<p>already accepted at WPI</p>
<p>UCI and UCSD</p>
<p>back to the Caltech thing....</p>
<p>Ahhh... I see!</p>
<p>UGA, Tulane</p>
<p>UCSD is my safety.</p>
<p>If you're OOS for UCs, you most likely can't consider them a safety (at least the top ones).</p>
<p>Caltech isn't a safety for anyone, but it can be a backup if you're already accepted. (Safety =/= backup -- a "safety" is a way of gauging your chances.)</p>
<p>UCB, UCLA (I'm in-state and my school sends way too many people to those schools)</p>
<p>Manhattanville College :D</p>
<p>
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UCB, UCLA (I'm in-state and my school sends way too many people to those schools)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This has been discussed many times before; though your school sends many to a given school, that certainly doesn't make it a safety for you. Berkeley's acceptance rate has dropped to the low 20s, and it's ranked in the top 15 most selective schools in the nation, and also the #1 most selective public school. It is a safety for no one. Much of the same can be said of UCLA.</p>
<p>Umass Amherst?</p>
<p>@kyledavid80 (#26)
Ohh, nice clarification.</p>
<p>@kyledavid80: sure UCB has a 23.1% admit rate, but you have to account for ELC admit rates as well. A lot of in-state applicants to Stanford here on CC qualify for ELC, which brings their chances up to 57.9% (ELC admit rate for Fall 2007). Those are good - not perfect - but pretty good chances.</p>
<p>USC, UCI (10 char)</p>
<p>People may just be confusing safeties with matches.</p>
<p>
[quote]
sure UCB has a 23.1% admit rate, but you have to account for ELC admit rates as well. A lot of in-state applicants to Stanford here on CC qualify for ELC, which brings their chances up to 57.9% (ELC admit rate for Fall 2007).
[/quote]
</p>
<p>For one, Berkeley adcoms have stated that ELC status is not considered for admission. For another, The ELC figure, while far from assuring, still doesn't say much, because it doesn't say how many applied, but more importantly, it doesn't say how qualified they were.</p>
<p>Lastly, one can't gauge one's chances based on acceptance rates, because that would mean that college admissions are random events (basic statistics). They are not. So a 57% acceptance rate can't really indicate much.</p>
<p>Now, if that figure were overwhelmingly high, such as 98% (as it is for many of the other UCs), I think we would be safe to assume that ELC is more or less a guarantee. But when that figure drops to roughly half, I don't think it's so easy to draw conclusions, any more than it would be to draw conclusions on UChicago's selectivity given its acceptance rate of 40%.</p>
<p>Just throwing that out there. =)</p>
<p>
[quote]
People may just be confusing safeties with matches.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I'm thinking that too. A safety is a school where you have a 90+% chance at. I really wouldn't place my bets on a school that accepts nearing 1 in 5, even if I have an excellent resume and my school has a great track record. That's just not safe enough, which is the whole point of a safety -- to give you security.</p>
<p>Is USC a plausible safety?</p>
<p>It used to be, but isn't today unless you have a hook. Legacy is the biggest one for USC (I think about 1/5 of those accepted are legacies); it gives you a real advantage.</p>
<p>New College of Florida, although since I'm oos it may be more of a low match.</p>
<p>USC is a fantastic school; it's my top choice outside of the Ivies (including Stanford as an "Ivy")</p>
<p>There have been a lot of Ivy League calibre students attending and applying to USC. It's quite competitive. Yes, 18% or so are SCions.</p>
<p>From Wikipedia, it's 21%.</p>
<p>University</a> of Southern California - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>
<p>Not that a couple percent really matters. =p</p>