot and doesnât deserve to go to college. It is their own fault for thinking that they will âcertainlyâ get into at least one of the ivies and apply no where else.</p>
<p>I think itâs smart to apply to schools where you have a good chance of getting in, but calling them âsafety schoolsâ seems to be the wrong way of thinking about it. Every school on your list should be one that youâre really excited to attend, not just a back-up. So I guess my point is, put as much thought into your so-called âsafety schoolsâ as you do to your reach schools, because you might end up there!</p>
<p>Yeah, Iâm applying to a few unselective LACs as safeties in hopes of getting gobs of merit aid, but even thatâs a bit of a risk. I should probably apply to a directional university too⊠I donât think Iâd end up paying more than 15k a year overall for one.</p>
<p>I just finished my college search this month and I definitely think my experience can relate to this. When I entered High School 4 years ago as a Straight A Student from middle school, I was dead set on going to the most prestigious schools (according to the rankings). My top 5 by mid-freshman year were Yale, Harvard, Duke, UCLA, and Stanford. I lived (and still do live) in Kentucky, where UK is the most prestigious in-state option. I had always been a great student and eager to learn, but I didnât really enjoy the cutthroat atmosphere that my HS Honors Program had. I knew that with going to one of the highly ranked schools would come plenty of that. </p>
<p>In junior year, the college search really amped up. My list had changed a lot, partly because I wanted to stay somewhat close to home. UVA, GW, George Mason, UNC, and Kentucky, which I originally had only included as a SAFETY school. However, as I wrapped up junior year and began to apply to these schools (ended up applying to all except UNC and UVA), I realized just how much of a value going to Kentucky would be. All the other schools were going to give me a good education, but thousands of dollars worth of student loan debt. UK was my golden chance to be able to go to a rising first-class institution and potentially not pay a dime in tuition, which is vital since I want to go to Law School afterwards.</p>
<p>I ended up winning UKâs Singletary Scholarship (full tuition, room and board, annual stipend, meal plan, study abroad stipend, and latest generation iPad) and honestly it felt like the perfect fit! To me, I donât even really see it as a safety school. There is a great community here that I bet exists at a lot of âsafety schoolsâ.</p>
<p>My advice is to put a ton of effort into at least one so called âsafety schoolâ close to home because you might find an opportunity that no other school can offer. </p>
<p>I have to agree with you @tdkennedy. Personally, at first I applied to three schools (The New School as my reach school, California College of The Arts as my 50/50 chance school/Top Choice, & Alfred University as my safety) AU denied me first to which after that life slapped me in the face. Since, I didnât have a safety school anymore I applied to two other schools. (Columbus College of Arts & Design only because they asked me like 5 million times & Otis College of Arts & Design) Later on last month, The New School denied me, YET my top choice CCA accepted me! </p>
<p>Only to be heart broken once I got my financial aid from CCA 
then turn around to get my acceptance letter 4 days ago from Columbus College of Arts & Design who gave me academic scholarship that payed for my tuition & fees. </p>
<p>What Iâm trying to say isâŠdonât limited yourself. Apply to every freakin school & scholarship that you qualify for. You will be amazed of the out come. </p>
<p>What are some good safety schools with great Communications/Journalism programs? Iâm looking in the midwest, about 3-4 hours from Carbondale, Il. St. Louis, Champaign, Nashville, Louisville, anywhere in between.</p>
<p>I took this advice too much to heart- I applied to 10-11 safety schools (and got into all of them). But, unless I get off the waitlist at one of my lowish reach schools, I will be going to one of my safeties, as I did not get into any reaches and like the safeties better than my match-level schools.</p>
<p>kjo2019 - I donât know how âsafeâ your âsafetyâ has to be. Columbia College Chicago has almost open admissions, and they have media and communications programs. My best friend in the world did graduate work in English and Writing at St. Louis University. Some colleges might be âsafeâ for some, but not for all. Are there other specifications? </p>
<p>Anecdote to pass along from one of my Dâs friends⊠he applied to 8 top 25 schools and 1 safety, where he didnât really want to go but applied because it was his dadâs alma mater. He figured he HAD to get accepted to at least one of his top 8. Guess what? Shut out. Now he has no choice but to attend dadâs alma mater and he is not happy at all. He is considering the community college route and trying to transfer later. Moral of the story: include a safety that you will be happy attending.</p>
<p>A warning: APPLY TO MULTIPLE SAFETY SCHOOLS, ESPECIALLY IF YOU NEED FINANCIAL AID, BECAUSE YOU REALLY CANâT TELL WHICH ONES ARE TRULY SAFE. </p>
<p>Now that itâs April, this board is filled with stories of shocked kids who have been rejected by their safety schools. Most have some choices, but some with 4.0 GPAâs and 2300 SATâs have actually been been shut out. </p>
<p>THEN THERE IS MONEY. One of my daughterâs two safeties turned out to be unaffordable â the actual cost was well higher than the schoolâs Net Price Calculator had projected.</p>
<p>Fairfieldâs net price calculator projected a price of $19,000 (before loans), and she was accepted early action in December with a merit scholarship of $25,000 (their Net Price Calculator had projected a merit scholarship of $22,000; $25,000 was their maximum, by the way). She was told she would find out about additional financial aid later on.</p>
<p>She was accepted early decision II in February by an excellent school that gave her a net price (before loans ) of under $15,000, and she was ecstatic, of course. Two days later, Fairfieldâs financial aid offer landed in our mailbox. Their actual net price was an unaffordable $28,000.</p>
<p>The story had already ended well, fortunately, and we have no way of knowing what any of her other financial aid offers would have been, because she withdrew all of her other applications after being accepted early decision II. </p>
<p>However, the lesson learned is that you need to have a bunch of safety schools, especially if you need financial aid (even more so if you live in a state with high-priced state schools, as we do). </p>
<p>Net Price Calculators arenât always accurate. I ran the Net Price Calculators for all of her schools before she applied, and kicked some off her list because the projected costs were too high, yet Fairfield still surprised us. Itâs possible that she may have received other surprises or even been shut out financially if she hadnât been accepted early decision. (The well-endowed school that accepted her ED2 was within $200 of their Net Price Calculator projection, by the way).</p>
<p>NO NEED TO YELL</p>
<p>^^^Oh, I donât know. Some things require some yelling! I thought that post was excellent.</p>
<p>When I applied to colleges I was completely shut out, including my true love Columbia. Fortunately I was able to attend a state university, got straight As in honors classes, and transferred after a year, and spent the happiest 3 years of my life. Never give up on your dream!</p>
<p>Please also remember to find some match schools. Too many kids are applying to a bunch of reaches and a safety without any matches in between. </p>
<p>Do not apply to all 8 Ivys and then to Only Chance College as a safety, with nothing in between. Too many kids think that with 8 chances they will get in somewhere. At least add the State Flagship and preferably a couple more match schools. And be sure to find a safety school that you really like.</p>
<p>Be sure to visit some safety schools and find one where you will be happy if you end up there.</p>
<p>What is it like going to a safety? I love Whitman, but Iâd be in their top ten percent, and I donât want to feel that I didnât choose a college that is challenging enough for me. </p>
<p>I have a question on safeties, if you get into your dream school or one of your top choices early, wouldnât it be a waste of time applying to safety schools because you know for sure yiu wonât go there?</p>
<p>@âtheanaconda
if you do get into one of your top choices and you can definitely afford it, then it becomes up to you. However, it is ALWAYS better to have backup plans should something go wrong.</p>