<p>But daughter loves her safety, so I guess this is o.k. The safety is truly a safety, as they admit 100%. I'm still trying to find some matches, but time is running out.</p>
<p>You know…if your daughter would be happy at that safety…let it go.</p>
<p>Our DD only wanted to apply to three schools…a safety she loved and two matches (but pretty safe matches). We insisted she apply to two additional schools. It was a waste of time and money. She got accepted at the first three and truthfully, we should have just let her do those three…especially since she was accepted at her safety before Thanksgiving. </p>
<p>Your DAUGHTER should be looking for match schools if she is interested. if she isn’t looking…I wouldn’t push it.</p>
<p>As long as you and she are sure she’ll love her safety in April, it’s okay. If she suddenly has a change of heart you have a problem.</p>
<p>I applied to 0 reaches, 1 match, 0 safetys, (with CC acting as a safety perhaps). </p>
<p>If she wants to go to the safety school, she shouldn’t even bother with the reach.</p>
<p>My S3 wanted to only apply to a few schools too: lots of reaches and a safety or two. I was the one pushing him to expand his list. Part of that is a competitive streak: I wanted to see what other schools he could get into. But then I realized the stupidity of that. Last year, S2 applied ED and got accepted. How nice that was. He also applied EA to a few others we said he had to include. He reminds me about how “we pushed him and he never would have gone there anyway.” A waste of $$$ and time.</p>
<p>Both DDs applied to 5 schools, mix of safeties and matches. That was primarily to see how finances sorted out at each. If that’s not an issue then don’t sweat it.</p>
<p>A dear friend’s D only applied to safe schools, got into all of them (why do we call them safe?!) and is in her second happy year at flagship U. Nothing wrong with this picture. We all love to have her so close. When I send a care package to my S, I hand deliver one to her too.</p>
<p>A “match” is something of a myth - its a school that on paper appears to offer a high chance of admission, but where admission is far from certain. My daughter got accepted at most of her reaches, waitlisted at schools she thought were “matches”. Others have reported similar experiences. There could be many reason for this – but the point is that when it comes down to it… there really are only safeties and non-safeties; either the applicant is certain of admission, or not.</p>
<p>So one reach + one safety the kid loves is fine.</p>
<p>toledo: If your D is happy with her safety, count your lucky stars. You can sit on the sidelines while everyone else goes psycho for the next 6 months.</p>
<p>If she’s happy with the safety and $ isn’t an issue, let it be. I always have my kids include at least two safeties because $ is a big concern for us so we need to compare financial aid packages. And yes, one of my kids came back with two acceptances once-- and both gapped (ouch!) but, otherwise, this strategy has worked for us.</p>
<p>If your family can afford the safety no matter what, it sounds fine to me.</p>
<p>My son also applied to only two schools (1 match, 1 safety). The world didn’t come to an end. He was accepted to both and attended the match, although he liked the safety just as much.</p>
<p>I just heard about a local kid, a basketball player, with apparently not the strongest app who applied to Caltech, MIT and Duke last year. That was the total list. Apparently thought basketball would get him in? 3 rejections in April. </p>
<p>Be glad for your safety.</p>
<p>S1 applied to three schools…all safeties.
S2 applied to two schools…one safety, one high match.</p>
<p>Each would have been fine with attending any they applied to.<br>
Both had all acceptances before Christmas.
Stress free = Happy Senior yr.</p>
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<p>This is the problem I could forsee. We saw one nice match school last spring, but recently learned that they’ve had a huge increase in crime. </p>
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<p>There is a lot of truth to this statement.</p>
<p>My DS2 only wanted to apply to one school (flagship U); he took care of the app, scholarship app, honors app, and all essays. But, he didn’t want to apply to any others. I asked him if he minded if I did some EZ online apps for a few other schools (ones that didn’t require any essays or any real work). He was fine with that. I applied to our local state U as a “just in case something happens that he can’t go away to school” backup, and a couple of others…</p>
<p>calmom >> A “match” is something of a myth - its a school that on paper appears to offer a high chance of admission, but where admission is far from certain. My daughter got accepted at most of her reaches, waitlisted at schools she thought were “matches”. Others have reported similar experiences. <<<</p>
<p>Yes, this is happening. As more “match” schools are receiving record numbers of applications, they are rejecting or waitlisting a higher number of students. Some safeties are now receiving 3-4 times the number of applications that they received 5 years ago, so maybe some of them will also lose their “safety” status.</p>
<p>Along with a safety, I think every student should apply to a “financial safety” as well (a very affordable school that your child likes - affordable because it is inexpensive). So much can change between fall application time and spring acceptance time that can cause financial havoc in a family. </p>
<p>A friend of ours was “surprised” by a costly divorce, which made it impossible for their daughter’s costly top choices to be affordable. Unfortunately, she had not appllied to any financial safeties - an oversight since she would have received some merit money from several.</p>
<p>I don’t see any problem with this. If the safety has rolling decision, D will know soon if she’s in. If not there will still be a little tension even though you’re sure of acceptance. </p>
<p>My DD was only going to apply to long reaches (not reaches actually as she has the stats for them but they’re so selective they’re reaches for everybody.) I asked her to take 15 minutes and apply to Alabama. She did and got her acceptance in two weeks. What a relief! Now she’s applying to only one of the others. (DW is not sure this is smart and we’ll insist on at least one additional but as her BFF said: “Wow, we’re all stressed out over this and you’re done. How sweet is that?”)</p>
<p>Relax. Let her apply to those two, kiss her on the forehead and say “enjoy your senior year.” Then take mom2’s method and do some of the easy ones yourself. :)</p>
<p>One safety is enough, if it is truly a safety. A safety college is one that</p>
<p>1) is pretty much certain to admit the applicant, based on its known behavior in acting on recent admission applications,</p>
<p>2) has a strong program in an area the applicant is interested in,</p>
<p>3) is affordable based on its known behavior in acting on financial aid applications,</p>
<p>and</p>
<p>4) is likeable to the applicant.</p>
<p>If you have significant doubt about your child getting in, and especially if your child has no opportunity to apply to that college in a rolling admission round or nonbinding early action round, then it isn’t really a safety. Everyone should have one safety. But one safety, rigorously defined, is enough. All other colleges can be “reaches” after the safety is found.</p>