More safeties?

College Search & Selection
1

I’m a senior who already has a pretty solid list of schools that I have applied to/will apply to, but I need more safeties that I would actually like to go to. Currently, I only have 2 true safeties, and I wouldn’t really want to go to either.

Stats:
GPA: UW 3.52 W 4.66
SAT: 1440 R770 M670
APs: HGAP: 4 WHAP:4 APUSH:4 Lang: 5 Psych 4 Phys1: 3 currently in APES, Calc AB, Gov, Econ, and Lit
EC: Attorney on the district Mock Trial team, president of Writers Guild, FNHS, Band for 3 years, then some more stuff that I don’t really care about
Work: Fast food for 6 months, currently a math/reading teacher at a tutoring center and intern at a law firm
Community Service: Sporadic hours here and there, over 50 in Teen Court

I plan to double major in either political science or international relations and economics with a minor in psych or english. I would prefer a school in the Northeast or the Cali/Washington area. Preferably near a big city, but with a distinct campus. The cheaper the better, bc although my EFC is high, my family is going through a sort of financial crisis rn, so I have no idea what the situation will be by the time I start college.

Here are the schools I’m applying/have applied to

Safeties: Hofstra, UT Dallas,
Targets: Syracuse, American, Penn State, Rutgers, University of Washington, Sarah Lawrence
Reaches: NYU, Washington and Lee, BU, UT Austin
Never gonna happen but why not apply: Columbia, UChicago

Thanks for your input!

2

For schools strong in economics, you can read through these analyses:

https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.uslacecon.html

https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.usecondept.html

You could then further screen based upon your general criteria.

3

State of residency? If Texas, class rank? Price limit?

Sarah Lawrence is an odd choice for political science or economics, due to limited offerings in those areas: https://www.sarahlawrence.edu/undergraduate/disciplines/

Any of these large scholarship schools of interest? (verify on college web sites)
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20798968/#Comment_20798968

4

If you can’t pay and have a high EFC, scrub UW and all your reaches. I assume you are instate for Texas but your GPA indicates you wont rank for auto admit. You need a definitive budget. Optimize your instate options. As a senior you must know that merit schools have very fast approaching deadlines, consider Alabama and other auto merit schools but be aware your GPA and SAT won’t put you in the pile for top scholarship options and the coa may still be too high.
Sit your parents down. you are applying to schools that would have COAs of 200K and up. You would pay OOS for Hofstra? Really?

5

You would likely get merit aid at Providence or Fairfield. Fairfield is in a nice suburb with easy access to NYC.

6

Remember that there’s no point in applying to a school as a safety if you wouldn’t wanna go there

7

Your grades and test scores qualify you for serious merit aid at some places. Read through the thread at the top of the Financial Aid Forum that is about Automatic Scholarships to find yourself more safeties.

8

I didn’t mean that I couldn’t pay, @sybella just that right now we aren’t 100% sure that everything will work out in our favor. If it does, then I’ll be able to pay for all the schools on my list. I need cheap safeties just in case it doesn’t. Also, the only reason I applied to Hofstra is because they gave me a waived application fee, so I thought why not. I have been looking at in state options, and the only 2 that interest me are T and UTD. I’m auto for UTD and it is a great school that I would be ok going to, but I would prefer not to as it’s really close to home and I really want to get out of Texas. I have looked at alabama, but honestly I would rather stay in Texas than go there.

9

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I have looked at alabama, but honestly I would rather stay in Texas than go there.<<<

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I would concur. Make sure your Texas school applications are optimized. You need facts from your parents, not guesses. There is no wiggle room when these schools are 200K plus, your reaches probably are too reachy for admission anyway but your parents surely wouldn’t pay 200K for your matches. Don’t apply to schools just because they have a free application unless you want to attend. “Why not” is a waste of your precious time.