@JustOneDad, I agree.
For instance, @futuredoc96, unless you are a recruited athlete who can meet the academic criteria (in the first 3 cases), Northwestern, Rice, Vandy, and Emory aren’t safeties for anyone, regardless of your stats or accomplishments. Not these days, anyway. Maybe 30-40 years ago.
@fretfulmother & @suzy100, don’t know if it’s yield protection or because essays did not show UMich enough love, but they do care about demonstrated interest and have deferred a ton of high-stats kids this year (especially but not exclusively OOS).
@cptofthehouse - yes, Hofstra was already on our radar. 
Thank you!
Brandeis? UMiami? Not a top school but UCentralflorida offers one of the best NMF packages around. Pretty sure your student will qualify.
@cptofthehouse - oddly, the Temple Hillel calendar lists a brit milah among the activities. 
Presumably not an enrolled student.
You can check each school’s common data set, section C7, or its admissions tab at http://www.collegedata.com , to see if “level of applicant’s interest” is considered for admissions.
To the OP: Try to convince your parents that UWashington, UW-Madison, and UIUC (all are in the top 30 globally of both the Times and ARWU rankings) are prestigious. BTW, in some fields, those schools are very well-regarded.
Also, NYU (outside of several standout schools/programs) isn’t extremely hard to get in to if you can pay, yet evidently is seen as prestigious in various circles both in the US and internationally.
http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=193 indicates that UMass - Amherst does consider “level of applicant’s interest”.
See http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1626043-ways-to-show-a-high-level-of-applicants-interest-p1.html for a discussion on how to show a high “level of applicant’s interest”.
@ucbalumnus - thanks!!!
To the OP again: not sure if they can really be considered safeties, but if you can get in to HYPSM, you’re quite likely able to get in to UC-Berkeley and UCLA as well.
Prestige is so dependent on who you talk to, though (region, field, etc.)
What do your parents consider prestigious, what major are you considering, what are your stats and accomplishments, and what can you pay?
There are married students at Temple, graduate and ug, as well as faculty members and others in the university community.
Friends of ours who are devoutly Jewish, including their college daughter, did thoroughly enjoy her 4 years at Temple, as she did. She was part of the Honors College there and did get a very nice merit award. Is currently at a top school for grad studies.
@PurpleTitan I don’t get it. Armed with your ranking, it seems like it would be easy to convince them.
@JustOneDad, prestige is so dependent on who you talk to.
In some circles, UIUC is very prestigious and Middlebury is not.
In other circles, Middlebury is very prestigious and UIUC is not.
@cptofthehouse - Thank you! Yes, Temple is now for sure on our list. And thanks to @ucbalumnus I also checked if they consider demonstrated interest and evidently they do not. And, yes DS will qualify for merit aid, and yes they have his desired major(s) and a good strong Hillel and are a train trip away! Yay CC!
I will figure out a way to send him for a visit to make sure it “feels right” too before it’s an official “safety” for him of course.
@cptofthehouse, I think that @fretfulmother was trying to be humorous, and I, for one, appreciated the circumspect humor
No child prodigies to that extent, then?
My kids say I don’t have much of a sense of humor, and they are probably right. I missed that.
@ItsJustSchool @cptofthehouse LOL yes, even on CC an 8-day-old has yet to get to be enrolled in college. I was trying to be funny but it’s hard on the 'net.
Sorry I missed it, Fretfulmother. My friend was very serious about finding a storng, active Hillel schools when doing the college search. Some schools did not make the cut for that reason. And she had no sense of humor about the subject.
I see what you did there!
I can’t imagine this process without a sense of humor. It would be even more outrageous emotionally! At the end of the day we just have to help the kids do their best and then hope it works out!
Where else did your friend’s son end up applying, @cptofthehouse?