<p>Anyone have experience with applying for a bunch of selective colleges with no so-called "safety school" among them?</p>
<p>Anyone not get into <em>any</em> school among the many you've applied to?</p>
<p>*Anyone not get into <em>any</em> school among the many you’ve applied to? *</p>
<p>there have been some kids posting this year that had no success last year and are having to reapply this year (and including some safety schools this time!). some had rejections at all their selective schools and some had some acceptances, but lousy FA packages.</p>
<p>Why anyone would not apply to any “true safety schools” (affordable as well) makes no sense to me.</p>
<p>the competitive schools are getting more and more apps each year. Getting accepted is getting more and more difficult.</p>
<p>Why isn’t your child applying to any safeties?</p>
<p>That sort of happened to my friend’s brother. All rejections except for spring admission to one of them, so he settled for that.</p>
<p>Every April a whole bunch of threads with titles like “Didn’t get in anywhere” or “Didn’t get in anywhere that I can afford” appear here at CC. Don’t let your kid be one of the posters who starts a thread like that. Sit your kid down, and discuss what your family can afford. Talk about what his/her grades and exam scores mean. Hep your kid identify at least one college/university that is not only a rock-solid academic safety, but also is a financial safety, and is a place where they can envision being successful and happy if all else goes wrong in the application process. Then, have your kid build his/her list from the bottom up. </p>
<p>From what I’ve seen, the angriest kids here come April are the ones who applied to a large number of selective institutions, and filled in one quick application to a much unloved cheap home-state public at the last minute. “Love thy safety” is a rule of safety selection that can make all the difference.</p>
<p>I didn’t apply to any true safety schools; the closest I got to a safety school was New College of Florida, which probably would have admitted me, but it was not a definite acceptance.</p>
<p>That was the topic of one of the most poignant stories in the College Confidential archives:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/192395-no-acceptances-one-kids-story-year-later.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/192395-no-acceptances-one-kids-story-year-later.html</a></p>
<p>The hard part is finding a safety you’d be happy to attend. It’s also the single most important school on the list (and it should be affordable, as well). It’s not hard to fall in love with an expensive reach school.</p>
<p>My D went to an IB high school, plenty of overachievers there (the class of '11 will include a 2400 SAT, just to give you an idea). In her class of '09, there were several IB Diplomas who had zero acceptances; it was nothing short of heartbreaking. These were kids who applied only to the YPHSMs of the world, or maybe threw in Berkeley or Davis as an afterthought “safety.” Guess where they ended up for Fall semester – community college, or working at McDonald’s and biding their time until they could apply for Fall '10. Ask those kids about the wisdom of having a good solid safety.</p>