<p>Just visited a bunch of schools with my D, and Swarthmore was by far her favorite. She's got an SAT score of 2300, a weighted GPA of 4.6, and has a bunch of extracurriculars including playing varsity volleyball. She definitely wants to be back east at a liberal arts college. Can anyone help us with a list of "safety schools" to consider? For instance, those who just got accepted--what were your safety schools?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>My safeties were U. Rochester, Hamilton College, and Claremont McKenna College. For the last of the three, opt to NOT tell them where else you are applying on the common app. They have a question about that there, and I am sure that was why I didn’t get accepted there. It was confusing.
Anyways, I would look at trying to contact the Swarthmore coach for volleyball, they can help with admissions. Remember it is not all about scores. Make sure it is obvious that your D is conveying her interest in the campus and attending Swarthmore. I was recruited for soccer, visited overnight three times, and spoke with professors and admissions people about my aspirations and about the school. That being said… I also got into Williams without any of the above, so it is not 100% necessary, just a thought. (I ended up choosing Swarthmore, it’s an amazing place!!)</p>
<p>cincopedia,
My son is a sophomore @ Swat. If I recall correctly, schools that fit your criteria, that he applied to as “safer schools” were Vassar & Oberlin (although not east coast). Do you think she is skilled enough to play volleyball on the DIII level? If so, she should contact the Swarthmore coach. As I’m sure you know, it’s really competitive to get into Swarthmore and she should be able to demonstrate that she is passionate about attending and WHAT SHE CAN BRING TO THE SCHOOL. It’s a great idea to start thinking about “safer” liberal arts colleges, although Vassar and Oberlin really can’t be consider “safety” schools.</p>
<p>I found while I was doing college research that schools with academics that are as strong as Swat’s but with higher admit rates tend not to be on the East Coast.</p>
<p>Other liberal arts colleges I was planning to apply to were Carleton, Reed, Vassar and Macalester, but since I got in ED I didn’t end up applying to any of them. Now that I’ve learned a little bit more about them anecdotally, I think Carleton is the only one I’d be close to equally happy going to. (Okay, so Reed isn’t bad, but my overwhelming impression of it is the drug culture, and the weather probably wouldn’t have sat well with me; I probably shouldn’t have ever applied to Vassar since I’ve been pretty sure since 11th grade that I’m going to be a linguistics major and they don’t have a real ling program; and I had a pretty bad experience with my Macalester interview.)</p>
<p>moonman and mom–she met with the Swarthmore coach, and it definitely looks like volleyball will be a help in getting in. To what extent remains to be seen as the recruiting process continues. But I will pass on your advice about letting Swarthmore know how much she wants to be there and what she’ll bring.</p>
<p>And thanks everyone for the suggestions! We will look into them. And I agree, “safety schools” is probably not the perfect term. “Safer schools” is better. Just looking for schools with a higher admission rate!</p>
<p>Would add Haverford, Davidson to that list (great schools, safer).</p>
<p>Although some Swatties reportedly taunt Haverford with the moniker “Safety School,” in my experience admission to Haverford is not significantly easier than to Swarthmore. So safer? Perhaps by some few percentage points, but not enough IMO to be put in a safety category for any applicant.</p>
<p>My D was like moonman for “safer” but D is interested in bio/research - University of Rochester - was accepted but chose Wellesley. D didn’t get into Swat and was in contact with coach (lax) and overnights.</p>
<p>@maidenMom and OP, don’t expect much from the coach unless they say explicitly that they will support you in admissions. And even then, there are no guarantees as far as D3 athletics go.</p>
<p>The selection process is quite random once you reached a certain threshold (e.g sat2250+, ec, varsity, etc.), and not very correlated among each school. Therefore the trick is to apply to plenty of good schools and hope to get into some of them. Don’t be surprised to be accepted to very selective schools and be rejected from less selective ones.</p>