@MotherOfDragons Are you familiar with Bryant University in RI? I have some friends who graduated from the school and have done so well. It’s a self admitted business school but very good at what it does. The average GPA is 3.5 the SAT is 1625 but the ACT is 25. He may have a shot.
I also had WPI on my list but a really successful year at community college would be needed. My friend’s son graduated from WPI in May and drove straight to his job in LA to work for a gaming company.
@cleoforshort In my book, a true safety has close to 100% guaranteed admission based on stats (GPA, test scores), is affordable (be it $0 or $15K or $60K, depends on the family), and is a school DC is willing to attend when all else fails.
I think one needs only one or two true safeties.
Perhaps GC feels that your DD is lacking a true safety and wishes DD has more options on May 1.
If she already has an acceptance to a safety that fits the bill above, no need to apply more.
Many times what most people consider targets are in reality reach schools and safety schools actually target schools.
QOTD #2: that would be college apps until the very last minute of each school’s deadline.
If anyone has the time and cash to spare and this is first child heading to college, try for a family vacation this summer. It becomes much more difficult once one is on college break schedule and one on HS break schedule, unless you want to travel during Christmas week. Summer internships can get in the way of summer travel.
@payn4ward – I do not disagree with you at all, but then I start to worry about yield management. When you bring the unknown of yield management into play, my son doesn’t really have any safeties (no auto admits). Should he be admitted to the schools where his stats place him a few hundred points and half a letter grade above the average admit from our HS? Yes, absolutely…but still no guarantees.
I think it is the inconsistency and unknowns about this process that can be unnerving. Well, there are many unnerving things about this process…Fortunately I am still in the ‘will he ever finish his apps’ stage and therefore have not moved onto the ‘will he be admitted’ stage.
No winter travel plan.
We are sitting in a prime winter destination, but DSs do not want to go skiing :((
I’m browsing holiday performance schedules; a musical or a concert would be nice for me 
Haven’t done the Nutcracker for ages (kindergarten? when S19 complained mom, everyone else already saw the Nutcracker but me 
No amount of bribe will take him to the Nutcracker now :))
Maybe we will watch a movie and have sushi. DSs are not into movies anymore either.
Summer - obligatory trips to grandmas to extort some grad gifts/$$ from relatives for spending money during college :)) A scheming mama >:)
I need to plan a real family vacation though. :-/ :-/
@itsgettingreal17 @kt1969 Good question – I’ve been on the common data set, but I don’t see the acceptance rate broken down by ED vs RD. I wonder where I could find that information. What with yield protection and all that, I’m sure ED acceptance is significantly higher than RD at all these sub-30% acceptance rate schools.
@RightCoaster Thanks. This particular school is unique in a way that makes it perfect for some types of students (like my kid) but would be a real turn-off for others. I wish with all my heart that she wanted to go to Skidmore! My AND my spouse’s alma mater, and I think she’d love it, I had such a great time there, but…she wants this other college for what makes its structure unique. >:( So she gets to stress herself out.
QOTD 2 - No Holiday travel plans - will stay home Christmas weekend may head north to Ski over New Year’s (hopefully). Just scheduled our visit to CSM for Martin Luther King Weekend. S17 convinced us to go a week earlier than planned and take D16 along. We will leave S12 home to work and take care of the dog.
@payn4ward She has 2 true safeties, where she is well above the admit stats and should be guaranteed a spot. I say that with the knowledge that DD14 got waitlisted at her safety, LOL. The places she’s really interested in are the lottery schools and she has as good a shot as any other qualified kid. I just pray her reader doesn’t have an old aunt she hated by DD’s name or some other weird bugaboo that could throw her out of the admit pile.
The scenarios that are running through my head…
@JenJenJenJen --see section C21 of CDS. You have to back out the # of ED apps & ED admits from total apps & total admits, but you can calculate both the ED admit rate and the RD admit rate. And, if you want to drive yourself crazy, you could calculate RD yield, which I find to be an interesting stat, especially at schools that fill over half of their classes via ED I & II. I would not waste your time on that right now…but just if you are bored and like to crunch #s.
So, subtract C21 from C1. And if you are creating a spreadsheet, note the WL figures also, while you are at it…saves time in May!
@CT1417 Hopefully, DS will get good news in a couple of weeks so you can continue Will he ever finish…? and skip that Will he be admitted? part
A true safety cannot involve yield management. I think a reasonable mix of >60% acceptance rate schools (from Naviance) will do.
@CT1417 “Unnerving” perfect word! I think if I can get DD to just get a few more apps in then I can sit back and let the chips fall. If she gets in to her top choices, great. If she doesn’t, well at least she tried.
QOTD: for S17, his list hasn’t changed significantly…good thing since we await a committed ED decision in next several days or so. He will have 4 decisions in rapid fire…by the statistics, all could very well be “no thank yous”. I/we will be disappointed if this happens, but will chalk it up to destiny and that merit must be the corrected path to follow.
Sr year has been surprisingly stressful thus far: grades have been excellent (but challenging to achieve), applications stressful of course, but also with lots of energy expended for his team sport season and prep for an orchestra concert with a piano concerto piece he is to play…really looking forward to winter break (even with continuation of his sport team activity…it should provide a needed respite) I-)
As regards travel plans…will be in town for winter break due to S17’s sport, but have already booked a nuclear family (including s14 who’ll be home from college)international biking trip for July…can’t wait!
@srk2017 We went to Iceland last summer, focusing mainly in the south and southwest parts. We went up to a glacier in the western part too…I think you’ll have a great vacation.
@CT1417 Our S is the same way, no true safeties, although I guess Merced is the backup plan. You hope to have enough likelies such that at least one comes through. Some states it seems different because the flagships are a near 100% certainty for high stat kids, but in California the schools where that kind of kid would fit best are not guaranteed.
@JenJenJenJen. Collegedata dot com shows ED numbers in Admission tab. I think the data comes from common data set just presented in a more readable form, so if the school doesn’t provide the data, it won’t show.
Is your school here?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19828041/#Comment_19828041
@JenJenJenJen If you look on collegedata.com, look up the school, click on tab for ‘admission’ and scroll down to ‘profile of fall admission’. For most schools it will give the stats for both regular admission and ED or EA or whatever they have.
Edited to add that @payn4ward and I apparently thought alike at just the same time. 
Great minds … 
Changing preferences: Apart from my D’s ED choice, the ranking for the rest of the list didn’t really solidify until the middle of October when she wrapped up AO/alum interviews. I’m sad that the state flagship (among the financial safeties) has sunk as far as it has on her list. It was firmly at the top for a long time, but once kids at school started chattering about how “everyone” from their high school goes there, it quickly lost its appeal. It’s among the most competitive on her list, tied for rank with her ED school (if one cares about those things, and I don’t, not really), at about half the cost (this I do care about).
Winter trip: No plans. My employer shuts down between Christmas and New Year’s and I’m tacking on a couple of extra days at the front end and one day at the back end, and will just enjoy 12 days of not having to anything I don’t want to (mostly).
QOTD1 - College list is still evolving 
Based on lottery SCEA results we may have to add few more schools.
QOTD2 - holiday travel - Going to Costa Rica for a week.