help with classifying safeties, matches and reaches for my D

Parents Forum
101

So now you only have 2 matches. Yes, you can narrow down reaches if you don’t want to do that many applications, which would be a good idea. But you don’t need to go find more matches just to make it 4 if she likes her the schools on her list. One of my kids had more safeties and reaches than matches just because those were the schools that the kiddo liked.

If it was my kid, I’d tell them to do 3/4 of the safeties, the 2 matches and narrow down the reaches to her favorites.

Better yet, which of her safeties can she apply to Early Action. I know Vermont and Tulane. Apply to both Early Action. She’s likely to get merit aid from those two. Then replace the 2 other safeties with more reaches. That way she could do 2/2/7.

102

And I’d suggest to find one EA and then eliminate all those that are lower on her ranking list. If Mich has EA and she applies and gets in, and it is preferred over all the safeties and match, cross those off, and even reaches that Mich beats on the favorites list. Having at least one early acceptance changes a lot.

I’m assuming money isn’t an issue, just because of the schools you have listed are not all known for good aid.

103

How interested is she in Tulane, and how well can she show such interest to Tulane? Listing it as a “safety” may not be the safest thing to do.

104

@twoinanddone and @doschicos , we definitely will have an ea strategy, tulane and u mich are definites. we did have a negative experience with this strategy with my oldest, admitted to u mich ea, dropped all his safeties and other matches, replaced with reaches and only to be rejected from every reach. As you can imagine, emotionally, the 6 extra rejections were no fun for him.

105

Yeah, psychologically its always nice to have at least a choice of 2. I would only drop the schools if you KNOW she would choose the EA acceptance school over them.

Worked well for one of my kids. Got in to an EA match and dropped some matches and safeties. Got plenty of rejections from reach schools but still had plenty of choices. Actually chose to go to a match school over some reaches anyway.

The other suggestion I have is to be very clear in your family communication what your strategy will be in dealing with merit aid from a safety or lower ranked school vs. an acceptance at a reach or higher ranked school. That becomes a matter of contention for families come April. Best to have everyone on the same page regarding expectations ahead of time.

106

One thing about the safeties (especially because you have an extremely top heavy list), if these were the only schools standing when the dust settles, would she absolutely be happy attending.

If the answer is no or she feels like she is settling, then they really are not safeties.

I also would not consider Emory to be a match.

107

Both my kids applied to 2 safeties and the rest were reaches. For both the safeties were very good choices, but one got into a reach early (so that became a safety), he dropped a less desirable safety. Good luck. It sounds like you know what you are doing.

108

I have a sense that Rochester --like Tulane – may be one of those schools that’s sensitive about being perceived as a safety, so if they stay on her list be sure she has taken all opportunities to express interest.

109

I am very very very late to the thread, but can you drop schools based on size and location? Her experience at, say, Colby, will be quite different than at, say, Vanderbilt due to size and location, though in some ways they may attract similar types of students (though another Maine school, Bates, I might match more with Vanderbilt in student personality, over Colby). Does she have preferences with respect to rural/city, size, geographical location? If she liked Cal, I’m thinking she’d like Vanderbilt over Colby.

I’d also like to suggest a match/safety to her list. If she likes Tulane and other schools in the south, she might like University of Miami. My son is visiting a friend down there right now. He’s tagging along on a shark tagging research trip and his friend does really interesting health geography research. I am impressed with the stuff going on there!

110

Yes about Roch.

111

I am late, and have read only the first and last pages, so I apologize if I’m repeating, but I don’t understand why Michigan isn’t an absolutely safety for this girl. My son just graduated from a large public HS in NY, a good school but not one of the top schools in the state, and he had a lower GPA. He was well above the GPA and test score thresholds above which Michigan takes 100% of students from his school. His GC confirmed that Michigan was a safety. He did have very, very strong ECs but that wouldn’t have mattered for Michigan (they didn’t even accept performance supplements). He made an EA application to Michigan, but withdrew it when he was accepted to his ED school.

My impression is that it is easier to get into Michigan from out of state.

I agree that Rochester is going to be concerned about level of interest. DS and I both loved the school. I believe that it is under-rated, and I also think that it is going to be moving up in the ratings.

112

just back from dropping middle child at oberlin, catching up now:
@doschicos on the merit front, we’ve been down that road with her, we’ve saved enough to pay for four years at any school, any leftover money can be used for educational purposes only (grad school). So it will be up to her.

@Sybbie719 , I know emory is a tough admittance, but comparing her stats to the naviance stats I posted upthread, it sure seems like a match. In the end, probably doesn’t matter, as I suspect as she whittles down her list, it will come off.

@porcupine98 , @ucbalumnus , for rochester, she will have visited and interviewed by application deadline. And she’s already visited once on admitted students day, when her brother was admitted. For tulane, she’s aware of the possibility of yield protection (happened to one of her friends this year) and plans to apply for a scholarship. She’s not all too interested in these schools, we haven’t been able to find her a safety she loves.

