<p>As long as she is not applying anywhere SCEA, or ED if she has the applications ready, I would say go for it. The thing is getting on top of the essays and having everything in place.</p>
<p>If she gets in to a couple of EA schools and you already know that you have a financially feasible one in the bunch that she won't have a problem attending she could be finished with the admissions process before Jan.1. Then it would be a matter of visiting, along with waiting for and comparing FA packages, before making a final decision. sounds like it could be a real win-win.</p>
<p>Bethie, certainly agree with everything posted - "safety" is a matter of perspective, schools don't have to have 100% admittance rates to be a safety for a strong student, always be wary and consider your personal situation when reading advice and other people's experiences on CC. After all, some kids have had suspensions, for example, that they don't mention when describing their credentials, or they just completely blew off the safety application.</p>
<p>Another point for the paranoid is that admission to many state schools is virtually automatic for state residents/OOS fulfilling certain GPA/test scores requirements. Yes, in some places the school may fill up, so apps need to be in early, but other states will have space right up until school starts. These state schools often serve as ultimate safeties for many students, and provide peace of mind for student and parent.</p>
<p>I agree with the poster with one caveat. Some of the smaller schools that may look like a safety statistically, may not be if your student does not show demonstrated interest in them. My friend's son was rejected from Skidmore, but accepted to two ivies. Skidmore was his safety. But his body language, his attitude, his contact with the university all showed lack of interest. If your student cannot take the time or does not have the demeanor to court his safeties, there are schools he should not pick. I believe that the safeties are the most difficult schools to choose if it is done right. It is so easy to become enamored with the name schools and just not think about the safeties. Most kids are pretty easy to read when it comes to interest, and if disinterest is shown, it can be an issue. If a student cannot find a safety he likes at all, it may be wise to tack on a state school, or other school that is stats driven, preferably with early or rolling admissions. I don't recommend doing this if there is any way possible that a student can find a safety he likes, but the reality is that some kids just cannot do it.</p>
<p>cptofthehouse,
That is the key that many of us are saying. The interest and the effort shown to a safety school should be no less than to a reach school. My kids approached ALL their schools' visits, contacts, interviews, and applications equally. They thoroughly showed specific reasons why they truly wished to attend those safety schools. I don't know that all kids do that. I'm afraid not. </p>
<p>Further, there is nothing wrong wtih state schools at all and in fact, our state U is a fine university and has more out of state students than in state ones and is not so easy to get into, definitely NOT automatic at all. My D's friend with a 1200 SAT in state did not get in. However, I am not into many college lists that I see on CC which often are all reaches, no matches, and then the state U tacked on and then lots of "I don't really want to go to my state U" stories. There is NO need to apply to a safety that you do not like. Granted, a student may like their reaches and matches more than their safeties but the safeties should be schools that they would be content to attend, even if not their number one favorite school. There is a current thread on this forum where a very good student did not get into any schools but his state U where he did NOT want to go (why apply ANYWHERE you do NOT want to go???). That student, I am SURE, could have gotten into other safety schools, private schools that are not the state U (not knocking the state U other than this kid did not want to attend and it was tacked onto the list). There were schools that were even more selective than his state U that could have still served as a safety for HIM. Also, he didn't appear to have matches, another phenomenom I have seen often on CC.</p>
<p>My D really liked her safeties. They were not her "most" favorite, but they were schools she would be happy to attend that she selected due to her greater chances of admission, but still fulfilled her college criteria. In fact, as good as our state U is, she had no interest in attending because the school did not fulfill her personal college criteria. The OP on this thread, I think lives in my state and her son also could get into the state U, I am certain, but like my D, has identified other safeties that fit his personal college criteria, as he should. </p>
<p>I know you say some kids can't find a safety he/she likes, but in my opinion, those kids are TOO fixated on reaches. There ARE schools out there that should be able to match their college criteria that are simply less selective and where their stats are better than about 75% of those admitted. They should start with a list of personal college criteria/preferences and find schools of any level that match those. Then, build a BALANCED college list.</p>
