George Washington University (GWU) could be a good safety for both of those majors and especially your daughter if she wants an urban setting. It’s probably way too urban for your son. I will mention it takes a highly driven independent student to thrive there (very diff college culture). No sprawling campus but you’re right in the middle of DC a few blocks from the White House with the president’s motorcade and other excitement rolling through the campus daily. Depending on what she wants to do in film, etc it could be an interesting fit. My son is a freshman there now and just returned from a cool internship working at the Superbowl in LA. The opportunities for internships there are incredible.
1 Like
My older D was accepted to the Honors College at GWU and they have an IB scholarship too. D22 visited way back then so I may put it back on her radar. The location is fantastic.
Good Lord!
If you want a true safety then find one and apply.
For your kids, what will tip the scale is how much you can pay at a private (perceived) top 50 school.
That little section that each college/uni has on common app that asks kids to put in additional info, make sure to state no aid needed. Assuming you can swing $75-80K per year, that is the only key that is almost guaranteed to work. They might even sweeten the deal by handing out a scholarship. There are only a few truly need blind no-loan schools in the USA.
Edited – I meant need-blind no loan schools. Apologies for that!
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2018-09-18/18-schools-that-meet-full-financial-need-with-no-loans
What’s the difference between stating “no aid needed” in the additional info section and just checking the boxes as someone not applying for aid? Thanks
I didn’t read the whole thread but saw a couple of references to Wisconsin being a safety. My S22 was deferred from UW-Madison (business major). We are OOS (IL) and he has 35ACT/4.8 w GPA. So I would definitely not rely on UW as a safety for an econ major. I agree with those that suggested IU as a great safety. Kelley is an excellent business school and decisions are rolling so you can have an acceptance in the bag early in the process.
14 Likes
While I agree with you that very few schools are need blind, I also think that there are more full pay families than you think. So at T20 schools, or very wealthy schools, on the margins it may make a slight difference, but it isn’t a near guarantee of admission.
8 Likes
That is an obviously incorrect statement, since many colleges have stats-only admissions without consideration of financial need for individual applicants, and there are also many open admission community colleges that are need (and basically everything else) blind in admissions.
Of course, need blind does not necessarily mean that the college offers good financial aid.
2 Likes
I just don’t think there are any safety schools if you’re applying to T20 colleges. MY D22 has 1550/36, 4.0/4.6, 12 APs, many ECs and internships, and she’s NMF, AP Scholar with Distinction.
She’s applied to over 20 schools, most are T20, but I think her only safeties are UCs(we’re from CA)
2 Likes
A 4.0/36 student should have plenty of safeties. As you noted, it is hard to imagine such a student getting rejected by all of the UCs (particularly UCR and UCM). Several CSUs should be basically automatic admission for such a student.
Out of state, there are many universities (even state flagships) that have published automatic admission (and perhaps scholarship) criteria that such a student would meet.
And if money really is a problem, there still is an automatic full ride at University Scholarships - Financial Aid
She’s only applied to 5 UCs(not UCR and UCM). Her high school had 30% admission rate to UCB and 17% to UCLA last year. I am counting on that fact since she’s a valedictorian although there are multiples.
There are no safeties in that list, but a balanced must — even for an applicant with top 20 reaches — should have matches and safeties.
She was notified that since she’s in top 9% in CA, she will be guaranteed a spot in other UCs if she doesn’t make it to the ones that she’s applied to.
@CCName1: ELC eligibility (top 9%) guarantees that if a student does not get admitted to their choice UC, their application will be forwarded to the default campus if there is room. The default campus has been UC Merced only, just so you aware.
4 Likes
Really? Just about every public university in this country is need blind for admissions. But they also don’t meet full need. 13? Where did you get that number.
1 Like
The good news is and everyone hates that I say it but there’s always a Alabama where you have tuition and four years of housing and Arizona where you can go for cheap…$3k tuition if current merit holds.
If you are applying to large schools anyway, both are solid and a guarantee so why not throw into one or one with similar NMF programs if, by some crazy unforeseen instance, you get blanked. Bama has more than 900 there.
If either works…and they would for the bank account better than the UCs….you could then devote all your time to reaches knowing u 100% have a fantastic worst case.
3 Likes
This is good to hear. GWU is my daughter’s second choice (she was waitlisted for her first choice - Johns Hopkins). She loved the campus when we visited last July, and I loved it for her. She’s a History major, possibly French something as a double major. So being in D.C. is ideal for her, especially for the internship opportunities and all the museums and governmental institutions there. And she wants to get out of the South (I don’t blame her at all).
1 Like
In actuality, the top 9% guarantee means being offered a spot at UC Merced. It sadly does not mean being offered a spot at any/all of the other UCs.
2 Likes
That makes clear but I know she won’t go to UC Merced even if it’s the only one left. Although many here would disagree, I feel confident with the data of her high school which had an acceptance rate of 70% to UCs last year, UCB 30%, UCLA 17%, UCSD 51%, UCD 69%, UCSB 43%. Those are the ones that she’s applied to.
1 Like
For UC admission rates by (recalculated) HS GPA for frosh starting fall 2021:
Recalculate your HS GPA with GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub . Use the weighted capped version for the table below.
Fall 2021 admission rates by campus and HS GPA range from Freshman fall admissions summary | University of California :
| Campus | 4.20+ | 3.80-4.19 | 3.40-3.79 | 3.00-3.39 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berkeley | 30% | 11% | 2% | 1% |
| Davis | 85% | 55% | 23% | 10% |
| Irvine | 60% | 31% | 14% | 1% |
| Los Angeles | 29% | 6% | 1% | 0% |
| Merced | 97% | 98% | 96% | 89% |
| Riverside | 97% | 92% | 62% | 23% |
| San Diego | 75% | 35% | 5% | 1% |
| Santa Barbara | 73% | 28% | 4% | 1% |
| Santa Cruz | 91% | 81% | 46% | 9% |
These are for the whole campus. Different divisions or majors may have different levels selectivity (usually, engineering and computer science majors are more selective).
2 Likes
For anyone going off of the “math and history says we should be fine” method of no real safeties, have your child do a TikTok search of students who did the same. It is littered with high stat kids getting rejected from everywhere and scrambling in April to apply to schools who still had openings and open applications. A student very rarely feels as if he or she would ever want to go to their safety…until it’s the only school that accepted them.
The famous Tyson quote of “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face” is legit. Wait until that first rejection hits without a safety net.
12 Likes