<p>Could anyone recommend some safeties for me based off of my reach and fit list?
Reach:Northwestern, Georgetown, Rice, UNC, UVA, UMich, Boston College
Fit: University of Richmond, Tulane, Wake Forest, Emory
I'd prefer a school with more than 3,000 undergraduate students. </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>A safety should meet these four criteria:</p>
<p>1) You can afford it without any aid other than federally determined (FAFSA) aid and/or guaranteed state aid and/or guaranteed merit-based aid from the institution itself. (Financial Safety)</p>
<p>2) You are dead certain of admission. You know this because the stats that guarantee admission are posted right on the website and/or your own high school has years of records that clearly indicated that no applicant from your school with a profile like yours has ever been rejected. If you can’t meet this criteria, then your pretty-good safety will be a place where your stats would land you in the top 25% of admitted applicants according to last year’s published results. (Admissions Safety)</p>
<p>3) Your major is offered.</p>
<p>4) You would be happy to attend if all else goes wrong in the admissions process. (Love Thy Safety)</p>
<p>Sit your parents down and find out what they can pay. That will define how long and hard you are going to have to look in order to make your list of safeties. Please don’t set yourself up to be the author of one of next April’s “I didn’t get in anywhere I like and can afford” threads.</p>
<p>First of all, I agree with everything that happymomof1 has said </p>
<p>A couple of other thoughts --</p>
<p>a. Consider schools where you are likely to get merit aid.<br>
b. Consider schools that have contacted you through the mail or otherwise – They (or some computer service that they use) thought you might be a match for some reason.
c. Consider schools that have EA. BTW, these can even be matches. Once you get into an EA school that you can afford, it becomes a safety school, also there’s something nice about knowing you’re in somewhere EA.
d. Consider your state’s (flagship) school – likely to be less expensive than other choices. For some states (Michigan, Virginia, California, North Carolina come to mind) the flagship school may not be a safety school – consider other schools in the system that are.</p>
<p>Finally, and I can’t overemphasize this – show your safety school some love. Visit if possible. Spend time on your essays. When they read your application, they know that you have a legitimate interest in the school, not that you’ve only applied there ‘just in case’.</p>
<p>btw – for what it’s worth, My D applied to three schools on your list a year ago – some advice.</p>
<p>Michigan and Tulane. Both are early action schools. You should apply early action to each. Especially for Tulane – get your application in as early as possible. From reading their forum, it looks like the admissions standards get tougher as the year progresses. Tulane especially wants to see interest in the school.
Northwestern – if it is your first choice (and affordable), strongly consider ED. They accepted 40% of their class through the ED process and have stated that they want students whose first choice is NU. They’re up front about this.</p>
<p>(this same advice may (probably is) true for many of the other schools on your list, but I know these three).</p>
<p>It’s pretty hard to suggest safety schools without knowing what state you live in or your stats. In my state, the flagship has an on-site admissions day at my school, so I applied and was admitted on the same day in December. If your state has something like that, I would recommend it.</p>
<p>re Tulane, find out who is the recruiter assigned to your region of the country, and start an email dialogue. Especially for early action, showing true interest can make the difference. The school doesn’t want to waste those EA slots for people who just want to get something “on the board” while waiting for the schools they really want.</p>
<p>Agree with Happymom…</p>
<p>1) What is home state?</p>
<p>2) What is your GPA?</p>
<p>3) what are your test scores? Include SAT breakdown.</p>
<p>4) what is your intended major?</p>
<p>5) How much will your family pay each year?</p>
<p>So, assuming you can afford the schools on your list, you want a safety that is urban or suburban, non-LAC, politically and socially moderate. Have you looked at College of Charleston and Elon?</p>
<p>Not a safety but might want to add Holy Cross-nice campus, great alumni network, and good financial aid.</p>
<p>Without basic academic qualification information (courses, grades, class rank, test scores) and cost / financial aid constraints, no one can give a reasonable recommendation for a safety, other than your local open admission community college.</p>