<p>Hola!</p>
<p>Any "safety" schools that are intellectual, full of stimulating people who really care about academics (much in the same way as at a more selective school)?</p>
<p>Just curious! Thanks</p>
<p>St. John's MD/NM?</p>
<p>Some say UC Santa Cruz has an intellectual hippy sort of feel to it.</p>
<p>Ah! Yes, of course!</p>
<p>Any others that come to mind?</p>
<p>Obviously, what is a safety for you might not be a safety for others, but I'm assuming that you're competitive for top schools. (i.e. 1400+ SAT, 30+ ACT, etc. etc. etc.)</p>
<p>First, check out "Colleges that Change Lives" by Loren Pope. I think he has a seriously good list working there.</p>
<p>Schools that come to mind:</p>
<p>Hampshire
Knox
Evergreen State College
Beloit
Earlham
Marlboro
New College of Florida
Bard
Sarah Lawrence
Clark</p>
<p>St John's in Maryland may be right up your alley.</p>
<p>hey, you can't list
Hampshire
Bard
Sarah Lawrence
and Marlboro
without me thinking: </p>
<p>Bennington!!</p>
<p>We take our work very seriously here (as do our terrific professors) and the people here are nothing if not stimulating!</p>
<p>St.Marys College of Maryland</p>
<p>Kenyon (maybe more "selective" than you're looking for ... )</p>
<p>Rhodes</p>
<p>Skidmore</p>
<p>Swarthmore, Haverford, Bryn Mawr</p>
<p>College of NJ</p>
<p>Clark University in Worcester, MA</p>
<p>Swarthmore is a "safety" for only top, top students.</p>
<p>Realistically, Swarthmore is not a safety for anyone. Haverford isn't either. Schools admitting fewer than 20% (Swat) or fewer than 30% (Haverford, Vassar) aren't safety schools for anyone, regardless of legacy status, GPA, SAT scores, development status, fabulous ECs, etc. </p>
<p>For a little more perspective: Swarthmore admits fewer students than Cornell, and the acceptance rate there for 2010 was virtually tied with Penn's - 18% vs. 17.7%.) </p>
<p>I know this has been said hundreds of times on CC, but it bears repeating: There are excellent colleges with "intellectual" populations that do not make the US News Top 20, for various reasons, and they are well worth serious consideration from ANY student, not just students looking for safeties. If you're wed to Top 20s for your safeties, Smith and Grinnell are the only two that approach true safety territory (accepting 50% or better).</p>
<p>University of Chicago and Barnard also are top schools with surprisingly high acceptance rates -- were around 30-40%; Oberlin too, accepting about 30% of applicants, along with Grinnell. All would provide stimulating intellectual environments. None are true safety schools, though.</p>
<p>The acceptance rate tells you little, especially when we're talking about academic schools. Every student who applies to a decidedly academic school knows that they want it-- and believe me, most high school students are not looking for a school that emphasizes academics in the way that Barnard, Chicago, Bryn Mawr, Oberlin, etc. do.</p>
<p>Barnard's acceptance rate is 25% - 30%. 28% 2005, 26% 2006, 28% 2007.</p>
<p>It is, however, very intellectual.</p>
<p>Don't forget Reed College in Oregon, along w/ St John's (Annapolis or Sante Fe (the easier of the two campuses to get into), then easy to transfer b/w the two) the two most intellectual in America. (Sorry Chicago, you're #3.)</p>
<p>Don't forget Reed College in Oregon, along w/ St John's (Sante Fe or Annapolis) the two most intellectual in America. (Sorry Chicago, you're #3.)</p>
<p>I agree with all the schools listed do far, except for Swarthmore, Haverford, UChicago and Barnard, which arn't safties for anyone, really. I'd also hesitate to call Reed or Oberlin safties for any except a top few. They might be good matches or lower matches for comptetitve applicants, though. </p>
<p>I'd add Goucher, Lewis and Clark, Eugene Lang, and Pitzer (depending on your stats). Also possibly Dickenson.</p>
<p>Also, I was also somone looking for intellectual schools and really liked Occidental in LA, though it's not as intellectual as some of the others listed here.</p>
<p>In today's world, it's tough to call any fairly selective school a safety. </p>
<p>Because, at many such schools, among the criteria is express fit, and whether it appears the applicant really wants to be there. If a school peceives that you've no real interest and are just looking at it as a backup; or if you just haven't proved that this particular school is really an optimum fit for your needs- you might well be rejected even though your stats appear to be far above the norm. They've got many other applicants who more obviously want to be there, and hence perhaps are more likely to stick around once admitted and contribute positive energy to the place.</p>
<p>So, ironically, it may not be a safety because it appears to be a safety. I think we should call this the Heisenberg Admissions Principle.</p>
<p>There have been a number of examples of this, some I've witnessed and some posted on CC.</p>
<p>so true...that is why some of these schools take their "Why [our school]" essays so seriously. And the number of applicants keeps rising too (meaning that the admission rate keeps declining).</p>
<p>Mount Holyoke (if you're female)</p>
<p>Lewis and Clark, perhaps? Or Willamette?</p>