<p>I think USC gives automatic aid to NMFs. But maybe too far away for you–and too big for him? Still, it’s a strong option, albeit not a true safety!</p>
<p>We heard the Union College jazz band rehearse and they were very friendly and invited S2 to sit in with them, however, Union is not really strong overall in music. I would suggest listening in on the rehearsals whenever possible. We must have heard close to 15 different college’s various music rehearsals. After 5 minutes of listening to the Vassar orchestra, S1 knew Vassar was for him. He doubled majored in science and music there and is now at an top engineering grad school. Bucknell had a very vibrant and excellent jazz band. Susquehanna’s music department at noon bustled just like a conservatory of music that I attended. Holy Cross had an extremely small orchestra but we stayed for a full hour listening because we enjoyed the rehearsal. Hamilton College had a full student orchestra (excellent) and extremely progressive and excellent jazz group. Skidmore’s orchestra accompanied the dance department’s production of ‘Swan lake’ - just wonderful. Many of our experiences are a few years old but please visit and listen whenever possible and PM me if you have any questions.</p>
<p>So not a safety, but a vote for Tufts. Very holistic admissions, but a musical engineer/scientist would find a lot of company and opportunities. There is a dual degree program with the New England Conservatory, but it is 5 years and a separate application and audition. </p>
<p>I would also suggest reconsidering SCEA to Yale. It does not improve the odds, and may restrict some other safety EA applications. It is really nice for kids to know they are in somewhere early in the process. I believe both Tulane and Case Western have rolling admissions. Even though you apply RD you get an answer around Thanksgiving if you apply early. Both also offer merit. Tulane is in a great city - good music (particularly jazz) and the right size - but if he is serious about engineering I believe post-Katrina they only do biomedical.</p>
<p>My guess is that Bucknell and Lafayette will seem too small. Lehigh may be a bit better. U Miami is a good choice (also rolling admissions with a February notification date).</p>
<p>A second on not SCEA to Yale - apply EA without restrictions and rolling to as many schools as allow it. Once you have something under your belt you will approach the RD round with a different outlook.</p>
<p>Arizona State does have good STEM and music programs. They’ve recently begun offering a music performance minor. Barrett honors college is well respected, loves national merit finalists, and has really outstanding dorms and food.
I know both music performance and STEM graduates from ASU who have done very well for themselves. This would obviously be a true safety for your son, and might be worth investigating further to see if he could see himself there if his matches and reaches don’t work out.</p>
<p>Thanks again. </p>
<p>I am going to look more into Tulane. It seems like a lot of the big merit aid comes only If you apply EA or SCEA. But, as far being an admissions safety, it would still be a safety if he applies RD? As with Vanderbilt and and and few others, he can still submit early so he is in the scholarship round. I am not sure I agree about not applying EA to Yale. I have seen admit rates for ivies and the EA/ED rates are often double the overall rate. Plus if he does get in it will save a lot of effort in not applying to the whole list of reach schools. </p>
<p>But I definitely like the idea of him having at least one early acceptance. He will do EA to UVA and MI, which I realize now are not 100% safeties. But if he adds Rutgers and or one other safe public, then he can still do EA to Yale and hope for the best, right?</p>
<p>To some of the other suggestions, we have had Tufts and USC on the list as well, but I think of those more as matches not safeties. In trying to keep the total number of schools manageable I’m not sure which to recommend. How many schools did your kids apply to? The list I first posted was 9 but should I suggest he adds two safeties and two more matches?? Sounds like a lot of work!!</p>
<p>Another plug for Pitt as a safety. My son, with stats not so different from OP’s son, applied to Pitt and heard back from them even before the Yale SCEA decision came out. You can apply to Pitt early, and still apply to Yale SCEA (or at least you could 5 years ago).</p>
<p>You’ve gotten some great advice here, and it’s great that you are wide open to it. </p>
<p>One thing you may want to chat with your son about is how to compromise when it comes to selecting a safety. It is rare that a safety school fits all the criteria that a kid wants in college. </p>
<p>So a safety will lack one or two things that a kid really wants. For example, a kid looking at small to mid size schools has a safety that’s huge. </p>
<p>Your son needs to decide which of his criteria he’s willing to compromise. It could be size, location, curriculum, sports. But something’s going to have to give. Chances are he’ll end up at one of his top choices. Deciding what criteria he’s willing to forgo will make it a lot easier to pick out a couple of safeties.</p>
<p>My daughter had 2 or 3 safeties. Wisconsin was much bigger than she wanted, but it had just about everything else. Fordham had a core curriculum, but a location and size she wanted. By having more than one safety, it meant that if she had to select a safety, she at least would have some choice and could decide which variables were the most important to her.</p>
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<p>Note that Tulane considers “level of applicant’s interest”, and choosing SCEA over EA is a way of signaling interest.</p>
<p>As far as being a safety goes, an early admission (from SCEA or EA) with enough financial aid would make it a safety; an RD application would still leave some uncertainty.</p>
<p>For engineering, Tulane only has biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, and engineering physics.
