<p><<<sons safties=“” were=“” uva,=“” unc,=“” brandeis,=“” mich=“” state.=“”>>></sons></p>
<p>I don’t perceive UVA as a safety–know three kids who got into Duke, Stanford, and Rice, respectively, who did not get into UVA.</p>
<p>Then, again, these kids are applying from a state that is considered one of the most impacted states from which one can hail in applying to college.</p>
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<p>That’s huge news, if true. Is this in print anywhere? It would certainly differentiate U of M from the rest of the midwest flagships; all have rolling admissions. If U of M is switching to ED/RD, it must be because they’re sick of being used as a safety by top students.</p>
<p>*R6L, if you are as good as you said *</p>
<p>Rocket6Louse is a super student that any school would be lucky to have.</p>
<p>Re Post 56: Michigan is a safety for some students. The determination depends in part on the history your HS has with the university. If you can look at those Naviance scattergrams and see 1) a critical mass of applicants to U Michigan for the preceding year(s), and 2) that everyone with stats at your level has been accepted, you can call it a safety. That said, I still like the idea of two safeties in the current admissions climate.</p>
<p>Was told at admitted students info session in Feb have not seen it in print although I did see that U of M applied to join Common Ap</p>
<p>I would think the best safety would be a school with alot of merit and a good programs. For me that was the University of Texas. People with Ivy stats should definitely consider the good state schools where there is significant money and honor programs to be had.</p>
<p>The best safety is a financial safety. It’s a school that you’re certain that you’ll get accepted to because it essentially uses formula stats for admission, AND it’s affordable either “out of pocket” or thru a combo of scholarships and small loans.</p>
<p>teenage_cliche: My kid applied to Michigan because
<p>He was accepted at Michigan, deferred at his SCEA school, and applied to nothing else even remotely resembling a safety school, because the list of colleges he preferred to Michigan was very short. He was lucky enough to be accepted at one, but up until the last moment Michigan was very much still in the running, and he could easily have decided to go there.</p>
<p>It’s fascinating to me that so many people on this thread followed a similar strategy. No one else he knew did that at the time, but since he explained it to his friends in following classes a few of them have taken the same approach.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>That’s a good point that if a school like UMich will accept you early (and you can afford it), then you can call it your safety.</p>
<p>Carnegie-Mellon(premed and film), Bucknell(tuition exchange, my husband is an academic), Hobart and Williams Smith(ditto), St Olaf(great school, underrated), Tufts(Boston), Macalaster(socialist hot spot), SUNY Geneseo…Carnegie-Mellon, Bucknell, HWS, St Olaf all have merit aid.</p>
<p>It’s a point several people have made in this thread: The best safety is a college you would like to attend, and that has already accepted you! It doesn’t matter that it might reject the next person just like you if it has already told you yes.</p>
<p>tokenadult:
I completely agree, and the fact that it’s an excellent school, with generous merit aid, highly regarded departments in several fields, located in a vital section of a neat town, only make it more so. Pitt was the safety (academic and financial) for my 2 youngest ds, one of whom wound up at a top 20 school and the other at a very selective public as an OOS student. Each would have been happy to enroll at Pitt (the kid at the top 20 kept it on her list until the week before decisions were due). I highly recommend a visit for students who would be good candidates at Ivies and other elites - there’s a lot to love about that school.</p>
<p>Wisconsin-Madison was my safety. Looking back Michigan would’ve probably been a better choice, but eh… what’s done is done.</p>
<p>As with many here, my S’s safety was the state flagship, U of Maryland, College Park. Probably Emory was a safety for him, too – or maybe it’s more accurate to say a high match. (admitted to both). It’s hard to know how things will turn out in April, but the rest of his choices were matches (maybe if lucky) or reaches.</p>
<p>JHS, I tried to persuade my son to look at U Michigan, but he thought it was too big. However as it happen U of Chicago turned into a safety school!</p>
<p>All of my sons applied to Penn State(rolling admissions) as their safety. They would have been happy to attend because of its strong engineering programs. All eventually enrolled at a reach school except my highschool senior(he’s waiting to see what March wil bring).</p>
<p>post #62, 65: yes, we have heard this as well; as recently as last week…UMich is sick of trying to estimate yield based on everyone and their mother considering them as “their safety”…common app and ED is in the pipeline…</p>
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<p>Nicely said.</p>
<p>D’s safety is Richmond because of superior fin aid for our EFC. Georgetown also became a safety when she was admitted EA, but it wasn’t considered a safety before that. Georgetown EA gave her an indication of the strength of her application while there was still time to add or subtract schools to apply to. She didn’t make any changes though. So far, 3 acceptances with 6 schools yet to hear from.</p>
<p>Personally I don’t consider a school to be a safety unless the applicant is about 50 points higher than the 75th percentile for combined SAT with a GPA that matches.
AND that it is affordable.
AND that the student likes the school.</p>
<p>Interesting that schools many around here use as safeties aren’t mentioned - Middlebury, UVermont, Colgate, Bates, Bowdoin. Though some of these can backfire, I know someone admitted to Williams and Duke but rejected from Middlebury.</p>
<p>^^Middlebury and Bowdoin, and I think Colgate and Bates, too, have acceptance rates under 30% They may be matches for some, but safeties? No way. </p>
<p>Re Michigan converting to the Common App: I get why switching away from rolling admissions might discourage kids from using Michigan as a safety, but I don’t understand how using the Common App would act as a deterrent or how it would help Michigan better predict yield. If anything, it will increase the number of applications and make it even tougher to predict who’s going to attend. The common wisdom is that when schools adopt the CA, they get many more applications (think U of Chicago), not fewer.</p>