Have you run the net price calculator and found the result to be in the affordability range? A safety must be affordable. RPI also considers “level of applicant’s interest” to be “important”, according to http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=49 , so it may reject or waitlist applicants who appear to be using it as a “safety”. Also, it appears that her stats are in the middle range of admitted students, so it may be more of match-level for her anyway.