<p>I am a rising senior and am just finishing up my college search. Like a few other people, I have selected plenty of match/reach schools, but I need some safeties - academically and financially. </p>
<p>Right now, I have UGA and Ole Miss as safeties. I'm not really sure about Ole Miss's math program, but I know that it gives great financial and I have heard it has a decent IR/Study Abroad program. If anyone has anything to add about Ole Miss, please feel free to let me know. I am in-state for UGA and so already know about their IR and Math programs.</p>
<p>For stats, I have a 2350 SAT, 35 ACT, and really high SAT2 tests. My GPA is 3.98/4.0. I will be NMSF, maybe finalist (231 PSAT). My ECs are decent - I am mock trial president, chorus president, MUN treasurer, NHS member, have been playing piano and singing for 14/11 years respectively, and some other stuff. My family income is between $60-80k (one income) and I have a little brother who will be entering college after me. </p>
<p>So if anyone has any suggestions for academic and financial safeties, please let me know! Thanks so much.</p>
<p>would you go to either UGA or Ole Miss if it came down to that? could your family afford both of them? If yes to both questions, then you have your safeties. You’re not happy with them, perhaps, might want them to be better schools, but that’s not what a safety is. You probably won’t need them unless the rest of your list is small or just plain silly.</p>
<p>You would get a ton of $$$ at University of Alabama. Full ride, and I think they offer several other benefits for NMSF finalists.</p>
<p>I agree that these two safeties are all you need. Ole Miss is very generous for National Merit Scholarships. I would recommend applying for the Croft Institute Scholarship which is worth $8,000 more per year. It is competitive, but your stats are great. However, they don’t want their program to be viewed ONLY as a safety, so make sure you are sincere in your desire to attend there if you get an interview. The Croft Institute Scholarship coupled with their package for NMF will cover your entire cost of attendance. </p>
<p>Thanks guys for the information! I’ll definitely look into Bama. I was wondering if you guys knew any schools in the Northeast region of the country? That’s my targeted location - ideally, I would not like to stay in the South unless I am at Georgia Tech. UGA and Ole Miss are true back-back-back-ups, haha.</p>