Please help with safeties

<p>My guidance counselor told me last week that my "safe" schools aren't really so safe and i need to find a safer school. Times running out and I realy want to find a good safe school. I scored a 2150 on the sat 710 cr 690 m and 750 w. i have a 720 on both bio and chem sat2s. I have a solid amount of ec concerned with community service and won first place in the long island good deed awards. My gpa is 97.7 weighted out of 100 and unweighted its a 4.0 but i dont know it out of 100. I originally had U of Michigan and Boston College as my two safe schools but apparently theyre not that safe. I really need some safe schools so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know asap. I also live in ny but i'm not worried about location anywhere from cali to new jersey is fine. Please give me some advice!!</p>

<p>Your stats are good, and you'll likely get into one of the more competitive universities.</p>

<p>As a safety, I would apply to one of your local, public state colleges in New York or New Jersey. Perhaps Rutgers?</p>

<p>Lehigh, Tulane, Wisconsin, Wake Forest, Bucknell, Lafayette, Rochester, Syracuse, George Washington, Miami (Ohio), Miami (FLA), Fordham, Southern Methodist U.</p>

<p>It seems you are applying to competitive "safeties" that are the reach colleges for many students.</p>

<p>In that case, I think that you can do well in University of (your state here) as a good safety.</p>

<p>Are you National Merit?</p>

<p>You could choose from some of the schools that offer a lot to NMF kids. Safe, cheap, etc.</p>

<p>UF and UT offer instate tuition and along with some other money for NMF kids. (guessing that sports are a big deal for you based on the safeties)</p>

<p>Bama, OU, and Auburn are near free.</p>

<p>I would consider Holy Cross. Holy Cross is like a small Georgetown but easier to get into. In fact it was founded by the Georgetown Jesuits. It is the only Jesuit school in the country that is strictly undergraduate which means professors are all PhDs with no grad students teaching. There was an article recently in the Boston Globe about Harvard students complaining about having little to no access to professors and only being able to interact with the graduate assistants. With small class sizes and no grad students at HC, you have lots of access to your professors. HC is less than a hour from Boston, Providence, and Hartford.</p>

<p>I'm not national merit but i really appreciate all the help. I'll do some research and choose a safety. If anyone else has anymore suggestions please let me know.</p>

<p>Drew would be a safety for you and they have merit aid for top students.</p>

<p>All NY state schools would be great for you, not only as safeties but as places you'd actually go. Binghamton, for example, is top notch.</p>

<p>Judging by the schools you offered, I would offer Brandeis, U Wisc Madison, and NYU. You haven't said anything about money or what you are looking for. Your schools are unis, and BC has a conservative bent. I don't know if that's what you're looking for. Oh, BU is a possibility also.</p>

<p>With stats similar to yours my kids had Bard as their safety. Worked for them, though both got into their first choice schools and didn't attend.</p>

<p>Wisconsin is pretty much the same as UM(sports, college town, midwest, etc.) without quite as much prestige, seems like a logical safety.</p>

<p>Boston College should be no one's safety as far as I'm concerned- safety entails excellent financial aid along with a guaranteed package, and BC is well known for screwing people over financially. I'm sure there will be someone who wants to argue that they received excellent money to go there, but my family and friends have all had some sort of a foot in the door of BC and money has always been an issue. That's probably why my family ended up generationally invested in Holy Cross (except for me, ha). I may be biased, but BC's financial aid record isn't. It is fine, nay, excellent for a target or reach school. But I find it an unreasonable safety.</p>

<p>Since you're a New Yorker (like me!) I'd say Bard or Marist would be good safety schools for you. Since you applied to BC I assume you have no issue with a school that has Catholic roots, so Marist should be no problem and I can guarantee you'll get in. Bard is also a fairly safe school and still offers an excellent education. </p>

<p>I also recommend looking at some of the higher SUNY schools, although Geneseo and Binghamton are getting rapidly more competitive. Still, I don't think you'll have a problem getting into your target schools given your stats, so don't freak out about safety schools. Just pick one or two that you can see yourself happy at and well-paid for, and you'll be just fine.</p>

<p>HeyThereKate - that only applies if you are in that middle range of needing some FA help. If you aren't applying for any, or need litte, that doesn't effect it, and if you are flat broke, you will end up with things covered.</p>

<p>It isn't a good safety for many, but not 'no one'. It is becoming selective enough, that fewer and fewer can actually call it a safety from the admissions perspective though.</p>

<p>Safety =/= FA, unless you're specifically looking for good FA. </p>

<p>Best bets would be SUNYs...</p>