<p>We went to visit dd's safety school, an in-state public. She had a good visit and liked it more than she had expected. As a result, she's starting to toss other schools off her list. "Why should I bother applying to Match College or Reach University? I really liked Safety U; I'll just go there."</p>
<p>Loving one's safety is a good thing, but I didn't expect it to supplant her other choices.</p>
<p>Have others had this experience? How did it turn out?</p>
<p>Yes i had an almost exact same experience, i visited a out-of-state public that i considered my safety and absolutely fell in love with it (its ohio univ. btw). I took many schools that i considered match/reaches off my list and ended up sending apps to only 6 schools compared to the 12 that i planned on applying to. Unfortunately, my safety only gave me an aid offer worth about half of the total cost so i wont be attending but luckily i got huge scholarship offers to the schools i considered match/reach and i loved almost all my schools so it didnt hurt me too much</p>
<p>Consider yourself lucky. It will turn out that your daughter will get into a school she is happy with and that you can afford, and you may have a very stress-free senior year. Not only that, but many of your daughter's high school classmates who aspire to elite colleges are going to end up attending the same in-state public your daughter likes, simply because the other students either won't get into their reach schools, or will get in but will not be able to afford to attend if they do get in. So they will be in the same place, but feeling disappointed.</p>
<p>Of course, you should encourage your daughter to keep her options open, but it may very well be that the state U. is where she will be happiest.</p>
<p>By the way, the vast majority of parents of college students are in your position: their kids just attend the in-state public and no one in the family gives much thought to anything else. But you aren't going to find them here -- they don't need to use the internet to research options; the kids usually find the services of their school guidance counselor sufficient to meet all their needs and answer their questions. So if you want to get reassurance, this probably isn't the right place for it.</p>
<p>I fell in love with my safety. It wasn't an in-state, public uni. but it was my safety. I did not have a huge list anyhow and applied to all of my picks, reaches and all. I got into all of them, but went to my safety. I love it here, and I don't call it my safety. Even if it was. I just feel that the word, while clearly depicting what it is, does not do the school justice. You should love all the places you pick; you might just fit better into the profile of some than others. </p>
<p>Anyhoo. I'm clearly the black sheep of this site in my thoughts but I'd encourage your daughter to still apply to other places that she has visited and liked. Keeping your options open will never hurt.</p>
<p>You are probably the luckiest parent on CC right now! The whole 'reach, match, and safety' theory drives me nuts when people take it really literaly. The admissions process isn't so cut and dried, and neither is the decision making process on the student side of things, when figuring out where to apply. If, as you say she said, she 'really likes it', then it isn't a 'safety' school, it is one of her top choices. Good for her!</p>
<p>aroundthecorner, I know someone with exactly the same story as yours. She was also admitted to all of the schools she applied to. Plus she was valedictorian of my school, and she still went to her "safety". And she loves it. Pretty cool :)</p>
<p>lgreen, I understand why you're a bit concerned (I don't know if that's the right word, but let's go with it). I'm a student, just to make that clear, but I think I can speak for my parents. They always encouraged me to challenge myself and to surround myself with people who were smarter, wiser, etc. than me so I could become a better person. They would not have wanted me to attend my safety school if I'd been admitted to a more challenging school because to them, the quality of a college (I do not mean prestige) is more than worth any extra money it may cost. I know that's not always the philosophy on CC (nothing wrong with it, just a difference of perspective and opinion) but I thought I'd throw that out there.</p>
<p>Having said that, I really appreciate that my parents completely let me direct my own college search and application process. They told me they'd support me financially no matter what and left me free to decide what college to attend, which is extraordinary of them. Anyway, I've decided to attend a uni which offered me more than 20k/yr in grants. It's actually not the most generous offer I recieved, but when we visited the college that gave me the most FA, both my mom and I were rather underwhelmed. She was very relieved I chose the school that I did.</p>
<p>lgreen, My S is a freshman at our big in-state u. He has an rotc scholarship so could have chosen from many schools nationwide to attend tutiton free but after a few school visits declared that it was in-state u for him and did not even want to talk about the other possibilities. We were fine with his choice but urged him to really think carefully about it so as not to regret giving up the chance to explore other options. He stuck firm to his decision. He's made great friends, studied harder than he ever thought about in high school, and has said he's so glad he chose his school. He's had a great year and has not regretted his choice at all. This is just our experience but maybe sometimes they just "know" what is right for them before we do.</p>
