Does anyone have any safety school suggestions for me? I got a 2350 on the SAT. I’m from Mass, so the state flagship would be UMass Amherst, but I don’t want to go there. At my school, pretty much everybody with an SAT score above 2100 gets into University of Maryland, College Park, so could that be considered a safety?
Also, matches: I know which reach schools I want to apply to, but what are some schools where I’d have a reasonable chance of getting in?
If you can afford UMD it might be a safety. Go to the Financial Aid forum and look at the pinned threads. I know Alabama will give you a good scholarship if your grades are comparable to your scores.
1 Like
Assuming your gpa is 3.7 UW or higher…
Matches:
Boston University
Case Western University
Grinnell College
Miami University
NYU
Northeastern University
Tulane University
University of Rochester
Wake Forest
Safeties:
American University
Fordham University
George Washington University
Loyola Marymount University
Ohio State University
Penn State University
Santa Clara University
SUNY Binghamton
SUNY Stony Brook
Why don’t you want to go to UMass - Amherst?
Re: #2, American University as a “safety”
Be aware that “level of applicant’s interest” is very important at American University. “Overqualified” applicants should show the school that it is a high choice, not a low choice “safety”.
Given your stats, matches and reaches converge and become one category. Why? Simply because while you qualify for every school in the top 20 in both universities and liberal arts colleges the acceptance rates are low enough for you to get rejected by quite a few. So you need to ensure that you apply to enough so that statistically you get into a few.
You need two safety groups, Maryland would be one, UVM another and in a crazy way University of Rochester, Boston College and Holy Cross are practically safeties for you.
With safeties, you run the risk of not getting in ones that are too easy because it will be obvious you will never go.
How about Pitt? You can apply in August and have an answer by October. Significant merit likely if you are top 5% of your class due to that great SAT score and you should be honors eligible there, as well. The application is quite simple.
So what are your top choices for reach? Or more importantly, what are the characteristics of those school? Size? Location? Major? Culture? Weather? It’s hard to offer matches and safeties when we have no idea what your selection criteria are.
@NSmom first of all, I’m a sophomore so I haven’t taken any APs yet and I’ve only taken one subject test. As of now, my favorite reaches are Yale, Columbia and Williams. This may seem arbitrary, but I like Columbia’s location, having practically grown up in NYC, as well as Williams’ gorgeous, more insular campus. Yale also has the beautiful New England campus that I like. I’m not too sure what I want to major in right now, so both large research universities and small LACs are on the table right now. I think I could be happy at both. There’s only one thing: I want to go to a school with a welcoming, more relaxed environment, since I’m shy and get stressed out easily.
bump
since you are only a sophomore, try to relax about college, stay focused on doing a great job in HS, and come back to us the middle of your Jr year with more info about your GPA, Classes, interests etc.
You will have lots of options !
I don’t think anyone “wants” to go to their safeties 
If you are a sophomore with a 2350 SAT score, pay attention and take the PSAT when you are a junior - I think this fall? - with that SAT score, you definitely have the potential to make National Merit Semifinalist by taking the PSAT. If your grades are good (As and Bs mostly), and you get the application for Finalist in on time (they’ll make that available to you once you get Semifinalist) finding safeties will become easier, as there are some good schools out there that love getting NMFs and offer huge merit scholarships for them. Now, not talking Harvard here, but places like University of Oklahoma, UAlabama, and lots more like that. Good luck!
@albert69 doesn’t USC (in California, not South Carolina) give huge merit for NMF, too?
@Qwerty568 USC gives half tuition. Whether that is “huge” or not depends on your definition. 
@albert69 Oh, I thought it was full tuition…so no, not “huge”, but still pretty nice.
^Listen to what Albert said regarding PSAT and NMF universities. Ergo, you have your safeties. Note that you have to like your safeties, so review the different universities and their offerings.
Now, you need actual matches and a few other safeties. For those DO NOT look at SAT scores or GPA. Look at your “reach” schools (and even with your stats, any school with a a 20% admit rate should be considered a reach; most top 25 universities and LACs will be “reaches” regardless of stats just because it’s too much of a crapshoot) and determine what you like about them.
For example, you said “gorgeous campus”, “location” (either urban or insular). Now, you’re going to select research universities, national LACs, and even regional universities, that match these characteristics. If you like Boston College,
Look at LACs in the Midwest, South, and Pacific Northwest; look at “most beautiful campus” lists and cross reference with colleges that are NOT in the top 25 (go up to 60 or so); look at lists of urban and rural LACs; look at flagships’ honors colleges (UMD CP, Pitt, UGA…) - spend time on this website and/or buy the book
http://publicuniversityhonors.com/
There’ll be some cross oversfrom several lists, which would be your stronger candidates, and other choices you hadn’t thought of. Keep them all.
As a sophomore, your list could have as many as 100 schools on it, it doesn’t matter - just “collect” schools you’re interested in. You’ll have plenty of time to cull it later on.
If you like Columbia because urban + core, include Fordham. If you like Williams for “insularity”, what about Grinnell or Sewanee? For a Williams-lite feel, what about Kenyon, Denison, Muhlenberg, Ohio Wesleyan? Other examples: If you like Boston College, what about Elon, UDayton, and LMU-LA?If you want an easier Middlebury for study abroad, what about Dickinson, St Olaf, and Goucher? If you want an urban LAC, what about Macalester or Rhodes?
Fill out the “request information” on all these schools’ website. Start clicking on the ones that sound interesting (therefore establishing a long “interest” track).
Then pick several LACs, several public Us with merit scholarships, several private research Us. Run the Net Price Calculator, and bring the results to your parents, to start a discussion about costs. Don’t assume anything. Having that discussion sophomore year or early junior year actually saves you a lot of time when looking at colleges, since you know whether you need to target colleges with merit or colleges that meet need, or a combination of both.
@MYOS1634 thanks for the detailed advice!
Don’t select any safeties you would not be happy to end up with.
If you haven’t already, visit some of the schools and get a feel for them. I think you will find that school reputation does not equal fit for you. See how flexible the academics are because most students change their interest area at least once. Clues might be little things, like the grim or happy faces of the students , frisbee on the grass , trashed / neat fraternities or the town/area surrounding the school. Ask people you know how they like their environment and what they do. Then try to match the school characteristics with the things that are important to you and shorten your list. Remember that you will be living 4 of your most formative years there.
The worst reason to go is ‘because my friends went there’.