A good friend’s D had L&C for her safety. She had visited, interviewed etc. L&C has a 66% acceptance rate. When results came around she was accepted to one of her top choices (a woman’s college) so she went there. However, she still talks about her visit to L&C and how she loved it. So I guess you can love your safety. Now I understand that when finances are an issue, love might not be in the equation. Everybody’s story is a bit different. In my son’s case he got EA in one of his match schools so he did not really looked too deeply in safeties. I think though that if matches are selected realistically and not like Harvard is a reach but Pomona is a match, chances are that the safety will not be needed.
One of the things that helped me “get over it” when it comes to the elite schools is my realization that my kids have yet to be tested outside the privileges of wealth. They’ve had very few or no set-backs when it comes to education or opportunity. They’ve had the best schools, access to opportunities that well-to-do, resourceful parents can afford. They are the best students – they have far better stats and look a lot better on paper than I did when I was their age. They are well-liked, well-rounded and level-headed but ambitious. I’m very proud of them. I think going to a safety will not only save money, but also challenge them to demonstrate self-drive, resiliency, resourcefulness. I would be lying if I said I wouldn’t be disappointed if HYPSM declined them. If you asked me a year ago, I would have been devastated to hear that my kid is “not that special” because I honestly thought she had as good a shot as anyone for an elite. Fast-forward a year and some sobering learnings about this process (thanks to CC), and I’m truly at peace with that more than likely outcome. In fact, I’m kind of excited about finding the right safety. My daughter is a junior, and we have one that she said, “I can be happy here” (in-state so yay! ). We are now looking for some options in a sunny, warm place.
1 Like
It is sad that our kids’ are “average” for their demographic. And of course, literally that are not average, but of the cohort applying to these schools, they are. My S’s school, upper income, suburban NYC, an unhooked boy with a 95% avg and a 34/2300+ needs to glow in the dark to even get a second look among his peers it seems. But it is what it is.
It doesn’t seem as though it will get better anytime soon. With kids looking to boarding schools to get an edge…what next? Pre-BS? In utero BS?
@HRSMom , I do find the way this system is getting ever more competitive to be fascinating. I very much think the new trend, probably already started, is the “trickle down effect.” The tippy top stats kids get shut out of tippy top schools, and end up at lower-tier schools, and so on down the line. Aren’t there fewer students now? Will this be the year that acceptance rates go as low as they can, and colleges find they aren’t meeting their yield, because they are all chasing the same few superstar students, who are applying to 22 colleges? I am probably wrong, but despite how screwed up I think it is, it is certainly interesting.
All chasing the same few superstars, the same limited pool of high scoring URMs…it does seem that at some point they will come up short on yield. Of course that would just be the infamous “lesser Ivies”! Lol!
So were Won-Won and Harry (“Harry James Potter’s name has been on the list ever since he was born!”)
Stanford says its acceptance rate this cycle is 6.6%, a record low.
It was 4.69%! Maybe that was their ED stat.
http://www.stanforddaily.com/2016/03/25/stanfords-admission-rate-drops-to-4-69/
No, it was ZERO! http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/opinion/college-admissions-shocker.html?_r=0
:))
Ooops, you’re right!! I was looking at the StanfordDaily for 2012.
2PNWedwonk, I read that days ago and I know I’m dense, but this is satire, right? Stanford has a freshman class, doesn’t it?
Before long, it won’t be.
Yup, satire, but hits kind of close to the mark I think!
D1, my excellent average child, attended a college that I had never heard of before she applied. It was wonderful for her. D2, my average excellent child, attended a college that I had heard of and that is highly ranked, but it wasn’t the top ranked of the schools to which she was admitted. She, too, had a great college experience.
Yes, but a lot of people thought it was real lol.
" The student body looked like the people featured in those Walmart people youtube videos. " That’s rough!
DD and I joke about Stanford having a negative admission rate because it rejects everyone who applies and a goodly number of kids who don’t!
I love the NY times article. Did anyone read the comments, also priceless! I like the suggestion that schools just pick the students who look good in the school colors.
I like @rosered55 's description of her “average” excellent child and her “excellent” average child. It seems they both ended up enjoying their college experience.
I think if Stanford started offering full-ride merit aid, their admission rate could easily plummet to below 1% as applications would surge exponentially 
But then, I’d really like to read profiles of those 1-2 merit scholarship recipients - might indeed be Olympic champions and Nobel Prize winners…