<p>My daughter applied to 6: one in-state U, one academic safety, and the rest matches (one we considered a reachy-match because of the increasing popularity of the school). Accepted at all 6; no merit aid at one (the reachy-match) with good merit aid at 3 and GREAT merit aid at one...the safety which she decided to attend after getting into the honors program. The State U had the worst financial aid package of them all; PLUS loans were considered "financial aid."</p>
<p>D1 - class of 2009 - 10 apps, 1 reach, 2 "reachy matches" to borrow Mezzomom's phrase, 5 matches & 2 safties. Rejected by reach (Harvard - a "what the heck" application), waitlisted by 1 reachy match, accepted to the rest. Chose to attend Grinnell. All apps were RD to private liberal arts colleges. In hindsight she thinks had she applied ED to the reachy-match where she was waitlisted, she might have been accepted, but she was not committed enough at that time to make that choice. The reachy-match that accepted her does not offer merit assistance. Her best merit offers were from her safeties. </p>
<p>D2 - class of 2010 - 8 apps, 7 EA. One medium state school, the rest small private liberal arts colleges - 1 reach, 1 safety, the rest matches. She was accepted at all but her reach (Grinnell) and will be attending Knox. She was offered decent merit aid at all but one. We must say it was great getting those EA decisions early in the year, especially compared to D1's situation where she heard nothing until mid March - April 1 and was worried that no one would accept her.</p>
<p>D--as freshman: 5 applications. 1 reach, rejected, 1 match, accepted, two safety-matches, accepted with lots of money, 1 safety, accepted full-ride. Went to one of the safety-matches with money.</p>
<p>as Transfer: 3 applications. All reaches, all acceptances, including the reach that rejected her the year before. Chose one of the others. </p>
<p>S--much simpler. One rolling school match, accepted. One ED reach, accepted. Happy end of story.</p>
<p>D class of 2006- 1 reach- accepted & graduated. 2- "good fits"( carolyns word for "safeties") & 2 matches</p>
<p>One of her safeties and one match offered merit money but not that much really. Her reach doesn't offer merit.</p>
<p>17 Apps
11 Acceptances
3 Rejections
3 Waitlists</p>
<p>My D originally had 9 schools on her list: 4 reaches, 4 matches, and 1 safety.
When the SCEA acceptance came to her reach, she reduced the list to 2 reaches, 2 matches, and 1 safety and was accepted to all. The reaches and one of the matches did not offer merit aid to anyone. She recieved merit aid only from the safety. In the end, she chose to go to her SCEA reach...confirming her early thoughts!</p>
<p>I wouldn't have changed a single thing about her process. It made sense at the time and still does.</p>
<p>S1 - originally 7 acceptances, 4 waitlists, 3 rejections, but the one waitlist he stayed on turned into an acceptance</p>
<p>S2 - 4 acceptances, 4 waitlists, 1 rejection; didn't stay on any waitlists.</p>
<p>my original list was like 15....</p>
<p>but I got lazy</p>
<p>Applied-4
Accepted-4</p>
<p>S applied to 7 (1 OOS public, the rest OOS LACs) - 7 acceptances, merit scholarships at all but one.</p>
<p>I find this a helpful thread, especially where the posters categorize the apps (and decisions) as reach/match/safety. I think it tends to show the wisdom of having the full range and emphasizing the match category (just my interpretation). </p>
<p>DS as freshman: 5 apps
1 reach (rejected, legacy)
2 match (accepted, one with substantial merit)
1 safety (accepted, decent merit)
1 super safety (accepted; he declined before merit decisions)</p>
<p>DS as transfer: 11 apps
4 reach (rejected by same legacy, 1 accepted; 2 not yet known)
3 match (accepted)
4 safety (3 accepted, one with merit; 1 not yet known)</p>
<p>Well, given the fact that my d. was waitlisted at what we thought were her matches (see my post #14), I'd say that the safeties still are the most important, though perhaps that is a function of how we categorize. I think that with the benefit of hindsight, I'd recategorize the in-state public "reach" (Berkeley) as a match, and the two private "match" colleges as "reaches" (or "reachy matches"), simply because hindsight gives me a better sense of what the colleges were looking for and why my d. was waitlisted.</p>
<p>Agree, calmom, that my observation re matches as most important category isn't always borne out.</p>
<p>I also agree that we often have hindsight (once the decisions are in)which encourages us to re-think which schools belong in which category. For future applicants, though, I think the "going in" categories are most helpful, because that's pretty much what they have to go on as they build their own lists.</p>