@LBowie she has a secret formula for eliminating schools. For example, she visited Northwestern, loved it, declared it a tie with duke and dartmouth and now doesn’t want to apply. We discussed miami with her last year, she declined. I’m not familiar with vanderbilt but I am somewhat familiar with colby and bates, if you have a moment, it would be helpful if you could explain how vanderbilt is closer to bates than colby.

@NYMomof2 three years ago, it would have been a safety for her, it almost looked like our school was a feeder for u mich. But two years ago, they took one (our salutatorian) of nine applicants and last year was an 0 for 3. Not sure what happened, but doesn’t look like a safety any more. Her brother is a senior there, so we’re hoping that helps a little. An ea admission at u mich sure would make the whole process easier, she loves the school.

113

Perhaps finding a safety that she actually would want to attend need to be the main priority for now.

114

@ucbalumnus thanks, my wife and I spoke about this just yesterday. it isn’t for lack of trying, open to ideas you or anyone might have,by my count, she’s visited over 10 safeties, we’ve asked her to read about others, nothing stands out for her.

tulane is on the list because she has friends there that like it, she may get a lot of merit $, but we’re not heading out to visit, so she can’t really tell. Her brother received $25k/year with weaker stats, if they offer her say $40k/year, she’s said she may end up there. She’s visited rochester, said she’s sure it will be fine if that’s where she ends up, but is not in love. ditto uvm. she’s been to mcgill but was too young to remember much, my wife attended/talks it up, we’ll probably take a trip before she applies. that’s the best we’ve been able to do.

one of the interesting aspects of her search is that she has just about the same safeties as her brothers though she has stronger stats. I guess the principle at play is that once selectivity falls below a certain number (maybe 25%), the school can’t be considered a safety for anyone. On the other hand, a friend’s attends a top private school and their college counselor told her cmu was a safety…so maybe I’m missing something.

115

CMU admission selectivity* varies by division or major, according to https://admission.enrollment.cmu.edu/pages/undergraduate-admission-statistics , although it is hard to see any particular division or major being a safety for anyone (architecture may be one of the less difficult majors to get admitted to, although admission to it does include a portfolio evaluation).

*Note that admission rate is not necessarily an accurate measure of admission selectivity, since (by itself) it does not account for the strength of the applicant pool. A low admission rate from a weak applicant pool does not mean that the school is more selective than one with a high admission rate from a strong applicant pool. But also note that arts programs may focus less on traditional academic stats and more on portfolio or audition, which makes it difficult to assess reach/match/safety.

116

Your daughter has stronger stats than your sons but she’s an unhooked female so it might be a bit of a wash unless her stats are way stronger.

117

^ that’s the conclusion we’ve reached. it will be interesting to see how it lays out for her. stay tuned!

118

@ucbalumnus *Note that admission rate is not necessarily an accurate measure of admission selectivity…" Are you sure you weren’t in the car with my wife and I, we also talked about this yesterday! The context was Tulane’s and u mich’s admission rate is only 1% or so apart but u mich is a much tougher admit.

on the cmu front, she wasn’t applying for architecture. I think it likely the private school had a good relationship with cmu, had placed many students there and might be able to push her in.

A different friend’s d, attending a better private school, was told amherst was a safety. Hard to understand, but I guess it was, she got in everywhere she applied including harvard and yale. But here we’re talking about one of the best private schools in the country and a URM hook.

119

I wonder what happened to change Michigan’s admission practices? That’s really too bad. DS and I both thought that he would probably end up at Michigan; his other schools were high reaches, except for one absolute safety. I am from Michigan and have dozens of relatives who have gone to UM. I have a sibling in AA and DS has spent a lot of time in Michigan and is very comfortable here (we are now visiting relatives).

Have you thought of Vassar or Barnard? Chicago? Sorry if I missed a discussion of those schools.

120

I really should not have opened my mouth re: Bates and Colby. One son applied to both but with Vanderbilt, my other son actually went there, so I know a lot more. It is a school with a lot of smart students, that are generally outgoing types. It’s close to downtown Nashville but not right downtown. Nashville has a ton of good restaurants and a party atmosphere, which causes some people to call the town “Nashvegas.” Vanderbilt is a little hard to fit into a college tour because it is not that close to other places you might want to visit, like Atlanta or Raleigh-Durham. I was reluctant to consider it for some reason, but after visiting, came away with a good impression. It, and other schools like it, are tough. She might middle of the pack if she went, because most people are even f they were at the top of the bell curve in high school. As a not first time parent you are probably well aware of this.

I have a theory about your daughter and her list is schools. ( I hope this doesn’t offend you :slight_smile: ). My theory is the name of the school is important. Northwestern just doesn’t sound fancy! It is confused with Northeastern! If this is the case, i might suggest two public universities with private-sounding names, Clemson and Purdue, as safeties!