<p>It is wonderful that your daughter loved her safety schools. It does not often happen around here. They are too often tacked on without much enthusiasm, sometimes because of a parent or counselor's insistance. I have seen kids with lists of 10-12 highly selective schools, with acceptances less than 30%, some with a true acceptance rate of in two digits when you exclude the special categories and early acceptances, and then a couple of safeties that they barely consider palatable such as Connecticut College and Skidmore which are not safety schools in that situation. These kids love to roll the names of their dream schools and spend their time focusing on them, a shame, because HPY does not put much if anything on interest in the school itself. And you just cannot get it through their heads or their parents' that it is possible, never mind the statistics to get rejected from ALL of one's schools even if the kid's profile is a match for the top schools and well in safety range for the tack ons. In that case, it may be wise to stick a school on the list that does not require demonstrated interest as a safety. Many kids who are disappointed in their choices when the acceptance come, do end up going to a school they never thought they would attend, and do well. Yes, they can take a gap year and reapply, but for some kids it is a better option to go to college. You can always turn down or defer the safety and take the gap year anyways. You are just giving yourself another option. My son is at a school that was a tack on. It is our state u, and it was on his list because it did have what he wanted in his area of study, but he (and I) really did not think for a moment that he would go there. In the end, when the choices were out there, he decided to visit and check it out (one of the only schools he did not visit), and found it was a better choice for him then other schools that were higher on the list that did not have some things he really wanted. Now a year later, he is happy. Yes, he would have preferred to go to a name school as most of his friends did, but he enjoy where he is and is doing well. He is not dwelling on this at all. But during the admissions process, he did not have any interest in this school or in any other safeties that we found.</p>
<p>cpt, I am glad that in the end, your son is thriving at his school, even if at first, he was not too keen on going there. However, I think that situation is avoidable. For kids who you say think Conn College or Skidmore are unpalatable, that is a shame. And if they have all reaches and then tack on a state U which they do NOT want to attend (again, I am not bashing state schools that students truly want to go to), they very well may end up at that state school, one that they tacked on and didn't find due to any match in their personal college criteria. Might as well have tacked on any old school from out of a hat. Surely there are schools, that are one, more selective than their state U but still a safety for them (talking very good students now), and two, surely there are schools that are safeties that should be likeable or palatable that match up in all their college criteria BUT the level of selectivity. I think some are too caught up in prestige. That is not the thinking in my neck of the woods, or for my kids. </p>
<p>My kids wanted to go to very selective schools as those more closely match the kind of learning environment and challenge that they crave, but not due to the name. They were easily able to find other schools that matched their OTHER college criteria except were less selective with higher admit rates and lower stats, BUT had what they were looking for otherwise. A very good student should be able to go to a safety that is still a very good school which may even be considered a reach for someone else. If Conn College or Skidmore are not someone's cup of tea for certain reasons like size, program, location, etc., that's one thing (though there are other schools of this level that should match what they they want in a college). But if some kid thinks they are not "good enough", well, sorry, I can't relate and I think that is quite a shame. I know some excellent students who go to these schools and in fact, excellent students who didn't even get admitted to those schools, though applied. They are considered selective schools, just not HIGHLY selective. Bottom line is, in the scenario you describe, you get kids UNWILLING to apply to the likes of Conn College or Skidmore who end up at their state U which is not nearly as selective (usually, depending on the state U) and which they don't even want to attend and hasn't been chosen due to any college preferences/criteria in the first place. Not wise, if you ask me. They could have gone to a school like Skidmore (just an example...but any school of that selectivity range that matched their personal college criteria) and have been happier, perhaps, than going to a school that they really didn't pick for ANY reason other than it was their state U.</p>
<p>Yes, we're in VT and the only reason my son doesn't love UVM or Skidmore is he wants a fresh start with new kids. We considered Conn. College and he's still considering Vassar, but they're a little close geographically, so he might have a lot of his high school peers in residence. Some kids want this; some kids don't. I agree with soozie; it's a little sad if some of these GREAT schools are seen as unacceptable because kids in the Northeast (or wherever) only accept the Ivyies and a few others. There are good reasons for staying close geographically, but also good reasons to go farther afield.</p>
<p>Saw another version today. Online app says "List all other colleges to which you have applied or plan to apply", followed by "Rank your interest in ABC College compared to these other schools", with a drop-down box for first, second, third, all the way to fifth. Now who in their right mind is going to check "fifth choice" when applying to a school? </p>
<p>To be fair, this question was NOT marked with the little asterisk indicating that it's a required field. But still.</p>
<p>I have no clue as to what my daughter did with her apps, but I'm one who believes it is none of the college's business and am perfectly happy with no answer at all or strategic designation of a partial list. I figure as California residents there's no harm in listing UC .... they'd expect a kid to apply to their own state university. Beyond that, I just don't see a the point. </p>
