<p>A safety school is a school that you are CERTAIN that you’ll get accepted to and will be affordable because you can either pay for it yourself, or you know (for sure) that you will get grants/scholarships/small loans to pay for it…</p>
<p>Wash U, JHU, Tufts, etc, are not such schools. </p>
<p>Frequently, a safety (hopefully a financial safety) is not in the top 50 schools.</p>
<p>So, to find safeties…consider your child’s likely major (keeping in mind that students do change their minds about their majors) and your financial situation. Most safeties do not meet need, but can be just as expensive as top schools. So the great aid that you might get at an ivy, you probably won’t get at a safety school. So, if money is an issue, consider cost and/or likely merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Absolutely true. PMKjr had to be in the top 10% to get into UT Austin and next year they are projecting the students will have to be in the top 8%. </p>
<p>Emeraldkitty put it perfectly,
</p>
<p>This student has their reach schools picked out. They need matches and safeties. I prefer for students to start the process with picking out their safety first because it really forces them to look at what they need verses what they want. That is now the task at hand.</p>
<p>Forget the rankings, forget the names of the colleges and have the student make a bare bones list of what they need. That should include areas of interest and financial realities. Now add on things like geography, size of campus and so on with the student deciding how important each of those qualities are in their search. </p>
<p>My son applied to eight colleges colleges that ranked (according to US News and World Report) from the top five to, at the time, 105 on the list. His list probably looked at little strange to people who didn’t know him but all of the schools fit his needs and quite a few of his wants as well.</p>
<p>Our safety was Bard. Not only was it appealing to both kids, it is need blind and meets 100% of need. That made it a good Financial safety as well as academic.</p>
<p>Neither attended but each would have been pleased to.</p>
<p>Top students at our suburban high school who are aiming for Ivies or other top schools including some mentioned on this list as “matches” almost without exception ALSO apply to Penn State and UPitt as soon as school starts and complete the Schreyer application. (Schreyer is ALSO getting unpredictable for high stat students, while UPitt generally goes by the numbers for admissions and merit scholarships.) It would be difficult to find a student who could not end up liking one or the other of these, and some each year end up going even after being admitted to a higher-ranked school.</p>
<p>I would agree with what most have already stated: schools like WashU, Tufts, Vanderbilt, NU, etc. are not safeties for any student regardless of their stats. Our D was rejected at HYS, WL at Princeton, Dartmouth, Cornell, Penn, Brown, Vanderbilt, Tufts, & WashU. The good news is she had some great acceptances (Northwestern, UVa, UNC, BC Honors, Wake, Pepperdine/$, and Trinity/$). She cast a really wide net which many people advise against; however, she had researched each thoroughly and would have been happy to have gone to any of them; for her, applying to numerous schools worked. April 1 rolls around and some kids are jumping for joy. Others, with equally impressive resumes, are crying tears of disappointment. You simply never know. If you don’t have a realistic list of reach/match/safeties, it could be devastating come decision day. Also, for us, money didn’t seem to factor into the results as some have suggested. We didn’t qualify for FA, and she was full pay; again, you just never know! Good luck!</p>
<p>Several years ago when my daughter was applying I was concerned about her decision to apply to so many schools where the acceptance rate was so low. Although on paper her qualifications were excellent, she had attended a high school which was unknown to the top level schools. My suggestion was that she apply to some of the leading women’s colleges as they accepted a larger percentage of applicants. Turns out that this was a life saver as she was waitlisted/rejected at ALL the top level coed schools, but was accepted at Wellesley! We were all thrilled. She had a wonderful 4 years there, received a Fulbright fellowship and taught in Asia the year following graduation, was then accepted at the top ranked school in her field for grad school.</p>
<p>The women’s colleges are truly treasures. They offer outstanding education, wonderful facilities, great professors, high level teaching all at a reasonable selectivity rate.</p>
<p>jc40 – All applying to the list of schools on your post #25 – and there appear to be tons of them on CC — should read that list and the results. Along with your D’s key stats, if you’re willing to provide them. In your D’s case, it’s good that she applied widely, is happy with the acceptances, and wherever she will be attending. </p>
