<p>As it turns out, my D's favorite college so far is her safety school - I'm assuming it's a "true" safety, since her ACT score and GPA put her in the top 25% of students and the school admits 70% of applicants. </p>
<p>She has visited the school once and made a trek to a college fair last spring just to touch base with the area representative. She is diligently slaving away over her "Why X?" essay right now, because she wants to submit her application as soon as possible (it's a rolling admission school.) </p>
<p>Is there anything else she could/should do to prove that she's really serious about this school? I don't want the admissions people there to mistakenly think that this is "just a safety" to her - it's really, truly her favorite!</p>
<p>Same situation here - wouldn't it be awful if they did not get in because they were seen as not likely to attend!
My d listed hers as one of her 2 schools to report PSAT commended so she hopes that will "show the love".
OTOH - isn't it nice that there is a high likelihood they will be admitted to the school of choice!</p>
<p>My D showed the "love" (interest) equally at all of her schools, including her safeties. Your D is doing a great job to work hard on the Why X College essay. She should be VERY specific in that essay and it should be different than an essay she could say about another school. She could bring into the essay what she learned about the school that appeals to her and from WHO she met with on her visits to campus and the area representative. She should mention specifics from the visit. If she has spoken to any professors, or anyone on campus that works for the school, she could mention those conversations. She should have clear reasons of why she is a good fit for the school and ways she will contribute to the student body, the classroom, and the campus community and why the school is also a good match for her. If this is her first choice school, she should DEFINITELY say so in that statement. Does the school offer interviews? If so, see if one can be arranged. I think this will be enough since it is also a safety and she is good on that end.</p>
<p>I would also strongly suggest that if she will using the Common App to send in her applications, she should take the time to check only 1 college at at time, hit the "send' button, then delete that college and check the next one on her list. That way the colleges she is applying to won't know where else she is applying. A student with hi stats is at risk of being rejected by her "safety", if they see she is applying to other more selective schools. This way, she doesn't give them a reason to reject her.</p>
<p>I really doubt it is a common practice to reject a kid if it is obvious the university is "the safety". State schools especially know that high-achieving students will attend because of the price. In fact, I know people from Pennsylvania (applying to Penn State) that wrote something like, "I would rather die than go to this school" in their essays and were still admitted. Sad, no? But true. Because they probably ended up enrolling anyway when the reality of Harvard tuition smacked 'em across the face.</p>
<p>Anyway, being serious about your app may send more scholarship money your way. I know I attended all of the honors open houses at CP, met and talked with the dean of my intended college, and then also made sure to put 100% into my essays, making it obvious that I put a lot of time and thought into them. I got more money than kids who had better stats and ECs than me but obviously blew through the app.</p>
<p>I think it^ happens much more often at private colleges than at public colleges. Public colleges are more numbers driven[ SAT. GPA], or are required to accept students with high enough stats.</p>
<p>It isn't a common practice to reject an applicant if a school knows that it's at the bottom of his/her list; however, schools do want to accept kids whom they know will want to attend. I recall a HS guidance counselor stating that one kid did get rejected by her safety because she hadn't made any contact with the school other than submitting the application. (Don't recall if an interview was required.)</p>
<p>scout59--your D has done a wonderful job about staying in touch with her #1 school. Good luck!</p>
<p>She could give her teachers who will be writing recommendations her "why x" essay so that they could echo some of the same themes in their letters and say that she has shown a passion for this school and would likely be a standout student there.</p>
<p>My d visited her safety, did an interview while there, e-mailed some questions to the admissions folks and to the dance department, and attended the dance department audition (not necessary for admission, but only for talent scholarship). The school didn't have a "why college x" essay; in fact, it had no supplement to the Common App at all. </p>
<p>She was not only accepted, but received significant merit aid. (Of course, at the end of the day, she's going elsewhere.)</p>
<p>It sounds like your d is doing exactly the right things. Good luck to her!</p>
<p>Dad II, I'm fairly certain that some state universities do guarantee admission to in-state students if test scores plus GPA meet a certain standard (U of MO, for example). </p>
<p>Frankly, I cannot imagine that OSU would deny admission to a student with ACT 36 and perfect grades.</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions and the reassurance (especially the latter.) It sounds like D is doing all the right things - it's just my job to worry! This particular school does not offer interviews, but I think she's covered almost everything else, including an occasional email to the admissions office.</p>
<p>FWIW - when we toured OSU, they did mention that there is no guaranteed admission to the main campus in Columbus and that quite a few students were admitted to satellite campuses (with the option of transferring to the main campus later. Apparently this is very common.) That being said, I have to agree with midmo. I can't imagine they'd deny some one with a 36 ACT.</p>
<p>This is an odd discussion to me. Doesn't the word "safety" imply that you will surely get in. If you have to worry about it, then it isn't a safety.</p>
<p>For example, my impression of the big 10 schools, save Michigan, was that they are primarily numbers based and rolling admissions. So if you have the stats and you apply early then you will get in. The Canadian schools are also solely numbers driven. They just have too many applications to process to reject great applicants.</p>
<p>If there is anything "holistic" about the admissions process, then it simply can't be a safety. If they really care about such a subjective thing as "demonstrated interest", then it can't be a safety. </p>
<p>It seems like everyone can easily have at least one "true" safety by applying to at least one school that's solely numbers driven.</p>
<p>I disagree with post #18. My own child, as well as many with whom I work, have safety schools that are not state U's and are not numbers driven. However, these schools are safeties for them. They also have two safeties. They also put as much into their safety applications, visits, showing interest, etc. as into their reaches. I don't think a student has to tack on their state U or some other school that is only driven by numbers, in order for it to be a safety for them. My clients get into their safeties because we assessed them to be safeties for a reason. These were not schools that were state U's necessarily, didn't admit just by numbers, and didn't have a 100% admit rate either. Some kids tack on a school they have NO interest in attending because it is a state U, accepts nearly everyone, or is a guarantee by the numbers. I see no reason to have one's safety schools be schools they have no interest in attending. A student should really like their safety schools enough to want to attend (even if not their top favorite) because they might actually have to attend. It should not be a consolation prize that they tacked on just because they knew they could get in. Safeties should be carefully chosen. One kid' safety is another kid's reach. I can say that my own child's safety would have been a reach for many kids but was not for her. I think an applicant should be in the SAME amount of effort and show the SAME amount of interest with their safeties and their applications. An application that gets sent with a feeling of "just because" could be off the pile compared to another kid who showed they truly wanted to go and their application didn't spell "safety...I don't wanna come" all over it. </p>
<p>Again, a safety school doesn't have to be one that accepts just by numbers and doesn't have to accept 100% of applicants to be one's safety school. And there is no point in having a safety school on the list that you have NO interest in attending. What's the point?</p>
<p>The safety school my D has chosen is NOT an in-state public (actuallly, it's an OOS private). She has made it abundantly clear she is not even remotely interested in our in-state publics which could serve as safeties for her. Besides, even some of those numbers-driven big state schools do like to see interest (at least, that's what the OSU and MSU reps told us!)</p>
<p>Am I mistaken? I thought a good definition of a safety was a school where your stats fell in the upper 25% of applicants and the admit rate was 70-80%. I know it's not the only definition - but it felt like a good one to me.</p>