I’m not sure how to pick a ‘safe’ college, or how a college can be safe for me. Could someone explain how you find matches?
Google their Common Data Set and see how far above the 75th percentile you are and what their overall acceptance rate is.
Also schools with automatic admissions criteria
Do you mean safe for admission or in a safe neighborhood?
I’m kind of throwing out some random numbers, but:
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50% acceptance
Your stats are significantly above 75th %ile
You know it will be affordable (either with automatic merit scholarships or low tuition)
You actually could see yourself going there
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In general, top 30 schools can’t be safeties.
Do not forget that it has to be safely affordable.
Also remember that general admission stats that you may find on common data sets and the like may not account for different levels of selectivity based on division or major at schools which admit by division or major. For example, there are two recent threads from students who believed that UIUC was a safety based on their stats, but it really was not because they applied for the popular CS major there (one got rejected, one got general admission, from which it is very difficult to switch into the CS major later).
In addition, if the school considers “level of applicant’s interest”, it is not as reliable a safety, since it is trying to avoid being a safety and may reject or waitlist you if it believes that you will not attend.
Excellent point by ucbalumnus. My D applied to two “safeties”, but both consider interest. So she made sure she visited, and talked to the rep who came to our school. If your safety offers interviews, it is a good idea to do them. I have heard of many colleges rejecting kids who they think won’t attend.