<p>That's true, and since by our definitions a "safety" is the only thing you can really be sure of (and even there you could be mistaken) -- it's good to have a list that either has two safeties the student is very comfortable with, or even more safeties if the student is not so happy with them and wants to be able to revisit and make a choice if it comes to that in the spring. If it had come down to safeties for my daughter, she would have had an interesting array of choices.</p>
<p>I don't have a problem with the idea of also including many match colleges -- I think with my daughter it was just hard to figure out what fell into that category. My son applied to 9 colleges in 2001 - admitted to 8 and waitlisted at 1 -- and I think that all 8 of the colleges that admitted him were either match or safety colleges... but he never really looked at college rankings in making his choices. His "stats" were strong enough that he probably was the type of student who was assured at admission at just about any college other than the elites, and he was never really interested in those. So for him, the matches were probably all safeties, too -- he would have been near the top of their applicant pools with no weak spots on his record to give them a reason to turn him down.</p>
<p>My D sent in 6 apps.2 we thought of as reaches-3 safety-matches and 1 safety.She got into all 6.The 2 reach schools give out no merit aid.The 3 safety-matches all gave substantial merit.The safety no aid</p>
<p>I hate to write this after Andi's ordeal.<br>
Class of '09. 16 applied/15 accepted/1 waitlist
D applied to what most people would call an insane list of reaches and hit the Vegas jackpot. If she had a safety, it was Scripps (waitlisted) and maybe Mt Holyoke. A huge sigh of relief was heard when Rice came in Interium Decision, the first acceptance. We banked on the fact that the top women's colleges (Wellesley, Smith, MHC) are 'relatively' safe for top students.</p>
<p>Calmom, what mistakes did you make in determining match vs reach schools? What did you decide the colleges were looking for that you didn't know about when she applied?</p>
<p>I noticed that most students got into most or all of the safeties. Quite a few got into all or nearly all the match schools applied to. Another factor I didn't expect to see what that so many of the safeties offered excellent financial aid, where the reaches didn't offer much. Is there a reason for that? Maybe the safeties want the better students and are willing to pay for them to attend?</p>
<p>16
11 accepts- 2 state safety, 1 state match (cal poly SLO), 3 UC, 7 private- match and safety
3 waitlist- one safety two reach- private
2 reject (1 uc 1 private- reach)</p>
<p>4:</p>
<p>UCI - Accept
UCSD - Accept
UCLA - Denied
Berkeley - SCORE</p>
<p>My daughter applied to 7: MIT (class 2010), 2 ivies, 3 others-top tier, 1 honors program state university (safety). Significant amount of merit aid(2 full tution, 1 full ride, 2 partial tution)</p>
<p>DD decided on schools to apply to based on programs offered and her area(s) of interest. We did not visit all of the schools before applying. She visited some schools after applying and some after acceptance. She attended information sessions for schools of interest since sophomore year and did substantial research before deciding on the schools to which she would apply.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Another factor I didn't expect to see what that so many of the safeties offered excellent financial aid, where the reaches didn't offer much. Is there a reason for that? Maybe the safeties want the better students and are willing to pay for them to attend?
[/quote]
Yes, MrsP, you've hit on the kernel of the reason. Schools which would like to climb the ladder of rankings and/or simply build the strongest possible class academically thus elevating the academic atmosphere for all, will offer merit aid in an attempt to achieve that goal. They use different criteria for identifying those students, and you can read more about this whole topic on the Schools Known for Good Merit Aid thread (which is a sticky).</p>
<p>There are two key elements to the reach schools "not offering much." Many of the reach schools for top students (HYPSM etc.) have a policy of NOT offering merit aid. Again, you will read how they might mask some merit aid in their need-based packages, but they will not offer any straight merit aid (and, thus, if a family doesn't qualify for need-based aid, there's no way that family can benefit from the masking technique). Secondly, merit aid is, by definition, offered to those applicants at the top of the individual school's applicant pool. When you apply to a reach school, you are not at the top - that's why it's a reach for you.</p>
<p>OTOH, if one qualifies for need-based aid, there is a huge overlap between the reachiest schools and schools which guarantee to meet 100% of need. So that is a consideration too in thinking about where and what kind of aid you might receive.</p>