<p>If a school has an sat range of 540-650 math and 570-670 verbal, 20% in top 10% of high school class and the acceptance rate is 68% would that be a safety or match for a student that has 550 math 580 verbal & is in top 10% of the class. This student would be the typical student at the college- white, middle class female- no hooks.</p>
<p>I'd say it's a match. I think to consider school a safety, it has to be a school with >50% admission rate, and you should be above their 75 percentile in stats...</p>
<p>IMHO, it would be a match. Any other opinions?</p>
<p>a match. what's her GPA? also, any EC's that make her stand out? that could turn a match into a safety.</p>
<p>Rule of thumb: it's NEVER a safety to be in the mid-50% range.</p>
<p>I thought with an acceptance rate of 68% most of those rejected would be below the 25-75% range</p>
<p>That's unknown. It could be impacted by an unbalanced male/female ratio among applicants, the need to fill spots on lots of sports teams (or an orchestra or whatever), a commitment to low-income or URM students which cannot be met through acceptance of students in the upper ranges, the need for geographic diversity, etc.</p>
<p>In other words, it could be true, it might be true, on the face of it one would think it would be true, but it might not be.</p>
<p>Match.</p>
<p>Tom, you also need to keep in mind that the reported 68% acceptance rate is last year's data (maybe even the year before last, depending on which source you're using).</p>
<p>Further, some of those rejected are going to be in the top 25% -- but have bad grades or other marks against them.</p>
<p>I definitely do not see this school as a safety. The other unknown is the quality of your high school. I think it will be looked at. They will get an idea by reading your high school's profile.</p>
<p>Given the information given, I think it is wisest to consider this school a match, not a safety. If the SAT scores were at the upper end of the 50% range or there were some terrific extra credits (like sports), it might be more of a safety.</p>
<p>Mystified- her unwaited GPA (only in academic courses) is 3.75- for females at the college the high school average is 3.22 for the class of 2009
northeastmom- the high school is a large suburban school- last year sent 7 kids to ivys out a class of 630
At what point does the admit rate make a school a safety -f the student is in the range in all other categories?</p>
<p>Tom, the admit rate is never 100%, and especially not (in my opinion) if all or most of the performance scores are "in the mid-50% range." To me, for a school to be a "safety" the critical scores (test, GPA) must be in the top 25%, but that's only a necessary condition, not a * sufficient* condition.</p>
<p>Obviously, the "average" admit rate can be taken into account, but there's no a priori level at which you can say someone with scores and grades in the mid-50% makes admission a "safety." (And of course in highly selective schools all students may well be "reaches" even if their scores are in the top-25%.)</p>
<p>for example
my daughters 2nd choice school has an admit rate of 95%
her courses in high school were more rigourous than their required program ( they required 2 years language- she had 5- required 2 years of science- she had 4 including 3 of lab)
their avg gpa was 3.1- hers was 3.3- iffy but she was at a prep school with little grade inflation
Her top SAT score was also at least 50 pts higher than their current top SAT score so it probably was even more than that at the time.
THis was a safety- by that her scores were higher than their top and by admit rate.
( you may want to check your daughters school profile- 7 kids to an Ivy doesn't sound very high out of a class of 630- how many AP classes do kids usually take?)</p>
<p>Safety example- school has 70% admission rate, median GPA 3,3 ACT 24.
Your child is 10% of her class, ACT 29-30, GPA 3,7. She/ he is only one person from your h. school applying to this college and college is more than 300 miles away from your home. She took rigorus workload, 4 years of math, science, foreign language , 4 AP classes, essay is deep from her soul, EC's not outstanding but there is one or two she is passionate about and achieved some substantial success.
Remember - for many small colleges process involves more than grades. Having something on her side, like geographic diversity, multilanguage ability, excellent creative writing talent might set her apart from other candidates and make school a sure bet.
Also by applying early, and I do not mean ED, it could be EA if they have it-your child will greatly improve her chances. By being compared to few other applicants, instead of hundreds/ thousands she will not only receive easy acceptance letter but will have possibility of nice merit scholarship from many schools.
