<p>One of my friends in high school did almost exactly the same thing. He was salutatorian, scored 1600 on the SAT, etc. He only applied to one college, and he went to a nearby public university (which he loved) on a music scholarship. :rolleyes: I've known a few others that only applied to one or two colleges. I considered them lucky!</p>
<p>Last night dd asked the opinion of an adult friend who attended this in-state public many years ago. His advice: Go to a more prestigious school if you can get in. He believes he has lost many opportunities over the years because people have looked at his resume and seen the "no-name" school where others can list the "big-name" school. (Of course, that's his opinion; who knows whether the school name truly made any difference in the opportunities offered to him?) He has a graduate degree in music from this school; my dd is considering an undergraduate double degree in music and a liberal arts field, followed perhaps by law school.</p>
<p>I feel confident that dd can "get in" at a more prestigious school. I am uncertain whether we could afford it.</p>
<p>Aah, affordability is another conversation. There have been many conversations about that on this BB. What we did was told our kids how much we would pay and after that it would be up to them to find the money via loans, financial/merit aid, summer jobs, etc. So, when the acceptances came in we celebrated and then when the financial aid packages came in we all took a good hard look and figured the bottom line for each school. That's not to say that we didn't look at the cost ahead of time, in fact we really didn't look at any colleges if they were expensive and did not offer merit aid. Expensive and offered good merit aid, yes. </p>
<p>An interesting website that I found to be accurate in estimating admissions and financial and merit aid is: <a href="http://www.collegedata.com%5B/url%5D">www.collegedata.com</a> I plugged in the colleges, our efc and the estimated aid that the site came up with was within a couple of thousand of what son's colleges actually offered.</p>
<p>If the school is offering your daughter special opportunities that she would not get elsewhere -- honors college, money for study abroad, etc. -- maybe it's no longer a safety. Maybe it's an excellent choice that should be considered to be on an equal rank with other excellent choices.</p>
<p>Marian, that is a good point. And there are side benefits in addition to the special opportunities offered by the school itself. If she take the full-ride scholarship, she would be free to spend her summers pursuing all sorts of interesting opportunities -- travel abroad, summer music festivals, unpaid internships, etc. She wouldn't have to spend those summers working for money to pay the next semester's bills, and she'd have funds to pay for these opportunities because that money was <em>not</em> being spent on tuition.</p>
<p>lgreen, Hey, I'm all for the state school. It sounds like a wonderful opportunity and I don't especially like the term safety when it sounds so less then perfect. My point was just to apply to a variety of schools so that when it comes time for your daughter to decide - and maybe that will be before Christmas- there are choices. It's only April so lots of time before she has to figure anything out.</p>
<p>Our S is on full scholarship at state u but we are not letting him spend the "college fund" during the summers. Instead we have told him that if he keeps the scholarship all the way thru, the saved money will be waiting for him (and drawing interest) upon graduation to use for the next "phase" of his life.
We won't give him the money beforehand (unless he desperately needs it) because you never know what's gonna happen...his gpa may drop below the required average, he may change his major and lose a departmental scholarship, he may decide to transfer (highly doubt it but anything is possible with kids!) to a school where he gets no money.
So to be on the safe side, the college "fund" is staying in the bank until graduation!</p>
<p>Interestingly enough, for me, come April, my "safety" and a "reach" were the two schools I was deciding between. (setting aside state schools, which I did not want to attend and were comparative in price to the privates). </p>
<p>The "match" schools for me (Berkeley, Reed, etc.) did not thrill me in April. However, the very unexpected full tuition from Lewis and Clark had me very convinced that I would be attending there until I was accepted at University of Chicago. It wasn't until I got my financial aid and then visited LC that I was able to say that I knew I wanted to be at Chicago. </p>
<p>I felt incredibly fortunate, however, throughout the process. It didn't stress me out to the extent that it did most of my peers, and I think it was because I didn't have parents telling me that one school was ranked higher or blah blah blah (yes, some friends are in this situation). There are plenty of factors that went into my decision, including the fact that I realized I wanted an urban campus (something I had always wanted, right up until come application season, I decided that I would be a "suburban LAC" girl-- thank goodness I didn't limit my choices to them!). </p>
<p>But throughout it all I had faith I would be very happy at my "safety," which in truth was just a school that I was fortunate enough to be at the "top" of the application pool in. (They offer 10 full tuition and numerous other smaller scholarships, which I had been hoping for).</p>
<p>Just my input-- "safe" is relative-- for me it was mostly safe because it was a comfort zone, not because it was less difficult to get into. I always "loved thy safety," because I didn't approach things in black and white.</p>
<p>I guess we are really weighing two approaches.</p>
<p>Option 1: Apply to just two or three schools. One of them, of course, is Safety U - and since it's an attractive option, there's no reason to look for others.</p>
<p>Option 2: Apply to more schools, just in case dd might get a fabulous offer from one of them. It would have to be a strong financial offer, though, to make her choose that school. There's no doubt she would turn down Prestige U if it demanded huge out-of-pocket expenditures or large loans.</p>
<p>Option 1 is easy and less stressful, but Option 2 might open more doors.</p>