Recommendations for Solid Safety Schools

College Search & Selection
1

So I have a decent sized list of schools put together that I’d like to apply to, but most of them seem to fit somewhere in the reach/match range, and I’m not sure what caliber schools I can expect to apply to as a safety school.

Right now my list is;
Yale
Columbia
Tufts
Cornell
Michigan
Rice
SUNY Binghamton (this would be my only safety as of now but I’m not sure if I could expect to apply to somewhere a little better)

Brief Summary of Application;
SAT 2330 single sitting (800CR/780M/750W)
APs Chem (4) USH (4) Lang(5) World(5), 4 more senior year
SAT 2s; Math II (800) Chem (790) USH (770) World (760)
GPA 4.0 in fairly easy school, 5/150 in my class if I had to guess

Extracurriculars; kinda generic but pretty solid, tutoring, refereeing, all-state violinist, club/varsity soccer, etc.

Common App essay is pretty good imo and has gotten good feedback from all who have read it

Only hooks are to Yale, where I have a bunch of legacy/parent is an employee.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

2

Mid-tier private universities cannot be considered safeties because if they suspect that you are using them as a safety they will deny or waitlist you.

3

@TomSrOfBoston Ehh, I’m pretty sure that should hardly ever be of concern and can mitigated by a simple visit/interview and good essays if it were.

4

What do you want to major in? If it’s engineering, then RPI, WPI, SUNY Binghamton and Lehigh, are solid. Otherwise, NYU, Lehigh, Northeastern, Boston University, Brandeis Universities and University of Rochester should be matches / safeties.

5

If you are suspicious of such, look up the school’s common data set or entry on http://www.collegedata.com to see if “level of applicant’s interest” is used in admissions.

Note that http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=83 indicates that SUNY Binghamton does consider “level of applicant’s interest”.

Older thread on showing interest here:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1626043-ways-to-show-a-high-level-of-applicants-interest.html

6

@Flurite @TomSrOfBoston is spot on. A lot of mid tier universities don’t offer interviews. It’s also late to arrange visits. D16 had similar scores and was denied/waitlisted at her mid tier universities.

@2017student7, I would recommend doubling the size of your list, signing up for the email list for all of your universities and making contact with your admissions rep. Show as much interest as possible.

Did you apply early anywhere?

7

@flurite

Uh no. Many such schools, Northeastern and BU to name two, do not offer interviews. Many high statted applicants are denied/waitlisted there each year according to the decision threads her on CC. The applicant often posts her “How could I be denied, it was my safety?” These schools are wary of yield and will not waste an acceptance on such applicants. Booking a campus tour is likely not enough for a high stat student, there needs to be more.

I see that you are a high school senior yourself. Good luck but be prepared for a few surprises.

8

@TomSrOfBoston

I’m not a high school senior… I’m in college. Look, a college isn’t going to deny you just because your better than most of the people they accept. Think about how counter intuitive that would be if they were trying to game rankings (cough Northeastern).

The point is is that you demonstrate interest. Talk to admissions officers, visit, communicate, whatever. You should be demonstrating interest for all your colleges you care about, regardless of whether they’re private or public. Is there a chance that they will waitlist/deny you because they don’t think you will attend? Sure, possibly, but it won’t be likely if you demonstrate genuine interest.

9

@Flurite If a school is a safety then there is no “genuine” interest. And adcoms can smell a faker a mile away.

10

@TomSrOfBoston

True, if we’re talking about deep safeties, then yeah your local 50%+ acceptance rate college will do great. If we’re talking about “solid safeties,” I don’t see why private schools can’t be an option.

I guess the advice should be to not sound like a fake. That’s why I said “genuine interest.” Anyways, simply being ABLE to sound genuine (regardless of how you actually feel) about what you’re saying might be one of the most useful qualities an individual can ever have in the professional world.

11

I disagree that if a school is a safety then there is no genuine interest.

Safeties should be schools that you actually would like to attend, but they accept lower stats. This is your challenge: find schools like that.

Absolutely stay away from schools known for gaming the rankings. They include (among others) Northeastern, GW, Vanderbilt, U of Chicago. Please chime in if you know of others.

Muhlenberg is a great school, for example. It’s a nice school and would accept you prob with merit. It’s much smaller than the other schools on your list, though. Maybe that’s okay?

I would put on your list BU and NYU.

Syracuse

Look in the Penn area further west, like Lafayette, Bucknell, Lehigh

I have friends who love Penn State and it has great research there.

12

@flurite A safety is a safety, not a match.

13

@TomSrOfBoston Yes, and schools like NEU and BU are going to be pretty easy to get into for this individual.

14

Hope this doesn’t sound harsh, but I think you need some solid matches too. You have high stats, but most of the schools on your list (other than Mich and Binghamton) fall into the “reach for everyone” category.

Matches: Emory, Northeastern, BC, Wake Forest, Lehigh, UVA, UNC, BU, NYU, Brandeis, William and Mary, Rochester

Safeties: GW, Case Western, Fordham, American

15

^ Totally disagree on the safeties listed above. For American Level of Interest is Very Important. And Case Western is not a typical safety.

Some options:
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/

16

Safety means 99% probability of being accepted AND it is affordable.