Safeties?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm a junior right now and the college process is, as I'm sure most of you know, quite complicated.</p>

<p>As I search for a list of schools to apply to, I, by the urging of my parents, have to think of a list of at least 3 safety schools to have to compensate for my current list which is at the higher end of the scale (as far as my grades go).</p>

<p>So, if you guys could help me out and come up with a couple of safeties off the top of your head, that would really be helping me out....</p>

<p>So, for me to help you out in helping me out, here are my stats....</p>

<p>GPA: 96.5 UW / 98.7 W
SAT I: 2140 (770M, 650CR, 720W(11 essay))
ACT: 30 on a practice w/out studying so I'll say 31 or 32
ECs: German Honor Society, Miracle Club, FBLA president, soon-to-be NHS
service: lots, 400+ hours...lots of things
essays and recs: since I haven't done them yet, assume they'll be solid</p>

<p>Current list:
Targets:
Georgetown EA
UVA
UNC
Northwestern
Vanderbilt
Villanova
Boston College</p>

<p>Reaches:
UPenn
Cornell
Dartmouth</p>

<p>Safeties:
Maryland
?????</p>

<p>I'd be open to anything preferably on the east coast with good programs in either business or engineering. If you have any non-safety critiques on my list I'd love to hear those too</p>

<p>Thanks a lot</p>

2

<p>Safeties cannot be determined unless you know your cost constraints and financial aid situation. Talk to your parents about what they are able and willing to contribute, and to get the financial information to put into colleges’ net price calculators to get financial aid estimates. Your state of residency will affect how much public universities will cost you.</p>

<p>A safety must be affordable for sure.</p>

<p>UNC-CH, Boston College, and Georgetown do not have engineering, and Dartmouth is not a particularly good school for engineering (ABET-accredited engineering majors are nominally more than four year degree programs there).</p>

<p>Dartmouth and Vanderbilt do not appear to have undergraduate business major degree programs.</p>

3

<p>Yeah I know. I’ve been split between the two majors but I decided I’d be fine with either, even if the counterpart wasn’t even offered.</p>

<p>As far as the financial situation goes, I will be applying for aid. I’m unfamiliar with aid calculators and appreciate the insight. I live in NY btw if that helps.</p>

<p>If anyone else has any recommendations, that would be great</p>

4

<p>YOur target schools are more of reaches. i am not saying you are academically unqualified but those schools hand out rejections letters right and left even to the students with the highest GPA and SAT scores. FOr your safeties list it is really up to you should should look at schools and determine if they are the right fit for you. BUt i would look at trinity college in connecticut, NYU (maybe, BU, or PENN STATE</p>

5

<p>Yeah I know that my targets are pretty high but, being a junior whose only slightly past the halfway point, I know I can only go up from here (especially my gpa which has actually raised my overall average this year as my average is about a 99.5). Also, ill be taking a summer program at Georgetown, intend to get involved in a local business of a family friend (or a former coach if it doesn’t work out), and intend to be taking business courses at a nearby college next year on top of my senior work-load. </p>

<p>With that in mind, I know I will likely get wait listed or rejected from at LEAST two or three of my targets and likely the same result for my reaches. I just want a solid couple of safeties if luck isn’t on my side. As at as your recommendations, I like penn state even if it is a little bit big because if its business program but nyu is a little close to home for my since I live on Long Island. So, I’d prefer to be at least upstate if not further but within an 8 hour drive (which is why I mentioned the east coast). Penn state is definitely a good option though and I appreciate you mentioning it.</p>

<p>Anyone else?</p>

6

<p>NYU is a bad recommendation for someone who will need aid. UVA and UNC have the advantage of meeting need, even for OOS students. Maryland does not. You should be considering a SUNY for a safety.</p>

7

<p>Since you’ll be applying for aid, you need to understand that safety schools rarely give good need-based aid. </p>

<p>For a school to be a safety, you have to know FOR SURE that it’s affordable…otherwise, it’s not a safety. It’s no good to have acceptances from safeties if they’d expect your parents to pay more than they can pay. Right?</p>

<p>BUT…some safety schools give large merit scholarships for stats, so you need to include a couple of schools that you know FOR SURE will give you large merit for your stats so that you know that your parents can pay the remaining costs.</p>

<p>How much will your parents pay each year? If you don’t know, ask them. You need this info to determine safeties. </p>

<p>For instance, if your parents will pay about $12k-15k per year, then you would need to apply to schools that would give you an assured full tuition scholarship so that your parents’ contribution can pay for room, board, fees, books, misc. </p>

<p>So, once you tell us how much your family will pay, we can help you with safeties.</p>

<p>AND, what is your major and career goal?</p>

<p>Safeties:
Maryland
???</p>

<p>Maryland isn’t a safety at this point because we don’t know if it would be affordable. It’s an OOS public. It may only give you a $5500 loan and expect your parents to pay the rest…which may be more than your parents are willing to pay.</p>

