<p>If he liked F&M, look at some of the Ohio LACs – Denison, College of Wooster, Ohio Wesleyan. Can’t speak to academic environmental programs, but Denison offers the Homestead as an alternative, very green living experience.</p>
<p>Bucknell can not be considered a safety. Also, I suspect this student is not planning to run cross country, especially not D1 cross country.</p>
<p>How about the University of Vermont? Great enviro program, in the NE, small (by state school standards) and has EA.</p>
<p>Look at Allegheny College in PA. They have an excellent Eviron. Science program and are strong in bio as well. He would likely get some merit aid, too!</p>
<p>Connecticut College has a wonderful environmental program. If not a safety for your son, definitely a match. I agree with the advice to “love thy safety.” It doesn’t make any sense to apply to a school he dislikes. With a 1400 M/CR, the schools on his list seem to be matches, but these days, all bets are off. Still, if he adds Rutgers, that will get his GC off his back. I have a friend whose son is there and likes it, and we also know someone at Drew, which was recommended by a previous poster, who is thriving there.</p>
<p>Technically, LACs can’t be safeties because they enroll so few kids (compared to large state schools). But because males are courted by LACs, which tend to be female heavy, he has an advantage.</p>
<p>Are you ready, willing and able to pay for a LAC?</p>
<p>Not to undermine the thrust of the thread, but as a male, I wouldn’t be surprised if he got into all four on “the list”.</p>
<p>not so fast danas… Lafayette is currently 52% male. They have a good-sized Engineering dept, which is probably why they virtually always have slightly more men than women. Also, being from NJ won’t help him there. Still, it seems like a reasonable match.</p>
<p>What about Fairfield? Medium sized, not too far away, and has an Environmental Studies program. Not a super-safety, but should be ok for his stats.</p>
<p>Even safer, Shippensburg Univ. Has an Enviro Bio major. Not too huge, and it’s in Eastern PA.</p>
<p>I’m working off a year old USN&WR, but Lafayette had a 25%-75% SAT range of 1200-1380 and a 62% admissions rate. Not a match.</p>
<p>Ummmm… look again. Lafayette has never had a 62% admissions rate. Last year’s admit rate was 37%. Are you sure you’re looking at the right school?</p>
<p>SAT 1260 - 1410. Sounds like a match.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.lafayette.edu/admissions/statsfromViewbook.pdf[/url]”>http://www.lafayette.edu/admissions/statsfromViewbook.pdf</a></p>
<p>I think a column got misaligned somewhere along the way:</p>
<p>"Freshmen in top 10% of class: 62%</p>
<p>College admissions acceptance rate: 37%"</p>
<p>lderochi…
Makes sense.
Lafalum84…the College Board website has the latest 25%-75% SAT range as 1180-1390.
Match or pretty sure thing? Who cares. We both agree he gets in.
By the way, the SAT range at the Lafayette site was for admitted students.</p>
<p>I don’t necessarily agree “he gets in.” I agree he’s a match, which in today’s environment is far from a “sure thing.” </p>
<p>I think the GC is right, everyone needs a true safety.</p>
<p>I want to thank everyone for their thoughtful replies and I agree that the schools on S’s list are matches, but as we all know, that doesn’t guarantee he’ll get in.
We know he needs a safety that he actually wants to go to, and I think I’ve gotten some good ideas for him to look into.
Rutgers is a great school, if only S liked it. Ironically, many kids from our town go off to out of state schools because they don’t want Rutgers, but many of them transfer in after their first year and end up loving it.
I will have S check out Allegheny and Ssquehanna, is UDel a safety do you think?</p>
<p>sarha- does your High School have Naviance? If it does use it. I think of the schools you listed he will get at least a couple of acceptances- now it becomes a question of cost.</p>
<p>I think he gets in to all of them but might not get money.</p>
<p>I think he will get in UDel honors…great school..happy place, too.</p>
<p>When you are talking about safety, you are talking about financial safety too. Look at your smaller state schools like NJIT or college of NJ. Also look at schools like Seton, Widener, Rider, Fairleigh-D where scholarship possibilites are decent for his stats. Also look at smaller state schools like West Chester, Slipper Rock, Kutztown, SUNY Farmingdale, other SUNYs. Some of the Virginian state schools like Mary Washington have low sticker prices too. </p>
<p>For a true safety, I think it’s great to get an early accept. With one in the pocket, you can go all out for the rest of your choices. Look at some EA schools and rolling schools. Again if money is an issue, it is paramount that he has some financial choices that you can afford. It may even be a local college where he can commute. With money and credit tightening, it can be a rough go next year. Though, I too feel he can get into his schools already chosen, getting any money for them is a whole different story.</p>
<p>Two of my daughter’s H.S. classmates are freshmen at Allegheny. They are different from each other and were not friends in high school. Both are enjoying Allegheny very, very much. The biology and environmental science there are excellent. It could be a very reasonable safety school (with merit aid) for the OP’s son. It is an often overlooked CTCL college that I think will be getting more attention in the coming years.</p>
<p>(I too believe that he will get into schools on his target list, but it is always good to have some safeties you love.)</p>
<p>sarha–I think Rutgers might be a match for my son too (if not a safety). I don’t know about your son, but in the interests of trying to have him ‘love his safety’ we talked to some people in the dept of his intended major—he can shadow a student, talk w/profs and will likely go up to the NEw Brunswick campus w/2 HS friends (makes it easier) to look at the ‘fun’ side of school (myabe an athletic event or something). Might your son be amenable to something like that (a little more than the bus tour/big lecture-hall admissions talk)?</p>
<p>That’s great your GC analyzed the list and made suggestions. Our GC has not (as yet) given any input whatsoever on son’s list. Hopefully she might.</p>
<p>I ditto a previous post about finding a safety with rolling admissions and apply now. Two of my three of my kids applied to Clemson in September of their senior year as a safety, and within a couple of weeks had an acceptance. It is a school that both liked and could have been happy attending (even though neither did), and having that first letter arrive in the mail took the pressure off in ways that you can’t imagine. Plus the price was reasonable, so we had a financial safety as well.</p>
<p>If he’d consider a Catholic school, the University of Scranton would definitely be a safety and it has early action (non-binding). They have an environmental science program and a D3 cross-country team. It’s primarily kids from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Frankly, I think your son’s GC is being quite conservative - I thought a couple schools on his list would be safeties for him.</p>