<p>lgreen, I take it that your daughter is a junior and is in the process of making a list. I think it's wonderful that she loves the state public. As long as she still applies to some other schools that also fit, I think she'll be in good shape. What I have seen happen around here (real life, not CC) is that kids will only apply to one school, get accepted and then have second thoughts but no more options. While it was nerve racking living through my son's recent decision choosing between 7 schools, I was grateful that he had a variety of schools to choose from. I was very suprised to see how much my son's priorites changed from the time he started filling out his applications in September to March when all the acceptances were in.</p>
<p>I guess I'm lucky too, and very relieved! My junior d's first choice is a reach for her (and a highly selective one at that). I began to worry because every other school paled in comparison, and I was afraid that it was #1 or bust. Following our spring tour, her safety is now her 2nd choice, and I'm thrilled! I'm now at least as confident as possible that she'll be happy in college even if it's not #1.</p>
<p>One thing dd loves about this safety school is the financial outlook. Her credentials would give her a full ride there. Since she hopes to go to graduate school, the idea of a debt-free bachelor's degree is very appealing.</p>
<p>kathiep, you are right - my dd is a junior, and I want her to keep her options open. Like you, I suspect that her priorites may change over the next year. She certainly won't have the option to choose Match College or Reach University if she doesn't even apply. On the other hand, it may be a waste of time and effort to apply to schools that she would reject in favor of Safety U, even if she were accepted.</p>
<p>I think that it's great that your D loves her safety that much! The best school for a student doesn't need to be a reach. It can be a safety.</p>
<p>lgreen, If there were an AP test on procrastinating, my son would get a 5, but would register at the last minute. Even with his huge propensity for procrastinating, he managed to get in 9 College applications because all were on-line and he was able to to re-use the same 3 essays multiple times. There were a couple of apps where he had to do unique essays but for the most part he just cut and pasted what he had. The majority of his apps were also free. Of the 9 places he applied we paid for three. When my daughter was applying four years ago, this was not the case and of the four schools she applied to, I think only one was free. So, imho, it's neither a waste of time, money or effort. I've also heard of a couple of students that did not take the time to apply to reach schools and then regretted it later when they heard of their friends with similar stats being accepted at those schools. The regret (according to their parents) of never even knowing if they would have gotten into a particular reach. </p>
<p>My son is not a stellar student. Average in the real world and so Allegheny College in NW Pennsylvania was a reach school for him. When we got the thin envelope from them, I handed it to my son with a sad smile and said, "honey, you know this was a reach school for you and you've already got some great choices". Imagine our suprise when we read his acceptance! Much sweeter then the acceptance from the safety/match schools even though the match school is the one he will attend. He's attending his choice school because it fits him, but it was nice to know that there were some great alternatives.</p>
<p>Your D's current thinking can make for a very good outcome and a very low-stress senior year. My S' first choice, by a mile, was a match/safety for him. This yielded an EA acceptance, very nice merit $$ and a kid who very much likes his choice.</p>
<p>Kids do change their preferences over the months between April of Junior and Senior years, so she may, too. If she wants to apply to others, so be it. But don't regret not being on the merry-go-round. :)</p>
<p>This school made it clear that they really want dd, and I'm sure that was a factor in her reaction. We've visited about 8 or 10 schools so far, and this one, to my surprise, did the best job of orchestrating the visit and making dd feel special. Every professor or admissions person that we met had already heard about her and was rolling out the red carpet. She would be in the honors college, get lots of scholarship money including a stipend for study abroad, have first choice when registering for classes, be eligible for honors housing, get lots of music performance opportunities because the orchestra needs her instrument, etc.</p>
<p>This is heady stuff when compared to Reach University, where you're just one of the crowd and the school's attitude can be more like, "Here are all the hoops you must jump through before we even consider you."</p>
<p>Sometimes it's better to be a big fish in a small pond. If a student takes full advantage of that situation, that can lead to excellent graduate admissions, fellowships, internships and job offers.</p>
<p>It has been said already-- but I wholeheartedly agree that kids' minds change a lot over senior year, so it is wise to send out several more applications... just in case 'wanting a LAC' turns into 'wanting a big U' or vice versa.</p>
<p>Also agree: stop calling it a safety!</p>
<p>Just think about all the money your daughter won't owe when she graduates and all the freedom that will allow her! Just imagine the possibilities of earning without owing! If only all our kids could be as happy with their financial safety schools.</p>
<p>I've also noticed a "glow" effect after visiting schools that dd likes. In the immediate aftermath of the visit, that school becomes No. 1.</p>