<p>"As it turns out, my D's favorite college so far is her safety school."</p>
<p>Lucky.</p>
<p>after they hear back from the rolling admissions safety school early, how long does a student have typically to keep that acceptance in his or her pocket before giving an answer back to the school ( while entertaining other possible colleges) , til decision day, 5/1?</p>
<p>Our daughter had until May 1st, just like any other acceptance. She wanted to wait until all the fin aid for all the schools were completed before she made her final decision. So basically, she held one safety letter for almost 10 months. One school (not the 2 very early ones), did require a $500 deposit within 30 days of the acceptance letter, for the school and for the room but it was returned to us within a week after she sent her decline letter.</p>
<p>Well.....in some states, the state schools have non binding early admissions and if you are an in-state student and don't take advantage of that opportunity, they punish you. For example, if you apply regular decision, and even though you are in the top 40% of kids with stats who get in (meaning the top 40 of the range of stats they require) they may very well wait list you, because they regard your interest as minimal. Since its very hard to get into some prestigious state schools (top 10), they are highly selective and will only admit kids who show significant interest in their applications and who use early admissions opportunities.</p>
<p>OTOH, having high stats is not a flag for being disinterested and then being waitlisted or rejected. Rolling admission schools are less likely to reject you and in fact, the earlier you apply the better off you are with financial aid or scholarships. Being happy at a school is more important than its rank in USNWR. Some kids thrive in large state schools, like OSU, and some kids would absolutely drown. Some kids prefer small private colleges and other kids would be stifled. Having 3,000 colleges to choose from is a wonderful thing!</p>
<p>if the school has an ED program - or some sort of early application proces -, why not apply ED is D really 'loves' the school? That'll show the admins your love.</p>
<p>My safety school happens to be my #1 choice as well. I would recommend that if possible visit the school and set up an appointment with an admissions advisor or at the very least try and set up an interview with an alumni if that is a possibility.</p>
<p>The "safety" school sometimes turns out to be the best choice when the student/parent review academic offerings as well as financial aid. Top students often receive merit $$ from their safety schools. (Besides, with today's highly competitive college admissions process, nothing can be taken for granted....)</p>
<p>I vividly remember the anxiety of this time last year. My son applied to his 2 safety schools EA and was accepted with good merit aid. He sent all 10 common apps at once and when colleges asked him where else he was applying, he gave them the full list. I worried that they might not accept him because of concerns about yield, but soozievt assured me that they would--she was right!</p>
<p>His safeties, though they were wonderful LAC's, were not his first choices, so as soon as he got accepted by an "A list" school (by his own definition), he withdrew from consideration from his safeties, in case it would free up merit money for someone else.</p>
<p>It's great to be on the other side of all this anxiety. So far, my son loves the school he chose. Good luck to everyone!</p>
<p>He did visit both safeties, one on the other side of the country, and made it very clear in his essays why these schools interested him. I do think that's important, not just to the schools, but also to the students. If they can't articulate what they love about a school, it shouldn't be on the list.</p>
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If they can't articulate what they love about a school, it shouldn't be on the list.
