I am in the camp of applying to at least 2 true safeties. It is amazing how much our young adults change during senior year. What seems like a perfect fit in August/September may not seem so great come April. It is nice to have choices and not feel like you are “stuck” with your safety. My dd17 had friends who reached for the stars and several ended up with only 1 admission to one of our state flagships. They were disappointed and felt like they were settling even though they are great schools and they actually wanted to apply. When April rolls around and you feel like the choice was made for you it can be demoralizing. She had friends who had planned to go far but as graduation drew nearer they found that they would prefer to be closer to home, and other friends who were the complete opposite. Junior year they were sure they wanted a school within 2-4 hours of home but as senior year went on and they were learning about other options, they wished they had expanded their search.
I say all of this as the parent of a DD17 who fell in love with her safety on a spring break tour her jr. year and never wavered. She removed just about every match and reach from her list. She kept a few close by schools (a large state school, a mid sized private, and a smaller private) and a few other safeties that she really liked just in case she changed her mind through the year. She had all of her acceptances in before Christmas and then was able to really think about where she would be happy and thrive. It was good that she had other options had she changed her mind, and she did find that she loved other schools as much. This helped with the second guessing and “what ifs” that creep in to their heads in April approaching the May 1 decision day. Turns out she never looked back.
I would suggest 2 sure thing safeties so that if nothing else comes through, they remain in the drivers seat and have a choice to make.
Well, I feel the summer program application process is a warm up for them. S20 is rejected at one, and waiting for 2 more. I guess the safety is to work on his essays over the summer and I am 200% sure he will be “very disappointed” with this safety as the only choice. Time to find some good matches!!!
@Dave_N I was just going to pop in to write about my accepted students day visit for S19 at Quinnipiac U for posterity (we’re going back for D20 end of April too) and saw that you stopped in as well. I am very familiar with the school because D14 went there for nursing, had a great experience, and graduated with multiple job offers. We must have crossed paths on CC back in the day :). Really happy with the quality, etc. and exactly what I hoped for in her case. So if anyone ever has any questions, I’m here for another year at least for D20 and happy to give our insight if wanted! All about fit of course, but available to chat if anyone interested.
FYI - QU is definitely not a commuter school. Many students are out of state (mostly Mass, NJ, NY, CT from what I understand. D14 was friends with someone from Alaska which was pretty interesting!). A lot of students use their cars to drive to clinicals, education, between campuses, and some students live in the houses down the street from the school or apartments around Hamden, so they drive to the campus. (I guess they would be commuters then LOL, but they are very close to campus). D14 only came home during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Very busy having fun and growing up. Got involved in a zillion things. Faculty/staff was amazing both to her and to us when we interacted. Really saw a care for the students. But that is my experience. York Hill campus houses mostly juniors and seniors and it is beautiful! Great views. The sports arena is there as well. Upperclassmen like the change off campus as they are “growing up.” There is a shuttle that goes between the campuses though.
Anyway, S19 is choosing between QU and College of Charleston. I think he will pick College of Charleston (very excited) but would be happy either way. I think D20 will like QU as well…we’ll see what happens with her.
@milgymfam and @Dancingmom518 I have a dancer too! Are they trying to continue dance in college? Mine isn’t sure yet. She’ll be spending 6 weeks this summer dancing at Governor’s School. That might make or break her decision.
I’m also in the at least two safety camp so that they have a choice and don’t feel like they’re settling - we’ve seen the exact same issue mentioned above that when you only have one “choice” it can feel like you’re settling, even if you genuinely like the school. My daughter’s list is 12ish with 2 safeties. I would like to see her narrow it down further, but it’s been hard - the good news is it was probably twice as big 6 months ago and she’s pretty much deleted all of the sub-10% schools. Her biggest issue is too many schools in that 15-25% acceptance range which really could go either way despite being above the 75% range for stats.
@Darcy123 Yeah, don’t you wish they would drill into the ‘above 75%’ number a little more? You never know how far into that top 25% your kid really is. So, assuming a large number of kids who aren’t in that top tier are going to get acceptances for various holistic reasons, that means only some of those in the top tier will be admitted. Admit rate of 15%? Crap, that could mean for your kid’s stats the admit rate is now more like 5-10%. That is no longer a match, it’s a reach.
