<p>Scripps is pretty dang selective but you have stats that make it a match.</p>
<p>Best line ever about Scripps</p>
<p>"You are never far away from a party but you'll never come home to one." LOL. D loved her weekend there. It was a serious contender and a fantastic school.</p>
<p>If all goes well, I should be able to do some visiting next year. So, I guess there's no substitute for a visit :).</p>
<p>A girl from my school with significantly lower stats than me got into Scripps this year...</p>
<p>I'll bet another girl from some other school with significantly higher stats was rejected, too. ;)</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>(10 char)</p>
<p>In general, it's tough for a LAC that is at all selective to be considered a true safety school. They get fewer applications, but they admit fewer students, too. And they value "fit" a lot . . . and maybe yield, too. </p>
<p>My belief (that others may not share) is that the women's colleges especially would rather admit a lower-stat student whom they think is likely to attend (and likely to be thrilled about it) than a higher-stat student they think is likely to attend Brown or MIT. They have a lot of experience, and can probably tell the difference. They did a good job of telling the difference among my children's friends. A fair number of surprise waitlists of students who were accepted at various spiffy colleges, while girls who looked weaker on paper were accepted. No one really minded, but it goes to the safety-school issue. (Not that they don't accept high stat students. They do, and many enroll.)</p>
<p>For students with strong paper credentials, the most effective safety schools are large state universities, or large privates like Boston University, where admissions results tend to be pretty numbers-based.</p>
<p>In your position, if there's a LAC you fall in love with, you may want to consider applying Early Decision (which involves making a commitment to attend if accepted). At every LAC, your chances for admission are much higher if you make that commitment, and when you go below the tippy-top Amherst-Williams level, they get to be pretty good in absolute terms if you are otherwise an attractive candidate.</p>
<p>I'll throw in Oxy and SCU as safeties for you to consider.</p>
<p>Occidental</a> College :: International Students
Oxy may be too small to meet your size needs, but it's a great option.</p>
<p>Santa</a> Clara University - Welcome
Intramural:
Soccer (Men's)
Soccer (Women's)<br>
Soccer (Co-Rec)
Volleyball
Football (Men's and Women's)<br>
Softball (Men's)
Softball (Women's)
Softball (Co-Rec)<br>
Tennis</p>
<p>Just to second jhs and curmudgeon. I don't think that a school that relies as heavily on holistic scoring as Scripps (43% admit rate) can be considered a safety for anyone. There are far too many variables and stats are just one part of the picture. The same can be said for Occidental with its 44% admit rate.</p>
<p>I am perhaps WAY too conservative in my assessment of safety but it has come to mean a school with an admissions rate of 50% or better for whom the vast majority of your stats exceed the avg. that being said...09 is going to be as tough or tougher than 08 and many of the schools mentioned are likely to have record numbers of applicants driving their acceptance %age down even more. </p>
<p>Not trying to pee in anyones post toasties here. Just urging caution when calculating "safety."</p>
<p>historymom - i couldn't agree more with your definition of a safety. the other word of caution i'd offer is to check to see how current the admissions stats are that you are relying on. we'd put Pitzer on our D's match/safety list given Fiske Guide stats, including an admit rate of 37%. turns out that is the admit rate for the entering class of fall 2006. this spring's acceptance rate was 22%. needless to say, we no longer view Pitzer as a safety!</p>
<p>Pitzer is surprising isn't it? It illustrates the point perfectly. The numerical part of the admissions equation at Pitzer makes it seem like a safety for loads of folks but when you find out that they admit 22% you realize it's safe for no one. Those ephemeral qualities that make for fit weigh more heavily than the numbers and no one should count on admission to a school like that.</p>
<p>Vassar is sort of like a mini-Brown; you should definitely check it out.
-large LAC
-no core - just 3 freshman requirements
- well-rounded across the board
- no Greek life
- no pressure although there is partying
- many on-campus activities and other ways to have fun
- extremely laid-back student body, no cut-throat competition
- Intramural tennis (I think so - double check this)
- no TAs at all - small classes
- good research opportunities
- lots of international students</p>
<p>I would not say it's a safety but it could be a match.</p>
<p>Thanks to all who replied!</p>
<p>@twinmom: I've heard of Vassar. Will check that out.</p>
<p>So, I should be wary of assigning Scripps the role of a safety. What school, then, can I consider a safety (preferably a school that meets most of my criteria - a large state university doesn't sound like my type!)?</p>
<p>Initially my D wasn't interested in women's colleges, but after attending a joint info session for the "Sisters" and talking to adcoms and alumnae at Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mt Holyoke, Smith and Wellesley, she changed her mind and put 3 of them on her list. These schools are huge proponents for "women in science" with very supportive alumnae networks. Mt Holyoke loves international students and has one of the largest percentages of any U.S. school. Its admissions policies are also less competitive than the other schools and might be a "surer" bet. FYI: all the campuses are beautiful and the housing at most of these schools is also quite fabulous.</p>
<p>In NYC, at Barnard (core) you can take class/participate in ECs at Columbia. In Western Mass., Smith (open curriculum) and MT Holyoke (dist reqs) belong to a 5 college consortium that includes Amherst, Hampshire and UMass. Near Boston, at Wellesley (dist reqs) you can take class at MIT--encouraged for certain majors, Olin College of Engineering, Brandeis, and Babson (business.) Near Philadelphia, at Bryn Mawr, you can take class at Haverford, and possibly Swarthmore and UPenn if you can get there. Three schools (Mt Holyoke, Smith, Wellesley) also are part of a 12 college exchange with several prestigious LACs--Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Vassar and even Dartmouth. If you attend one of these schools, you can apply for a semester or a year (like a junior year abroad program) at any of these 12 schools.</p>
<p>There are also many great LACs/smaller Universities in the US that are not in the Northeast that may be easier to get into if you are just looking around for appropriate safeties. A lesser known school here on CC, Oglethorpe U in Atlanta (nearish to Emory) is looking to raise its profile and is one that heavily courted my D. The new President came from Swarthmore and is definitely looking to make interesting changes there.</p>
<p>Alright, thanks! </p>
<p>Do keep the excellent suggestions coming, folks.</p>
<p>Tetrisfan: I'd suggest you take a look at Oberlin too - and Wesleyan University which would be more of a reach.</p>
<p>Maybe some of the schools referenced on this thread might interest you as safeties/match:</p>
<p>Thank you, twinmom.</p>
<p>Any safety suggestions?</p>
<p>Many of the safeties that I can think of are very small - such as Goucher and Clark.</p>
<p>Nothing mid-sized?</p>
<p>What about an honors college within a state university?</p>