@homerdog I know you’re based in the mid-west and based on previous posts your D may not be interested in this school but…Butler seems like it fits the definition of safety for her and she may likely qualify for the honors program there. 5,000 students, tons of school spirit (D1, Big East), greek life.
We didn’t sign up for the ACT, but they moved our SAT site over 50 miles away. I read about the students that tested positive for Covid-19 and that emails went out the potentially 200 were exposed - oof!
I also read an interesting article about the use of “Test Optional” instead of what one college used, “Please don’t take the tests.” It made some interesting points about the word optional and what it means in this process. Is it really optional? Is it a trick word? Is advantage given to those who do submit? I have to think so and that is why we spent 856 hours trying to register for the SAT that last time lol!
Right. Optional. I think one has to look at each school and read the tea leaves a bit. D has some schools that were already TO so we are most comfortable with those. Then there are two that say they are piloting TO for three years so those are likely good too.
I didn’t foresee having to decide about TO before she sends apps. Now we need to either wait a couple of months to see if she takes a test or pick schools where we think she won’t send a test no matter what. Her one big reach is likely the one she can go ahead and send since she won’t hit the scores typically accepted from our high school but her GPA is high enough.
Re: Butler…I know it has a seriously well-regarded dance program (including classical ballet, which few schools emphasize). If she were so inclined, that could be @homerdogD’s explanation to friends as to why that particular safety school. Even though she doesn’t want to major in dance, maybe that department still could be a draw (unless those not officially in the dance department are excluded from opportunities).
@inthegarden We are super familiar with Butler. Yes, ballet is good. A few very strong dancers from her old studio are there majoring in ballet and two have graduated with jobs at ballet companies. One cannot get into those classes unless you major in ballet.
The other kids we know there (non-dance) would make it hard for her to accept being there. Back to the Miami OH issue.
We will get there on the safeties. Everyone has been so helpful!!
D21 signed up for September 19 for ACT at her HS. As of right now the school is going to be open for hybrid live and on-line learning. Hopefully that means ACT will happen. Fortunately for us she got a 34 when she took it in February so she had a good reportable score. However, she tells me she didn’t study at all so maybe with studying she could get long shot 36 and BAMA full tuition Presidential Elite scholarship.
@homerdog my D21 is fighting about BAMA saying it is not academically prestigious enough. I am sure some that is filtering the idea that her peers in HS are applying to top elite schools. She also says it is too Greek. I keep telling her that in honors college at a school as large as Alabama she will find like minded students.
Also she is anti Miami based on the fact that is in the middle of no where. Again I tell that in a school with 18K kids there will be plenty to do on campus and people to have cars if they want to go to Dayton or Cinn.
right. Like I said, safeties are hard. We can tell the kids until we are blue in the face that they will find their place anywhere but it’s hard to believe I guess. And, yep, the discussion of colleges with peers is generally not healthy. I feel like we are avoiding a bit of that because school won’t be the same this fall. So far, D21’s feedback on her list seems to be consistent with all of her friends saying Tulane is a giant party school and they don’t see her there.
@homerdog we felt like we were at a smaller version of BC when we visited Fordham’s Rose Hill campus. You would never guess that Manhattan is a 20 minute ride away and they have a dedicated shuttle into the city from Rose Hill. It was also the best info session and tour of all the schools we visited. My D21’s list is also very Jesuit leaning, although there are a few SLACs and others thrown in, too.
Got an ACT date … relieved but not super confident it will happen.
If you are checking out Fordham you can check out Marist and Sienna as safeties also. Usually students interested in Fordham also look at the other two.
Curious: Would you ever advise letting GW know that you are NOT applying to GT? S21 has high stats but he is NOT a fan of GT so he will not apply there.
He has visited GW and had plans to attend a summer week program there in their Mt. Vernon campus in July until it was canceled due to COVID.
He won’t be EDing anywhere.
We don’t want GW to think he is using them as a safety.
Are Wake Forest and Richmond no longer under consideration? It seems like they might be matches/low reaches for her as well as potential good fits.
Similar to @havenoidea , the young women we know that attend Scripps are nice, outgoing, smart girls, but not “life of the mind” types. Have your daughter look at the housing options on their site or on YouTube and she may change her mind! They are beautiful. Also probably in match/low reach territory with some merit aid available. Southwest serves the nearby Ontario airport.
As for us, we have plenty of reaches and not enough safeties!
Richmond and Wake at the top of the list for her. I just do NOT want to count any chickens. Like most of us, I’m still a little worried about TO. It’s just going to nag me until we all start seeing decisions.