@chb088@milgymfam mine’s a dancer too - though she quit when she was young to do soccer for years then quit soccer and went back to dance in middle school so she’s behind other peers her age, but very passionate about it. She does a ballet intensive every summer at her dance studio (3 weeks, 5 days a week). This year the level she’s at is higher so it’s going to be 5 hours each day. Not sure what she’s doing the rest of the summer yet. She wants to keep dancing in college if possible - just taking classes and maybe performing, probably not a minor.
I have a gymnast and dancer-wanna-be. She took a class last summer. I really mean A class. It was supposed to be a weekly thing, but she went through one class and everyone kicked her butt. She was too embarrassed to go back.
Now she has her sights on being a ‘flyer’ at the football and basketball games in college.
@Waiting2exhale, we didn’t stop at St. Bonaventure. DS 20 has tried to contact the coach but no response.
@cakeisgreat, I figured that we didn’t get an accurate impression, but in the spirit of the silliest reason threads, I was just dumping my first impressions. I’m glad your D14 had a great experience!
2 “safety schools” minimum, 3 is better. I’ve been shocked by how brutal this admissions season has been for so many high stats kids. Very unpredictable…
@Dave_N Love it! I remember having an interesting first impression of Haverford back in the day as well. I’ve thought about sharing it on the silly thread at some point
Mine was a trampoline gymnast until 13 then added an hour of dance, then two, then a week long intensive… and then gymnastics got too scary (level 8 was hard!) and she switched all the way to dance. It’s only been two years, so she’s definitely not had the time in training of most girls- she gives it her all though! She definitely wants to keep dancing in college, whether as a major or a minor. A school without a dance program wouldn’t even be considered.
Sorry to hear about the summer program rejections. DD20 will not hear about hers for a few more weeks. She does have a backup plan but execution of that will not take precedence over APs so I really hope the first option works out.
About safeties, yes we are on the hunt for at least 2 but our state has huge schools and very small ones (small to her) and she likes the middle so it is a bit of struggle. Anything out of state becomes closer to a match simply due to OOS tuition. We are still sifting through the haystack in search of that bright, shiny needle.
@CAtransplant ah, that’s a lot of summer dance. My D will be dancing 4 hours a day, 6 days a week for 6 weeks this summer. It’s more than she’s done any other previous summer. Wondering if she’ll be sick of it, or more passionate about it afterwards!
My girl is all in this summer- she’s doing a two week intensive of six days from 9-5, the. A one week intensive of five days from 9-5, then 16 hours week the rest of the summer, which is a break for her, but the most she could do without quitting her job.
Just catching up on this thread and have a few comments…
re: safeties - For me, a safety has >70% acceptance rate, a reach has <30%, so a match is 30-70%. Of course, then you have to factor in finances.
re: applying to only one school - Fine, as long as you can have the decision in hand before the application deadlines of other options. I would not want to still be waiting for a decision from that one school in April, with no other options on the table.
re: applying to a large # of schools - Not really as bad as it sounds, if you look for schools that require no extra supplemental essays. For example, D19 threw in an app to URI last minute, because there was no extra work involved, and ended up with an acceptance and a merit scholarship to cover OOS tuition. It was a very good option for her.
re: rejections- I prefer to call them ‘denials’. Kids shouldn’t feel rejected when they don’t get into a school. It’s not personal and doesn’t reflect on their worth. Top schools are just getting so many apps from top students, they can’t possibly take them all. D19 had a healthy attitude and did not fall in love with any school. No ‘dream school’. She waited for the acceptances and then considered what she had. After visiting the last one yesterday, she made a decision. (See my avatar!)
Northern Arizona University has rolling admissions beginning in July (I think). The application is $25 with no essays. They are a WUE school for those on the west coast.
Safeties are different for different students. For my kid, it’s a school where her SAT and GPA are above the 75% mark, and it’s in our price range as full pay.
Personally, I think using the 75% mark as a safety is risky. If a school lists stats for their honors college, I think that would be a better metric to use when evaluating a safety.