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<p>I could not agree more with that statement! I observe issues with this OFTEN!</p>
<p>Some schools are pretty easy to get into OOS and some are not. If you look at my state school the enrollment is 93%. Definately not easy to get into OOS.</p>
<p>bethievt said--
He sent all 10 common apps at once and when colleges asked him where else he was applying, he gave them the full list.</p>
<p>Question: can we conclude so far from this discussion that it is wiser to leave the 'other colleges applied to' blank? Then let the single college have to explicilty ask the applicant where he/she is applying to if they are interested? Would this method make the college admin possibly 'mad' thinking that the applicant is obviously trying to 'game' the system? But see Question2 below. This might temper the anger.</p>
<p>Comment: It seems rather brazen of a college to ask where else one is applying. They might know the admins from those same colleges; lunch or golf with them. Minimally, they probably know the admission criteria of those other colleges (certainly more than the typical naive applicant would), so it might put the applicant at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>But I making this sound like some transaction for a used car and not attempting to find a synergistic match that is a positive for both sides. I am new to this and am trying to discern the horse trading/car buying from the synergistic matchmaking.</p>
<p>Question2: Is there anywhere to see enrollment pct of a college from the previous year? I see the funployee made a reference to 'enrollment pct'. I take enrollment pct to be how many 'seats' / slots are full at a given college. </p>
<p>From my nervous applicant perspective, I assumed that each year any college fills up (100 pct enrollment pct), and thus there is this huge rush and anxiety to get a seat / slot there. Then I saw a blurb somewhere that many colleges do not operate w/ 100 pct occupied slots.</p>
<p>Obviously, from an applicant point of view I would like a real time snapshot of the number of available slots for the current in which we are applying, but I 'd be interested in last yr's.</p>
<p>I am not sure where to post this but would like some help with a question I have. My child has been nominated for a Jefferson scholarship.He had decided on a school to apply ED to, but you are not able to do this once nominated for the Jefferson Scholarship. My concern is is that if he does not win the scholarship(only a handful do) he may loose the advantage that ED would have given him at his chosen school. Are schools aware of this catch 22 and how does he let his school of choice know that her would have applied early, as it was his first choice. Do you think that in the RD round enough weight will be attributed toward the nomination for the scholarship. Therefore, he is loathe to give up the scholarship in order to apply ED to Ivy, but may loose out by not applying ED AND not getting the jefferson scholarship. Anyone with experience with this dilema?</p>
<p>Marmite, you may want to start a new thread on this question - you'll get more responses.</p>
<p>Now, my suggestion: Have your son contact the admissions representative for your high school/area and discuss the situation. That way, he'll let the school know that it's his first choice, and additionally may get some good advice - he can't be the first to have faced this dilemma!</p>
<p>My daughter recently visited one of her two safety schools, one that she has thought for a year that she'd be happy to go to, and after a day on campus she realized it was not a good fit for her. This was a very helpful exercise; when she saw what this safety school did and did not offer, it clarified to her what she is looking for in the other colleges she is considering.</p>
<p>Luckily the other safety is a true safety; I think we will live with one true safety school.</p>
<p>MidwestMom2Kids -- (or anyone)</p>
<p>It might be helpful to define a safety school for this thread on showing interest in your safety school.</p>
<p>I assume that when people refer to 'safety school' they mean an 'academic safety', or a school that you are virtually certain of getting into since you exceed the academic admission requirements.</p>
<p>But I would think that other parts of a 'safety' are, in order: financial, student composition and life, and location.</p>
<p>I was going to make a wrap up statement to the above and say, </p>
<p>So a 'full safety' would be a school where you know you can get in, you can afford, where student composition and life meshes with your personality, and is near enough (or far enough) to make you happy.</p>
<p>But when I look at this last statement, it seems more like a 'dream school' than a safety. So, in a safety, there seems to need some element of compromising your ideal criteria.</p>
<p>any other thoughts?</p>
<p>how do u show interest by visiting and interviewing? How do you arrange that and how do they remember you when reading your application and deciding admissions? My schools so far are UNC-Ch (instate, safety), Vanderbilt, and Duke (reach).</p>
<p>The smaller schools keep a tab of visits etc. Don't know about the bigger schools.</p>
<p>Many medium and large schools track interest, too - must depend on the school. How's THAT for a wishy-washy answer? All I know is that some of D's schools of 15,000-20,000 also keep a tab.....</p>
<p>Joecollege, I can't really comment on your definition of a "safety". I do know that for my D, there is absolutely no hint of compromise in her attitude towards her safety school. Maybe that's a function of this school, or maybe it's a function of the personality of my D. She's a pretty easy-going, glass-is-half-full kind of person.</p>
<p>Well, it turns out that all that worry was for nothing!</p>
<p>D got her acceptance today to her much-beloved safety school, with significant merit money. She is so thrilled and relieved... She called all her friends screaming "They want me! I'm going to college!"</p>
<p>Thanks again for all the advice.</p>
<p>Congratulations to you and your D! What wonderful news, so early in the season. Savor it!</p>