I will have her look at Scripps. The all-woman thing isn’t something she wants to consider but I understand it feels different because of the consortium and I have seen photos of the dorms from a friend of mine. They are awesome!
I don’t think Scripps is any more of a “safety” than Richmond or Wake Forest. All three have very similar selectivity (28-32%) and SAT/ACT scores.
@burghdad we got the Sept 19th date too. D already has 1590 SAt but she too needs a 36 on ACT (tried to get the 1600 on SAT twice after 1590 and did not happen). Her first and only practice test was a 36 so I think if she could get a seat in a test she would have a shot.
And she is NOT the Greek type, is the academically focused type that would love to attend BAMA
Just FYI: I’ve communicated today with my local Texas high school about the August SAT. They cancelled today with College Board for the August SAT (probably because I emailed the question) and said that schools have until August 17th to cancel the August SAT. So, it sounds like just because a test is on the books doesn’t really mean anything until August 17th. The school is full or else not hosting for September too when I try to reschedule. We are out of the rat race at this point. Gratefully, we have one test score that is decent from last August that we will use. He would have loved to have one more shot at improving his score but it is time to move on and not let College Board dictate his life.
@ChillyCow good for you!
And, honestly, I doubt that students will be notified even on Aug 17th. At least for ACT, some kids were never notified and showed up to closed doors. And how many kids are going to be prepping for Aug SAT and find out one week before that there seat isn’t an option? There will be no where else to get a seat and Sept/Oct SATs are really full (at least here they are).
The ACT Saga continues. After waiting a few hours, I was able to get my S a spot an hour away from home. When we finalized the payment, he was assigned a seat in Kentucky! We are in Colorado! Fortunately I had 3 browsers going so when it was my turn an hour later, we tried changing his site and everything in the entire time zone was sold out. I took a screenshot showing confirmation that we requested Colorado and he was assigned Kentucky.
WE ARE DONE TRYING TO TEST! ALL APPS WILL BE TO!
He is going to contact the AO at his top schools and show him the screenshot. I would laugh if I didn’t feel like crying.
Omg. Somehow I forgot everyone was trying to get an ACT spot - and I had to order a score report for S21. I was in their stupid queue for an hour (I worked so it was okay), but then I had to migrate from their old platform to their new MyAct platform and it was a major pain in the rear. Alabama app is almost completed (we sent an unofficial transcript and he is requesting an official one from his counselor). I feel like I need a milkshake or something to celebrate!
I am not sure if this has ever been mentioned here - but we LOVE the site; Daytripperuniversity to use when planning visits. Now that most visits are a no-go, we found ourselves going back to this site and reading their travel/tour to get a feel for the remaining schools on my daughter’s list. Again, unsure if I can link - so google the entire name.
We used their free itineraries when we went to the New England area and California and loved the recommendations for coffee shops, restaurants and things to do around each campus. I love the restaurant recommendation for when the college student pays and the ones for when your parents are treating!
Not quite the same as visiting - but may find of value to read on some of your interested schools from this perspective.
You go to their home page and the campuses tab - and for travel to ACT site - ha - you may find a nice coffee shop to wait out your student 
Oklahoma came up for us as an available site - and we live in the West Coast. :neutral:
You may want to consider (or reconsider) what the definition of a “safety” school is to you. The definition I see most is a college that you are almost certain to get into (i.e. your GPA and test scores are well above the average), they have a high acceptance rate, it’s affordable and you would be happy to attend.
Obviously, any college that guarantees admission based on your high stats is a perfect “safety” college. A few things to think about:
- if your student is applying to an impacted major (e.g. engineering, computer science), they will need higher scores and/or GPA over the average acceptance class;
- "holistic" colleges (especially private ones) might defer or waitlist students if they feel they are being used as a "safety" and the student is an overqualified applicant. Research "Tufts Syndrome" and "yield protection". You might want to show your "safeties" lots of love and that still might not be enough?!
- Public colleges seem to care a little less about being used as a "safety". For example, everyone from D's high school the last 3 years who applied to Indiana University got an acceptance if their GPA was over a 3.6 and had at least a 30 ACT. IU also has non-binding early action and results come back very quickly which can take some of the pressure off your kid while waiting until March for other colleges' results. I would seek out some colleges like this as your "back-up".
- Laslty, I don't know if I would consider ANY college a true safety if their acceptance rate was below 50% (again unless they had guaranteed admissions based on certain meeting certain requirements). Maybe they are low matches but "safety?", I would be very careful. Every year on CC we see a few students who get shutout of every college they applied to. Make sure you have 1 or 2 "true" safeties.
Good luck, it’s an exciting ride filled was some disappointments but many, many happy moments.