8

<p>On each college’s web site, you can search for a net price calculator. Use it to get a net price after financial aid estimate for each college. (Do not ignore SUNYs and CUNYs in your search.)</p>

<p>Here are some more possible safeties:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-14.html#post15330528[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-14.html#post15330528&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I don’t know why NYU, BU, and Penn State are being mentioned. NYU and BU are known for poor financial aid, and Penn State gives poor financial aid even to in-state students.</p>

9

<p>Some ideas could be: SUNY Binghamton SUNY Buffalo, SUNY New Paltz, (SUNY schools are particularly helpful if you need a financial safety), NYU, Fordham, GW, American, BU, Tulane. I beleive you would be a great candidate for merit aid at some of these schools (ex. Fordham, Tulane). Also, some of these schools are EA (I know Fordham and Tulane are) or rolling (SUNY Binghamton) which is helpful for a safety school because you know if you get in by December but you are not committed to attend.</p>

10

<p>Agree with the look at finances first</p>

<p>take a look at Drexel. They do give merit for your stats (I’d guess around $20k/yr), but that may not be enough financially depending on your situation. </p>

<p>I’d also look at rolling admission schools like Pitt and Bama (I know not East Coast) who give great merit for your stats. If you apply in August, you should have acceptances in hand by late Sept. Takes plenty of pressure off the process.</p>

<p>I was surprised by results for Maryland this year for those kids in our area – either Maryland is getting tougher to get in or are more need aware then years past IMHO. I am only seeing a very small sample of kids, but I would not classify it a safety for OOS with need.</p>

<p>Villanova is an expense option which provides little in aid - they tend to gap between what the family EFC is and the aid offer.</p>

<p>UPenn may not be a good choice for someone undecided between Business and Engineering since it is difficult to change between the colleges at Penn.</p>

<p>In our family, we “let” our son apply to a few academic match schools that seemed unaffordable to us as long us he was aware we won’t discuss them if he didn’t get the targeted offer. This deal was made if he applied to “X” amount of schools which were financial safeties for us. The gamble paid off for him - at least 1 of the match schools so far offered a doable package. I just caution you to either LOVE thy Safety (which has to be academic and financial) or compose the academic match list of more schools that offer up to full tuition merit.</p>

11

<p>Safeties could include Northeastern University, Boston U., UConn</p>

12

<p>Depending upon your major, Alfred University (NY) could be a great financial safety.
With your stats you would be eligible for the Presidential Scholarship.</p>

<p>The COA at School of Business would be around $39,442.
With merit aid of $15,000/year net cost would be $24,442 or lower if you are eligible for need based aid.</p>

<p>For mechanical and undecided engineering, COA would be $34,142.
With merit aid of $11,500/year net cost would be $22,642 or lower if you are eligible for need based aid.</p>

<p>For the NYS engineering majors of Biomaterials Engineering, Ceramic Engineering, Glass Engineering, and Materials Science & Engineering, the COA for NY resident would be $27,986. With the Presidential Scholarship of $9,000/year the net cost would be $18,986 or lower if you are eligible for need based aid.</p>

<p>Alfred University was established in 1836 as a co-ed university. There are 2300 undergrads in
Liberal Arts, Art & Design, Engineering and Business. Small classes-know your professors, Division III athletics, merit aid, need based aid, housing for all 4 years, no Greek life, all students may own cars, many clubs & organizations, set in the small charming village of Alfred, NY. </p>

<p>Princeton Review’s Best 377
Fiske Guide 2013
Princeton Review’s Best Northeastern Colleges
Princeton Review’s Best Business Colleges
USNWR"s Best Value
Fiske Guide 2013 Best Buy
USNWR’s Great School Great Price
Fiske Small Schools Strong in Engineering
Fiske Small Schools Strong in Art and Design
Washington Monthly’s Best Master’s Degree Institutions</p>

<p>[Alfred</a> University : Financial Aid : Undergraduate Freshmen Scholarships](<a href=“http://WWW.Alfred.edu/finaid/scholarships/]Alfred”>http://WWW.Alfred.edu/finaid/scholarships/)</p>

13

<p>Informative’s safeties are not safeties since we don’t know if they’re affordable.</p>

<p>being a junior whose only slightly past the halfway point, I know I can only go up from here (especially my gpa which has actually raised my overall average this year as my average is about a 99.5).</p>

<p>uh, no. You’ll be applying in the fall with your grades from 9-11 - your first semester senior grades won’t be available til next Jan and won’t change your GPA much since it’s only one semester… Your GPA is pretty much set for now. </p>

<p>How much will your parents pay each year? You need to ask them. Saying that you’ll be applying for FA is meaningless. Safeties give poor need-based aid…AND…we have no idea if you’d even qualify for the aid that you need. And, we don’t know if your parents will pay what they’re expected to pay. </p>

<p>Talk to your parents can come back with their answer. Good luck.</p>