This Year's Safeties

Parents Forum
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<p>I, like many other old time posters, have been astonished by the varying definitions of safety school. I wrote this as a response to a poster who seemed to begrudge his parents' insistence that he find and add a safety school and the subsequent unrealistic suggestions that he was given. Since it's the time of year when lists are being formulated, thought it was appropos to talk about this year's crop of safeties. In the three years since my son applied, his safeties have morphed into matches, so I'm not offering any names, just general ramblings on the dilemma.</p>

<p>"I think this is a good question [The question was "what's a smart kid's safety?"], though your attitude seems to preclude getting an answer that would be satisfactory to you. If any advice on this board has made a dent it should be the dynamic duo: Build your college list from the bottom up: Aim high, but love thy safety!</p>

<p>I think you’re being honest about your sense of entitlement and you know what? I agree with you. You, and thousands of kids like you, do deserve to get into the college of your choice. And there’s a good chance that you will. OK, now we agree on that, let’s think about a plan so that you and your parents (who also deserve a break) can get some sleep during those long anxious months from December to April.</p>

<p>A safety is like an insurance policy. Would you drive without car insurance? A true safety is a school that you could see yourself going to without getting a queasy feeling. If you’re lucky enough to live in a state with a great public university system like California or Michigan, you’re all set. If not, keep working on it. </p>

<p>There are reasons other than academic weakness that make colleges less selective. It could be location. For many kids Boston is more appealing than the Great Plains. It could be gender balance. Several schools that used to be all female are now less selective for males. It could be a specific under subscribed program at an otherwise selective school. Time to start digging.</p>

<p>Loving those safeties/less selectives/sure bets doesn’t come naturally to kids -- and parents -- who have nurtured that sense of entitlement. The truth feels like having a pail of cold water thrown over you and denial is rampant. </p>

<p>Everyone loves the superselectives (Considering how smart kids these kids are, this point is sure hard to get across.) Developing a lovable list of less selectives is work. You have to dig deeper, do more research, visit more, interview, ask a lot of questions. Believe me, they are out there. And, in my opinion at least, you only need ONE. It just has to be the right one.</p>

<p>The first obstacle to overcome is your disbelief that it could happen to you. That you could be the one who didn’t get into any of your first, second, third choices and your State U is a dismal destination. Kind of like learning that you’ll need a $100,000 operation and you didn’t believe that medical insurance was all that necessary. Believe!</p>

<p>There’s been an interesting phenomenon developing over the past two years – two disturbances that have converged into a perfect storm of admissions frenzy. The first is that the top tier colleges have become more and more selective; more applications for the same number of spaces. This has pushed the really smart, talented kids down to the second tier (and has greatly improved the quality of the second tier along the way). Ditto, the second tier to the third, etc. So, what used to be a HYPSMAWSP safety is now nobody’s safety. This is good for the colleges that nobody’s heard of that are actually very good schools. So pay attention to names you’ve never heard. These are this year’s best bets.</p>

<p>Simultaneously, there’s been a surge of merit money allocation by second tier schools “buying” top students. This has bumped out students who might have otherwise been contenders for the spaces and at the same time has tightened up merit money for those who two years ago might have earned it. The top tier HYPSMAWSP don’t give merit money. Financial aid is good if your family is in the EFC ballpark. If, however, you are solidly middleclass and were hoping to score some merit aid at the second tier, look again. You may have to go down a notch to your FINANCIAL safety, a whole different list from the academic safety.</p>

<p>In short, Class of 10, aim high, but love thy safety!"</p>

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<p>momrath I just pm'ed you but now that we have our own thread ;), I'll post. I think you did a wonderful job with your last two full paragraphs. The Momrath Digest. It should be required reading before any kid or parent can post their first post. Maybe it should be The Momrath Manifesto. Or Momrath's Prelude .</p>

<p>Can I be in the choir?</p>

3

<p>A good definition or at least feature of a (private) safety might be that once you indicate you're interested, they make it very, very clear that they really, really, really want you (which can be exhibited in all kinds of ways.)</p>

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<p>Curmudgeon, I agree that Momrath's post should be required reading. I would add to her list of reasons that a top academic-but-not-so famous school might be less competitve with regard to a specific applicant is that this particular applicant is from a region that is underrepresented in this college's student body. Students should look for these schools in the postings on CC. An example would be a Californian applying to Davidson in years past. Davidson was best know in the South as an academically (and all round) excellent school. Now it is well known in California, but there was a period of time when a student could have gotten on this elevator before it went up.</p>

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<p>I don't have any schools to add, but I'm saving this thread as a reality check for when I write my applications. Great post, momrath. :)</p>

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<p>I agree with you mardad, and it's not only geo diversity. I believe you can find schools that value "diversity" in its broadest sense that are looking for a rural kid, or a conservative to broaden there appeal and ultimately their standing. Going against type (within your comfort zone) can pay big admissions rewards. At a school like Bard ,who is trying to raise the interest in their science programs and is actively courting students, a science major stands a good chance of acceptance and possibly money for a high stat kid, where that same kid may be a dime a dozen at another school .</p>

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<p>Good advice, but I've been impressed by the number of young CCers actually grappling with this issue. In years past, posts asking for help finding safeties were few and far between. Quite a few of them up now.</p>

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<p>Momrath, wonderfully composed advice. May it be heeded.</p>

<p>It is true that more students on CC seem to be looking for safeties. But there have also been posts stating that "I have worked too hard to apply to those schools that are so far below me, give me a break." Ouch. My fingers reach for the keyboard and then I just shake my head and move on.</p>

<p>On my home turf, I am a voice in the wilderness crying "try Davidson, try Williams....look at Bard, what about Pomona?" for the best of the best. I get blank stares. Thankfully, our best international student in years also showed his smarts when selecting schools. He got half tuition at Illinois Wesleyan (merit) and will be at Cambridge or Oxford next term. </p>