<p>The best safety – aside from being a school you can afford, one your child will willingly attend, one that your child is in the top 75% of applicants based on SAT/GPA AND accepts over 50% of applicants — is one that is rolling or EA. </p>
<p>It’s very reassuring for the high flyers to get an early admit. </p>
<p>However, if your school has Naviance, it can also be used to help determine a safety school. (Really good GC’s can serve the same role, if your school keeps a good history of acceptances and rejections.) Michigan is a safety for a lot of the high stat kids from our school. Michigan has never, in the recent past, rejected a 1400+, 4.0+ weighted GPA (out of 5.0 weighted) from our school. Michigan would not be considered a safety for most kids…but…based on our school’s history, it is for the high performers.</p>
<p>I was about to say what cptofthehouse said…my high school class of 2004 was quite surprised when a few of our middle-of-the-road Magnet students (not the very best in the school, but still above-average) were rejected from University of Georgia, especially those who waited until second semester to apply (it was rolling back then, not sure if it still is). From what I’ve heard it’s only gotten more competitive since I graduated from high shool 6 years ago. It used to be a sure bet for your above-average Georgia high school student, especially with the HOPE scholarship.</p>
<p>But with the school becoming more selective (they reject almost half their applicants) AND the rules on HOPE changing (it used to be if you screwed up, you were on probation, giving you the chance to get it back…now if you screw up after 30 credits, there is no probation, you have to pay for it the next year and try to get a 3.0 for your 60-credit check) it’s only a safety for the Ivy-bound really.</p>
<p>I have to 100% agree with retiredteach35 and cptofthehouse as far as women’s colleges go. My top two choices were actually both safety schools for me, and both women’s colleges - Spelman College and Agnes Scott. I got generous scholarships at both schools - but more generous at Spelman, so I ultimately went there. I would’ve been very pleased to go to either college, and I had a fantastic time at Spelman and got into a top graduate program in my field straight out of the box. Agnes Scott in particular is known for giving fantastic financial aid, and it has a beautiful campus and a great new science building as well as a good library, so I came here specifically to recommend it as a safety school that can be affordable for parents. (Spelman is not known for giving great financial aid.)</p>
<p>The University of Rochester was my kid’s safety, and that of a few other high-stat kids I know. Excellent school with broad strengths. (In fact, when I started reading more about the “typical” accepted student it didn’t really seem all that safe!) As it turned out, it was not a <em>financial</em> safety for him, but thankfully it wasn’t his only choice.</p>
<p>It is a popular choice among kids who are looking for an excellent school in the mid-sized range of around 4000-5000 undergraduates.</p>
<p>I agree with MomofWildChild - your state university may be a safety (not Virginia, UT, Cal or UCLA), but Wash U., Tufts, U. Chicago, etc are not safeties.</p>
<p>Oh goodness, I agree, I would not consider Chicago, Wash U and that ilk a safety. OP you need to build a list form the bottom up. A couple safeties - colleges you can afford or merit is assured and the stats are in the upper quarter. Then the Wash Us and Chicagos of the world and the Ivies.</p>
<p>Keilexandra, a student poster headed off to Swarthmore this fall, did a marvelous summary post on exactly this subject. I think it’s also excellent reading for students who don’t have the stats to look at tippy-top schools but who would like to find somewhere that offers similar aspects.</p>
<p>*There is a certain arrogance about thinking of WashU, JHU, Tufts, Vandy, etc as safety schools that I find very off-putting. *</p>
<p>I think the problem is that some top students who think they should be at ivies, then think that their “safeties” are schools that are just a few rankings below. </p>
<p>Part of that thinking is because they can’t even bring themselves to envision themselves at someplace “lower” - hence the desire to call “lesser” top schools their “safeties.” Often this thinking is accompanied with the statements of how hard they worked in high school and therefore they deserve to attend these schools.</p>
<p>When you have this kind of thinking, it can be very hard to come up with safeties because image and prestige get in the way.</p>
<p>" I do not consider Wash U, JHU, or Tufts to be safeties for ANYBODY."</p>
<p>I agree. Duke, Northwestern, U Chicago aren’t safeties either. I also doubt that Rice would be anyone’s safety.</p>
<p>Some of the above schools are harder to get into than are some Ivies.</p>
<p>I also agree with whomever suggested that flagship state you and tier 2 colleges that might offer excellent merit aid often are used as safeties by Ivy wannabees.</p>
<p>Make sure your kid is applying to some schools that they know they would enjoy, will be accepted to, and can afford.</p>