IMHO by next school year your child has to have rough draft of several essays, resume, list of colleges and have teacher asked at the end of junior year about possible recomendations/ my D asked on the first day of senior year and was told that this particular teacher does only 2 recomendations and she was second person to ask/</p>
<p>Thanks everyone- My daughter is a soph. she has taken all honors will finish with 4 science 4 math 4 language etc. She expects to take a few AP classes. She has a SAT of 1000 from the 8th grade- we expect her to score about 600 on each part when she takes the SAT next year. She is thinking about small schools at this time and we are trying to get a feel for what schools would make up a potential list for visit. With block scheduling she has finished 3 of the 6 semesters her application will be based on. We know its early but would like to see some schools this spring just to get some idea about what she likes. We are not a family that could get a lot done at the last minute- we need to take the college search in small doses.</p>
<p>Tom, if she scored 1000 in 8th grade, she has a good chance of scoring significantly more than 600 on each part in 11th grade. More on the order of 650+ on average. 50-100 point improvement per year on each part is fairly typical, I believe. But of course this will depend partly on strength in the different sections in 8th grade.</p>
<p>Tom - in the end, the only statistic that matters for this (or any) school is the thickness of the envelope. I would hazard a guess that your D will be accepted to the school you describe.</p>
<p>However, the purpose of categorizing schools as safe-match-reach is to make sure that you and she develop a well-balanced (and safe ;) ) list for her eventual applications.</p>
<p>For you to sleep well between January and April a couple of years from now, when her apps are out and you are awaiting decisions, you really want the schools you label "safe" to be slam-dunks. For that, you want her to be in the top 25% of their stats SAT-wise and to stack up well in the class rank and GPA departments. And you want the school's overall admit rate to be a high %. You are way ahead of the game to be looking at that now, as we see so many parents who like the way their kids stack up against a school profile, but fail to notice that the school only accepts about 20% - or fewer - of the applicants and pretty much all of those applicants stack up well on paper.</p>
<p>So, to respond to your "mystified" post - and I hear you - the school's admit rate would need to be 100% for her to be safe. Some of us do use an additional "safe/match" category and that category might fit your D for this school.</p>
<p>My own opinion is that the majority of your effort should be spent on these match and safe/match schools. These are the ones likely to fit her best (at least that's been my observation and feeling). These safe/match and match schools should make up the preponderance of her apps (say 4 or more out of 8). Throw in a reach or two. Then have two safeties - but make those safeties SLAM... DUNK.... never-have-to-wonder-or-ask safe.</p>
<p>You know what? She probably <em>will</em> get into that school. If you asked all to bet, I'm guessing most of us would bet that way. But here on cc, the definition of safe is strict - that's why you're getting the "votes" you're getting.</p>
<p>Match.</p>
<p>jmom is giving you very good advice. I completely agree. </p>
<p>It is great that you are starting a list. I also began investigating schools when my son was a sophomore.</p>
<p>IMO, Match.</p>
<p>Tom,The point of demarcation between safety and match is not clear cut black and white. It is hazy and grey and subject to a good deal of overlap, luck and it depends qualifications. To me, as jmmom said, a true safety is a school that allows you to sleep at night between December and April. Your individual comfort level is partly statistical, partly subjective, partly strategic and highly personal.</p>
<p>For strategic advantage, your daughter could, for example, consider a school with rolling admissions, EA or automatic in-state acceptance as her safety. She could lean heavily on her special talents, geographic advantage, gender balance to move her application into the admit pile. These are not guaranteed bonus points, but as her research intensifies you and she will get a feel for how nuances of advantage will affect her short list. For us, the final balance of reach/match/safety was less quantitative and more intuitive. </p>
<p>Over the next two years as you and your daughter circle around her perfect fit school you will identify, research and ultimately discard a number of schools, in all levels of selectivity. Her list will be refined and refined again. Its great that you are starting early and that you are attempting to quantify and analyze. You should accept, however, that you may not be 100% accurate in labeling each schools selectivity although you WILL get a good sense of comparison.</p>
<p>Right now, Id suggest that you focus on the type of school that appeals to your daughter size, gender, environment, personality. After shes identified what she likes shell be able to find a range of selectivity in that general category.</p>