Hi everyone! I talked with my guidance counselor and she suggested I find a safety school, but I’ve found this difficult to do as I really don’t know what I should consider a safety (I’m the oldest in my family and both my parents got into the only school they applied to). She said Penn State University Park is probably one for me (I’m in state and I love the campus, so going there would be awesome), but said it would be useful to find another.
I have roughly a 91-92 GPA (my school does not use a 4.0 scale) and a 31 composite ACT which I’ll be retaking in June. I have pretty good ECs (captain of a varsity sport, some clubs, etc). I have participated in two summer pre-college programs at NYU and UPenn from which I will graduate with 4 college courses completed, as well as 6 AP courses taken in school. Right now the schools I plan on applying to are Penn State, BU, UC Santa Barbara, UMiami, NYU, UPenn (extreme reach… just applying for fun), Pepperdine, Tulane and Villanova.
Money will not be an issue. What is a safety school for me/how do I determine what a safety school for me is?
Also, I’d prefer schools that are at least near a large city and have some Greek life presence on campus.
Basically if you are near the top 25% of students a school is a safety, assuming the acceptance rate is 50% or higher.
St.Lawrence, Loyola Maryland and Providence College are some ideas.
I was going to recommend Providence College as well since you like Villanova.
Let me add University of Scranton
Does your school use naviance? That could be very helpful in identifying safeties. Look for schools most kids get into and your scores are well above the average. This is better than common data sets and school acceptance rates because it applies directly to your school.
I would also not call Penn State University Park a safety with a 91 gpa its more of a match.
Thanks for the suggestions! I’ll definitely consider them.
My school is a feeder to PSU so my guidance counselor said it was probably a safety since I have the average accepted GPA for my school and 6 points above the average accepted ACT for my school 
I guess the hardest part of identifying safeties for me is that it’s difficult to determine where I’m in the top 25% since I have a top ACT score but not perfect GPA.
University of Pittsburgh; University of Colorado: Arizona State.
Before you consider that money won’t be an issue, talk to your parents. Ask for a definite “range” (ie., 35-40K? up to 60K?) before you consider anything is a safety. Run NPCs with them on, say, Providence, Penn State, Pitt, UScranton, UCSB, St Lawrence.
Are you a conservative evangelical? If so, Grove City, Hope, PLNU would be good safety choices. If not, cross out Pepperdine.
BU is likely to cost 60K.
UC SB WILL cost 60K+ (no financial aid for OOS applicants). Ask your parents if they’re okay with paying 250K for your college. It’s a HUGE amount of money for a large public school.
Penn State UP would be a safety if you apply in September, but NOT for Smeal (in that case, simply apply undecided), and NOT for engineering. Your course rigor will help you there (4 years of a foreign language, math up to calculus, 20 classes of Honors AND AP AND DE).
Three criteria for choosing a safety school:
- You’re virtually certain to be admitted* (which you can assess from the admission statistics in each school’s Common Data Set, section C)
- Your family definitely will be able to afford it (which you can assess by running the school’s online Net Price Calculator and discussing the results with your family)
- You’d be happy to attend (which you can assess by visiting the college and investigating all the key features that matter to you; for example, you can find Greek affiliation rates in each school’s USNWR entry under “student life” or in its Common Data Set, section F)
- What does "virtually certain" mean? Is it good enough to be in the top 25% at a school with an admit rate above 50%? That depends in part on your risk-tolerance. Some colleges with admission rates above 50% may reject a few students who are in the T25%, for example because they fail to demonstrate interest.
Pitt ought to be your safety. This is a no-brainer.
It’s instate.
They have rolling admissions, apply early, get in early - you have a safety
They have a nice honors program
They are in a nice city with the full scene that you want.
“You’d be happy to attend (which you can assess by visiting the college and investigating all the key features that matter to you; for example, you can find Greek affiliation rates in each school’s USNWR entry under “student life” or in its Common Data Set, section F”
^^^^^This. Alot of kids choose safeties they would never attend. Spend time on the safety and try choosing one that gives merit, making it a financial safety too.
It is easier to love a safety if they give you $$$…“love” is a strong word for a safety. I think we may be stetting the bar too high on that. Just go with like and would like the campus, lifestyle and they have many programs to choose from! Love may come later:)
IMO, apply to 2 safeties at least. That will help in case one denies for some oddball reason!
Thanks so much everyone!! My biggest reason for starting this thread was that I wanted help finding safeties I would actually like as someone stated before, not just random schools I know I can get into but will never actually go to. I think I’ll definitely apply to Pitt in September, since they have a lot of the things I want and it would be nice to hear back from a school early. I’ll also be applying to Penn State in early September since even the adcom said when I visited it’s easier to get in the earlier you apply.
My parents don’t qualify for financial aid, and I’m blessed that they are willing to pay for me to go to college wherever I choose to go. Neither of my parents had the “college experience,” and want me to experience this even if it means paying a little more.
Again, thank you all for your suggestions!!
Then, if money truly is no problem, UScranton, Sonoma State and SDSU in California, UNC-Wilmington in NC, Christopher Newport in VA (for those last three, applying to the Honors Program too), would all be nice safeties to have.
Regarding 1 and 2 above, some schools have automatic admission or scholarship criteria based on stats, so those may provide safety options. On the other hand, some schools where your stats may be above the usual range consider “level of applicant’s interest” and may waitlist or reject those who appear to be using them as “safeties”.
Regarding 1 and 3 above, be sure to check if the desired majors are restricted ones which may be more selective for frosh admission, or which require a secondary admission process after enrolling. If so, that may make the school not a safety, unless direct frosh admission to the desired major is still certain.
So when you say you’d prefer to be near a large city and you love State College then as long as you are 3+ hours from a large city that’s good?
Drexel (especially being full pay) and Temple are safeties. That is as long as you aren’t trying a niche program like Drexel’s Music Industry program.