<p>bjones- not knowing more about the school (ie its reputation, location, etc.), I'd wajor to say it's a decent match. I wouldn't go as far as safety, because as I see it, a safety is a guarantee in. (But that's just me).</p>
<p>If you can separate yourself from the rest of the applicants and stand out (by being authentically you and by being specific), it should be a safety-match. Like a 75% chance of getting in.</p>
<p>Don't worry about this. </p>
<p>If you're confident you can get it, it's a safety.
If you're the perfect match for the school (SATs, GPA, etc.) it's a match.
If you are quite unlikely to get in, it's a reach.</p>
<p>That's all there is to it! Use your own judgment.</p>
<p>dchow08: You expanded my point ably. My screen name refers to the fact that I teach at least one Mythology class every semester.</p>
<p>even if you make them reach/match/safety schools i do suggest you put the best/maximum effort you possibly can to all your schools, so that you don't come off as (from what i've read on this thread) "cocky" or arrogant or you clearly didn't put ennough time into the app becauseyou feel its a safety school. </p>
<p>come march/april you may regret not putting just that extra hour or two of hard work into those essays and apps. determine your schools, but assume nothing of them whatsoever.</p>
<p>
[quote]
The words safety and reach have a sort of psychological impact, as if reach schools are better schools than safeties.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Well, reach schools are better than safety schools, obviously.</p>
<p>Some years ago, my nephew got into all his "Reach" schools, USNA, Penn-Wharton, and MIT. He was not accepted at his "safety" school, DePaul. He told an admissions officer at a college fair that DePaul was his safety and then was denied. I think they were insulted.</p>
<p>With yield numbers published I think any whiff of "safety school" is enough to earn a rejection from many colleges.</p>
<p>Some colleges are above this.</p>
<p>It's hard to separate them out.</p>
<p>"Well, reach schools are better than safety schools, obviously."</p>
<p>Disagreed. I went to one of my 'safe matches' and am positive that I came out ahead of where I would have been if I'd attended certain 'reaches.' I know other students (at other schools) who have had the same experience, including some who transferred out of their reach schools into "safety" schools so that they could receive a better education. A lot more goes into a good school than just its ranking and its selectivity, and ignoring this fact can (and does) get prospective students into trouble.</p>
<p>I also think that "the better school" is subjective. It's the one that fits a student and allows her to thrive, rather than the one that happens to be tougher to get into. People learn differently and have different needs, but hey...not everyone agrees with me. That said, I don't always think that the better school is the tougher one to get into, even objectively.</p>
<p>OP mentioned "$$$", but that has for the most part gone unaddressed. Just because you are near certain to gain admission to a school, doesn't mean you can pay for it. A 'safety' list should contain at least one school that is 'financially safe' as well. A family's financial resources can take sudden hits due to lost jobs, medical needs or even a death in the family. Don't limit your aspirations based upon worst-case scenarios, but at least have something to fall back onto just in case.</p>
<p>Just for thr heck of it try the Counselor-o-Matic from the Priceton Review.
It can be found at:
<a href="http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/advsearch/match.asp%5B/url%5D">http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/advsearch/match.asp</a></p>
<p>It seemed pretty acurate from my D last year. The only hiccup was with Colgate as a match. She got in everywhere else it said she would.</p>
<p>xNYer: Thanks so much for the link. Looks quite useful!</p>
<p>lol that site said that Yale was a good match for me.</p>
<p>same.. it put yale as a match but brown and vanderbilt as reaches?! i dont think thats what i would put for myself haha</p>
<p>If the reach/match/safety are determined by GPA/SAT, what are the matches and safeties for an applicant with 2350 SAT and 4+ GPA? :)</p>
<p>why can't anyone answer my question</p>
<p>do we use the highest for each subsection when we are looking at the 25-75</p>
<p>Good points from everyone....but one thing is for sure.....one size does NOT fit all.....it depends on your high school, your stats, your parental influence, your teachers influence, etc etc.</p>
<p>But a rough outline from which to start is basically the SAT GPA and class rank stats and eyeball it. Get 15 schools or so, and visit as many as you can, and for the others get their information online and mailing lists IMMEDIATELY.</p>
<p>All schools admit plenty of kids below the 50 percentile and even the 25th percentile of stats. They just dont talk about it and are loathe to disclose it and try and hide it in the CDS data. Many of them are legacy admits, or people with celebrity or enough money to name a building etc, or athletes, or some other "hook."</p>
<p>Pick AT LEAST 3 safety schools, but whatever you do DO NOT pick any school you don't like. My D was turned off bigtime by Duke. Just her "fit and feel" when we visited. Maybe it was a bad day, I dunno. So we scratched it off the list and moved on. One kids heaven is another kids hell.</p>
<p>Pick at least 3 match schools. Pick 2 or 3 reach schools...usually a top 10 school or Ivy. They are so unpredictable you can NEVER count on them, even with amazing scores. I could tell horror stories about what happened to my D's friends last year, and some shocking results of who got in and even more shocking of who didnt. Bizarre to say the least.</p>
<p>Embrace your safety schools because you may end up there. Or at least you will have several options to choose from in April of 08.</p>
