<p>Does anyone know someone who was actually rejected by what they perceived to be a safety school?</p>
<p>Happens all of the time. Mostly because of the “perceived” part.</p>
<p>If that happens, it’s not really a safety school, then. :)</p>
<p>The other reason it can happen–besides the “perceived” part that cptofthehouse mentioned–is that the college or university perceives that it’s being used as a safety by the applicant. A number of good-but-not-quite-great colleges and universities really resent being used that way by very strong applicants.</p>
<p>When my daughter was applying to college, her safeties were our state flagship, which doesn’t care about applicants’ demonstrated interest, and a nearby private university that cares a lot. During the whole application season, we made sure to remind her, “You’ve got to keep showing [private university] the love.”</p>
<p>It’s worth knowing whether every college and university on your list–safety or not–cares about an applicant’s demonstrated interest in the school. And if they care, be sure they know you’re sincerely interested. Because, really, you should be sincerely interested. If you couldn’t be successful and happy there, then it isn’t a safety.</p>
<p>Basically, it means that the school is not really a safety. Could be for a few reasons:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>School considers “level of applicant’s interest” and the relatively-high-stats applicant did not “show enough interest”. (Of course, this can mean trying to figure out what the school thinks is “showing enough interest” – being highly interested in the school won’t help if the school which cares about it does not know.)</p></li>
<li><p>Applicant applied for a division or major that is much more selective than the school in general. (I.e. may be a safety for other divisions or majors, but not the intended one.)</p></li>
<li><p>Applicant’s essay, extracurriculars, recommendations, and/or other not-easily-quantifiable factors weakened his/her application to the point that high stats were not enough.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>How do you tell if a particular college would care about demonstrated interest? Do state flagships just care about GPA/test scores?</p>
<p>A true, rock-bottom, safety is an institution where you know you will be admitted because the institution posts the GPA/exam score/whatever that guarantees admission right on its website, and you know for a dead-certain fact that you have that GPA/exam score/whatever. Many public colleges and universities admit by formula, and have those formulas right on their websites.</p>
<p>A true, rock-bottom safety is also an institution that you know for a fact you can pay for with no aid other than federally determined (FAFSA) aid and/or guaranteed state aid and/or aid guaranteed by the institution itself based on your GPA/test scores/whatever.</p>
<p>Anything that doesn’t meet those two criteria may be reasonably safe, but it isn’t truly, absolutely safe. Where students go wrong is in assuming that “reasonably safe” is good enough.</p>
<p>Halcyon, you need to look at a document called a Common Data Set. Most colleges and universities publish one, and they’re all arranged in the same format. (That’s what’s “common” about them.) Section C of the CDS deals with applicants for freshman admission. Subsection C7 tells what things (e.g., HS GPA, standardized test scores, teacher recommendations, minority status, alumni relationship, applicant’s level if interest) are “very important,” “important,” “considered” or “not considered” in the admissions process.</p>
<p>You can usually find a school’s CDS by Googling the school name + “common data set.”</p>
<p>Sent from my DROIDX using CC</p>
<p>Many flagship Us are becoming more selective and becoming more holistic in admission. UMich looks at demonstrated interest (considered). <a href=“Office of Budget and Planning”>Office of Budget and Planning;