<p>I know that the colleges do see the FAFSA listings, but as it happened, my daughter listed the most prestigious/academically demanding college groupings on the first FAFSA, the match/safeties on the second. It wasn't intentional, it was simply that that the higher prestige colleges had earlier financial aid deadlines, and I put the six colleges with the earliest deadlines on the first FAFSA group. Only later did I realize that it left each college looking at a list focused at a different and compatibe list of peer institutions.</p>
<p>We don't know. If you are trying to choose strategically, then a lot can depend on the college. For example, many colleges decide how much merit aid to offer in part based on their perception of how many $$ it will take to woo the student away from other schools. So the factor that might cause a student to lean away from revealing that they are applying to a direct competitor in order to increase chances of acceptance may also undermine the likeihood of a large merit award. </p>
<p>I'd vote for leaving it blank.... but the whole point is that you are giving the colleges a piece of information and you really have no clue what they are going to do with that info.</p>
<p>I once read in a college admissions book that it is best not to answer this question. Unfortunately, I can't remember the reasoning (and no longer have any of these books, since both my kids are in college now).</p>
<p>If a question is optional, it is optional. I wouldn't answer it personally unless I could see how the answer could help me. (Or if someone had actual knowledge that a failure to answer is viewed negatively -- which I've never seen.) My two didn't answer such questions, even in interviews, and did just fine, accepted at both reaches and safeties.</p>
<p>It is a shame that many wonderful schools are not palatable to kids for no other reason than the prestige factor. BUt that is what often happens. Many kids are also pretty transparent about their feelings, and if one of those schools is one the safety list (legitamently for stats and compatibility with goals), such kids can be rejected, if demonstrated interest or an evaluative interview is part of the process.<br>
Another issue I see often around here is that parents will break their necks (and their bank accounts) to get their kid into a top name school, and are proud of those checks they write for tuition, but they do not feel the same way about some fine schools that do not have quite the name recognition and cost about the same as the most selective schools. One young lady I know ended up at SUNY Binghamton, which was a tack on school for her, after not getting into top choices, but getting accepted to some excellent private school. When the final cost evaluation was done, the parents, whom I know, just did not believe that Clark was worth the extra money. It is a whole different story paying, going to a school from applying to one. The reality check can change the picture.<br>
As for answering where else you applied, I think you stick with an answer that makes you comfortable. There seems to be no proof that it makes a difference, nor is their proof that is does not. It may just be the luck of the draw of who is looking at the answer to the question, and you have no control over that.</p>
<p>I don't see any question on the common app itself about other colleges, must just be on some of the supps.
Where I'm confused is the instructions for EA at the top of the new common app form, entitled
"Optional Declaration of Early Decision/ Early Action etc".
There is then a space for the name of the college. But if you're filing on-line ( as some colleges prefer) how can you, or why would you put all the names there?
Sorry, I'm VERY new to this!!
But am I correct in thinking the only way you can do any customizing of the common app is to mail it in separately to each college? Then this EA declaration wouldn't be a problem.
I can't quite see just sending electronically the exact same app to all colleges. I mean I probably wouldn't send the exact same resume to each company if applying for a job...
any help from you veterans out there appreciated</p>
<p>I don't understand this either. My S was thinking he'd apply to his safer schools EA and his others RD. They only have space on the Common App. to list one college and I'm not sure I'd want to alert the other college to which he's also applying EA (even though they both told us it was ok to apply to their school and others EA).</p>
<p>Most of my son's schools require supplemental materials, extra essays, Why are you applying to ___?, graded writing samples, so those are ways to personalize for each school.</p>
<p>You do not have to send the common app to all colleges at once. You fill it out and send to college A. Then you edit the form and make whatever changes you feel are appropriate, save, and send to college B. Then edit, save, send to college C... and so on. </p>
<p>However, I'd note that my own daughter found the online interface so cumbersome that she did use regular mail for all the common app schools. Wherever possible, she used the college's own online forms rather than the common app -- in most cases the alternate interfaces were designed better and easier to use. Of course, not all colleges gave that option.</p>
<p>I'm just curious. Which schools required graded writing samples? We only ran across this with Bryn Mawr, and obviously your son didn't apply there.</p>
<p>I believe the software works in such a way that the ED/EA information at the top of the form only gets filled in on the copies that go to your designated ED or EA schools. And even then, they only see their own school designated, not any other.</p>