<p>NOTHING counts more than a school visit....its where you get the "vibes" of the culture, good or bad or indifferent. What looks good on paper may be a horrible fit for you socially. Some schools are notorious party schools. Some are notorious geek schools and some are somewhere in between. Its up to you to decide what you want and where you will do your best in school.</p>
<p>I know kids who went to a small private high school and only wanted a BIG state school. I know kids at large public high school who only wanted small private schools.</p>
<p>And remember, dont just look at the USNews rankings. Get the big Petersens or Barrons directories of 3,000 schools and look geographically and read up on all the schools....there are LOTS of excellent out of the way schools out there, some who will give you lots of money.</p>
<p>People are TOO neurotic about the Ivy League and top 10 schools. Its silly.</p>
<p>You may be well qualified to get into Swarthmore but be more happy at Davidson, or well qualified at Notre Dame but more happy at Michigan. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>myau:</p>
<p>Even a 2350 and 4.0 gpa (unweighted) is NOT a safety in the top 10 and Ivy any more. Its very competitive and those schools have admissions agendas that you dont know anything about and they wont tell you about.</p>
<p>The reach/match/safety plan is simply a way to categorize the 10-15 schools one applies to each year and to assess your expected chances. But in any event NOTHING is a sure thing. Most schools tell you they can fill their freshmen class ENTIRELY with kids who are top 5% of their class, have 4.0 gpa (unweighted) and have 2300 or higher SAT scores. Yet they admit kids from all over the place, with stats all over the place and all sorts of hidden agendas for legacies and athletes and minorities etc.</p>
<p>Its not that the schools think they are reach/match/safety schools...its what YOU think you are in respect to that school...and its ENTIRELY subjective.</p>
<p>But be warned! Lots of kids make the fatal mistake of applying ONLY to reach schools and get arrogant....and then get hammered and are left to take a gap year because they didnt get in anywhere.</p>
<p>Elitists will try and convince you to the point of attacking you if you suggest their Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Swarthmore or whatever elite school education is really not that much different from Tufts, UVa, Davidson, UCLA or whatever. Ignore them.</p>
<p>But know that some of the best profs in the world teach at some no name or lesser name schools. So its up to you to find a school that is a good fit for YOU.</p>
<p>Dont worry, the fun doesnt stop here...it continues in grad school and professional school...and if a doctor, into residencies.....and fellowships etc.....the fact remains that you are NOT in control 100% of your own destiny. So sit back and relax and do your best and remember that famous song, "Don't Worry....be HAPPY!"</p>
<p>(a little humility would do people a LOT of good)</p>
<p>To the OP - you mentioned $$$. Frankly, I think that is the one area that is often overlooked. Spend some time with the calculator at collegeboard.com and determine what your expected family contribution will be and then think about what your family is willing to contribute. The amounts might be different. </p>
<p>As you consider schools, investigate their commitment to meet family need, HOW they meet need, how much they offer in scholarships, etc. I have said this several times on this site how important it is for families to be honest with their kids about what they are willing to spend. Last year several of my DD's classmates made sure they had a list of "safety and reach" schools academically, but when they were accepted at their dream schools, parents realized they couldn't afford them. So your safeties should be financially doable as well.</p>
<p>couple of questions:</p>
<p>would you say that the calculator at such tools as collegeboard is a pretty reliable etimate of EFC and of what school X might provide - at least for modeling purposes?</p>
<p>that is, is it possible that the tool might say a significantly <em>higher</em> amount than what a school might give?</p>
<p>also,</p>
<p>pls remind me what a 'reach' school is. is it a school that is in the high end of the cluster of act scores that is normally given as the ones in the 50 pct'ile? Or is it the scores that are over the max value of that group?</p>
<p>Here's how I have been told you should look at safety match reach, using ACT scores as an example.</p>
<p>Say the ACT range of a school is 26-30.</p>
<p>If you have good grades, good extracurriculars, good essays, good recommendations:</p>
<p>If you have a 32 33 34 35 36, it should be a safety, as long as you don't do something to turn them off of you.
If you have 28-31, it's a match. You are in the top half of the kids they admit.
If you have 26-27 it's a reach/match. You are in the bottom half of the kids they admit, but close.
If you have 22-23-24-25 it's a reach. Any time your score is below the 25% mark, it should be considered a reach.</p>
<p>As noted, many of the people who are admitted who are below the median may well be getting in with special hooks - athletes, legacies, or some amazing extracurricular (published a novel or won a national science competition, for example).</p>
<p>I like the concept that the top 20 National Universities should be labelled as a reach for everyone, although it seems to me that Emory, Rice and Notre Dame might be matches for high achievers.</p>
<p>I like the concept that the top 20 LAC's would be labelled as a reach for everyone, although it seems to me that Grinnell should be a match for a top achiever who wants to be in Iowa, and Smith should be a match for high achieving women.</p>
<p>I think any college with an acceptance rate of about 20% or lower (or even 22, 23% or lower) should really be considered as a reach. You really don't know if you'll get in, no matter what your high school record shows.</p>