Solid Safety Schools for an Ivy League Applicant

Hi guys,

As a rising senior, I have been advised by my college counselor to add more safety schools to my list. She basically gave me a few common safety schools in the area that I should apply to. The problem is, if I get denied from all of my reach schools, I will not be content attending any of the schools that she recommended (as a Massachusetts resident, the UMass state schools are not appealing).

So far, the ones that I have come up with in my research are:

University of Rochester
University of Maryland – College Park
Tufts (not sure if this is a safety?)
Northeastern University
NYU

Are these legitimate safety schools for me (3.95 GPA, 34 ACT, Solid ECs/LORs)? Please give me some more schools where a hard-working, high-achieving student could fit in and enjoy.

No. A safety school is one you have a guaranteed admission and can afford to attend. Assuming that you are able to afford them without requiring financial aid, you have zero guarantee of an admission at any of these schools.

There are many state schools which guarantee an admission with your stats but you have none of them listed.

I think it partly depends on the high school. Our school’s scattergrams show Rochester is almost guaranteed with those stats, but Tufts is not.

Have you talked to your parents about budget?

Those are probably a mix of high and low matches instead of safeties.

For help with safeties include your intended major, desired school size, and budget.

Potential major? Any clubs/ sports/ etc that you’d really like to have an option to participate in? Do you want to stay on the East Coast?

There is some room between typical reach schools and typical safety schools – you don’t have to be stuck with a safety if you add some matches and high matches.

If you apply to some reach schools: Ivies, Stanford, MIT, Chicago, Duke, Northwestern, Hopkins, top LACs, etc.

And add some matches and high matches (even low reaches): Tufts, Lehigh, Tulane, Wake Forest, Northeastern, Brandeis, BU, NYU, BC, Holy Cross, St. Olaf, Trinity, Skidmore, Beloit, Connecticut College, Earlham, etc.

Those match/high match/low reach schools comprise a protective layer between the reaches and the safeties.

Do still find a couple of safeties you would not mind attending. Typically they are state schools or less-selective private schools. Make sure you could see yourself attending them and that you could afford them.

Tufts had a 14% acceptance rate this year—I know maybe 10 people with stats similar to yours who were rejected. None of those schools are safeties. Tufts is not even a match.

Are these financially feasible for you? Safety schools are schools you are likely to gain entry to and also are able to afford. You have provided GPA and scores and that is about it. If you have an unweighted 3.95 and took very rigorous classes such that you are a top student in your school, then the schools you list, depending upon your assumed major, seem reasonable but they don’t seem like safties. Rochester is a top school as are the others. What is your intended major-that impacts on odds too.

What characteristics attract you to some of the 8 Ivy League colleges that you would want in a safety or low match school? Some of the characteristics one might associate with the Ivies include:

  • high admission selectivity (which you won’t get in a safety, by definition)
  • prestige (which you probably won’t get with a safety)
  • name recognition (which you can get with nearly any large state university)
  • New England/Mid-Atlantic location (which you can get with many colleges besides the Ivies)
  • reasonable net cost for low to middle income students (which you can get from an in-state public school, or from any college that offers big merit scholarships for students with your stats)
  • relatively small classes (which you can get from any small liberal arts college)
  • good campus recruiting by major employers (which you can get from a number of big state universities)
  • strong focus on academics; understated Greek & D1 sports scene (which you can get at many liberal arts colleges including the less selective “Colleges that Change Lives”)
  • lingering old money elitism mixed with liberal-leaning politics (which you can get at many women’s colleges, which generally aren’t safeties but which might be realistic “match” schools)
  • strengths in specific majors (which is distributed among many less selective colleges)
  • good track record for medical or law school admission (which seems to be much less dependent on the college brand than you might think)

You aren’t likely to find all these qualities wrapped up in a single safety school, but you should be able to find the one or a few that are most important to you in an affordable college that is very likely to admit you.

None of those schools are safeties, however I think you will get into at least one or two. What is it that you are looking for? Try the University of Pittsburgh. It’s a great school and I think you may get in.

Here’s a ranking of “best values” in public colleges:
http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-public-colleges/index.php?table=public

Pittsburgh is #38 (out of 100). It is less selective than some of the higher-ranked schools (Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan, UVa, etc) and has a much lower sticker price for out-of-state students. Schools higher-ranked than Pittsburgh (but with similar/lower OOS sticker prices) include: College of New Jersey, Virginia Tech, Minnesota, Clemson, Ohio State, Washington, Wisconsin, Maryland.

New Mexico Tech and New College of Florida are small state schools with relatively low OOS prices. Both have strong track records for per capita alumni PhD production (in fact NMT beats most Ivies for STEM PhD production). New College of FL has been offering $15K scholarships to OOS students, which come off the top of an OOS sticker price that isn’t much higher than some schools’ in-state rates. All that plus a beautiful waterfront location.

http://ctcl.org/new-college-of-florida/

Tufts would be a reach. The others are matches.

Thanks everyone for the help. I guess my question is, with my stats (and I do not need financial aid), can I be fairly confident that I get accepted into one of the match schools (not Tufts) that I listed above?

Fairly confident: yes; guaranteed: no.

If you are looking for a prestigious safety consider McGill University in Montreal They admit solely by stats. You are above the minimum requirements for GPA and ACT. They do not deny or waitlist “overqualified” students nor do they care about EC’s etc.

Agree that McGill probably would be a safety.

I would list NEU and UMD (outside of CS) as likelies, not safeties. Also UW-Madison.

I have UW-Madison (also McGill) as near-Ivies: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1893105-ivy-equivalents-ranking-based-on-alumni-outcomes-take-2-1.html

Both are giant publics, however.
For smaller but impressive schools, the suggestions of NCF and NMTech given by @tk21769 are good.

I always recommend that people find a safety that is rolling or non-binding EA so they have the acceptance in hand before December. Many students in our HS use UMichigan and apply early (they have a rolling EA type of program). Other ideas might be Fordham or Tulane (but you should show some demonstrated interest for Tulane).

Does Fordham have rolling admissions?

We get students out here every year (some with stats better than yours) who are shut out of the Ivies. You seem to be treating match/safety schools as an afterthought. You need to start reading Fiske, visiting, and researching them, not just ticking off that you have a few names to apply to. Students should START with their match & safety search, as they are much more likely to end up at those schools.

Be careful with Tufts as it emphasizes a lot on interest, hence the famed Tufts Syndrome. I’d say two true safeties are enough. What is the point of having a lot of safeties?