<a href=“http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramsDetails.aspx?OrganizationID=130”>http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramsDetails.aspx?OrganizationID=130</a></p>
<p>“I have seen admit rates for ivies and the EA/ED rates are often double the overall rate.”</p>
<p>This is because all the recruited athletes apply EA and are all admitted - it skews the admission rate significantly. Remember they all need to full up all their teams for both sexes in the EA round (don’t just think football - think everything from squash to crew).</p>
<p>Double what kiddie said. For the non-hooked, non-recruited athlete the odds are the same EA and RD at places like Yale. They assume you will come if you get in - so no benefit of showing interest, and they have no problem filling all of their slots with supremely talented RD applicants. They use EA to try to get the kids who might be lost to competitors in other words: recruited athletes, development families (big money, legacy, political or business royalty), tippy top URMs with national prizes, etc. Almost everyone else gets deferred. The big benefit is to get rejected early, because it is then clear that you need to adjust the list and expectations.</p>
<p>Op,
USC in southern ca gives 1/2 tuition (approx 22k) off for NMF if accepted for admission. I would not call usc a safety but a match for your kid’a stats. Usc’s deadline to be considered for merit is earlier, 12/1 or so. If you apply yale SCEA you can still apply to usc on 12/1 because it’s RD. If you apply to yale SCEA, check the rules about applying to other publics with rolling admissions. Sometimes they say that it can only be your state’s public and sometimes they allow other state’s public.</p>
<p>My son read through most of this thread and I have come up with a list of schools that should be safeties. I told him to pick two that he could see himself attending. So he and I need to do a little more research before choosing, but are considering Rochester, Tulane, Northeastern, Penn State and Rutgers. He may also add USC and Tufts as matches. I also need to see which if any of these do rolling admissions that would give him an early answer. Anything that can help reduce the total number of apps would be great.</p>
<p>For engineering I might suggest NC State and for science Wake Forest. NCSU is ABET and Wake has a medical school which does influence the heavy science emphasis felt on campus. </p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>Is Yale still SCEA? If so, you can’t apply to any other schools EA. SINGLE choice EA…only one…Yale (if it’s SCEA).</p>
<p>Yale is SCEA, but allows some other early applications:</p>
<p><a href=“http://admissions.yale.edu/scea”>http://admissions.yale.edu/scea</a></p>
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<p>Thanks UCBA! </p>
<p>Yes, Yale is SCEA. But you can still apply to any public schools EA. So we were thinking Yale plus UVA and Michigan and Rutgers. Some other schools like Vanderbilt require early submission to be considered for scholarships. So we were suggesting he apply to some other schools, like this, early but still RD. I assume nothing stops you from submitting early but selecting RD. </p>
<p>Ok…so what did I miss on this thread. Yale has awesome music opportunities for students, but no undergrad major in music performance. In the vast majority if cases, the applied faculty (for the graduate programs) do not give undergrads lessons. </p>
<p>I must have missed something too. Thought this was a thread about “safety schools”!</p>