<p>Heed the advice. "Love thy safety." If you do your research you may end up loving it more than any others.</p>

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<p>Right 0n-overseas! Our oldest D-now a college jr, chose her safest safety over Cornell, Vanderbilt, Wake, San Diego...and has never looked back. Uncle 'go-to-the-best-college-you-can-get-admitted-to' that interviews for Harvard as an alum, still can't get over it. What is the 'best' college, anyway? The val here last year went to Pomona. No one could believe it-that is, of those who knew what/where Pomona was...and so it goes.</p>

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<p>momrath, </p>

<p>This is an excellent post !!! When I read your posting on the college admissions thread, I gave a resounding yes!! I have saved it to pass on to others. Students also need to question how safe is your safety school as I too am amamzed at what some of the students write as their safety schools.</p>

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<p>Thank you momrath for your wisdom so eloquently stated. For the first time, I recently reviewed the posts/thread about andison who did not heed this advice and who, despite being well-qualified, will now be doing a gap year. I must admit, at first, I could only think that there must have been SOMETHING not revealed that sunk this kid. It is clear from reading all of the acceptance/post their stats threads from many kids, however, that even the smartest kids get routinely rejected because of sheer numbers of applications.</p>

<p>I'm afraid that not only students and parents, but guidance counselors and teachers fall into the this trap of including only reaches in the application list...the entitlement trap. In a meeting with my D's GC, I pressed him for safeties and matches. He's quite an experienced GC, but could only come up with Amherst, Williams, Wesleyan, and Pomona for SAFETIES! I KNOW these aren't safeties for anyone. Thanks to the sage advice from many parents, we have added several other schools to our college tour list for the summer which ARE matches and safeties. On a related thread, a parent suggested that a method to begin this search for matches/safeties is to match your child's standardized test scores to the low end of the mid 50% range for a number of schools and then look for other complementary factors. Recognizing that standardized test scores are not the only factor in the admissions process, it's still a place to start. It worked for us.</p>

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<p>HYPSMAWSP??</p>

<p>(Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore and P??????) </p>

<p>THought I had this figured out, but this has me stumped!</p>

<p>This thread, w/its sound and excellent advice, makes me profoundly grateful that my S is off to college in 6 weeks, w/the admissions process behind him...the lottery-like nature of the process for kids w/SATs (old scale) above 1500 and GPAs of 4.0, and gobs of APs/IBs, and strong ECs is just mind-boggling...how did we survive it last year?</p>

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<p>Could it be Pomona?</p>

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<p>qg, that's where I was heading, too. Didn't make sense to be Penn because all of the first several are Uni's, second bunch are all LAC's sooo- "Pomona" seems right to me . I usually say HYPSMC and AWS, but I guess we all have our own secret codes.</p>

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<p>Let me add: a great safety school has rolling admissions or early action (not ED, which is binding). That way, you can apply there early, and apply to a different safety if that one rejects you--which means it can be closer to a match than a safety. (A <em>perfect</em> safety also accepts the Common Application AND offers merit aid.)</p>

<p>My daughter had a list of 2 reaches, 2 matches, and one safety. When she got the admission to the safety--which she did like a lot but didn't go to in the end--in mid-December, it was easy for her to relax.</p>

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<p>I never really get the advice "love your safety". I certainly do get the advice: make sure you have a rock solid one, and several clear matches, but even with plenty of research, for the very bright and talented, the true safety usually feels like a come down. Seems like your advising a kind of pre-emptive pretending to the self (we psych people call it rationalization)--doesn't seem realistic to me.</p>

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<p>Donemom - if a student looks at colleges in a linear fashion, accepting the notion of academic quality & challenge corresponding with prestige and rank... then yes, a safety might be a let down. But if a student has a more broad perspective, looking at "what is special or unique about this school" ... then a "safety" may very well be a very attractive turn of events. </p>

<p>A "safety" college can be one that is located in a desired geographical location-- Fordham in New York, American in Washington - for those looking for an urban experiene; or a college in the sunbelt, or near mountains & skiing, or other favorite out door activities. </p>

<p>It can be a college that offers a special or unique program or approach -- New College of Florida, Eugene Lang in New York, Evergreen in Washington for the independent-minded. Northeastern, Kalamazoo, or Antioch for students who prefer real life experience to classroom learning. A state college with a strong music or arts program, or a conservatory, for a student with a strong interest in the arts -- or a state university particularly strong in the student's favored sport. </p>

<p>If you plan it right, the safety can end up being a place that offers very special opportunities, so that the shutting of one door truly can be the opening of another.</p>

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<p>For all those out there, a safety is totally realistic! In fact, I like to see it as...the perfect place. If done right, a student will look for a school that best matches location, "climate" and I don't mean snow, course offerings, professors etc. The school is safe because it is a match between what the student desires and what the school desires. Nothing more or less. That is why doing lots of looking and researching is so important to the end result.</p>

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<p>Calmom-I totally agree. I understand that many kids feel that attending their safety is a let down, but that is exactly why researching to find a safety is the most important part of this process. A perfect safety is one that has some very attractive quality for thess kids-great honors program, unusual study abroad opportunities, big merit $ or even a great location. Just as these kids need a "hook" to make them attractive to the top tier schools, the safety school needs a "hook" for these top kids. Find a school that has at least one characteristic that they can get excited about.</p>

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<p>And, maybe it's just playing semantic games, but that's why I prefer "Likely Admit" to "Safety" (I think I saw this originally suggested in a post by Carolyn long ago). For bright kids, "Safety" has taken on a negative meaning and it shouldn't.</p>